Shooter (2007) - 19 mistakes

Continuity: Close to the end the movie, when the helicopter Danny Glover is in is approaching, we see a reflection in its high gloss paint: mountains, snow, rocks. When it lands, the paint is matte blue, no reflection. We would have seen the camera crew easily if it had still been glossy.

Continuity: In the beginning where Bob and Donnie are watching over the road waiting for the returning troops, the bolt of the M40 rifle Bob has at the ready is closed. In the shot right after Donnie pulls out the picture of Sara, the bolt is shown open, but appears not to be fully open. In the next shot of the rifle, the bolt is again closed. We do not hear the bolt, nor would a sniper at the ready fumble with an arm at the ready.

Continuity: In the very beginning of the film when Swagger takes out the enemy's truck approaching friendly troops, the truck flips over onto its side and two pieces of the truck spill out onto the road, yet when the friendly troops approach/pass it the objects are nowhere to be seen.

Factual error: Bob and Nick engage in a shootout in Lynchburg Virgina in the late afternoon (according to FBI Howard), then call him from Bozeman, Montana, the very next morning, standing in front of the very same Dodge pickup. Even allowing for the passage of 18 hours, they would have had to average over 119 mph, not allowing for fuel stops, to get there.

Revealing: When Swagger is on the mountain and looking though his scope at the guy with the shotgun, the audience is shown what Swagger sees though his scope. However, the pictures we see does not match that very telescopic view Swagger would see at that distance but instead something shot with a relatively wide angle lens at close distance.

Other: In the scene where the news anchor puts out the information that the suspect is tentatively identified as Bob Lee Swagger, the picture of Mark Wahlberg in full BDU "Battle-Rattle" shows him with a full-on goatee. The USMC does not permit facial hair.

Continuity: Mark Wahlberg cuts through the back seat to get access to medical supplies in the boot - other stuff is visible in there too. But shortly afterwards when he reverses it into the water, the boot pops open and it's now completely empty.

Character mistake: As Swagger walks out of the airplane hanger, a huge American flag is displayed hanging on the wall. It has the stars displayed on the right, but it should be on the left. Every military person knows that.

Factual error: When FBI agent Memphis is reviewing the assassination on video, you can hear the shot first and then see the blood spray of the bullet impact on the Archbishop. This defies physics as bullets travel faster than the speed of sound. Given the distance the sniper shot from, the sound of the shot would be be heard a second or 2 after the impact.

Continuity: When Memphis is taken hostage his telephone falls on the middle of the sidewalk. In the next shot it lies on the edge.

Revealing: When Gunny snipers the shotgun (and hand) off the bad guy in the snow covered mountains, his rifle is right-handed bolt, and he shoots right-handed except for the mountain scenes. He closes his right eye before he shoots, and it even shows a close-up of his left finger on the trigger, obviously a flipped shot.

Continuity: Approximately 3 minutes into the film, the scene cuts from Bobby Lee Swagger and his scouter to the U.S. Camp in Ethiopia, you can see a truck pulling into the camp, if you watch closely from the beginning of this scene to the following overhead shot, there are a few changes, the U.S. flag on top of the camouflaged tent disappears, there are twice as many red barrels at the entrance to the camp than in the previous shot.

Revealing: When the police dog wants to attack Swagger and bites the cop instead, it's obvious the cop wears thick protection under his coat sleeve.

Continuity: When Swagger is laying in bed recovering at his spotter's girlfriend's house, there is a lamp with the shade pulled below the bulb that is turned off on the desk, but the mirror has the lamp turned on?

Other: In a whole lot of scenes, Bob closes both his eyes when he fires his sniper rifle. This is a common and natural reaction when an inexperienced shooter fires a gun. An experienced hunter or marksman would never do that, and especially not a military sniper.

Continuity: When Memphis is tortured, he gets water poured in his mouth from a bottle. When they're done pouring, the water level in the bottle is almost full.

Audio problem: Right after Swagger takes the first shot at the helicopter with his M82A1, we see him from the behind reaching his hand to reload the rifle. We hear this metallic sound of reloading but if you look carefully, his hand doesn't even touches the cocking handle.

Continuity: When Swagger is fixing himself up in the FBI car, the amount of blood behind him keeps changing from shot to shot.

Factual error: Camp Lemonier is placed in Djibouti, not in Ethiopia.