John hightails it, entering full-on cop mode, and he does everything he can to keep the hostages safe. There’s tons of explosions and the baddies bodies (along with a few innocents, some of which are deserving of a bullet to the head) start to pile up. At John’s lowest point, when he’s pulling glass out of his mangled bare feet, he reflects back on his wife and how much he loves her. On the other end of the radio is Sgt. Al Powell, who tells him, “You can tell her yourself.”

Which brings us to the character of Al and what he represents in regards to Christmas. We meet him as he’s just trying to get through his Christmas Eve shift, then John drops a body on him from the plaza and entangles him in the chaos. John and Al form a deep friendship rather quickly, which I interpret as the importance of friendship on the holidays and goodwill of all mankind. There’s a scene where the chief tells Al to go home for the night, and Al tells his supervisor, “No way. You’ll have to drag me away.” He knows that he’s all that John has, and he’ll be damned if he leaves him without a lifeline.

On the radio, Al tells John how he accidentally shot a child and now he can’t even pull his service revolver out of the holster. At the end of the film, Al gets a little Christmas miracle. He’s able to draw his revolver and shoot a bad guy that was about to kill Holly and John. I’m not saying the death of this baddie was a miracle, but for Al to overcome his guilt, it certainly is.