Character mistake: A TV news announcer describes Alan Shepard's first manned launch into space as him being lifted to "an altitude of 116 miles per hour." That's not an altitude, that's a speed. It should have just been "116 miles."
Continuity mistake: When Jesse is going to race Johnny Tran at Race Wars for pink slips, and Johnny Tran pulls up in his Honda S2000, Tran has on a black long-sleeved shirt. When the camera goes from side to front view, Tran has on a black tank top. (01:12:41)
Continuity mistake: When Danny & Debbie are having their New Year's dinner at home, the champagne foam instantly disappears in the very next camera angle after pouring it.
Factual error: A force of Russian Tu-22 Backfire bombers attacks the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) by sneaking in under the ship's radar. This is all well and good except that carriers usually don't use their own radar, they have Airborne Early Warning aircraft (E-2 Hawkeye's) that can see much further and not give away the carrier's position (let alone the F-14s which would be patrolling too) not to mention the fleet of destroyers other ships guarding the carrier. The whole point is, the US Navy practiced and planned for such a "carrier versus Backfire" battle for years. I guess in the interest of furthering the plot Hollywood has to ignore the immense measures the USN takes to protect those multi-billion dollar assets, not to mention the 5000+ sailors that man them.
Factual error: The lake that Jack told Rose he went ice fishing on when she was threatening to jump is Lake Wissota, a man-made lake in Wisconsin near Chippewa Falls (where Jack grew up). The lake was only filled with water in 1918 when a power company built a dam on the Chippewa River, six years after the Titanic sank. (00:39:05)
Visible crew/equipment: As Jake approaches the house after the van drives off, it looks like a crew member got caught at the side of the house and moves back as Jake is taking camera footage. (01:03:25)
Plot hole: During the later parts of this movie there is much talk about 'continental displacement' and this appears to be happening in the film. The Earth's crust is falling apart because of the heating of the inner core, and all the cities seems to be falling apart since the ground can no longer hold them. When our cast finds themselves surprised to be already over China when they figured to be over the ocean, it is explained that Asia has actually moved from where it was. If this phenomenon is taking place globally, how come the monks in China don't seem to have been disturbed at all? In fact the bell the monk rings as the ocean approaches hasn't even been shaken. The arks are built in between the mountains, but the mountains are apparently fine. Shouldn't they be falling like the rest of the crust?
Factual error: Denham is obviously shooting a sound film - he has a sound recordist with him along with the bulky and awkward recording equipment typical for the era, and they discuss the problems of recording dialogue on board. But not once do we see him filming with sound. We see the crew recording dialogue - synchronised sound, recorded on location, which is utterly impossible given the equipment they have and the circumstances under which the film is being shot. We never see a microphone, a boom pole or a tape recorder. His camera isn't even 'blimped' - soundproofed - and it's handcranked, which makes a racket. They can't be planning on adding the sound later - why have the sound recordist and his bulky and heavy equipment there with them if they are? The whole point of post dubbing dialogue is that you don't need a sound recordist in the first place.
Revealing mistake: When John picks his wife up at the airport, it's raining. But look at the people around outside, they are in T-shirts, in the sun, and not getting wet. Obviously the rain is being sprayed on the car.
Factual error: The "brick mansions" are in Detroit, but when the surveillance satellite footage is shown, the initial, close-up skyline shown from above is of San Francisco. Then as it zooms out it's looking at Chicago. (01:04:00)
Continuity mistake: The morning after Christian brought a drunk Ana back to his hotel room, she is sitting in bed eating some breakfast. The piece of toast she is holding keeps changing shape, having one bite taken out of it, then two, then one again in a different pattern. This is before Christian leans over and takes a bite just before he goes to shower.
Factual error: When Glass saves the Indian girl from the Frenchmen the flintlock pistol he gets off the Frenchman fires multiple times without reload, as it does later while being chased by the Indians.
Factual error: In the scenes where Gardner is messaging his Earth based female friend Tulsa from his Mars home, their communication is shown as being in real time. In truth, there would be minimum of a 4 min lag between messages due to the distance. (00:24:00)
Revealing mistake: When the new Pope is announced, the New York Times headline is shown, and 'Copyright 1990 The New York Times' is visible. The event took place in 1979.
Factual error: During the scene where Mozart is being carried away in his coffin by horse and cart there is a brief shot where he is being taken down a muddy path and a farmer is seen with his cows. If you look closely to the left side of the screen you can see a large overhead power line. If you look even more closely you can even see the wires coming out of the pylon. The movie is set in the 18th century and obviously it should not be there. (02:50:50)
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.
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!?
Continuity mistake: When Richard and Francoise are making love on the beach. They begin kissing deep under the water and continue all the way to the top. When they reach the surface they can stand up in the water which appears to be waist-level.
Factual error: During the 31st year of the Avalon's voyage, the ship passes close to the star Arcturus, which is about 37 light years from Earth. Later in the movie, it was stated that the Avalon was moving at around 50% of the speed of light. The ship would not have reached Arcturus in the time allotted.
Visible crew/equipment: During the "full attack" at the start of the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Wallace repeatedly shouts, "Hold," and in the wideshot right before Wallace finally shouts, "Now!" as the horses gallop towards the right side of the screen, we can see a white car at the left side of the screen. Viewed widescreen version. (01:27:15)
Continuity mistake: In the 'Gaston' song sequence, near the end, Gaston is sitting in his huge antler chair with Lefou. In the wide shot, there is a bear rug behind the chair. The camera does a close up of Gaston, then in the next wide shot, the chair is on top of the bear rug. Also, after this, Gaston gets up off of the chair and in the next shot, both the chair and the rug disappear completely. (00:29:20)
Suggested correction: The tech is supposed to be highly advanced. This is at least kept consistent throughout the film as all communication between planets is in real time.
DetectiveGadget85
There is no tech that can alter the laws of physics that we know of. The near future setting of the film limits the scope of what's feasible.
Jizzmopper