Yes, "Die Hard" Fans, You Can Drive from Moscow to Chernobyl in One Night

Warning: This post contains some extremely minor spoilers to a movie with essentially no plot.

I had the joy of watching "A Good Day to Die Hard" (aka "Die Hard 5") the other day, and needless to say, plot holes were aplenty. The basic story is that John McClane (Bruce Willis) goes to Russia to save his rabble-rouser son, who is in trouble with the law. We soon learn that his son is actually working for the CIA, so there was no need for pops to even come in the first place. Oh John McClane and your misunderstandings!

A corresponding storyline involves a high-level Russian official, a political prisoner, and a mysterious file. The official tries to strong-arm the prisoner into giving up the file, but he refuses to reveal its location. There is a dramatic escape right when the trial is about to begin. Within a few minutes, everyone is shooting machine guns, McClane is racing through Moscow, and half the city is on fire.

Long story short: It turns out the political prisoner knows that the government official covered up effects from the Chernobyl disaster. I guess the official wants to destroy that evidence before the next election - oh wait, they don't have elections. Nevermind.

At the end of their first day together, McClane's son tells his old man about the file and the cover-up. The two - who are still in Moscow - decide to steal a car and drive to Chernobyl that night.

That's right. Just drive from Moscow to Chernobyl in the northern Ukraine! They head out, and the next morning, they are in Chernobyl.

Impossible, right? No! It turns out that the driving distance from Moscow to Chernobyl is about 900 kilometers. That's doable!



Still, there are so many unanswered questions about this road trip: How many times did they have to stop for gas? Did they use a credit card? Did they pack snacks, or did they hit up some all-night diners along the way? How did they get across the border without anyone noticing? How did the cuts / wounds on their faces magically heal during the drive?

There are a million plot problems in "Die Hard 5." But driving from Moscow to Chernobyl overnight is not one of them. I apologize to Bruce Willis and all of the scriptwriters for doubting their geographic knowledge!