Knowing (2009) - 23 mistakes

Continuity: In the last couple of scenes, when John is driving through the city from the gas station, the back door of his truck is constantly changing from open to closed and to no door at all.

Revealing: When John is stuck in traffic and he walks up to the other man asking if anyone was hurt, the guy looks behind John's shoulder as if the plane is coming right behind him. Then John turns around and looks right behind him as well. But the camera then pans all the way to the side to see the plane coming in before it crashes - they were looking in the wrong place.

Character mistake: The newspaper article states that Lucinda was thirty-three at the time of her death in 1988. However, that would make her just four years old when she wrote the time capsule note in 1959 - four years old in the 3rd grade?

Deliberate "mistake": After the plane has crashed, the camera turns around and looks at John, as he watches the plane crash. There is a first row of cars with a line of fire burning behind them, yet people are still sitting in their cars looking directly forward as if nothing happened.

Factual error: When John Kostler arrives in New York from Massachusetts, they pan out and show him crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. There is no logical way, on the route to Manhattan from New England, that one would cross this bridge. It would require him to travel completely out of the way, and judging by the competence of the protagonist, it becomes obvious this was used for visual effect only.

Continuity: When John (Nicolas Cage) is talking to the police officer about the road accident, the officer looks directly behind him in shock at the approaching plane. Cage then turns to look behind him, supposedly where the plane should be, then suddenly turns to his right where the plane is seen to be approaching. From the officers point of view, he would have had to look to his right instead of looking directly behind Cage.

Continuity: In the opening 1950s school scene, the children all run up the front steps of the school. A little blonde girl wearing an orange cardigan and white dress is seen running up the stairs to the school building. A few seconds later the same girl is seen running towards the school again - from further back.

Other: During the time capsule recovery ceremony, there is a man standing next to Nicolas Cage, who pulls out his cell phone to take a picture of the ceremony. However, he's holding the cell phone wrong, pointing the camera towards himself.

Continuity: The truck John drives in the movie constantly changes from one model to another depending on an exterior vs. and interior shot. The exterior shots are using an XL edition F150 while the interior shots are from an FX2 edition F150.

Factual error: When New York is destroyed by the fireball, the Times Square giant TV (& other electrical items) is still on (although no picture - just static), but the super-flare would cause electrical items to overload before the main fireball hit, almost like an EMP.

Revealing: John is stuck in traffic and talking on his mobile phone on the highway just before the plain crashes. On the right-hand side of the screen, there's a car (Hyundai) visible through John's car side window. The car has number plates of Victoria, Australia where this particular scene was shot.

Other: The transit cop on the NYC subway is the same actor as the policeman in the crash scene where Diana is killed.

Factual error: Cell phone signals are repeatedly blocked by electromagnetic radiation from the sun. However, GPS devices, which receive a much fainter signal from satellites, continue to operate. For that matter, television broadcasting, which relies on satellite relays, continues until the end of the film.

Continuity: When Nicholas Cage is watching Tigers under threat, he pours himself a drink. He ends up overfilling the glass, resulting in him spilling on the floor. It sounds like the scotch hits a wooden or tile floor, yet when the angle changes he would have spilled on a rug. Here the wet spot on the rug is also magically gone.

Factual error: Almost at the end of the movie, when John is driving in a crowded street just before joining with his parents, there is a shot showing a Water Delivery Service Car fully charged which is not possible due to the emergency. It is supposed to be empty because of people taking water for themselves.

Character mistake: When the paramedic calls Diana's time of death after the car accident, she says 12 midnight. Time of deaths are recorded in military time so she should have called it at 2400 hours.

Continuity: In the scene where John and Diana are searching Lucinda's trailer, when the horn blows they rush outside. John unlocks the glove box and gets his gun, leaving the keys hanging in the lock, then outside the truck, he hands the keys to Diana.

Factual error: Movie continuously states 50th anniversary being in 2009 and that the current events are taking place in 2009. However, the "date codes" that are used on the "paper with numbers" has the current events (plane crash, subway, end of world) for the year 2008, ie. 10/17/08, 10/26/08.

Continuity: When Ms. Thomas is showing them the time capsule, she pulls it out of a box. The box is on the floor when the capsule is put on the desk, and it is plain to see that the capsule would not have been able to fit in the box that is shown.

Continuity: Early in the film, Nicholas Cage is hitting the bottle. After pouring one or two drinks, he starts to pour another, nearly fills his glass, then spills it. Although the bottle is about half-empty at this point, the next time it is shown standing on a table, there is only a small amount remaining at the bottom.