Best thriller movie character mistakes of all time

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Unknown picture

Character mistake: When the EMTs are resuscitating Dr. Harris, they use a defibrillator despite their being on a wet metal dock. Not only is this highly dangerous to absolutely everyone present, it would be completely ineffective at restarting his heart as the water and the metal would dissipate the electric current too much for it to do any good. At the very least, they would have stabilized his spine then moved him to a dry surface before beginning defibrillation. (00:08:30 - 00:09:10)

Phixius

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Suggested correction: External defibrillators are self grounded and so can be safely used on wet or metal surfaces. https://danboater.org/travel-health-and-safety/are-aeds-safe-to-use-in-wet-environments.html.

AEDs are indeed safe to use in wet areas - but in the film, it is not an AED that is used. AEDs are automated, and not operated by humans, so as to reduce risk. Your link explicitly states the rescuer must not have direct contact with the body: they just apply the pads, then move back. In the film, it is shown in detail that the medic applies the paddles and then operates them while still in contact with the body. The mistake stands: it's a traditional defibrillator, thus incorrectly used.

swordfish

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Stealth picture

Character mistake: When Lt Gannon is in the dogfight with the Russian jets, he announces that he is deploying "chafe and flares." The term is spelled and pronounced "chaff", and any pilot would know that.

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In the Cut picture

Character mistake: When Malloy first visits Frannie in her apartment, he says the girl was killed on the 15th, but when Frannie is in the cop car for the first time, Malloy's partner says it was the 11th.

Ral0618

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National Treasure picture

Character mistake: Nick states that Wall Street was originally a wall (correct) built to defend against the British (incorrect). The original wall was a wooden palisade built in the 16th Century to defend the Dutch colonists against invading natives and to prevent livestock from wandering uptown.

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Iron Man picture Iron Man mistake picture

Character mistake: There is a misspelling on the cover of the issue of Forbes magazine shown in the presentation about Stark's life. It reads "Tony Stark takes reigns at 21". The correct spelling of the word is "reins". Stark may "reign" at Stark Industries but he would take over the "reins" of the company.

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Lethal Weapon 2 picture

Character mistake: The sign Riggs holds outside the South African Embassy has a spelling mistake. The sign says "end apartheid now" but the word apartheid is misspelt as "aparthied".

mightymick

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Pitch Black picture

Character mistake: When Carolyn first addresses Imam, she quite obviously pronounces his name "ell-mom," as though the capital I in his title were a lower-case L. It should be pronounced "ee-mam". We distinctly hear Ali call out his name in this fashion after the ship crash lands on the planet.

THGhost

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Die Hard picture

Character mistake: An unloaded automatic pistol is much lighter and balanced differently than a loaded one. When McClane hands "Bill Clay" (Gruber) the empty pistol, a terrorist of Gruber's credentials should pick up on the odd balance (I notice that difference, and I very rarely even pick up a gun).

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Suggested correction: This presumes that a person can notice the difference between a fully-loaded pistol versus a pistol that is empty, which makes sense. However, it would be much more difficult for a person to tell that a gun is completely empty versus one that only has one or two bullets loaded. Since Gruber has no way of knowing his ruse didn't work, he doesn't believe McClane would have given him a completely empty gun. He obviously believes there is at the very least one bullet in the gun. He's not planning on getting into a shootout with McClane, he is just planning to threaten him and he certainly doesn't need a fully loaded gun to do that.

BaconIsMyBFF

Suggested correction: It's easy to tell the different between the weight of a loaded vs. unloaded pistol, but given Hans had never held the pistol before, he had no way to compare the weight. Unless he regularly handled that particular model of pistol (unlikely, given his pistol is a completely different make and model) he would have no point of reference.

Most likely scenario. Different models will weigh differently as as stated, unless you got the point of reference how would you know?

Ssiscool

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Gran Torino picture

Character mistake: The information on Walter's "patient information sheet" lists his address as 5962 Delco St but numerous shots indicate his house number is 238. (01:03:25)

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Rush Hour picture

Character mistake: After the first attempt by the kidnappers to get the ransom money, they tell the FBI to bring the money behind the Foo Chow restaurant. Clive gives Carter and Lee the exact same destination. Why in the world would kidnappers give the FBI a drop-off location exactly where they are based?

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Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle picture

Character mistake: Close to the end, Madison is looking over the H.A.L.O. list on her laptop. When Dylan's profile pops up, her last name, Saunders, is misspelled as Sanders.

Brad

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Flightplan picture

Character mistake: When the plane is speeding down the runway at the beginning, a female flight attendant is seen walking, and Kyle is seen buckling her seat belt. Everyone would have been sitting down and buckled in at this point.

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Psycho picture

Character mistake: When Marion is calculating how much she spent her math is wrong. The movie shows 400000 - 4036 = 395963. It should be 395964.

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Inside Man picture

Character mistake: The bank robbers send out a hostage and put a drawer around his neck with a note. The drawer is bugged and the bank robbers can monitor the police. The police just leave the drawer lying around on the table for half of the movie inside their mobile headquarters. This drawer should be in a forensic laboratory being checked for fingerprints and similar.

Goekhan

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Red Dragon picture

Character mistake: At the very beginning of the film, when Hannibal Lecter is serving dinner to his guests, one diner asks "what is this divine looking amuse-bouche" when she and the other guests have a full plate of food. An amuse-bouche is a single bite of food meant to be served at the beginning of a meal, not a plate full of food. Lecter's guests would be better educated.

steven_frankel

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Minority Report picture

Character mistake: Near the end of the movie, John's wife calls one of his colleagues and says, "Jad, it's Laura, John needs a favour." Her character's name is Lara. (02:08:30)

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The Silence of the Lambs picture

Character mistake: Buffalo Bill's revolver is a double action, meaning did not need to cock his gun before firing it (you only need to do so with single-action revolvers. Cocking a double-action just makes the next trigger pull easier.) He could've just shot Starling. His stupidity got him killed.

MikeH

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Enemy of the State picture

Character mistake: After the Congressman is killed, the killer dumps pills on the floor of the car. Then the car is then rolled into the river. At about 15:07 the news reporter mentions that the Congressman's heart pills were found in his lap. This would be impossible because the pills and bottle would float and the pills would dissolve in the water. (00:03:45 - 00:15:05)

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To Catch a Thief picture

Character mistake: Early in the movie Cary Grant is on the beach and is told he has a phone call. While conversing with Bertani, Cary Grant has the handset backwards - he is speaking into the earpiece and listening to the mouthpiece where the chord is attached.

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