King Kong (2005) - 81 mistakes

Continuity: When Ann meets Kong on NYC street, the camera flashes back and forth between them. When it shows Kong, he is surrounded by snow, but when it shows Ann, the street doesn't have so much as a snowflake.

Other: When Ann Darrow is awaiting sacrifice to Kong she is hanging from tight thick ropes around her wrists. However, when Kong shows up he just grabs her and tears her from the plinth. Either the ropes should still be around her arms having been torn from their mounts, or her arms should have been ripped off.

Factual error: The New York scenes take place in winter, on a day cold enough for the lake in Central Park to freeze hard enough to hold Kong's weight. Despite this, Anne Darrow shows no hint of cold or discomfort, despite wearing a sleeveless gown. Kong takes her to the top of the Empire State Building, where it's even colder. Still no discomfort. In fact, she's able to climb a metal ladder, which should have frozen her poor little fingers off. By the time Driscoll reached her, Darrow should have been a block of ice. The effects of adrenaline would never have lasted to keep Anne warm for that long.

Continuity: When Anne comes out of the lake after fighting with the T-Rexes her hair is all wet, but after Kong has defeated the last Rex and puts her on his shoulder to start running, her hair is totally dry. Same happens after she and Jack crash in the river after letting go of the bat. Next shot you see them running towards the temple and her hair is, once again, completely dry.

Visible crew/equipment: On Skull Island, when Carl says, "No one has lived here for hundreds of years," the distinctive reflection of the reflector screen is visible in the lens of Preston's glasses, as he looks down; there are other moments in the film where this happens with characters' eyeglasses.

Continuity: When Bruce Baxter tries to wiggle his way out of having to get closer to the brontos so Carl Denham can get his scene on film ("Shouldn't there be a stand-in for this?"), the gun he holds that can be seen pointing up over his left shoulder keeps appearing and disappearing between shots from the front and back.

Continuity: When Ann is tied up as a sacrifice, waiting for Kong to appear, the position of the skull necklace round her neck differs between the close-ups and wideshot.

Continuity: When Kong holds Ann in his hand, as he sits near the top of the Empire State Building, the way she is positioned in his palm changes repeatedly, depending on the various camera angles.

Continuity: When Carl films in the valley, Bruce has multiple lines of rope round his shoulder which change position in the following consecutive shots.

Revealing: Near the end of the film, when people are running in terror out of the theater and into Times Square, you can see that the people are not leaving any footprints in the snow. The snow must have been digitally added to the scene.

Continuity: In the scene where Ann Darrow is brought to the Venture, there is a wide shot where she is walking and observing the ship. On one of the ramps (the closer one to her), there is a man who is carrying something up the ramp. In the next shot, if you look at the ramp he was on, he has disappeared.

Continuity: When Ann is with Kong on the cliff, her robe and belt repeatedly change position in consecutive shots, before, during and after she dances, somersaults, etc, to amuse Kong.

Continuity: Note the chrome centers on the wire wheels of the taxi that Jack commandeers towards the end of the film. Initially the left rear one is missing, but it magically reappears later on.

Continuity: Soon after Kong grabs Ann for the first time and is playing with her the wide shots show him violently shaking her around, enough to snap her neck or at least render her unconscious, but the close-up shots during the shaking show her being much more gently rocked from side to side.

Revealing: When Ann is juggling for Kong on the cliff edge she starts juggling at one point. If you look closely, you can see that she is simply moving her hands, and the rocks have been added digitally. This is most obvious when she leans right back, and the rocks don't match her hand movements at all.

Continuity: As Jack Driscoll flees Kong in a yellow cab through a narrow alley, the view through the (missing) windshield shows a pedestrian in light-color overcoat crossing leisurely at the other end. When the car eventually emerges in the immediate next shot viewed from the sidewalk, that particular pedestrian simply disappears.

Continuity: When the crewman receives the message aboard the Venture, he jots it down on a pad of paper. There is nothing under the pad in one shot, but in the previous and following shots there are more papers under the pad.

Continuity: At the diner, Carl speaks with Ann while she eats, and things on the table change position depending on camera angle.

Continuity: When Jack is rescuing Ann she has two cuts above her right eyebrow, the smaller cut changes positions and disappears/reappears in different shots.

Continuity: At the end of the chase through the streets of NYC, Kong stops the yellow cab with a "karate chop" to the front-end, which sends the car tumbling high into the air through a complete somersault before it lands back down. Actually, Kong's hand is still half way down and nowhere near touching any portion of the vehicle when its rear-end gets lifted.

Continuity: As Ann tries to escape from the T-Rex, at one point her robe acquires a rather large black and muddy stain at her backside on her left, yet in the very next shot that large black stain is gone.

Factual error: In the scene where Kong is running around the streets of New York City and being chased by two military vehicles, the lead open-topped sedan has an air-cooled 30 caliber machine gun mounted on a bar behind the driver, with the gunner in the back seat. The time setting of the movie is 1933-1934. Air-cooled ground mounted machine guns were not in general use until 1942, and were not available for aircraft until 1936. The Army used water-cooled machine guns until the start of World War II.

Continuity: When Carl falls at the beginning of the brontosaurs chase we see that he is only just in front of the brontosaurs so when he fell he should have been crushed straight away but he isn't. Jack then runs to help him and we see that the brontosaurs only need another step or 2 (which would take 1 or 2 seconds) before they reach Carl and Jack. Carl gets up and argues with Jack for 5 seconds or so by which time they should have been crushed. They then run and there is a far off shot showing the brontosaurs back where they were at the start again.

Continuity: Just before the wall is spotted, Jimmy is in the open crow's nest reading "Heart of Darkness". He puts the book down and stands up. In the next few shots, the book has completely disappeared. Then the ship takes a pounding for 3 or 4 minutes. But a few minutes later there's Jimmy, once again reading the same book.

Audio problem: After the scene where the men had to fight off the giant bugs, there is a wide shot where the men can be seen being helped out of the pit by the captain and a few extra crewmembers. The captain is shouting something, however, if you look closely, his mouth is not in sync with what he is saying.

Factual error: In at least one shot as Kong is on top of the Empire State building, the sunrise over Long Island is wrong. Three planes attack from the southwest and we see the sun rise in the east as Newtown Creek (Nassau River) glistens across the East River. The mouth of this river opens southward but in this shot everything is inverted with the mouth of the river pointing northward. Also, looking eastward, Roosevelt Island should be on the left of Newtown Creek, not on the right.

Continuity: On the cliff where Ann is entertaining King Kong by dancing, juggling, doing flips, etc. her face goes from dirty, to clean, to dirty, and back to clean between shots.

Continuity: When Kong falls through a portion of the circular observation deck at the top of the skyscraper, he crushes the metal siding as well as one of the metal girders, making a large hole. When he puts Ann inside through the hole, the metal girders are now all undamaged. You can tell that this is the same hole because the camera moves around the entire building in the next shot and there are no other large holes.

Continuity: Shortly after Kong realizes he's been shot and gets blood on his fingers by touching the bloody hole in his chest, in subsequent scenes his chest has no puckered indentation and is unblemished but for minimal straight-line scars.

Audio problem: When Carl tells Preston to show Ann on board the ship he says something like, "Hello, Miss Darrow, I'm Mr. Denham's assistant." His lips aren't properly synchronized with the dialogue when he says this.

Revealing: When Carl is standing next to Kong's unconscious body saying, "His name will be in lights on Broadway," look at the Venture in the background. Even though it's not stuck on anything, and despite the choppy waves, it doesn't move ANY. Even if anchored, it would still bob gently in the waves; instead it's frozen solid. Obviously green-screened, or possibly a matte painting.

Revealing: When Ann is in Kong's hand for the first time you can see a screen bounce behind Ann.

Continuity: When Carl and his assistant are driving in the cab discussing who to fill in on the female role, you can see that they pass a tram on their left side. When it cuts the cab is right in front of the tram rather than to its right.

Continuity: When the Skull Island natives are holding Ann's arms as the old native taunts her, their grip on Ann's arms and sleeves differ between front and back shots.

Continuity: When Carl offers the Nestles chocolate to the native girl, the wrapping differs between shots as he holds it out to her.

Factual error: The drop fare on the taxi is shown as 25 cents. However, this fare was not charged until 1952, when the former taxi fare of 20c 1st 1/4 of a mile and 5c each additional 1/4 of a mile (which went into effect in 1934) was increased to 25c the 1st 1/5 of a mile and 5c each additional 1/5.

Continuity: Ann is soaking wet when she is being led through the natives. When she gets to the top of the wall she's dry.

Continuity: When the "headsman" native is shot by Captain Englehorn, he throws his arms in the air. He repeats this gesture with the second shot as well.

Continuity: When it cuts to the filming of the first take between Ann and Bruce on the ship, it shows Jack standing on the right side of the picture, about a feet away from the wall of the ship. When it cuts to a close-up of Jack, he is suddenly leaning against the wall.

Continuity: Before going on board the ship, Captain Englehorn asks Ann if she is nervous while he lights his cigarette. You can see his cigarette remains in his mouth, but when it cuts it's no longer in his mouth.

Continuity: When Carl is convincing Ann inside the diner, after she stands up and Carl convinces her to accept the role, there's a waitress behind Carl about to walk towards her. A split second later, while Carl says "she is a frightened woman" (or something like that) the waitress appears 12 feet away, and is now behind Ann way at the end of the diner.

Continuity: When Kong is about to fight the last Rex, Ann begins to back under his arms. In a distance shot we see that she is already a fair distance behind his arms, underneath him. Cut to Kong noticing this, then cut back to a back shot of Ann backing under and she has not even reached his arms yet.

Continuity: Kong continues to change size during the movie. The most obvious way to notice this is when his hands are near Ann. When Kong first finds Ann in NY, his hands are 3/4 the size they are immediately after when he picks her up.

Continuity: When Kong is at the top of the Empire State building we see Ann start to climb the ladder and she is only a few rungs up when the camera view changes. When it cuts back to her, she is still climbing those first few rungs.

Revealing: The crew is sailing to the island and the rough sea makes the boat move violently. Jack Driscoll stumbles but the things in his cabin don't move at all, or at least don't cause the chaos they should. Obviously the only thing moving is Jack and the camera.

Continuity: When Carl speaks with Hayes and Lumpy about their destination, while aboard the Venture, the towel rags hanging on a line behind Carl change between shots.

Continuity: In a scene at the very top of the Empire State Building, Ann hugs Kong's left arm. In the very next shot, she is standing right in front of Kong, between both of his arms.

Continuity: When Ann and Jack are about to kiss the first time, there is a close-up of Ann's face. When it cuts Jack's hand suddenly appears on her face.

Revealing: In the chasm scene, when Lumpy is fighting off worm-like creatures, we can see that his sword is made of rubber.

Other: The ladder at the top of the Empire State Building gets loose because a bullet hits one of the screws. It's not very likely that the five other fixtures would snap just because one got shot away.

Factual error: In the scene where Denham is getting a wide-shot of the valley where they first spot the dinosaurs, Denham's assistant is using a light meter in a brown leather case. This light meter is unmistakably the 'Weston Master Universal model 715/S74'. This model was first produced in 1939. Since the film takes place in 1933-34, this model of light meter would not have existed.

Revealing: Despite being thrown, falling, being dragged and various other things, Ann's hair and face are almost always clean. Even when there does appear to be some dirt, in the next shot they are clean again.

Continuity: When Carl steps out of the room after screening his movie he doesn't cast any shadow on the door behind him. When it cuts his shadow suddenly appear on the door.

Continuity: After the screening of Carl's movie he walks down and says "The script has been re-written", while he has his left hand up by his waist. When it cuts his left hand is hanging down.

Factual error: There is no lift in the Empire State Building running between 1st and 100th, as shown on the dial in the lift.

Revealing: When the longnecks are tumbling down the hill it's obvious there's a screen behind Preston and Jimmy and Hayes.

Continuity: When the main characters first arrive on the island and are attacked by the natives, one of the natives attempts to decapitate Carl but Englehorn arrives at the last minute and saves him by shooting the native three times. As he is falling, it is very noticeable that there is not a scratch on him. He never bleeds at all, there is not even an entrance hole for any of the bullets.

Continuity: When Ann is about to steal the apple, she picks up a different apple first. When she is about to put it back, the angle of the apple in her hand changes. Watch the apple stalk and you can see it.

Continuity: When the old man says he is moving back to Chicago, Ann hugs him and place her hand around him right below his neck. When it cuts her hand is lower down on his back.

Continuity: When Ann is dancing in New York while King Kong is enchained, her hair is straight and then curly in the ends. But when she goes out in the streets and sees the Kong poster her hair is wavy. When she finally meets Kong again her hair is back to straight and curly.

Revealing: As Kong and Anne Darrow exhale in the freezing New York air there are many shots where you can't see their breath frosting up as it comes out of their mouths.

Audio problem: When the ladder Ann was standing on hits the ridgy part of the Empire State Building there is no loud crash.

Revealing: When Kong is shaking the tree down it's obvious that there's a screen behind the film crew when they fall.

Continuity: When Kong has grabbed Hayes, he tells the rest of them to get out of there. As he says "Do as I say", his gun is pointing at Kong. When it cuts he suddenly has his other hand on the gun cocking it.

Continuity: While telling Carl about the shipwreck sailor the crew of the venture picked up on an earlier cruise, Lumpy keeps whittling on a piece of scrimshaw. He continues to do so when Carl is about to leave the galley. In the next shot, when Carl turns back to give a reply, Lumpy's arms are suddenly lowered at his side.

Continuity: After Ann and Carl arrive at the docks, as she stands beside the Venture her coat collar is flipped up, then turned down and back up between shots.

Factual error: In the scene where Kong is running around New York City and is being chased by the Army, the first military open-topped sedan (which has a machine gun mounted in the rear seat) has a 1934 NY license plate on the front of the car. Military vehicles do not have civilian license plates, not even as a decoration.

Factual error: In the scene in which Kong is running loose on the streets of New York city, and being chased by two military Army vehicles, the vehicle identification number, starting "USA and followed by six or seven numbers" is visible on the hood of the vehicles. The first two numbers in a USA number is the year of manufacture of the vehicle. Thus, the truck with the 3 inch cannon was manufactured in 1945 because the number starts "USA45." The time setting of the movie is 1933-1934.

Continuity: In the scene where the boat is leaving NYC and the camera is panning around it - the smoke from the ship "follows" the camera by always pointing to the right relative to the camera view; even though it should be trailing backwards, opposite of the ship's direction.

Continuity: During the whole film, even though Ann is thrown about and man-handled by Kong, as well as sliding down rock and cliffs, and falling over numerous times to escape the many creatures and dinosaurs, she ends up with virtually no marks or scratches on her body. Her dress is dirty, but that is about it. Her hair also stays reasonably in place. Surely she would have been scratched and bruised all over her legs and arms from the trauma.

Continuity: In the scene where Jack Black and Adrian Brody are talking on the boat (as it's getting ready to leave), when the camera is focused on Jack, the cityscape behind him (through the window) is moving (as if the boat has started moving), but when it focuses on Adrian, the cityscape behind him (through the window) is not moving.

Continuity: After the running with the dinosaurs scene. Driscoll and Baxter are talking near a swamp. In the first shots of Baxter, he has a coil of rope over his shoulder. We see a shot of Driscoll and when it goes back to a shot of Baxter, the rope is gone. We never see Baxter remove it or see the rope laid down as he walks away.

Continuity: When Ann is caught stealing the apple, Carl pulls up a coin saying "Excuse me. Ma'am, I think you dropped this". The way he holds the coin differs in the next shot.

Continuity: When the sound engineer says "We're gonna have the ship's engines all over the dialogues", he has his left hand to his headphones. When it cuts his hand is gone, but in the next shot his hand is back on the headphones.

Visible crew/equipment: As one of the Venture crew members picks up a chloroform bottle from a case, you can see a bright studio spotlight reflected in the bottle.

Continuity: Aboard the Venture, when Ann runs into Jack with her "good legs" she has a towel on her shoulder, which changes position until she goes to her cabin.

Continuity: In the scene where the movie star is trying to talk them into giving up he has a rope slung around his chest over one shoulder. He never takes it off, but when he leaves he no longer has it, and Adrian Brody is holding it.

Continuity: In the scene where Ann is unconscious, Kong puts Ann on the ground and she is lying on her arms. When it cuts to the shot when he begins poking her, one of her arms is stretched out.

Plot hole: In the scene where Ann is laying/sleeping with Kong on the cliff, her dress should not only be beyond filthy, but it should be tattered and shredded. It doesn't so much as have a thread out of place after being carried so violently through the jungle and being caught between Kong and the dinosaur. Also, she at this point has been in Kong's possession for several hours to a day or so, and not once has she even shown any signs of hunger, thirst, or the need to relieve herself.

Continuity: Jack and Carl are in Carl's stateroom. Carl opens the crate of whiskey, takes out a bottle and puts it down. The bottle then turns itself around so the label's sometimes visible, sometimes not.

Continuity: When Ann and Kong are on top of the Empire State Building near the very end, he sets her down on top as he grows weaker. She begins to stand, pulling herself up on his fingers, the shot cuts and she is standing but his hand is now out of place back towards his body, not near Ann where it should be.