15 Most Confusing Movie Moments Nobody Understands

5. The Water Puzzle - Die Hard With A Vengeance

The Scene: John McClane (Bruce Willis) and Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson) are faced with their next challenge from Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons). They are given a 3-gallon plastic jug and a 5-gallon plastic jug, one of which needs to be filled with 4 gallons of water and placed on the scales to prevent the bomb exploding. More than 1 ounce over that weight and the bomb will detonate anyway. The two quickly realise they can't fill the 3-gallon jug with 4 gallons (obviously), but as the pair try to work out the solution, it's almost impossible for the viewer to figure out how they've actually solving the puzzle. Their arguing combined with the close-up shots and a cutaway to Gruber's activities appears to obscure the solution, and even Roger Ebert remarked the fact that McClane and Zeus don't seem to actually complete the puzzle on-camera in any coherent way. Nevertheless, they figure it out somehow, and are soon enough high-fiving their way out of there.

What It Probably Means: The likely answer is that the filmmakers intentionally rushed through the puzzle in order to ensure a quick resolution to the scene and not bore casual film fans.

The most frequently-cited solution to the puzzle is decidedly more intricate than is shown in the movie: a) Fill the 5-gallon jug to the brim while the 3-gallon jug stays empty b) Transfer 3 gallons from the 5-gallon jug to the 3-gallon jug, filling it to the top but ensuring to avoid spillage c) The 5-gallon jug now has 2 gallons left in it, and the 3-gallon jug now needs to be emptied d) Pour the 2 gallons from the 5-gallon jug into the 3-gallon jug e) Fill the 5-gallon jug to the brim and pour a gallon from it into the 3-gallon jug, filling it to the top, and again avoiding spillage f) The 5-gallon jug now has 4 gallons left in it.

Simply, if anyone can do this within the ridiculous 2-minute time limit Gruber gives them, then they probably deserve their own movie franchise. As for the movie itself, it seems like Jonathan Hensleigh's script really wanted to hold onto a brilliant brain teaser but didn't think people would actually care about the solution.