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Mistakes

After seeing his pilot get shot, Owen Wilson's character starts running uphill while being shot at. Of course you know he's being shot at because you can see the tracers. However, after cresting the hill, and starting down the other side, you STILL see rounds going past him. How did they get smart bullets? See more...

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The Sky News reporter character in the movie is in fact Aernout Van Lynden, who was a real war correspondent with over twenty years of experience in the Middle East and the Balkans. See more...

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Behind Enemy Lines (2001) - 20 corrections

Directed by John Moore, starring Charles Malik Whitfield, Gabriel Macht, Gene Hackman, Owen Wilson (add more)

Genres: Action, War, Drama, Thriller

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "edit" under an entry, then choose "correct entry". You can also submit corrections for corrections, if you think a mistake has been unfairly removed.

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When pilots enter the cockpit and prepare for take-off, navigator says that he'd like Britney Spears to move his handles. However, the plot was set to 1996 but Britney Spears' first single "Baby one more time" was recorded in 1998. [Britney Spears was famous before "Baby, One More Time" (released in 1999, btw). She was a Disney Mouseketeer at age 11. She performed in stage productions and television shows since she was a child. While the statement is creepy, Britney would have been 15 in 1996, she was not unknown in 1996.]
Edit Corrected by rswarrior
The landmines that both Owen Wilson and the Serbian soldier encounter are known as prom-1. These have a firing pin in them so when you step on them they go off. So when the soldier steps on it in the woods, it would have gone off instantly. Plus, they are a bouncing betty type mine, which means when they fire, they come up about three feet in the air and explode to take out your internal organs. This didn't happen in the factory scene, where you can see smoking holes. [The two scenes and mines are completely unrelated to each other both with completely different ways of taking out its intended target, and also we don't see the death of the soldier in the woods all we see is him stepping on it, he doesn't step off, the moment this would occur as you said it, the bomb would fly up approx 3 feet and explode.]
Edit Corrected by The-Immortal
It is extremely unlikely that the pilot would be left right out in the open to be found as he was. Burnett would have carried/helped him to cover and hidden the parachutes. [First of all they didn't expect any soldiers or anything to find them thats why Burnett left his co-pilot where he was, secondly the co-pilot was injured and knew that Burnett wouldn't be gone for long as he suggested just to go to the top of the hill, after that he could come back down and move him slowly to a different location for pickup/rescue.]
Edit Corrected by The-Immortal
In the scene where the on-board camera is activated to photograph troop movements, there is a cut to a close-up of a rectangular green indicator light labeled 'REC' switching on. The function of this indicator is to show that the radar system is in receive-only mode (to avoid detection). It is completely unrelated to any surveillance system which may be installed. [That Label "REC", it could also stand for "Record or Recording", right ? As in the images of troops movements and the mass grave site are now on that Digital Disk from the recording.]
Edit Corrected by The-Immortal
When Burnett jumps out on the sniper at the end he shoots him many times. However the guy still can fire back and fight with Burnett afterwards. We know he's tough but it seems unlikely after Burnett has supposedly put so many bullets in him. [I watched the scene you are referring to, and yes, Owen Wilson's character does fire alot of rounds from his gun, but we only ever see one bullet strike, certainly not enough to prevent the sniper from engaging in hand to hand combat.]
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The dropped fuel tanks would not have acted like they did. They are of a soft aluminum alloy and break apart on impact with the fuel flying everywhere. There would be no spark because the tank would not give one off. Also, the fuel is not 'jet fuel' as was once used. It is a diesel derivative that does not ignite when lit. This is a safety issue that all NATO forces use to prevent fires. [While you are correct that dropping aluminum fuel tanks would have not made a huge fireball like depicted in the movie, you are wrong about the fuel. US Navy planes burn JP-5, and it is not a diesel derivative, it is still kerosene based like all other jet fuels. JP-5 does have a flash point of 140 degrees fahrenheit, much higher than old school JP-4 (-35 degree flash point) and US Air Force JP-8 (100 degrees fahrenheit). However, your wording that it does "not ignite when lit" would seem to contradict the entire purpose of any fuel. Your basic objection is correct, but not your details.]
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When Owen Wilson gets to the original rendezvous point he calls up the carrier. Gene Hackman informs him that they can no longer pick him up there and to head for a safe zone. After a short argument Wilson cuts transmission when he hears the Serb troops coming. Hackman then asks the comms staff "Where is he?" to which they reply that they don't know. He tells them to triangulate the signal to locate Wilson's position. How come they don't know his position when he was at a rendezvous point that they gave him the coordinates for? [They knew where he was. That's how they managed to triangulate him in the first place. Because Wilson cut the transmission they wanted an accurate position to see with their own eyes how he was doing via the satelite.]
Edit Corrected by Mortug
Owen Wilson is seen drinking from his canteen when he is suddenly shot at and forced to slide down a concrete wall. The canteen is never seen again until he takes another drink from it. Where was he hiding it? [He "hides" it in the pocket he took it out from in the first place.]
Edit Corrected by Mortug Time
Considering how thin is the ice on the lake at the end of the movie there is no way an airplane seat fallen from several hundred feet would not break right through. [The seat doesn't hit the ice on which Burnett walks over. The seat hits bare ground covered by snow, which can be seen when rocks fly up on impact.]
Edit Corrected by Mortug
When the marines go in with their helos to rescue Burnett, where is their air support? There should be at least 2 fighters and as many as four securing the area. [Actually the rescue choppers wouldn't of had any fighter escort for several reasons (A). Fighter escort is usually used for protection against enemy aircraft which the Bosnian didn't exactly have a whole lot of at the time. (B). Fighters would have been relatively useless in protecting the downed pilot and the choppers even with AGMs. (C). They did have air support. Those 2 other UH-1N's with the 2.75 in rockets and mini-guns. And finally (D). What would fighters have done to those tanks? AGMs and bombs are in to close proximity to the running pilot they would have vaporized him to.]
Edit
Just after the kids climb out of the water tank in the factories, there is a shot of Burnett as he turns to look at the soldiers in the truck. Look behind him, on the hillside there is a modern building with a white roof which does not suit the others. [Where is the mistake? People build new homes all the time.]
Edit Time
At the end of the movie when the bad guy is looking through the visor of the sniper rifle, his eyes get enlarged in the front view of the visor. They should have been smaller, since the visor only enlarges things on his side. [The rifle scope is made up of a series of convex lenses. This is a simple scientific fact, a convex lens "enlarges" things from either side of the lens.]
Edit Corrected by XIII
The entire premise of the story is that a lone patrol fighter is shot down. There is no way in hell that a fighter would ever go on patrol alone, simply to prevent such an occurrence. The 'wing man' cliche of Top Gun is an iron-clad rule that is never, EVER broken. This is the case with all NATO forces particularly in a volatile situation like Yugoslavia. [A reconnaissance plane wouldn't have a wingman since they want to run as quietly as possible. A wingman would only be required if they expect a fight, which recon planes don't.]
Edit
Early in the movie, when Gene Hackman is berating Owen Wilson for wanting to resign from the Navy, "Admiral" Hackman refers to the SHIP they are on as a BOAT. Not even an 18-year-old Seaman Apprentice fresh out of boot camp would make such a grievous error in basic naval terminology. [I'm in the Navy myself and people frequently refer to their ship as 'The Boat'. When my squadron deploys we all gripe about having to go back to 'The Boat.']
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In the scene where the French commander lands on his chopper on board the carrier, you can see that the chopper is a SH-60 Seahawk and that it's carrying NATO markings. This is incorrect because the only aircraft that NATO operates are E-3C AWACS aircraft. They do not operate any other aircraft, especially not helicopters. In reality, the French commander would have arrived in a French helicopter (probably a Super Puma), as the French do not operate the SH-60 Seahawk. [Firstly, the Super Puma is not rated for landing on an American aircraft carrier. Regardless of the nature of the visit they would not allow any unknown aircraft or pilot to land on the aircraft carriers deck. Secondly, units are supplied to NATO for mission use from the various member countries. During these missions the markings would be changed to reflect the joint NATO operation.]
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At the end of the film after the U.S. Marines rescue Owen Wilson under heavy fire, they are celebrating on the deck of the aircraft carrier. At least one of the Marines is seen holding up an empty M-16 assault rifle with no magazine in it. [Small arms must be safed and cleared before a helicopter touches down on the deck per NATOPS manual instructions.]
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In the shot where you see the seats falling from the planes one of the seats falls into the lower left corner of the screen then it disappears into thin air. [It actually goes behind a cloud.]
Edit
One question. If they are to maintain 'Radio Silence', as Gene Hackman's character mandated shortly after the F/A-18F is shot down, why then do they continue to talk on the radios non-stop? [They maintain radio silence until Burnett reaches the rally point and informs the carrier of this fact. However, the situation then changes, and he NEEDS the (infrequent) radio exchanges so that he knows what to do next.]
Edit Corrected by Jez
When Burnett is talking to the admiral over the radio, he explains that he ejected while doing Mach 3. He must have switched planes because the Hornet's top speed is nowhere near that. [Burnett is carrying out a jokey exchange with Reinert, and exaggerates for effect.]
Edit Corrected by Jez
The man who is supposed to hunt down Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson) is called Tracker. He carries an Accuracy International Arctice Warfare Magnum, AWM for short. Since he is a Serbian Rebel, he would have most likely been carrying the Russian Dragunov SVD (the standard issue Russian sniper rifle). [The weapon is in fact a Swiss made sniper rifle. Not a AWM. It was chosen deliberately to highlight the fact that not all weaponry was sourced from Russia.]
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