Question: Harry burns his hand by touching a red hot doorknob, and then cools it off by putting in the snow. In real life, wouldn't putting in his hand in the snow make the burn worse?
Answer: Putting ice or cold water on a burn provides immediate temporary relief. It wouldn't make the burn worse.
Answer: In real life, what on earth was he supposed to have done differently? Putting it in the snow would have been the first thing to come to mind.
Stupidity: When a cop goes to Kevin's house after being requested by police, he simply knocks on the door and after a few seconds walks away assuming no ones home. Had he actually bothered to announce himself as a cop, Kevin would have opened the door and he would have been found safe.
Suggested correction: Some people just aren't good at their job or are too lazy. The cop didn't like the idea of being sent on a possible fake call and didn't put in the extra effort. Or he was simply waiting for someone to ask who it was before identifying himself. Plus the cop would have had no idea Kevin was hiding and not answering the door because he was scared nor that saying he was the police would get him to answer the door, he could have simply thought a kid left alone would answer the door to anyone.
Even if he thought it was a fake call, he still should have identified himself. By doing this, he could have confirmed that Kevin was indeed left alone.
And the script could have been written a 100 different ways to prevent Kevin from being left home alone, but that doesn't mean there's a plot hole or movie mistake.
Creating series of silly explanations for obvious mistakes/plotholes never resolves them. He should have identified himself regardless of the circumstances.
Exactly.
Perhaps the officer's failure to identify himself (as well as other deficiencies in the way he responded to the call) would more accurately be classified as a "character mistake"? This may result in fewer criticisms (corrections) while not negating the "stupidity."
Maybe it should be. Because he acted much too unprofessionally for a police officer.
Corrected entry: There is no such thing as a fully booked long-haul flight like the one Mrs. McCallister needs. A few seats are always kept spare in case of emergencies. If not required they are given to airline employees. If an airline would not find her a seat the U.S. Embassy in Paris would, and the airline receptionist would know perfectly well that she had to ring them. One phone call from an embassy staffer and Mrs. McCallister would be on a flight. She is not stupid - she would know exactly what to do.
Correction: Airlines routinely remove passengers from flights in order to accommodate people who require emergency transport. Just ask Dr David Dao, who was forcibly dragged off a United Airlines flight to make room for another passenger. His is just the most notable case. In fact it happens all the time.
If someone thought to call the embassy.
If Mrs McAllister didn't - and nothing in her character suggests that she is so stupid as to neglect such a vital fact - the one of the airline staff to whom she tells her story either would have told her to or would have done so on her behalf. That is an essential part of their training. As one poster said, it happens all the time.
Correction: Unless two or three of the other millions of people in all of Paris happened to have some sort of an emergency (or even faked one to get a seat) and also needed a flight that same day. Not terrifically unlikely, especially during the holiday season.
Not terrifically unlikely, terrifically impossible. There are eighty flights from Charles de Gaulle airport to the east coast of the USA every day and a similar number from Paris Orly. Mrs McAllister would be on one of those flights even if that meant forcibly removing a paying passenger to accommodate her. That's not my opinion, it's a fact.
I recognize the validity of the 'Emergency Flight Accommodation" deals mentioned above, but here's the thing-a major part of the movie (however unbelievable) is that nobody except Mrs. McAllister recognizes that the situation is an emergency. Take the earlier scene, where a cop is sent over: He knocks on the door a few times. We know that Kevin is home, just hiding under the bed. With no answer, he mutters into his walkie-talkie to "count their kids again", and drives off. That's. It. No further investigation, no repeat police visit. It's basically like Mrs. McAllister is an unreliable woman-who-cried-wolf. Given this, why the hell would an airline in this same 'world' start jostling passengers around and messing with its itinerary? Now that I think about it, a lot of this movie is like a nightmare about a Cassandra Complex, lol.
Corrected entry: When Kevin orders his own cheese pizza and has it delivered, he has some fun with the delivery guy. He plays the video in which someone gets shot and killed. The pizza guy is obviously scared and runs away, believing that he is being shot at. Surely someone who thinks they have just been threatened by a gun would either call the police or investigate further. And if the police got a call of that nature, they would definitely check it out.
Correction: The pizza boy probably realised he'd been pranked a minute later when he calmed down and realised how silly the situation was. Also, the man with the gun did pay for his pizza, even if the tip was lousy.
Correction: I was a pizza boy for a while, I assure you, this isn't all that worse from the way they treat us for real. The man is probably used to this.
Correction: He was probably so terrified that he just bolted and the police never even crossed his mind.
Not necessarily true. When he returns to the shop and people see he is terrified they would ring police after he explained.
OK, so he calls the police when he gets back to the shop, or stops someplace to find a phone. The cops go out and find no bullet holes in the door or walls and no signs that the place had been shot up. Where's the crime?
Continuity mistake: When Frank squishes Fuller with the chair, we see Frank walk off. However about 5 seconds later we see Frank's wife rescue Fuller, and Frank walks off again. (00:09:35)
Suggested correction: Not a mistake. Frank never walks off the first time.
Perhaps the wrong phrase was used. He actually moves away from the front part of the seat to the left and out of shot of the camera. When the shot is shown of Frank's wife rescuing fuller, Frank repeats his actions of walking away from the front part of the seat and moving to his left. There is no reasonable reason he would move back in front of the chair for the purpose of repeating this action. Especially since his wife is trying to rescue Fuller and would not permit Frank to return to his original position. So the mistake is valid, just an error in wording.
Answer: Yes, on major burns you never want to use ice or cold water because it can further damage the tissue and water can cause bacterial infections. A 2nd degree burn on the hand is considered a major burn. However, in the context of the film not only would Harry not know this and seek for immediate relief, we don't really see the extent of the tissue damage so we don't know how much the ice affected it.
Bishop73
Would Harry have gotten a 2nd degree burn if the door knob was as hot as shown in the movie?
He definitely would have gotten 2nd degree burns, more likely 3rd degree given the handle was shown to be red hot. Although it should be noted, the red glow would indicate the handle was over 900°F and at that temp, the door itself would probably have caught fire before Harry touches the doorknob.
Bishop73