Factual error: As Ben is clinging to the staircase while it is falling apart, there is a close-up of a nail being pulled out of the wood. This nail is round-headed, rather than square as it would have been over 200 years ago. It's also shiny instead of rusty, which indicates that it's galvanized. Galvanization as an industrial, metal-preservation process was not patented until 1837, and was not used in building materials until well into the late-1800s. Since the film states the staircase was made by "the Founding Fathers, " and there was no galvanization of iron nails in any industrialized nation in 1780s-1830's, this is a huge anachronism.
Visible crew/equipment: During the scene where Neo is talking to Agent Smith in the park area where Neo was talking to the Oracle, there is a close-up on Agent Smith's face. In his sunglasses you can see a bright white screen to reflect the light onto the faces of the actors. This isn't visible in any non-reflected angles. You can also see the cameraman on the other side. (00:51:15)
Plot hole: When Andy turns into a werewolf, he kills both Amy and Detective Benbou. Later in the morgue, Amy tells him because of this that she is forced to become his "rotting sidekick." If this is completely true, then Detective Benbou should also be following Andy around but he isn't seen after Andy manages to escape from the morgue.
Other mistake: When Casey is in the car boot on the phone to Jordan, Jordan is asking her to describe what she sees in the boot of the car. Casey is naming the items she sees, paint cans, shovel etc. Jordan asks her to pour the paint out of the boot through the tail light hole. Jordan puts out a call to look out for a car with "WHITE paint pouring out the back," but Casey didn't tell her the colour of the paint.
Factual error: Towards the end of the movie, two characters finally make it to a Louisiana sheriff's office. The sign out front reads, "Vierge County." There are no counties in Louisiana, only parishes.
Visible crew/equipment: At the end, when Sarah puts her glasses on, a light screen is reflected in them. (01:38:45)
Continuity mistake: In the first shots of the golf course, you see Goldfinger's Rolls parked to the far left of the main building, with Bond's car in the lot in the background. When the scene changes to the inside of the clubhouse store, the Rolls is now very close to the front of the store. At the end of the golf game, the Rolls is back to the left of the main building, and as the camera pans back, you can see that the store is to the far right of the main building.
Continuity mistake: When Cheryl is running through the woods, she is wearing slippers that stay on up until she reaches the cabin door. However, in following shots, she is shown barefoot, and when Ash opens the door her foot is dirty as if she'd been running barefoot the whole time. (00:28:05 - 00:29:10)
Deliberate mistake: Leaven spends too much time thinking about if 645 and 372 are prime numbers to be believable. But she knows the factors of 649 and the result of 26 to the power of 3 almost immediately. Plus anyone with any maths knowledge whatsoever would know that any even number (or one divisible by 5) can't be prime, so 645 and 372 could be dismissed without even thinking about it.
Other mistake: When Christian Slater shoots 9 or 10 shots out of a 6-shooter, there is no possible way that he could have had time to reload in the time allotted.
Other mistake: During his conversation with the landlord of the pub he ends up staying in, Sergeant Howie makes it clear that he did not intend to stay on Summerisle overnight, that he had been delayed and so needed accommodation. Makes you wonder why he packed his pyjamas. He's wearing them when Britt Ecklund does her famous naked song and dance routine, and they are not new so we know he didn't buy them that day. When he arrived he didn't even think he'd be on Summerisle for more than a few hours - we don't see him with so much as an overnight bag.
Plot hole: The snakes escape from the locked box stored in the cargo hold when a small explosive bolt detonates and opens the lid. Post 9/11 all luggage placed in the cargo hold of an airliner would be tested for explosives, and anything larger than half a match head would be detected. The chances of getting an explosive bolt on board - nil. None whatever. You can also think of it this way - if the bad guys could somehow smuggle explosives on board, why bother with such an elaborate and flawed plan as letting snakes loose on the plane? Why not just smuggle a bomb on board? Pan Am 103 - the so-called Lockerbie flight - was brought down with a bomb that fit inside a small cassette player.
Other mistake: When Somerset goes back to the man's house alone, he cuts a sticker on the door with his switch-blade to get in. The first error is the sticker is on the inside and it says "Keep Out." The best part about it is the door opens inward. How did they put the sticker on the inside and then exit? (00:20:45)
Revealing mistake: After the woman is strangled and the people come in trying to find the little kid, the dead woman is clearly seen blinking. (00:11:25)
Revealing mistake: When Leo is laying his dead kids on the grass, the little girl keeps moving her eyes and breathing.
Factual error: No electricity, yet the washer is running.
Factual error: When performing CPR on Elena, Robert doesn't tilt her head back. As a former firefighter, he would know one of the first steps of CPR is to tilt the victim's head back to clear the airway. His rhythm is also way off.
Suggested correction: Tilting the head back to clear the airway isn't practised any more, due to exacerbating possible neck/spinal injuries. Instead, one would do a chin lift to clear the airway. But alas, he didn't do that either.
Paramedic here. The head tilt-chin lift is absolutely still practised today and is definitely our go to manoeuvre for CPR. You're thinking of the jaw thrust manoeuvre where we do it when we suspect spinal injury, which Elena did not have.
Former Volunteer First Responder and Ambulance driver part-time but also volunteer here. It actually depends on the SOP of the company in which you serve. Liability purpose has us practising caution in otherwise duty-to-act scenarios. While you are always to remain either Red Cross or American Heart certified in CPR, ALS guidelines and SOPs still govern the practice in which you are performing and can be effected by the decisions of your local Medical Director, but I digress.
Continuity mistake: When Terri is at the party, her blonde wig changes shape and size many times.
Plot hole: Explosions are very predicable and leave very clear traces after detonation, and the precise epicentre of a small nuclear explosion could be established within a few meters. Experts from the United States military could show that the nuclear explosion originated outside the airbase, and the evidence they could show (aerial photographs, etc) would be irrefutable. They could even invite their counterparts in the Russian military to see for themselves. The only way Petrofsky's plan could have worked would be if he could somehow get the bomb inside the perimeter of the airbase - not a terribly likely proposition.
Suggested correction: The plan was to claim that a USAF fighter bomber carrying an unstable nuclear warhead had crashed while on approach to the airbase, causing the explosion.
What plan? This plot twist is not mentioned anywhere in the film or the book. The posting is absolutely correct.
Continuity mistake: About 10 minutes into the movie, when the truck is chasing the 2 college students in the car and starts ramming them, the bumper and the trunk is smashed in. The shot changes and shows the car's rear end and it is in perfect condition. This repeats at least 3 times.
Suggested correction: They wanted to make it look like an accident. If the snakes had done their job fully, plane crashes and no-one is the wiser. If the plane blew up halfway it would have screamed foul play. As it was in the movie it was just a terrible accident, a bunch of snakes being shipped got loose.
That doesn't correct the posting. The error is that they could not have smuggled a package equipped with an explosive bolt onto the airliner in the first place. It would have been detected and the package removed from the airliner and either defused or safely detonated. As for nobody being the wiser after the plane crashes, what were all those dead snakes doing scattered about the wreckage?