Headscratchers / Money Monster

• Why are the police so ready to kill Kyle? Both when walking to IBIS headquarters on street, and then in film's finale, when he tosses the detonator switch (that we know is not really going to detonate)? Why are the police acting like complete executioners?
  • For starters, this is New York we're talking about; anything relating to "bombing" or "terrorist attack" is going to touch a nerve, especially after 9/11. Also, Kyle strapped an explosive vest on Lee, yet made no effort to get away from the hypothetical blast radius. This likely gave the police the impression that Kyle had a death wish, and was therefore willing to go down swinging, taking other innocent lives with him. Because of this, they were hardwired to shoot him the second they had the opportunity to take him out without hurting any other innocents. When he tosses the detonator at Camby, the police saw the opportunity and fired on him. True, they would've likely been killed too if the bomb was real, but they probably figured they'd take him down with their own weapons instead of letting him die by his own hand.
  • Also, while Lee, Kyle, and we the audience know that the vest won't go off, the cops don't know that. Hell, the only reason Lee and Kyle can even make their way to Wall Street is because they're worried the vest will go off. Because of this, it makes perfect sense that they'd be primed to shoot Kyle.
• Would Kyle face the death penalty in court, if he was taken alive?
  • No, New York is one of the states that doesn't even practice the death penalty. And even if Kyle was somehow tried in a federal court (extremely unlikely), the death penalty in the United States is almost always only used for first degree murder (with exceptions like treason and defection, neither of which Kyle is guilty of). He could've been charged with kidnapping and felony assault with a firearm, but that would most certainly be punished with a decades long prison service instead of the death penalty.