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Harry not using his gun
- Harry clearly states that he has a gun on him. After Kevin takes a picture of them robbing the toy store, gets on his uncle's roof and starts chucking bricks, why doesn't Harry just shoot him, enter the building somehow, and get the camera himself?
- I imagine it's because you shouldn't be fooled by the "One's Stupid, One's Smart" duo thing going on there - the Wet Bandits are both stupid; Marv's just stupider. That's my take, anyway. Alternatively, Harry might not have wanted to attract attention from firing a gun on the streets, and if I recall correctly, when he does pull out his gun, it had no silencer. And he was at the edge of his patience. I'm sure if Harry might've gotten a few of those bricks, though, it might have changed.
- He was in New York. A gunshot wouldn't attract attention.
- New York is not Somalia.
- Somalia isn't Somalia either (at least, that media image of Somalia people in the West came to believe exists in the real world).
- If he shot at Kevin from the street, it might have attracted attention and made it harder to get away unnoticed by the time he got inside, got the camera, and got out. He didn't have the gun immediately handy when Kevin first appeared at the toy store; he mostly took chase with the intent of shooting him.
- He probably only had a handful of bullets and wanted to be sure he had a clear shot.
- It might also be a question of morals. Remember: Harry and Marv are first and foremost thieves. Their method of choice is usually to break into peoples' houses while they're not there, which effectively minimizes the risk of anyone getting hurt. So, sure, threatening Kevin, why not? But actually killing him? That's on a whole different scale of evil.
- Exactly. As we all know, Even Evil Has Standards.
- But they seemed quite willing to kill him at the end of the first movie. True, their time in prison might have given them a chance to cool off, but then why did they go after him in the second film even before he ruined their heist? What were they planning to do, give him a wedgie and let him go?
- In the first film, they wanted to put him through his own traps, not kill him. If those traps didn't cause any serious bodily harm to Harry and Marv (since in the Home Alone universe, people can survive almost anything), they probably wouldn't have killed Kevin, even though he was smaller than them.
- In any case, just because Harry had a gun doesn't mean he was any proficient at using it.
- Or willing to use it. Just because you can hold a weapon in your hand doesn't mean you're cold blooded enough to shoot a 9 year old between the eyes.
- He would have to have been a pretty decent shot to produce, aim and fire the weapon at a small, distant and moving target in the dark before Kevin ducks. Even if he managed it, there's still the matter of him being in a highly populated area and the shot would have attracted attention. Finally, they're on foot and won't be able to get very far before the police start searching the area for the crack-shot who just executed a nine year old. Remember the first movie - Marv is stupid enough to leave a trail of evidence everywhere he goes, Harry less so.
- Decent shot? He would have to be an extremely good shot to hit Kevin at that point. He would have to hit a target of less than a foot square while angry and shooting a revolver from a distance of more than 40 feet nearly vertically with two gloved hands. Even the best marksmen would have a difficult time hitting him.
- And, Kevin could quickly evade him as he drew, which is reflected in the fact that he managed to avoid getting hit by Marv's retaliatory brick.
- And if Harry misses (as he surely will)? There's a decent chance the bullet(s) would fly into the air, stop for a moment, then fall back straight down at huge velocity (albeit slower than regular muzzle velocity) and kill either Harry, Marv or both of them. Or anyone else in the city, which is a risk they aren't going to take. Harry's dumb, but considerations like this and the sheer difficulty of the shot will dissuade him from even trying it.
- Harry clearly doesn't want to shoot Kevin unless he's either out of options, or until he's pushed well past his breaking point - early on, he mentions wanting to get Kevin into the subway tunnel, to get him somewhere where the murder won't be noticed until they're LONG gone from the area. He's clearly got enough sense to know that while being an escaped fugitive who's about to commit a major burglary, if it fails, is ALREADY going to get him in serious hot water with the police; adding the murder of a child to that, if it can in any way be traced back to him as well, will probably get him the fast track to death row, officially or... let's say "otherwise".
- I imagine it's because you shouldn't be fooled by the "One's Stupid, One's Smart" duo thing going on there - the Wet Bandits are both stupid; Marv's just stupider. That's my take, anyway. Alternatively, Harry might not have wanted to attract attention from firing a gun on the streets, and if I recall correctly, when he does pull out his gun, it had no silencer. And he was at the edge of his patience. I'm sure if Harry might've gotten a few of those bricks, though, it might have changed.
The Bird Lady's problem
- What's wrong with the Bird Lady? I understand Kevin fearing Old Man Marley because Buzz scared him with a story, but why exactly does Kevin declare the Bird Lady "sick" upon first seeing her? She's not ugly or deformed, and she's (oddly enough for someone who spends all her time with pigeons) not covered in bird feces. What's his problem?
- He's a kid, she's some lady who has a permanent "stern face," is covered in birds. I guess he forgot the lesson he learned in the previous film so that they could repeat the "scary stranger turns out to be a kind person, whom Kevin befriends" thing.
- Kevin is ten. A Forgotten Aesop would not be out of character, especially since he's alone again and likely scared and stressed.
- I don't think he "forgot" it so much as the people in question were on different levels of "weird". The only reason Kevin was scared of Marley at all was Buzz's story; aside from an occasional stare, there's nothing outwardly imposing about him, and anyone more mature or less impressionable would see him for what he is. The Pigeon Lady is a little different; she's a homeless woman in ratty clothes covered in birds. Average people probably would find her a little out there.
- He's a kid, she's some lady who has a permanent "stern face," is covered in birds. I guess he forgot the lesson he learned in the previous film so that they could repeat the "scary stranger turns out to be a kind person, whom Kevin befriends" thing.
- Maybe he had ornithophobia
?
Room service charges
- It seems odd that the Plaza would charge the family for room service after they gave them a suite for their screw up.
- It's a big family; they probably would have had to fire someone if they didn't charge them for something.
- I like to think that it was the concierge and his staff getting back at Kevin for putting them through hell during the chase scene. Send the whippersnapper's dad a $967 room service bill and let things sort themselves out.
- At early 1990's prices, there's no way that Kevin racked up that high a room service bill in less than a week. note My guess is that the concierge tacked on an outrageous extra fee (like maybe doubling the bill) for time and trouble to him and his staff, and thinks that Peter won't challenge the bill or demand an itemised receipt.
- We get a quick glance at a few of the things he ordered including 2 cakes, an ice cream bar, 6 orders of mousse, 8 strawberry tarts, 6 flan, 36 chocolate covered strawberries, and an entire pastry cart (which alone is $210). And that is just one page of several. Take those and the tip off and the total is less than $350. Certainly reasonable if he's eating every meal there (plus snacks) for several days.
- If nothing else, it may have just been a deterrent to prevent the family from abusing the generosity and racking up their own massive bill. For all they know, Kevin had gained his extravagant taste from his family and they didn't want to have to deal with 967 x 20+ dollars’ worth of expenses and damages. Plus, remember, Kevin's room was on a shared floor and had pulled the Angels With Even Filthier Souls prank - the backlash from that among the other guests would be painful too.
- Even though by all accounts all of the charges should have been comped, the hotel staff was still acting on good faith when Kevin ordered all that stuff, assuming Peter was on his way. The question is, is whether or not after talking with Kevin did he dispute the bill?
Harry the Car Smasher
- How is Harry able to smash the car up that badly? He probably got thrown one or two stories up, and I can't count how many other—more realistic—films where a character falls from a much greater height on to a car and doesn't crush it nearly as much.
- The films operate on a certain amount of cartoon physics. They're family movies, they're not there to show battered corpses and horrible wounds.
Marv's immunity to brain trauma from brick-hitting
- How can Marv have multiple bricks hit him in the head and suffer nothing worse than an ugly mark on his forehead? Shouldn't his brains be splatted all over the pavement?
- How is he later able to survive getting electrocuted without going into cardiac arrest? How is Harry able to survive falling on that car without shattering his spine or survive sticking his burning head in a toilet full of kerosene virtually unscathed? Because Harry and Marv are apparently invincible.
- They're like Saiyans. Whatever doesn't kill them simply makes them.... stranger.
- Actually, it's not just in Home Alone 2. In this video, you can see that some of Kevin's traps from the first two films would have killed both Harry and Marv multiple times over.
- They're not human but are Terminator prototypes accidentally let loose. They may be dumb, but are utterly invincible and will NEVER stop until Kevin is dead.
- As stated, this is a family movie that operates on cartoon logic.
The incompetent gate agent
- Kevin convinces the ticket clerk to let him on the plane before it leaves. When on the plane, the clerk asks if Kevin sees anyone he knows, and Kevin sees the back of the guy's head he was following and says, "There's my dad over there!" Instead of questioning it, the clerk goes along with it and tells him to find an empty seat. I don't care how big a hurry the plane was in to leave; there's always time to go over to the man and verify that he's Kevin's father (which he wasn't). Furthermore, are we to believe that Kevin wouldn't have shouted "Hey dad!" or something? I know this would've ended the movie really quickly, but this scenario wouldn't happen in real life.
- The lady works in an airport. It's Christmas. While she might normally have the mental and moral fortitude to make absolutely sure, it's probably been battered out of her at that point. Kid says "That's my dad!", the lady goes "Okay, that's your dad, move on through, move on through."
- You want to claim that there are no incompetent people in real life?
- If the gate agent or anyone in a position of authority looks too closely at Kevin and helps him, you don't have a film. The amount of hoops both films go through to make their plot happen goes beyond coincidence.
- This is certainly something that you could never do today in a Post-9/11 airport. Then again, much of the events of the films wouldn't be able to happen with airport safety and security changes.
Kate's search for Kevin
- After getting to the hotel, Kevin's mom declares she's going into New York to look for him. Why didn't she go to their relative's house, the one Kevin found by himself (The movie would have taken quite a turn when she got caught in his traps though...)?
- She knew that the relative was on vacation.
- She does actually stop there and knock on the door, then immediately turns around and hails a cab for Times Square. A few seconds later, Kevin arrives.
Room Service Bill
- At the end of the film, Cedric hands Buzz the bill that Kevin's racked up during his stay. He proceeds to show this to his dad, who cries out loud, end film. What I've always wondered was:
- Why does Cedric hand them the bill on Christmas Day? Surely there's a better time to get the bill from your stay, for example when, I don't know, actually checking out of the hotel?
- Why is Peter so pissed about the bill? I get it, $967 is still a fair chunk of money, but it's clear that Kevin's parents earn an incredibly good wage (the big house in the Chicago suburbs, the annual Christmas trips to France and Florida etc). What's just under $1000 to them? If Kevin had bought anything dangerous or forbidden (like drugs or a gun or other such nonsense) that I would get... but cookies and ice-cream? If my 10 year old son spent $1000 or less just on that (when I had the disposable income of Peter) I like to think I wouldn't be so pissed.
- 1) Mr. Hector, the Hotel Concierge, wound up taking the blame for a lot of things that happened, so he handed them the bill that day out of revenge for all the crap Kevin put him through. 2) That $967 was charged to Peter's credit card, and it wasn't Kevin's money to spend. Disposable income or not, if I had a child who ran up such a large bill on my credit card, I'd be mad too.
- Kevin spent $967 just on room service; that's on top of whatever he paid to get the room in the first place, for however long he planned to stay, and any other expenses. Kevin spent way more than $967; that's just the most ridiculous of his expenses.
- But there's no way that Kevin racked up that high a room service bill (even if you factor in that one limo ride) in less than a week. note Likely, the concierge tacked on an outrageous extra fee (like maybe doubling the bill) for time and trouble to him and his staff, and thinks that Peter won't challenge the bill or demand an itemised receipt. He had Cedric hand the bill to Peter then in an attempt to see Kevin get in trouble for the bill.
- We get a quick glance at a few of the things he ordered including 8 strawberry tarts, 6 flan, 36 chocolate covered strawberries, and an entire pastry cart (which alone is $210). And that is just one page of six or seven. Take those and the tip off and the total for everything else is less than $350. Certainly reasonable if he's eating every meal there (plus snacks) for several days.
- Yeah, it is itemised, for Peter's "convenience". But remember, Kevin appears to check in on December 23rd, then gets chased out of the hotel on Christmas Eve. Seemingly he racked up that bill over only one day's stay.
- Mr. Hector is definitely malicious enough to try and ruin their Christmas as revenge... but given that the McCallisters have been given a complimentary suite, maybe it's also an attempt to scare them into not making outrageous charges to their room the way Kevin has (see Room Service Charges above).
- They were at one of the most expensive hotels in New York, so it's not out of the question that room service would be overpriced.
- Fancy hotels used to make a lot of money this way, especially before the advent of exceptionally common restaurant delivery services like Grub Hub.
Harry and Marv's plans for Kevin
- What exactly were Harry and Marv planning to do with Kevin after they caught him outside the hotel? Marv implies they could drown him, and Harry says something about keeping him on ice in a subway tunnel. It sounds like they were planning to hide and tie him up somewhere in a subway until after their toy store heist, at which point they would come back and kill him.
- Throw the kid into the river for Marv. Throw him onto railroad tracks and have him run over or electrocuted by the third rail for Harry. Very nice men.
Murder Methods
- Relating to the above theory, why did Harry and Marv drag Kevin to the subway to kill him? They already had a nice, secluded area to strangle or stomp him to death at. It might be surveilled, but then they've already been caught on tape, might as well take full advantage. Even if they didn't cross the lady at the crosswalk, it's unlikely that the station would be empty enough that no one would see them or that Kevin would be so quiet when his life is in immediate danger.
- Leaving the body in a subway tunnel after killing him there would not only hide the murder, but put the body somewhere it would not likely be found for days, if not weeks.
Harry and Marv's break-out
- How did Harry and Marv get regular clothes after breaking out of prison? And where did Harry get a gun?
- They stole them. They are thieves, after all.
- Or bought them at a store after stealing money. Not like you need a background check or Walmart keep lists of escapees for cashiers to look for.
- My guess is they stole the gun off a guard during the riot.
The Bird Lady's Residence
- Is anyone aware that bird lady lives above the concert hall?
- Either the staff or owner of the hall thought she was okay to stay there, or they probably don't care that much.
- The owner of Carnegie Hall? Aka the City of New York?
- In the novelisation (which was based on the original screenplay), Kevin asks her if she lives above the concert hall; she replies that she doesn't, and that she has an apartment. Given that she's never explicitly stated to be homeless, it's possible that this is still canon to the movie (though it does raise the question of how she pays for said apartment).
- Apartments in NYC are often what we elsewhere would call condos: for purchase, not rent. We also don't know how long she's been feeding the pigeons or if she had money beforehand.
- Either the staff or owner of the hall thought she was okay to stay there, or they probably don't care that much.
Robbing Duncan's Toy Chest after blabbing
- Harry and Marv may be stupid, but they should have known better than to go through with the robbery. Marv told Kevin the plan when they had him captured, which Harry knew was dumb, but Marv rationalised it by saying that they were going to kill him before he could tell anyone. So even Marv is bright enough to know that they can't have anyone alive and out there in New York who knows their plan. Then Kevin escapes. And they go ahead and rob the joint anyway. At least in the first movie they knew they'd be dealing with just a kid, didn't know the kid knew they were coming, and thought they could scare him into cooperating. With Kevin out there knowing exactly when and where they will commit a robbery, why wouldn't they assume he'll call the cops?
- Because they honestly thought (hoped) that he had gotten lost in Central Park or better yet, died in there ("grown men go into the park and don't leave alive- good luck kid"). Marv was stupid enough to tell him the plan in the first place, so him saying it wouldn't matter isn't really a great feat of his intellect, so yes they really are just THAT dumb, not to mention greedy and desperate. There was also only a few hours between that scene and the actual robbery, so they may have decided just to risk it. As it happens, Kevin didn't rat them out to the police, so they nearly got away with it regardless. You could also argue that Harry and Marv had no idea Kevin even knew what or where Duncan's Toy Chest even was, and he might not have remembered the name if he had.
- They're lucky Kevin didn't do something like go to the cops to report a tip (which would leave the police to stake out the toy store and swoop in to catch them as they walked out), and the reason he didn't go to the cops was because the Plaza staff had figured out he was using his dad's stolen credit card and for all Kevin knows, the concierge had indeed filed a police report with a description of Kevin when they responded to the call about the whole "insane guest with a gun" charade Kevin pulled with Angels With Even Filthier Souls.
- See my question further down the page about how him doing that prank would likely have led to a SWAT team response, and not easily brushed off by the police in the aftermath.
- As seen in the first film, the pair (especially Marv) aren't the best and brightest of criminals. They also may have staked their continued escape on that haul and (with Kevin throwing a wrench in their plans) felt the need to get out of New York fast.
- And another indicator of their stupidity: those bags full of cash would never have passed airline security (and so neither would the duo), they may as well have been full of gargantuan crimson flags. They surely don't have the means or the intelligence to launder it, especially given their escape was set up as a hasty getaway.
- I think it may be reasonable to expect that they do have that means. Because in the first film you would at least need a fence to feel reasonably safe in selling on those stolen goods. They must have been living their criminal lifestyle for a while, with their particular MO, so that would necessitate a fence so that they could get money back to actually live on (and not all of the houses they hit will actually have petty cash on hand). If their fence knew launderers, and if one of those launderers were still happy to work with escaped convicts, then Harry would probably see the sense in doing that. Marv thought they'd just jump on a flight to Rio pretty much immediately, but that tracks because he's the (even) stupider one. After the laundering, they'd take their chances with fake passports, either on a plane or perhaps by acquiring a car one way or another and taking a slow, land route into Latin America.
Home to Hotel timeline
- The McCallister family woke up at 8AM. When Kevin checks in at the Plaza Hotel, the clock behind the desk says about 2:50PM. So Kevin went to the airport, checked in, got on the plane, took a flight from Chicago to New York, arrived at JFK International, took a taxi into Manhattan, went to Midtown, Chelsea, Chinatown, Battery Park, the WTC observation deck, Central Park, and the Plaza Hotel, made a reservation and checked in, all in just five hours and fifty minutes (since he would've lost an hour due to switching time zones)?
- I've looked back at the scenes "from the worst god-darn wake-up call(s)" to the flights' departures, and I'm not sure how you deduced they woke up at 8AM? Namely, because Peter botched the alarm clock so you can't even read the correct time off of it. However, watching the equivalent scene in the first movie, the van drivers do indeed say "She said 8 sharp...?!" so maybe that's where you crossed your wires. So let's make an assumption or two for this movie- perhaps the family wanted to compensate for their mistake last time and have the shuttle vans arrive so that they could leave as early as possible (but this was offset by sleeping in again, albeit not as late as 8). According to Google-fu, sunrise in Chicago at this time of year would be 7:15AM, and it has to be at least that early because there is daylight in the scene. Let's say in their mad rush to wake up and vacate the house, they're only 20 minutes later than they intended, so departing at 7:35AM; and yet given the further rush at the airport, they are still only just in time, so they only gain 25 minutes over your 8AM estimate. Therefore Kevin has six hours and 15 minutes to leave the house, arrive in NYC and do all the things you say. Another thing which could help is that he actually lands in LaGuardia Airport, Queens (even though the skyline isn't visible from there, but ehh), which means his taxi journey to mid-Manhattan/Upper East Side will only take him 25 minutes via the Queensboro Bridge, vs the best-case 45 mins by taxi for JFK. So let's game this out further? Put the plane departing at 8:15AM CST; gate to gate, it's 2 hours, 2 minutes, so he lands and slowly walks out in confusion ("where's the family...?) at 11:17AM EST. Then another 35 mins to decide he's happy in to be in NYC, flag down a taxi and cross to Midtown = 11:57AM EST. This gives him two hours and fifty three minutes to randomly jaunt across Manhattan as shown in his tourist montage and get to the hotel. Presume that he did not just walk between the montage spots after his taxi, but took a combination of taxi and perhaps subway in between. His journey takes him from Midtown through the next locations you state, surely chronologically according to the montage, and he is probably spending very brief spells of time soaking up the sights and atmosphere and buying a few tourist trinkets. Let's say he kills 1 hour 50 minutes doing this, then takes 35 minutes getting from the Fish Market to Central Park by whatever means he felt like. Then he still has a good 32 minutes to stroll through whichever side of Central Park he was on to the Plaza and into it's lobby. This is a whole lotta assumptions and a bit fudged as a result, but can anyone local/familiar to NYC vouch for it?
NYC Geography - Does Kevin Teleport?
- Kevin explores NYC at the start of the film via taxi. This makes sense, since he's using the money and credit cards in his dad's backpack to finance this operation. But when he's confronted at the hotel, he leaves behind the backpack with the cash and the (now declined) credit card. Yet, he somehow manages to make his way from the Plaza Hotel (midtown, closer to the Upper East Side) to his uncle's house (on W 95th Street, high on the Upper West Side) and then to Rockefeller Center (midtown, further south than the Plaza Hotel). It's a distance of 3-4 miles one way, even cutting through Central Park, which is a lot for a kid to walk and would take more time than the film implies actually elapsed between these scenes. He could get a free ride once, but twice? Without someone dropping him off at the nearest police station because a little kid alone in Manhattan, scared and with no money, screams "runaway" or "kidnapped"?
- It's possible he had some left over cash in his pockets which could help with this.
Mr Duncan delivering presents to the Mc Allisters
- How did Mr Duncan know Kevin was staying at the Plaza Hotel? And that his 13 relatives were there too? And all their names?
- The note that Kevin had tied to the rock/brick was The Plaza Hotel stationary, Duncan obviously assumed Kevin and his family were staying there (which they later do). As for the presents, I always assumed they were just random stuff with no names tagged on them, other than "Thanks, from Mr. Duncan."
The fallout of Kevin fabricating "AN INSANE GUEST, WITH A GUN!"
- There's a question up above about why the pizza guy didn't call the cops after being pranked in the first movie, but it was settled- he probably figured he was in fact pranked, and anyway there was nobody else nearby to hear the "gunfire" and report it. But what about the equivalent scene in the sequel? The concierge and his team took the incident very seriously, and they were surrounded by other guests who likewise looked very concerned. We can imagine that nobody there would be likely to return to the room and find out it was just a movie playing back. So, the police certainly would be called and a SWAT team would likely be deployed for something as serious as that (a crazed guest with an automatic weapon could easily take hostages, or worse). What would have happened next, and how on earth could the hotel just let that slide to the point of allowing Kevin's family a complimentary suite, given they'd probably have to compensate guests for the undue distress and disruption of their stay? Also, the police really would have hell to raise with Kevin, because if there's one thing they must hate, it's having to waste resources on a SWAT deployment with no (genuine) justification and only coming up with a silly gangster movie in the VCR slot.
- Given how Kate chewed out the hotel staff for scaring Kevin off and leading to him getting lost in the busiest city in America, they may have decided to sweep it under the rug and give them cosy accommodations for fear of having legal action taken against them for child endangerment, which would lead to much more bad press than simply disrupting the guests’ stay.
- Ok, but what about the police's objections? They have no such impetus to go easy on him.
- As Kevin never turned the VCR off, it is possible that the next scene played and the police realized they were pranked before they had the chance to call in the SWAT team.
Empty New York
- On another note, New York somehow becomes completely deserted, but only when Kevin faces off against Harry and Marv (the rest of the film correctly shows crowds of people). And this is the "City That Never Sleeps"!
- I have admittedly never been to NYC, but Kevin faces off against Marv and Harry on Christmas Eve. Would that possibly have had any effect on the crowd? Certainly more places would be closed, at least.
- The neighbourhoods where the action takes place at this point in the film are located in midtown and the Upper West Side. There's NO WAY streets could be THAT empty even in the middle of the night.
- I have admittedly never been to NYC, but Kevin faces off against Marv and Harry on Christmas Eve. Would that possibly have had any effect on the crowd? Certainly more places would be closed, at least.
Harry and Marv prison escape
- Early in the film we learn via a newspaper headline that Harry and Marv escaped from prison during a prison riot. But since these two guys were known partners in crime (the Wet Bandits) wouldn't they have been sent to separate prisons?
- These are slapstick family comedy films and not as tightly bound to real world matters such as, the justice system, as say a well-researched police/legal procedural would be. But to give it a smattering of plausibility, perhaps the lawyer representing the pair of them argued that they should share a cell upon sentencing, because otherwise Marv the fool would have been at significant risk in such a dangerous environment without the (mildly) smarter Harry to look out for him.
Harry's loyalty to Marv
- It is interesting how Harry still remains partners in crime with Marv considering that Marv was the reason they got caught in the first film (Marv flooding all the houses they robbed). Marv continues to do stupid things in part two (like telling Kevin their plans to rob Duncan's Toy Chest). You would think that Harry would dump Marv as a partner and get himself a new one... or just fly solo from this point forward. Why such loyalty Harry?
- Marv wasn't the sole reason they got caught, the primary thing of course would be Kevin declaring war on them and calling the police. The flooding certainly helped, establishing a calling card pattern to link them to several other house robberies, but they could easily be linked to them with other damning evidence (such as Harry impersonating a police officer, itself a crime, to case the houses in the neighbourhood). So Harry is mad with Marv for blabbing the fact to the cops, but for sure it would be a distant secondary concern to his rage at Kevin who was the main reason they were brought down. Now, there's a saying that "those who do time with us, do crime with us". Despite Marv's stupid instincts, Harry knows that he is capable with a crowbar and duffel bags, and that's all they really need to succeed in the Duncan's Toy Chest heist (besides the ability to lay low until it's all locked up for the night). Marv may not have told Kevin about the job if they didn't feel very confident that they'd be killing him in a short space of time, anyway. And it makes far more sense to work with an established partner than to dump him and try to find another trustworthy thug to pull a job at short notice. Another pair of hands means twice the cash to make off with, and all they needed was for a viable means of escape and enough to set themselves up for when they left the country. Harry's plans after that point are unknown, but he could well have been intending it to be their last job as a criminal partnership. Plus, maybe Marv also helped Harry escape some dangerous situations in the clink, and he feels obliged to cut him in on the job as thanks.
Why even have traps?
- Why did Kevin even bother with the "Home Alone" Antics this time around? In the first film, it makes sense because the robbers are trying to get inside the house, and Kevin has to piss them off enough that they care more about following him to get revenge than robbing the house. But this time, his plan boils down to taking a photo of the two of them and eventually lead them to the park. Him taking their photo was already enough to get them to chase after him, so why (other than to give the audience what they want) waste time setting up and going through all these traps?
- Two reasons. One, he needed to hold their attention long enough for the police to actually arrive, in a setting that maximizes his own safety and ability to control them. Just going straight to Central Park and setting off the fireworks would've been way too fast to have anyone on the scene, and would've risked Harry and Marv just bailing at the first opportunity or getting to him without any guaranteed way to protect himself. Two, it's clear that he's really ticked off that the two would dare rob a charity donation to a Children's Hospital, on Christmas no less and wanted to make them suffer.
