the ending was unrealistic.


the lawsuits alone.

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Actually, it's realistic that the architect who built that monstrosity would be planning a new and better version the moment the crisis had passed, the truth about the lawsuits and his career being over would only sink in the next day.

My favorite thing about the ending is the water tanks. Blow up water tanks on the top floor, and all the water would spread outwards and not down - there would be no open channels on the top floor that would send the water trickling through the building and putting out fires. No, the water would go sideways and then down once it was outside the building, there would be a few seconds of an umbrella-shaped spray of water from the top floor, and then the water would gently cascade through the open air to the street, completely bypassing the fires.

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I assumed that when they blew up the water tanks that holes were created in the roof otherwise it would be tough for the water to get inside the building.

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Oh sure, there might have been holes in the floor of that story, and maybe a story or two below. But did the explosion punch holes in the next hundred floors so the water could get to the areas that were burning?

Think about it, even if the water got into the stairwells, the water would just... fall through the stairwells. Maybe a little would splash through open doors and onto floors that were burning, but not enough to put out the fires. No, the force of the water from the top floor would go mostly sideways, and anything that could go straight down would go straight down. It wouldn't branch out on the 50th floor, or wherever the fire was, but it might knock firemen in the stairwells off their feet and send them plummeting to their deaths.

Such a goofy movie...

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You've described it perfectly well. The ceiling of the Promenade Room (where all the guests are) is breached by the explosives and that's pretty much the limit of where the water will go. A million gallons would come flooding down to the one floor where all the people are congregated (and where there's NO FIRE) and would flow out the windows creating a 135-storey-high waterfall. None of that water is going to reach the lower floors.

I also hate that conversation between the Chief and the structural engineer:

Navy officer: Tell the chief your calculations.
Engineer: The structural strength of the joists in that room could definitely withstand the explosion.
Chief: [WTF?] What explosion??

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When they were getting ready to plant the charges, Newman's character said they would have to blow the floor out as well the tanks.

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THE WHOLE MOVIE IS UNREALISTIC, YOU MORON!

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