Best movie factual errors of all time

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The Matrix Reloaded picture The Matrix Reloaded mistake picture

Factual error: In the scene where Neo is shot at by the French guy's henchmen, they shoot with different types of guns. 4 of these are submachine guns which would fire 9mm. Another is a M1928 Thompson would fire .45 APC. Lastly there is a Heckler and Koch G36K which would fire the drastically different 5.56x45mm NATO. When Neo stops the bullets, they are all 9mm Parabellum rounds.

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Never Been Kissed picture Never Been Kissed mistake picture

Factual error: In the montage sequence showing Drew Barrymore hanging out with the math club, they have a Pi poster with 3.1457869986. Only the first 3 digits are actually correct. (Pi = 3.1415926535897...) (00:25:20)

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The Martian picture

Factual error: After Watney patches the blow out of one of the HAB's airlocks with plastic sheeting, tie down straps, and duct tape, he pressurizes the HAB and the plastic sheeting pushes out like an inflated balloon. Assuming the plastic and duct tape would hold this is correct, however the plastic would be much more taut given the pressure difference inside and outside.

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Suggested correction: The plastic would certainly be flexing in and out because of the pressure of the wind gusts during the storm. We saw earlier that the gusts of the storms were strong enough to blow a suited explorer off their feet and push them across the surface. Let's say that the HAB is pressurized as much as it can be without blowing out of the plastic, tape, and bungees sealing the airlock. A storm gust would still be able to push the flexible plastic in momentarily, and it would pop back out after the gust passed.

The movie took liberties with the physics of Mars. The gusts on Mars wouldn't be able to blow over a person or a spaceship, let alone push them across the surface, but they needed it for the plot. But using the same physics they then have wedded themselves to, it could then be strong enough to cause the plastic to flap, even though in real life it wouldn't. This is more of a deliberate mistake than a factual error since the writers certainly knew what they did didn't match reality.

Except they didn't 'wed' themselves to their fictional physics. Towards the end of the film NASA tells Watney that a flimsy plastic covering on his ascent vehicle will not be dislodged on acceleration to Martian escape velocity because the atmosphere is too thin to cause any problems. That's cheating in anyone's books.

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Dracula picture

Factual error: At the cinematograph, Mina says to Dracula, "How can you call this science? Do you think Madame Curie would invite such comparisons? Really!" The movie takes place in year 1897, but Marie Curie's works weren't published until 1898. (00:49:30)

Kylantha

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Octopussy picture

Factual error: In the balloon scene, it seems like Q can circle around and land on a spot where he flew past previously. A balloon can only fly in the direction of the wind.

Jacob La Cour

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The Sting picture

Factual error: When Hooker comes out of the diner there is a billboard advertisement to the right. It is for Ezra Brooks bourbon. Ezra Brooks brand wasn't created until 1957.

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Night at the Museum picture

Factual error: Dexter the capuchin is in the African mammal display. Capuchins come from South America.

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National Treasure: Book of Secrets picture

Factual error: Ben, Abigail and Riley arrive at the Library of Congress to take the President's Book very late at night. However the Library of Congress, despite being shown as open, consistently closes at 5 PM.

Darius Angel

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Argo picture

Factual error: It's mentioned that the British and New Zealanders turned the Americans away. This is untrue - the Americans stayed with both for a time until it was decided that they would be safer with the Canadians.

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Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit picture

Factual error: Jack Ryan takes the enlisted oath, not the officer's oath, when commissioned into the Marines. (00:02:35)

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Everest picture

Factual error: On the bus ride in Nepal, they're playing a Hindi song from an Indian movie (Kabhi Khushiyan Kabhi Gham) that was released in 2001. The time frame on the bus is 1996.

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Now You See Me 2 picture

Factual error: When it's 00:00 on January 1st, it's not night in Sydney, it's 11 AM. When they 'reveal' stuff at the end of the movie, and they show that things happen exactly at 00:00 in the night in London, it can't possibly be dark in Sydney, Australia.

oddbeck

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Suggested correction: It shows that Sydney is at dusk and is becoming dark, so around 5pm-6pm-ish, not 11am during the day.

Russel Denton

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Life picture

Factual error: How would the creature be able to re-enter the ship by climbing into the reactor piping? The reactor fuel system is not open to the living space of the International Space Station.

Scoutmaster253

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Fast & Furious 8 picture

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.

throcko

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Aquaman picture

Factual error: Aquaman lifts a submerged submarine towards the surface, which should start to sink again straight after releasing it, as its ballast tanks are still full of water. It shouldn't stay floating like that.

lionhead

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Dora and the Lost City of Gold picture

Factual error: Dora picks up the solid gold statue - by the size it would weigh in excess of 500 lbs. She then lifts it up and places it back on the mantle above her head. A grown man could not do that, let alone a child. (01:31:06)

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Midway picture

Factual error: During the battle at the Marshalls-Gilberts, the movie shows mountainous terrain. The real Marshalls and Gilberts are atolls with very little terrain.

Movie Medic

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Furious 7 picture

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)

Ssiscool

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Anaconda picture

Factual error: During the first battle with an Anaconda, the 55-gallon fuel drums lashed to the deck of the riverboat are swept over the side, where they sink to the bottom of the river. This plot device drives the rest of the movie, since the boat must make a dangerous detour through "Anaconda country." There is just one small problem with this: Fuel drums full of diesel fuel or gasoline float on water. The fuel in them makes them buoyant. It would have been a simple matter for someone to get a rope or a boathook and retrieve the fuel drums before they floated away.

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Jurassic Park III picture

Factual error: There is no way a 2001 phone's tiny speaker could be heard a hundred meters away in the belly of a dinosaur or later buried in a mound of dino dung.

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