She didn't have a glass of water, so went with fire instead.

She's been reading Howard's survival manuals. If she can build a gas mask, she can surely make a fire bottle as well.
(Though it would be more obvious if they had actually shown her reading the directions.)

I didn't have a problem with her being that resourceful and coming up with the Molotov cocktail on the spot, I just wish the writers had put clear glass bottle full of what must be Howard's home brew "vodka". That stuff could have been distilled to near 200 proof and would definitely have made a fireball when thrown at ET.

She used the bottle as a vehicle of throwing fire into the alien/space craft. If the whiskey was flammable isn't the point. The chemicals in that spacecraft were, hence the explosion once it met with fire. She couldn't just throw a piece of paper on fire because it wouldn't make it that far, which is the point of the bottle.
~Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable~

Apparently you do because 75% of the people posting here think wine/whiskey off the shelf of Walgreens is gonna do it for them.

You don't have to be a genius to know how to make a Molotov cocktail.

The alien craft is obviously organic, and I guess it can be injured or killed as such.
When I'm good, I'm GOOD. When I'm bad, I'm BETTER.

"You possibly don't respect women?
Sometimes they do have common sense and can figure stuff out!!!! "
Yes indeed, they sure can. Well, in movies anyway. That's why this film is science fiction. "Fiction", means it isn't based on reality, y'all. Women, in the real world, could never do such advanced things, like figuring stuff out, or maintain even an entry-level degree of common sense. It just doesn't happen.
But in Sci-Fi, anything is possible! That's the beauty!!!
Monsters can rise from the bowels of the earth. Aliens can forcibly date-rape your face and cause you to carry their illegitimate offspring. And equally outlandish.women can behave as intelligent and thinking beings.
You see? That's the wonder and excitement of Sci-Fi. It's a majestic, entertaining, brilliant fantasy world in which we can escape the sad and troubling realities which we face every day.
Isn't Sci-Fi great???

Give one example.

yep, after what weeks of being traumatised of Howard, by the time she saw the aliens she wasn't afraid of them at all, nothing compared to having to escape from Howard. She was all adrenalin-ed out

Survival is a very primal aspect that can come out of us in the most tense of situations. This girl no matter what, was listening to her instinct and not trusting the guy. Even though the irrefutable proof was in her face that something was indeed wrong with the outside air in how it corroded that lady's face, but this girl kept fighting and fighting to get out.
This is what the whole movie is about. How if it wasn't for Howard, she would be dead by the aliens. She went from undecidedish fanshion designer to survivor, and with all that momentum to get away from Howard, she pwned the aliens.
Great movie!

If it was a male fashion designer I would be equally skeptical.
The difference between her and MacGyver, is MacGyver actually had a lifetime of training.

You possibly don't respect women?
Sometimes they do have common sense and can figure stuff out!!!!
"Men on fire pray for rain"

@Screen_Queen
She's shown has having survival instincts throughout the WHOLE movie.
Exactly! Pretty much everything she does and learns to get the hell away from Howard basically ended up preparing her to deal with all the crazy s*** going down once she got out of the bunkerlike an emergency crash course in survival techniques. She sure as hell wasn't sitting around painting her fingernailsshe was scrapping, scheming,and hustling every chance she got to get the hell up out of that particular Dodge. So, no, that was nowhere near a "Mary Sue" moment at all. Everything she did during the entire film had been slowly but steadily working up to that particular moment of her throwing the bottle and taking that alien the hell out.

You're kidding, right? She's shown has having survival instincts throughout the WHOLE movie. She discovers she's locked up, she makes a makeshift shiv with her crutch. She realises how dangerous Howard is, she tries to steal his keys. She discovers he's been lying the whole time, she comes up with a plan to escape. How is using materials available to her at the time to make an easy explosive any different to all that?
There will be bloodbut you will be loved.

I don't have a problem with the alien being combustible (not a spaceship), but it was a total Mary Sue moment. Someone who wants to design dresses is whipping up Molotov cocktails in 5 seconds flat.

Agreed. It's like in War of the Worlds. There are people who have figured out ways to combat them and have survived.

Actually it's hard to notice, but the "martian lizard" on the ground caught fire easily after it touched some of the residue flames (from the bunker explosion). It would then make sense that even a small flame might trigger the big flying thing explosion.

This message has been deleted.

Drinks burn over 51%. No need for being heated. I assume there are some whiskies in the USA with an alcohol content of 51%

I am no chemist but I am sure someone work out how much energy can be released from a bottle of booze.

Molotov cocktails do explode, they did massive damage to tanks in ww2 and beyond.
You're comparing the durability of a WW2 tank to an extraterrestrial ship that needs to be durable enough for interstellar travel.

@mrchanmanx
Right!!!!
Everyone is so stupid! Obviously the bottle came into contact with the mechanics of the UFO and that's what caused it to blow up. It's really that simple to understand. It baffles me that people struggle to comprehend something sooooooo simple.

"Green fart gas"
LMAO!