Why this movie didn't work... let me count the ways...

11. They somehow manage to kill several guys who are armed to the teeth with body armor, night vision, helmets, etc. They didn't bother to take any of that silly stuff though.

12. Why is it that they needed a chopper to get on the roof to get into the vents? They're keeping the folks inside pinned down, yet they can't manage to get an extention ladder up there? Did they forget to pack it?

13. If you were going on a rogue mission to kill cops, and keep a huge corruption scandal under wraps, you'd be sure to put your badge in your front pocket right? Me too.

14. How do they all see so well with no lights, in the middle of the night, with a blizzard going on outside?

15. Flash bangs temporarily blind and deafen anybody who is near them, ya throw a bunch of them in immediately before entering a building with overwhelming force. You don't just throw one inside the building every 15 min. and hope it manages to kill somebody by startling them to death. They have flash-bangs, but no fragmentation grenades? They don't know how to use flash-bangs, even though they're trained officers?

16. Why was the main bad-guy cop, Duvall I think was his name, running around in the woods with no rifle, no body armor, no night vision, and only one of his grossly incompotent officers with him?

17. Why did they have a "secretary" in the precinct with no police training whatsoever? And why was it necessary for a secretary to be there all night?

18. The shrink says "the complex problems keep me distracted". How does repeating multiples of nine, or doubling numbers seem to use up all of the brain power of someone with a doctrate degree? 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54. OWWWWWWW my head is killing me! Obviously these problems would be considered complex by anybody simple-minded enough to enjoy the movie. 2-4-6-8 who do we appreciate? The suckers who paid 8 bucks to go see this movie!!!!

19. The sword seems to easily penetrate the kevlar vest when the two druggies jump in and save the shrink. Maybe it was a magic sword.

20. If the bad cops are jamming all police frequencies, how do they manage to use their own radios? Or are they using the special walkie-talkies they picked up from Toys 'R Us.

Firstly, I agree this movie has faults but I think that overall it was an entertaining action film. Secondly, every movie has goofs no matter how careful the production team are, and most films also suspend disbelief to some extent. I've seen dozens of films where a small number of characters manage to survive or overcome when they are hugely outnumbered, and seen films where people are shot at from a close range and yet they don't get hit. I'd imagine that in real life this is possible but unlikely. And as far as suspending disbelief I don't think this film asked us to do that to the same extent that a lot of films do.

1. The sound of the blizzard probably would have softened the sounds of gunshots or explosions. Also, my impression of the precinct from the film was that it was located on the outskirts of Detroit, in a rundown industrial type area near a forest. It is likely that most lot of the nearby buildings were empty factories and such.

3. I do think that it's quite possible, but again you may have to suspend belief a little in order to enjoy the film. The whole premise relies upon the action being set in one isolated place, with the characters being attacked by an outside force and not having any reinforcements. I don't think it's a huge leap of logic to understand that the phone lines and power have been cut and cell phone and radio frequencies blocked.

The fact that it's an old, rundown and soon-to-be-closed precinct, and that it's New Year's Eve, would suggest that no one would have any reason to try to contact the station. I do think it is possible that someone might have tried to contact someone in the station, Alex for example who was due to attend a party, and that someone might have tried to find them.

But the one biggest flaw I thought of was the fact that Bishop, a highly intelligent and dangerous criminal, was given such a minimal police escort, and that the police force would have wanted to maintain constant communication with the escorts to ensure that everything was okay. However it is possible that Duvall had the power or influence to make decisions about how this kind of protocol was to be carried out. It would have been more realistic if the Bishop character had still had a similar role in that he knew about Duvall's corruption, but that he was only a minor criminal and thus wouldn't have been considered as big a threat. Thus the lack of checking up on him and such a small escort would be more conceivable, although I think that the character probably would have been less interesting.

4. I think this one is really up to circumstance. I'm sure there have been instances where someone has been walking along and been hit by a car and died instantly, and instances where someone has been hit at exactly the same speed but been unhurt. If the man hiding in the back of the SUV was lying on the ground or backseat he may have been perfectly fine.

5. Perhaps Duvall slowly acquired weapons and such over time and stockpiled them for such an event. As a presumably rich and successful cop he may have been able to convince people to turn a blind eye whilst he acquired some of his equipment, not to mention his position in the crime world. But again, this is such a big part of the film that I think it's okay to suspend belief slightly or else the film would be stupid- how else could they attack the precinct?

6. Of course this is unrealistic- but again I refer you to almost any action film.

7. From what we learn in the film it seems that Jasper was the only one who had any idea about the tunnels, and he says that he had forgotten. It's perhaps impluasible, but possible. In such an extreme life or death situation you might be too concerned with survival to think about another method of escape. However, his betrayal provides many more explanations. Perhaps he remembered about the tunnels right from the start but decided to withhold that information in case it could be helpful or so he could escape on his own. Maybe he didn't even know about them at all, but when he took the handcuffs off the door (and was seen by Bishop) he may have been instructed to lead the others through the tunnels, right to Duvall, which would explain why they were caught as soon as they left the tunnel.

8. You could look at it that way. I think at the start Roenick didn't want to let Bishop free as it was his duty not to. Plus they didn't have a full idea of Bishop's information and the strength of the assault they would be facing. As for arming him, definitely not the most safe decision in the world, but I think by then they realised that Duvall wanted to kill all of them lest his corruption be revealed, and that there was strength in numbers. And by then I think most of them just wanted to survive rather than caring about whether Bishop escaped or not. And again, the main concept of the film is that in a deserted, isolated police station, the cops and forced to release and arm the prisoners in order to survive an outside attack, so you would lose a lot of the tension and purpose of the film if that didn't happen.

9. The whole point of the last few scenes was that Roenick wanted to track down Bishop himself. It is likely Bishop probably went off to recuperate and would have resumed his position in the underworld, and Roenick wanted to take him down personally. It may be a bizarre choice for most of us but it's much too obvious to be a goof.

there were a lot of holes in this movie, including that a huge snowstorm causes this notorious criminal to be held in a hole in the wall precinct, manned by about three people... now where was this HUGE storm? everyone outside seems to be sitting pretty.

before trying to shoot up the place and get in to kill bishop, why didnt they just walk in nicely and come up with another plan to kill him, the guy is like a head cop afterall

just curious why no one assumed that the people that broke in werent bishops crew trying to free him? thats what i thought at first, but maybe thats just me

but about hawke let bishop walk away without telling the cops, he did that because he said he and only he would catch him right before he leaves.

[deleted]

[deleted]

You may be right but it doesnt matter.....we get to see Maria Bello wet and hot.

8. At teh beginning when the first cops come through the window near the cells and try to kill Bishop, everyone else thinks that they are coming to rescue Bishop. However, later on after Ethan Hawk fights that guy on the bus and sees his nametag, the attacking cops realize that they have to kill every single person in the precinct, because they know who they are. That is when Bishop is let free. So they could not give Bishop to the cops in hope of them leaving at this point because the cops now want to kill every one of them

" I see your schwartz is as big as mine"

u make gud points but it just a *beep* movie jezz i would hate to watch a movie with u to be honnest dude i think u have way to much time on ur hands