Best mystery movie mistakes of all time

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The Usual Suspects picture The Usual Suspects mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Right before they rob the police car, a Boeing 747 (four engines) is seen in shots of the plane coming into land. When the plane is shown from behind, it is a Boeing 767, with only two engines and fewer main landing gears. (00:30:10)

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Suggested correction: It's for effect to show they were hanging out around the airport for more than a bit.

There's no evidence this was meant to be a montage scene of various planes. The cuts they did have in the first angle were of the same plane getting closer to build suspense. Same for the other angle. Plus, there's no scenes or shots of "them" waiting.

Bishop73

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Minority Report picture

Continuity mistake: In the beginning, when Anderton arrests the jealous husband, he notes that he is being arrested on April 22 - that day - for the future murder of his wife and her lover. Later, while Anderton is jogging, we see billboards advocating a "Yes" vote on pre-crime on April 22. The next day, Anderton's boss Lamar notes that the vote is in a week, which would make it April 15, making the day that the jealous husband was arrested April 14, not April 22. (00:13:05 - 00:15:15)

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Murder on the Orient Express picture

Factual error: Both the Yugoslav police officers Poirot is speaking to at the end are black. The chances of a black person serving in the Yugoslav police in the 1930s were zero.

Necrothesp

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Ghost picture

Revealing mistake: When Carl is being dragged away by the demons, you can see the cable line that he's attached to. May be fixed on DVD.

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Ace Ventura: Pet Detective picture

Other mistake: When Ace rescues the dog and replaces it with a toy dog, the toy dog is in an impossible position. Ace had to place it there when the door was still open, but if the door was closed after that the man would have knocked it over. (00:03:25)

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City by the Sea picture

Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the movie, when Joey Nova is trying to get out of town, he sells his football ring to the drug dealer, but in the final scene he is clearly shown wearing the ring when he points the gun at his father.

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Limitless picture

Plot hole: If Bradley Cooper was able to "quintuple" his money every day in the market as he claims to have done, he would have been able to earn the $100k he borrowed from a loan shark within a few days, starting from $800. Alternatively, he is shown in one scene winning a pot in poker where he could presumably also make a large amount of "seed" money from gambling. There was no need to borrow such a small sum of money from a loan shark, making the entire sub-plot unnecessary.

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Suggested correction: The main character says he did quintuple his money four days in a row, not that he could continue to do so. "Presumably" he could do anything, like robbing a bank. Gambling is not a secure source of income, even with knowledge of the odds and every tell, he could also lose a lot of money.

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Basic Instinct picture

Continuity mistake: During the infamous leg un-crossing scene when Sharon Stone is being interrogated, a cigarette in her hand disappears and then reappears.

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Scream picture Scream mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: At the end when Sidney's dad falls out of the closet, if you look closely you can see the hands of a crewmember who was in there too, pushing items out after him. (01:42:40)

Jon Sandys

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Halloween picture

Continuity mistake: When Annie and Laurie leave the hardware store to go to their babysitting jobs it is broad daylight. When they reach the houses apparently just a few blocks away, it is already dark.

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Salt picture

Plot hole: In the end, all they have to do is ask the President, when he's conscious (Liev didn't kill him; he just knocked him unconscious), who killed everyone in the control room and nearly killed him. He would know who the traitor is and it's not Salt - when they look back at the facts, they'll see how Salt only killed when she absolutely had to, and how she saved lives and stopped a 3rd world war.

kh1616

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets picture Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mistake picture

Revealing mistake: At the beginning of the scene near the end of the movie with Lucius Malfoy fuming at Dumbledore in his office, Malfoy's hair is fanned back behind his shoulders. The lighting in the room illuminates the back of his neck, where you can see his real, short brown hair. (02:22:05)

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Flightplan picture

Plot hole: The whole concept of a kidnapper 'pretending' his victim didn't get on the plane in the first place is utterly laughable. Even if nobody saw her in her seat, why didn't they see her walking down the aisle to her seat, or waiting to board the plane, or in the boarding tunnel itself? Why isn't she listed on the passenger manifest, or on her mother's travel documents or airline ticket? And there would have been security cameras all over the airport.

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The Ring picture

Revealing mistake: In the scene when the main character is in the library on the internet, she goes to a couple of websites. When the shot shows the URL up top, it is C:\windows98\mydocuments\etc.html. Instead of actually searching on the web they used a premade html page and accessed it from their computer.

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Evil Under the Sun picture

Plot hole: Patrick Redfern needs someone to be in the boat with him to corroborate his and his wife's deception and be his alibi. That is whole point of his wife lying on beach - he gets this when taking Myra for a ride - but it was portrayed as a random ride she got, he did not intend or plan giving her a ride, he did not see her loitering near the boat, or even in view of him untying the boat. Even if that was intention in the story for him to be seen ready to cast off, the movie viewers did not see her viewing him, only her appearing just before he was set to cast off. Without someone with him the whole deception would not work, he would have no alibi, he could have killed Arlena unseen.

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The Goonies picture

Continuity mistake: During the jail breakout, when Jake tries to open the ORV's door, in the shot facing Francis he is holding the gun in his left hand as he tries to open the door for his brother with his right hand. In the next shot facing Jake just before shouts, "I don't have the handle, open the lock!" Francis's gloved left hand is empty, and next shot, the gun can be seen in his right hand. (00:01:45)

Super Grover

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