The Recruit (2003) - 34 mistakes

Continuity: When Clayton is being recruited Burke grabs a newspaper to circle CIA. The previous scene had only the front page, but when he circles CIA there is a part of the torn paper on the bar as well.

Continuity: When Burke circles CIA on the newspaper at the bar, the newspaper is folded in half and positioned so Clayton can read it. A scene later the newspaper is not folded in half and it's positioned so Burke can read it.

Revealing: In one scene it shows them throwing a Molotov Cocktail at some rocks. The rocks burst into flame before the bottle gets there and busts open.

Continuity: When the boys are playing cards, Burke comes in and you can see that there are a bunch of chips and the deck of cards on the table. The camera angle changes and so do the chips. The cards suddenly jump into Clayton's hands as well.

Continuity: When Clayton is hiding behind the SUV a shot from behind shows him peeking his head out to look at Layla. It cuts to a shot from the front where most of his torso is out from behind the SUV. Then another cut to behind shows only his head out again.

Continuity: In the scene where Layla passes the note to Zack, he has a gray shirt on which is not tucked into his pants. Later, when Clayton is following him the gray shirt cannot be seen.

Continuity: After getting shot, Zack touches the bloody jacket with his left hand. When he dies there's no blood on the fingers he touched it with.

Continuity: While searching Zack's bloody jacket for the note Layla passed Clayton's hand gets bloody. However, after reading the note he puts his hand to his mouth and there is no blood on it.

Continuity: When Layla is trying to get away from Clayton in the car chase, she goes to pass a blue car behind a white truck. It cuts to a shot from inside her car and the white truck is there, but no blue car. Another car is coming the other direction and she has to yank the wheel. She should have been creamed by the blue car, but wasn't because it disappeared.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Layla drives her VW through the gate you can see a camera lens (a bright circle) in the passenger seat of Clayton's truck. This is the angle used for a brief moment from his view when she crashes through the gate.

Continuity: When Layla is hooked up to the lie detector that tracks the movement of her eye, she is looking around the room and blinking repeatedly, but the eye on the screen (which is supposed to be hers) never moves or blinks, even though the camera is still on her.

Continuity: When Colin Farrell's truck is chasing the silver VW Bug, the Bug crashes through a gate, sending debris into the truck's windshield, causing a spider-web impact break. In all subsequent shots, the windshield is undamaged.

Continuity: After Clayton says Burke's name to his 'captors' he is shown holding a pair of pants, in the next shot he is not holding them, then the next shot he is again.

Revealing: In the beginning of the movie when Al Pacino is supposed to be browsing the web you get a quick look at the address bar. It shows the URL to a local .html file instead of a website.

Other: Towards the end of the movie, Clayton has two wounds visible on his face. These wounds keep changing length and shape throughout the scene.

Factual error: Burke says Clayton graduated "top of your class at MIT, majored in nonlinear cryptography..." but MIT has no such major.

Visible crew/equipment: When James gets into Layla's car after forcing it off the road, the boom mic can be seen in the rear side window of Layla's Volkswagen Beetle.

Continuity: The cut on Burke's forehead (which he gets at the end by putting his head through the glass door) changes throughout the final scene from some blood to a lot of blood about 5 times.

Continuity: In the shooting range scene at the Farm, the Recruit to Layla's left fires all of his rounds and his slide locks back when the camera is close up on Layla. In the next shot, the same recruit fires one last shot.

Plot hole: If Zack is the NOC as Layla says, why is she reporting to him (passing him notes at Union Station) rather than someone in her chain of command? The NOC is supposed to be "out there alone" according to Burke, not mixed up in the command structure.