Stupidity: Hans keeps a major part of his plan secret from his own team: that the electromagnetic lock will be disabled if the FBI shuts down power to the building. The mercenaries hired as muscle don't need to know the minutiae of the plan, but it seems ludicrous that Theo wasn't told. Theo states on more than one occasion that he can't proceed past a certain point and that he hopes Hans has a plan for the final lock. Evidently, Hans was keeping this information secret simply to amuse himself, which makes little sense considering how much planning went into the heist.
BaconIsMyBFF
4th Jan 2020
Die Hard (1988)
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Suggested correction: Or because he simply doesn't trust anyone with that kind of knowledge. He neither trusts them or cares about them, it's all him.
So he trusts that Theo would be on board with all the murder and mayhem, open all the other locks, be in a tactical lookout position when the police try to breach, and drive the getaway vehicle. But he doesn't trust Theo enough to tell him the last lock will open when the power goes out?
It's not about trust; Hans needs Theo to do what he is there for and that is all you mention up to the final lock. He has a plan for the final lock and so there's no need to discuss it with the team, since it won't be any of them responsible.
The more people that know the plan the more chances of someone talking. Especially when they are hired mercenaries.
Theo was already on board with taking hostages and committing murder. Him knowing that the power needed to be shut off to open the last lock doesn't appear to be particularly important information you would need to keep from someone to keep them from talking.
If he's the only one that knows the final step to get the money, then at least up until that moment he is absolutely indispensable to the plan and ensures no-one would double-cross him. In any case I'm not sure being more cautious than necessary really qualifies as "stupidity."
19th Mar 2003
Die Hard (1988)
Corrected entry: Towards the beginning of the movie, Bruce Willis notifies the cop outside that there are 12 terrorists. However, if you tally the numbers as he takes out each one, you wind up with 13.
Correction: When does he say 12? He says "unknown number of terrorists...at least 6." Later he says " They're down to nine now, counting the skydiver you meet."
Correction: John only sees twelve of the terrorists. The 13th is the Computer Expert, Theo.
As a point of fact, John sees Theo in the scene where Takagi is killed. Karl and Theo are both in the room during that scene.
3rd Oct 2016
Die Hard (1988)
Corrected entry: When agent Johnson calls for the helicopters to leave in 5 minutes to attack the terrorists at the end of the film, they are standing at Nakatomi Plaza. Five minutes later they are seen in the helicopter. How did they get from the tower to the helicopters for a long ride through LA?
Correction: Special Agent Johnson says "I want that air support ready to lift off in five minutes. Damn right, fully armed. We're on the way." He's not saying the helicopters will be at Nakatomi in five minutes, he's saying that he and Agent Johnson will be where the helicopters are in five minutes. The helicopters are on the ground somewhere within a five minute drive. Special Agent Johnson simply wants the choppers to be ready to take off as soon as he and Agent Johnson arrive. The "long ride through LA" is only about 30 seconds, which would make perfect sense if the helicopters were a five minute drive away from Nakatomi.
14th Apr 2005
Die Hard (1988)
Character mistake: An unloaded automatic pistol is much lighter and balanced differently than a loaded one. When McClane hands "Bill Clay" (Gruber) the empty pistol, a terrorist of Gruber's credentials should pick up on the odd balance (I notice that difference, and I very rarely even pick up a gun).
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: This presumes that a person can notice the difference between a fully-loaded pistol versus a pistol that is empty, which makes sense. However, it would be much more difficult for a person to tell that a gun is completely empty versus one that only has one or two bullets loaded. Since Gruber has no way of knowing his ruse didn't work, he doesn't believe McClane would have given him a completely empty gun. He obviously believes there is at the very least one bullet in the gun. He's not planning on getting into a shootout with McClane, he is just planning to threaten him and he certainly doesn't need a fully loaded gun to do that.
Suggested correction: It's easy to tell the different between the weight of a loaded vs. unloaded pistol, but given Hans had never held the pistol before, he had no way to compare the weight. Unless he regularly handled that particular model of pistol (unlikely, given his pistol is a completely different make and model) he would have no point of reference.
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