Equilibrium (2002) - 40 mistakes

Continuity: The photo of Cleric Partridge with Mary O'Brien is crumpled and folded when we first see it in the morgue and when Cleric Preston shows it to O'Brien. However, when Preston is sitting at his desk and looking at the photo by himself, closeups of the photo show it as smooth without the signs of wear and tear seen previously.

Continuity: In the final rampage through the corridor, Preston shoots through the door, killing the guards on his side but also those in the room - we see them falling to one side. But when the corridor guards fall through the doors, in shots from Preston's point of view the guards are visible standing just inside the door before being knocked down.

Continuity: The cover of the book Sean Bean is reading reads 'The Poetry of William Butler Yeats'. However, while he's turning over the pages, the poems 'The Detective' and 'The Courage of Shutting-Up' by Sylvia Plath can be seen.

Continuity: In the scene where John Preston finds the room with the snow-globe and the record player, he is shown removing and dropping his gloves as he walks the hall touching the wall, prior to discovering the room. As he is shown entering the room, he is also shown removing the gloves that he had just moments ago discarded.

Continuity: In the opening action sequence, one of the sense-offenders slams wide the front doors of the hideout and begins firing at the police. The camera cuts to the police, who immediately open fire; when we cut back to the sense-offender being riddled by bullets, the hideout doors are securely closed behind him.

Continuity: With the dog in the trunk, Christian Bale reaches with his left hand to pet the dog, then cuts to the close-up of his right hand petting the dog, and then cuts back to his left hand doing the petting.

Revealing: When Preston returns to the Equilibrium after he has uncovered his window, there is a shot where the camera slowly moves from the front of the crowd to the back of the crowd. If you look at the backs of the people to the right you can see a shadow moving from someone in the film crew.

Continuity: At the beginning of the film when the police arrive at the Resistance hideout we see the police pull up then take cover behind their cars, G36 rifles at the ready. A lone guy comes out and is immediately put down, as this happens you can see the windshields of the police cars are already shot up and cracked even though at this point the Resistance people have yet to return fire.

Visible crew/equipment: When Preston's apartment is being searched, he walks into his bathroom to find his hidden Prozium capsules. He shuts the door in the camera's face and when you see the interior of the bathroom (with the camera behind Preston) you can very briefly see the cameraman's head.

Revealing: There is a shot right after the first time the clerics are entering the city from the nethers that you see an APC patrolling the wall road above the entrance. In that shot two shadows are being cast on the road. As the CGI APC passes through them they simply don't cast a shadow on it as they should.

Factual error: The real Mona Lisa is much smaller than the 'authenticated' painting shown in the film.

Continuity: When you see cleric Preston's wife walking to the incinerator, if you look very closely, you see that they are not the same person, one is a look-alike. [Director Kurt Wimmer reveals the reason for this during one of the commentary tracks (still a mistake, but here's why). The incinerator scene was shot first. When it came to shooting the house arrest scene (which occurs earlier in the film, but was shot later) the actress was nowhere to be found, hence the use of a lookalike.]

Continuity: When "Father" and Preston are fighting, Preston manages to take the gun away. You can see that both hands are empty, but during the next shot, "Father" still has a gun in his right hand. Then, when they cut to the full shot of father straightening up, his hand is empty again.

Continuity: In the scene after the destruction of the "TV center", Preston is looking out through a window over the city's explosions taking place. In one shot his right hand is shown holding the red piece of fabric he got from Mary O'Brian. In a scene before that, when he destroyed the "TV center", his right hand was bloody. He could have gone to wash it in between, but that seems unlikely, since his neck wound is still not taken care of.

Continuity: During the second Preston/Mary interview, when the two are facing away from each other, the camera cuts between close-ups of the two. During Preston's close-ups, Mary's face is turned to the side. During her own, she is facing forward.

Continuity: In the pistol whipping scene, we see Preston deploying a set of "studs" from his pistols. However, in a later shot, where we see the pistol butt's closing reflection on a visor, the studs aren't out.

Continuity: In the scene where Preston's wife is arrested, Preston attacks one of the policemen. When he breaks his arm, you can see that the man was holding an M4A1 Assault Rifle. After Preston broke his arm, he took the weapon away from the policeman. In the next shot Preston is holding a different weapon.

Revealing: In the final encounter Preston takes on eight Clerics with Samurai swords. Watch him stab the last one and you can see the blade go under the man's arm. The shot changes and the flaw is just as apparent when Preston takes up the sword again, the stabbed Cleric is holding the blade for him.

Factual error: The Mona Lisa is painted on wood not canvas.

Revealing: When Preston attacks the guards with the studs on his gun, there is a slow zoom out of one of the guard's visors. On the right, you can see the reflection of Christian Bale's stunt double.