Question: When McClane crashes the bicycle into the bad guy, as he's trying to get back up airport police hold a gun on him and ask him for his ID (allowing the bad guy to get away) The airport police was with the janitor who let John into baggage area in the first place. He could've collaborated with John' story and confirmed he saw his ID previously but instead he just stands there smiling. Why would he not tell the airport police they've got the wrong person straight away?
BaconIsMyBFF
15th Dec 2022
Die Hard 2 (1990)
16th Mar 2021
Die Hard 2 (1990)
Question: When McClane asks Barnes to 'break the code' on one of the baddies' Walkie Talkies, Barnes tells him it is impossible as it is a 10 button device with a 6 digit readout..."There could be a million combinations!" How can there be a million combinations? Surely the largest number on a 6 digit readout is 999,999.
Answer: You forgot 000000.
Answer: Totally agree with the other answer, but also, someone saying, "There could be a million combinations!" can also just be a deliberate hyperbole, and never meant to be taken literally. It's like saying, "I told you that a thousand times already."
Except that a 6-digit code literally has a million combinations. It's not hyperbole at all.
Oh really? No kidding? Never disputed that there was one million combinations. The character, however, could have intended his comment as a hyperbolized, off-the-cuff remark that was not meant to be an exact number count. He said, "There COULD be a million combinations!" He did not say, "There are precisely one million combinations." He could have meant it either way. There was more than one way to interpret what he said.
This is a strange situation because the wording suggests that Barnes is using hyperbole ("there COULD be a million combinations..."), but mathematically the number of possible combinations with a 0-9 keypad and a 6 digit readout is exactly 1 million (10x10x10x10x10x10 = 1,000,000). So he is technically not using hyperbole but that was his intent. So it's both hyperbole and not hyperbole at the same time. It's kind of fascinating, actually.
22nd Nov 2020
Die Hard 2 (1990)
Question: Can someone please put to bed a question that has been raised and not answered...why would the terrorists try to blow McClane up with grenades that have enough of a delay to make a quick coffee in?
Answer: There is no in-universe explanation...they didn't go to an arms dealer and say, "Give us your longest-fused grenades, we want to give our target a sporting chance." There is no deleted scene where Col. Stuart wonders aloud why those grenades took so long to explode, while making himself a coffee. This-the hero in a deadly situation and escaping in the nick of time, regardless of how long grenades actually take to explode in the real world-is an action movie trope and nothing more, in a film that is chock full of them. It would be a pretty sad movie, not to mention a bad one, if McClane got blown to bits by grenades, and the bad guys won.
But surely they could have filmed this scene in slo-mo to stretch out the 7 second delay to whatever it becomes, OR edited it in such a way it appears to take longer when it actually doesn't?
The grenade fuse time is deliberately lengthened so the audience can process what is happening. The audience has to see the danger of the grenades, understand that McClane must get out of the cockpit without the bad guys shooting him, see McClane think of the ejector seat plan, and then execute that plan. It's ridiculously unrealistic but McClane is meant to be clever and resourceful so the audience has to see him work out the problem. If you used slo-mo it would make it seem like McClane instantly figured out a solution, which would make him look superhuman.
Answer: It's worth noting that they wouldn't have to pull the pins out of all the grenades, just one. That one would cause the others to explode as well.
Answer: As Captain Lorenzo explains (in very colorful language) what McClane does is improper. He has no authority to order the janitor to let him in an employee-only area by flashing a badge from the LAPD. All the janitor knows is that some cop (not airport police) showed his badge and asked to be let into the baggage area, which should sound suspicious to airport police right off the bat. It is likely they intended to detain anyone they saw in the baggage area, including McClane, and confirm their ID. The airport police officer apologizes once McClane's badge is found (off-screen) and gives it back to him, saying "Sorry, officer. Had to check." Even after all this Lorenzo suspects the men were simply stealing luggage and castigates McClane for getting into a shoot-out and killing a man on a hunch, especially since he has no jurisdiction in the airport.
BaconIsMyBFF