Spy Game (2001) - 34 mistakes

Factual error: The hat that Brad Pitt wears in the 1985 scenes is a Padre's hat with navy, orange and white as the colours. In 1985 the Padre's colors were brown and yellow. The color change didn't come until late 80's or early 90's.

Factual error: The "American Consulate in Hong Kong" is actually the HSBC building. (The local audience laughed at that scene.) The actual consulate building is nearby, but perhaps not so photogenic.

Factual error: In Suzhou Prison, presumably the Suzhou near Shanghai, all the prison guards are speaking Cantonese, which is a southern dialect. They should be speaking either Mandarin (Putonghua) or their regional dialect.

Factual error: In the scene where Brad Pitt meets Robert Redford on the roof of a house in Berlin in (I think it was) 1980, you can see a lot of GSM transmitters. GSM cell transmitters didn't come until 1993.

Factual error: In the scene where you can see Robert Redford sending a fax, there is a Tux doll (Linux mascot) on the wall. Funny, but this scene happens in 1991 and Tux was first designed in 1996.

Continuity: When Nathan and Bishop are on the rooftop talking, Bishop is seen pulling a chair over so he can sit down. The camera angle changes and he's seen pulling the chair over again.

Other: During the scenes in Beruit, we see a picture of a militiaman firing an RPG at an armored vehicle. If you look at the launcher, you can see that there is no grenade in the launcher when it is "fired".

Factual error: There would never be a US Embassy in Hong Kong - only a consulate.

Factual error: Satellite photos on Robert Redford's desk depict Suzhou as lying on the coast of China. In fact it is far inland.

Factual error: Bishop is drinking out of a cafe in Beirut, just in front of Elizabeth's hotel. There is a Coca Cola logo on the tend, but this logo will appear only in the '90s.

Continuity: Right after Bishop makes it to the balcony, the scene changes to them in a bar drinking and you see Nathan taking a drink and then putting his glass on the bar. The camera angle changes to a close up and the glass is now near his mouth.

Continuity: When Nathan starts making his lunch plate from the food that is in the room, he is seen grabbing a spoon but after the camera angle changes to a front view the spoon is not in his hand nor on his plate.

Continuity: When Nathan stands and greets Agent Folger for the first time he is seen sitting back down on the TV monitor but as the camera angle changes to back inside the room, he is seen sitting down again.

Factual error: Part of the movie is set in Beirut during 1985. Periodically, there are scenes with Robert Redford's character working from a command post in the American Embassy. Behind him, is a quite modern looking 15" monitor. The interesting part is that although the monitor looks out of place, the makers of the movie saw fit to fill the screen with monochromatic "green" information, which would be consistent with 1985.

Continuity: As Bishop is pulling the doctor through the mob of people you can see someone has the back of Bishop's shirt and is trying to hold on to him. The camera angle changes to a front view and no-one is holding onto the back of his shirt anymore.

Factual error: Redford's character speeds towards his office in Langley, Virginia driving his Porsche. As he passes a Georgian style building and the camera position, road markings (zig zag lines, metal road studs and a 'keep left' bollard) are all momentarily visible. This very short scene was obviously filmed on a UK road, certainly not in the US.

Continuity: When Bishop goes to get the doctor he pulls up to the campsite and the items hanging from his rear view mirror are swinging all over the place. The camera angle changes to a driver side view of Bishop getting out of the car and nothing is moving anymore.

Continuity: During Bishop's first mission for Nathan, he kills a general in Vietnam. The first shot hits the general in his chest on his right side. The second shot hits the general in the head, but the bullet hole from the first shot is now gone.

Factual error: Robert Redford's call to the London Stock Exchange to liquidate and transfer his holdings to the Caymen Islands makes no sense. The LSE does not provide that kind of service, it is a regulatory body which admits companies to the Exchange and regulates them. In reality he would have called a bank or stockbroker to execute this type of transaction. And that banker or broker would not have been sitting in the LSE building on Old Broad Street in the City of London. There is no physical trading floor at the LSE, in the way which is depicted in the film, for the banker or broker to work from.

Audio problem: When Harry Duncan calls Muer at his house in the opening of the movie you can see that he is talking on a cellular phone in an elevator, yet when he hangs up (you hear it from Muer's end of the line) you can hear the sound of a phone receiver being slammed down. Cellular phone calls end with a polite little beep, there is nothing that makes a physical noise like that.

Continuity: When Nathan shows the doctor the picture of his parents murder scene, the doctor puts his hand over his mouth. The camera angle changes and the doctor's hand is no longer on his mouth.

Plot hole: Muir arrives in his office at one point and his secretary has left a bottle of scotch and a glass with a note to enjoy his retirement. But Muir had already left the office for good earlier that day (around 3pm), and said goodbye to his secretary. She had no reason to think he would be back, and so there would be no reason to hold out on the gift. Had he not heard a news report from China on his way out, he never would have returned.

Continuity: When Nathan is training Tom, they are in a park and Nathan tells him to extract info from someone. Tom unfolds his arms and starts walking towards a woman. The camera angle changes and he is seen unfolding his arms again.

Continuity: When Bishop gets the the medication past the checkpoint for Elizabeth, she is seen greeting a man with a handshake and when Bishop goes to take a picture of them, she is seen greeting him again with the handshake through the camera lens.

Continuity: In the scene where Muir shows Bishop the pictures that prove Hadley´s connections with the Hezbollah, he reaches into his pocket and he takes out one picture only. Yet when Bischop looks at it on the table there are three nicely aligned pictures.

Factual error: One of the scenes in the movie shows a lovely green bridge in "West Germany". Too bad this bridge actually is the Szabadság Bridge in Budapest, Hungary.

Continuity: Towards the end Commander Wiley is given the order to start operation Dinner Out. The on screen titles indicate that he is near Su Cho but at every other point in the movie it is spelt as Su Chou.

Continuity: When Nathan is making a plate of food, he takes a napkin and puts it under the plate. The camera angle changes to a close-up and the napkin is gone. The camera angle changes to a wide angle and the napkin appears again.

Continuity: When Nathan and Tom are on the rooftop talking, Nathan gets up to leave and Tom is facing to his left. Camera angle changes to a wide view and he's looking at Nathan but when the camera angle changes to a closer view he is once again looking to his left. Happens about 3 times during the entire scene.

Factual error: When Bishop sees Nathan at the train station his hair was to long for a Marine.

Continuity: In the part where Brad Pitt arrives at the camp to get the doctor, there's a man with a mutilated arm there, but right after that in the bombing scene the same man is there being retrieved from the building.

Factual error: The part of the film set in the CIA Headquarters is suppose to take place in 1991. However, Robert Redford's character seems to have both a cell phone and a two-way pager that are quite advanced for the early 1990s. Not to mention the fact that cell phones aren't allowed in places like the CIA headquarters, because they aren't secure and they might allow people to eavesdrop on classified conversations.

Continuity: As the van filled with explosives is driving towards the hotel, you see a guard grabbing the doctor and pulling him away. The camera angle changes to a wide view and you see the guard pulling the doctor away again.

Continuity: In the scene where Redford asks his secretary to hide Pitt's file, justifying his paranoia with a Noah reference, he puts on his jacket and walks toward the door, leaving the collar slightly upturned. The camera goes to her and then back to him, but when it returns, his collar is perfect.