Factual error: The movie takes place during the 1990s, but throughout the movie cars are shown with Illinois license plates with "Illinois" written in cursive. These plates were not introduced until 2001. (00:24:45)
Factual error: At the point where Jared Leto is released from prison he is picked up in a 1960 Black Chrysler Imperial. As the camera rises it shows the date as 1954. The car is used a few more times in the movie.
Factual error: Ashley Judd is convicted of murdering her husband for the insurance money and that would make it a first degree murder charge (first degree meaning she planned the murder). Because of that there is no way she would have been eligible for parole after just 6 or 7 years.
Factual error: After the intruders flood the panic room with propane, Jody Foster's character gets a lighter and ignites the propane causing it to burn along the ceiling. This would be impossible as propane is heavier than air and would sink to the floor rather than rise up to the ceiling. Lighting a flame in that room should have caused anyone in the room and on the floor to be engulfed in flames almost instantly.
Factual error: Throughout the "Manhattan" race scenes, it is obvious that the location is nowhere near New York. The wide two-way streets, west coast-style traffic signals, street furniture, and architecture look nothing like Manhattan.
Factual error: When Swagger is fleeing from the police in the car wash after being shot, the radio says that he is at a car wash at 9th and Girard. There is no such intersection. On Girard Ave, 9th street picks up south and north of that street.
Factual error: When the house explodes, there is a massive explosion and fireball that creates a pressure wave strong enough to send Brian flying into the van. However, not a single window breaks on the houses just feet from the explosion. (00:15:40)
Factual error: In the big battle scene at the Home Mart store after Robert turns the power off to the building, you see Robert grabbing welding canisters. When Robert has Ralphie turn the power back on, it cuts to one of the bad guys in the break-room, and a digital microwave starts counting down. A digital microwave could not have any memory of any prior cook settings, let alone any way to set it, since the power was already out. (01:55:40 - 01:56:35)
Factual error: Considering the brightness of the fusion process, Dr. Octavius has to wear special goggles to be able to see it. Yet no one else in the room is wearing such goggles or seem hurt by watching the whole process, just as at the end of the movie. When welding something, no one can look at the arc that's created, as it would hurt his eyes and burn his retina; presumably, the fusion process would be brighter and more powerful than that, and so should have some kind of damaging effect on everyone's eyesight (except Spider Man's, maybe).
Factual error: As the kidnapper is watching TV, we hear a news anchor describing the kidnapped child. She is described as 12 years old, 3 ft. 5 in. tall, and 52 pounds. This is the size of a child half this age. A 12 year old of this size would be freakishly small, which this character is not. And as we see her throughout the movie, she is easily approaching 5 feet tall and in the 70 - 80 pound range. (00:13:30)
Factual error: At the beginning, the film is set in 1995 only for a brief few minutes. Then, it goes on to say "15 years later." This brings us to 2010. In 2010, the latest iPhone was the 4. However, throughout this film, nearly every iPhone shown (quite a few) appears to be an iPhone 5s. This is obvious by the rectangular body with fingerprint sensor. In addition, in some places the latest iPads are used, the iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3 - These were released in 2013 and beyond. Finally, although I am not 100% sure, towards the end of the film as the woman steps in to the car for the final time on the hill next to the boat, it appears she is wearing a gold Apple Watch or other smart-watch which was released later than 2010.
Factual error: The picture of Eddie and Teddy on the road with dad, supposedly taken in 1906, shows a Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circus poster. In 1906, the Ringling Brothers circus and the Barnum & Bailey circus were two separate circuses playing in different parts of the country. They did not combine the two shows until 1919. (00:27:00)
Factual error: On the plane, while being escorted by FBI agents, Frank Jr sees New York's LaGuardia Airport and says, "There it is, LaGuardia Airport, runway 44." A runway numbered 44 is impossible. No runway can be numbered over 36 because there are 360 degrees in a circle. (01:58:25)
Factual error: The opening shot (of the New York Stock Exchange's trading floor) has the subtitle "1985," which might lead one to expect that at least the action in the first few scenes takes place in the year 1985. However, when Charlie Sheen is talking to his Nimrod broker buddy the Nimrod jokes that the day the Challenger exploded, Gekko was on the phone "selling NASA stock short." The Challenger exploded in January, 1986, not 1985. [An explanation for this: Wall Street, as conceived and filmed, was supposed to be set in 1987. However, near the end of 1986, The Ivan Boesky insider-trading scandal hit, many rules were changed, and acknowledging those events would have undone much of the plotting of the movie. So the movie was shifted back in time to 1985 (before the scandals, and also before the Challenger disaster), thus creating this major goof].
Factual error: A copy of Miles Davis' album "Tutu" is sitting on a counter. Odd since the recording wasn't made until 1986.
Factual error: This movie is set in 1935. Back then, executions were done by hanging. The Louisiana Legislature changed the method from hanging to electrocution in 1940.
Factual error: Rhianna is watching a live feed of a man's office via webcam. We see a closeup of the screen. At the top it shows the filename being a ".jpeg." Jpegs are still image files, not movies, let alone live streams.
Factual error: Even though this film is set in 1965, Burlington Northern locomotives can be seen. The railroad was formed in 1970. Also, an EMD GP40-2 can be seen at the beginning of the film, but the first ones were built in 1972.
Factual error: When Hannibal calls Clarice and gives her 3 seconds to change the battery on the phone, it is possible to change the battery in 3 seconds but you would have to turn the phone back on and let it initialize which would make the whole process take longer than 3 seconds. (01:33:17)
Suggested correction: Please provide evidence, including the make, model, and duration of the initialization process of the phone, to substantiate this statement. It's not known from the information available that it isn't possible to hot swap the battery, meaning it's quite possible in 3 seconds.
Tell you what, why don't you give us all the make and model of phone which can be turned off, have its battery replaced, and then boot back up again, in 3 seconds. It's not remotely possible on any phone, old or new. Anyone who was using cellphones in the era this phone was made knows it, or indeed now for that matter.
Factual error: When McClane and Zeus take the little hatchback from the bank location, they run up the ramp by the Brooklyn Bridge and McClane looks to see the dump trucks aren't on the bridge. Zeus then spots them on FDR Drive and they speed off down the ramp to FDR Drive. The ramp they were on doesn't connect to the ramp they took to give chase. It only heads towards City Hall or over the bridge. They'd have to take the Civic Center ramp, do a u-turn under the Brooklyn Bridge approach then head back up the ramp to FDR Drive.
Suggested correction: It's never stated that she was charged with 1st degree murder, nor that she killed her husband for the insurance money. It was only brought up in trial as motive. Nick's accident was ruled "wrongful death" and the fact she did get paroled further show she was never convicted of 1st degree murder.
And what about the phone call from prison the Libby makes to Angie, and Angie says she "was just about to call her" or she tried calling her like how the heck can you call someone in prison!?