Thanks Jonesy. And agreed, the goal should be surprise the audience
AND Daniels, versus the audience harshly remarking as they leave the cinema "wow that Daniels was such a stupid character."
That's why I always go back to the excellent writing in Die Hard. When the main villan
Hans pretends to be a hostage and our hero John McClane hands him a spare gun, we yell at the screen for the first time barking "John! What are you doing?!" But then we find out the gun is not loaded, because McClane, like the audience, is not stupid.
It would have been nice to see Daniels, like John, prepared for this, but David was still two steps ahead. Oh well.