Best thriller movie character mistakes of all time

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The Lost World: Jurassic Park picture

Character mistake: When they're on the island and the INGen helicopters are flying in, Jeff Goldblum takes the binoculars and looks through the wrong end. (00:32:30)

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Knowing picture

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?

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Mile 22 picture

Character mistake: During the opening raid of the FSB safe house, an operator is seen taking hard drives out of a safe. As he does, he states over the radio that they are "SSDs" (Solid State Drives), when in reality they are normal HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), which are noticeably larger than SSDs. (00:07:25)

Matdan97

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Goldfinger picture

Character mistake: When Bond is being flown to Baltimore, Pussy calls her assistant Mai Lee twice on the plane: once in person, then telling the co-pilot to give her instructions. However, when they disembark, she calls her Mai Lai.

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Ad Astra picture

Character mistake: During the debrief meeting with the generals, Roy states the Lima Project was "some 29 years ago" and "the ship disappeared approximately 16 years into the mission." A few minutes later, Roy narrates "I was 16 when he left, 29 when he disappeared." This of course is only 13 years into the mission. (00:11:27 - 00:15:03)

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Unbreakable picture

Character mistake: In the final scene, one of the newspaper clippings on the killer's office wall reads something like, "Huge Mudslide in Mexico: All Killed Expect Newborn." The penultimate word should be "except." (01:35:55)

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The Great Escape picture

Character mistake: The scene in the outdoor Parisian cafe is incredibly daft. First, the cafe owners call James Coburn's bizarrely-accented Australian to the telephone to keep him out of the way as their accomplices assassinate three uniformed German officers seated in the cafe in a drive by shooting. They then toast the killings with cognac, and that is the mistake - not the shootings, not the luring away of Coburn - the mistake is that the cafe proprietors celebrate the assassination of the German officers in broad daylight, in the open, without even stopping to think that such an action would have them shot, because all of this is done in the direct view of passers-by in broad daylight. Do they think those three German officers were the only ones in Paris? How did they know Coburn wasn't an undercover Gestapo agent or a French collaborator? Don't they stop to consider that in an occupied city machine gun fire is going to draw some attention from the authorities, who might just wonder what a couple of bullet riddled corpses are doing lying about the place?

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Suggested correction: Regarding the French cafe proprietors making a toast, if questioned, they could simply claim they were celebrating surviving the incident and/or needed a calming drink. Considering any ensuring panic and confusion after the shooting, pedestrians would hardly notice the waiters. Attention would be on the dead Germans. French citizens most likely wouldn't care or cooperate with the authorities. Being indifferent to German officers getting killed is not proof of involvement. Most French hardly be remorseful over their enemies' deaths. Antagonism toward the Germans was normal. It would be more suspicious if the proprietors showed concern. As far as helping James Coburn, it was pretty obvious he was neither French or German, and they took a chance to protect an innocent bystander. Also, it was to inject some subtle levity into the scene.

raywest

Rubbish. During the occupation Paris was crawling with collaborators and undercover German agents. The cafe owners are drinking champagne - not much of a nerve stiffener! - and they clink glasses in celebration of the shooting of the German officers. Their actions are beyond obvious to anyone that can see them. They simply would not take the risk and would act as if they were horrified to see their customers shot dead in their cafe.

Nope. Even if collaborators were "crawling" around, no-one would expect any French citizen to care about Nazis being killed. If questioned they can claim it was for the other reasons already stated (and they are not drinking champagne). It does not prove their involvement. Little would come of them being interrogated. As mentioned, this is a movie, and the scene injects subtle humor and is intended to show the audience that they are involved in the coordinated plan.

raywest

Again, rubbish. The Nazis occupying Paris arrested anyone suspected of belonging to or assisting the Resistance on the slightest pretext, and the cafe owners who were celebrating the deaths of three German officers would be in a Gestapo prison cell before the bodies of the dead Germans were cold. What they do after the Germans are shot is blatant, irresponsible, dangerous and completely unnecessary. They could have saved their celebrations for later when it was safe.

Once again, NOPE. Clinking glasses is not proof of possibly belonging to or aiding the Resistance. They also were not wildly celebrating. It was a quick, low-key action, and they looked both nervous and relieved. Also, I re-watched the scene on YouTube. When the car pulls up to shoot the Nazis, the street around them is completely empty. No witnesses anywhere. People are only seen far in the background. The phone call just before the shooting is a signal and indicates this was well-coordinated and timed. Secondly, the story needs to move quickly, and insignificant characters would not be seen toasting later. This also showed James Coburn (and us) that the waiters were potential allies.

raywest

You think the Nazis needed proof of someone's involvement in the Resistance? They arrested, tortured and shot innocent people on the unsubstantiated word of pro-German informers! No witnesses anywhere? What about Coburn? They didn't know who he was or where he was from. For all they know he could have been a Gestapo agent himself. The scene is absurd. Nobody is so stupid as to do what they did at the risk of dying horribly if caught doing it.

It should also be noted that the cafe owners duck behind their counter before the car carrying the gunmen shows up, and they get Coburn to do the same. They just provided incontrovertible evidence that they knew about the assassinations ahead of time.

Yes, they absolutely were part of it, and the hit was timed and planned in advance for the opportune moment. This was not a random act, and the phone call is the signal that sets the events in motion. When they made the toast, they knew the street was completely empty and obviously felt it was safe to do so. Also, if Coburn was a spy or collaborator, he would have warned the Nazis, not hidden behind the counter. THIS IS A MOVIE, NOT REAL LIFE.

raywest

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Final Destination picture

Character mistake: At the memorial service the principal says that it's been 39 days since 39 loved ones had died. But there were 40 students on the plane and 4 chaperones, making the total 44. Now 7 people got off the plane, which means 37 people related to that memorial service actually died, not 39. Two pilots would make up the numbers, but there would be flight crew too, which still leaves the numbers off.

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The Fast and the Furious picture

Character mistake: In the opening scenes when Brian goes back to the shop, he demands that he needs some nitrous to boost his low top speed. Well I'm sure that most tuners will agree that more horsepower doesn't equal more top speed, it only contributes IF you have a transmission that can handle it and distribute it. (00:09:53)

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Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi picture

Character mistake: As they take Han away, watch Lando. Just before he tilts his mask down so we can see who he is, he whacks his head on the doorway. (00:16:20)

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Panic Room picture

Character mistake: The mother tells the daughter to keep warm and drink water. In fact that would lower the blood sugar faster. This method is used for high blood sugar to lower it back to normal.

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London Has Fallen picture

Character mistake: When Mike and the SAS team leader first meet, the team leader introduces himself as Will Davis, Captain. However at the near end when they say goodbye to each other, Mike addresses him as Lieutenant. (01:07:35 - 01:25:35)

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Star Trek: First Contact picture

Character mistake: When Picard is explaining the Enterprise to Lily he states that it has 24 decks. Yet earlier on, a crewman had reported to Worf that the Borg had taken over "decks 26 up to 11".

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Thunderball picture

Character mistake: When Angelo sets the Vulcan down in the sea, he blows the canopy and extends the landing gear. As the plane settles, he attempts to release his harness, then has his air line cut by Largo. He futilely beats on the harness release when all he had to do was pull the face curtain handles to trigger the ejection seat, which would not only blow him clear of the plane but would separate him from the seat itself. Having trained for two years for this specific mission, he would undoubtedly be familiar with ejection procedures.

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Jaws picture

Character mistake: In the beginning of the movie, Chrissy goes swimming on the night of July 1. Her remains were found the next morning on July 2. The police report that Brody types up states that the incident happened at 11:50 p.m. On July 1 and that Chrissy's remains were found at 10:20 p.m. On July 2 and not in the a.m. As the movie shows. Also on the police report, it states that Chrissy was removed to the "CORNERS OFFICE" and not the coroner's office. (00:09:30)

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Ace Ventura: Pet Detective picture

Character mistake: In the scene at Roger Podacter's condo building, you hear the reporter mention that he allegedly leaped to his death from his own 20th story balcony. As the camera pans down, you can see the flashlights and people up on his balcony doing the investigation. This is the 2nd from the top floor. If you count the floors as the camera moves down, there are more than 20 floors to this building. The number is actually closer to 30. Even though it is difficult to get an exact count of the floors, it is still possible to tell with 100% certainty that his unit was on a floor higher than 20.

dishmanchicago

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The Twilight Saga: New Moon picture

Character mistake: When Edward leaves Forks, he does it because he believes that he will be protecting Bella. Except that he seemed to have forgotten that Victoria was still in Forks and was intent on killing Bella.

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No Country For Old Men picture

Character mistake: When Moss is arguing with the border guard at the Eagle Pass international bridge, he claims that he is a veteran of the "12th Infantry Battalion." There has never been such a thing as the 12th Infantry Battalion in either the Army or the Marines. Rather, they are based on a structure of 3-4 battalions per numbered regiment (i.e., 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment/2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, etc). The film takes this seriously, as the guard, a veteran himself, buys Moss' story.

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Suggested correction: He might have meant 12th Infantry Regiment. From Wikipedia: "Three 12th Infantry battalions deployed to South Vietnam with the 4th Division from August through October 1966."

If he said "battalion" but meant "regiment", then it's still a valid mistake for saying it wrong and being believed.

Bishop73

Regiments have not existed as functional units in the US Army since shortly after Korea; they are simply historic names associated with various battalions. Marine battalions are not numbered higher than 4 in any regiment, and in any case do not carry an explicit designation of "infantry."

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The Phantom of the Opera picture The Phantom of the Opera mistake picture

Character mistake: When Buquet hangs over the scene, you can see Meg screaming along with three other dancers. Four shots later, Meg is still screaming, but the two girls who were to her right (on the left of the screen) are still dancing, as if they haven't seen Buquet yet. (01:05:10)

Sereenie

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