Factual error: The ship, VIRGIL, is diving straight down from the crust to the core. Although the interior of the ship pivots to make the cockpit perpendicular to the descent, the ship itself is "digging" straight down so when people move from compartment to compartment they should be climbing up and down rather than simply walking back and forth.
Factual error: The plastic explosive used on the cockpit door was C-4. When shot (as shown), C-4 does not explode; it requires the use of a detonator.
Factual error: A copy of Miles Davis' album "Tutu" is sitting on a counter. Odd since the recording wasn't made until 1986.
Factual error: At the end when Ben Willis and his son have Julie at the graves, Ray shows up with a gun. He fires at Ben but there is no bullet in the chamber. Later after the fight between Ray and Ben's son Julie picks up the six-shot gun and fires 8 shots at Ben. (01:30:30)
Factual error: During the scene in which Bond escapes from MI6 custody, after inducing a drop in heartbeat, he seizes the defibrillator paddles and uses them to shock the two male orderlies. However, only one of those paddles would have administered a shock. The other one is only there to form a circuit for the electric charge. Therefore, at best, it should only have shocked one of the orderlies. (00:25:15)
Factual error: When the crew shoots Kane's body out into space, the door opens up and "explosive decompression" causes Kane's body to fly out into space. At the beginning, the body slowly rotates. Then as it moves further away, the body begins flipping much faster. The reason something would increase speed in rotation like that is due to aerodynamics. An object traveling through space would simply keep the same rotational velocity it begins with since there is no air or other influences (gravity, etc.). The explosive decompression may cause it to increase rotation speed, but by the time it begins to flip, any air would have dissipated into space and not work as a column of air/wind to force the body into a flip.
Factual error: In the scenes at Miami Airport, you see numerous CSA planes (Czech Airlines). Czech Airlines offer no direct flights to Miami. However, Prague Airport, where this scene was shot, is full of CSA planes. (00:44:50)
Factual error: When McClane and Zeus take the little hatchback from the bank location, they run up the ramp by the Brooklyn Bridge and McClane looks to see the dump trucks aren't on the bridge. Zeus then spots them on FDR Drive and they speed off down the ramp to FDR Drive. The ramp they were on doesn't connect to the ramp they took to give chase. It only heads towards City Hall or over the bridge. They'd have to take the Civic Center ramp, do a u-turn under the Brooklyn Bridge approach then head back up the ramp to FDR Drive.
Factual error: Just before Declan and the Jackal start shooting at each other in the subway tunnel, one of the trains starts coming from the opposite direction and begins passing Declan. This train continues to pass him at full speed for a full 35-40 seconds while they shoot it out. Subway trains are not nearly long enough for that. Also, during this time another train comes from behind him and he has to get between them and hold onto the light for a few seconds while they pass. But the second train then passes first while the first one passes fully about 2 seconds after the second one came... and it got there first, by about 15-20 seconds. Subway lines are about the same length as each other as well. But the first one was way longer and way wrong. (01:49:30 - 01:50:05)
Factual error: In the cemetery, the skeleton of Gregory Peck's son is far too big to be that of a newborn, which it is supposed to be.
Factual error: When they first pick up the Mona Lisa, they show the back. There you can see a canvas sheet over a wooden framework. However, the Mona Lisa is painted directly onto wood, no canvas at all. The scan they run even says it's painted onto wood, despite visual evidence to the contrary. (00:06:35)
Factual error: We are told at some point that Nicole Kidman has dual nationality because she was born in the US. In the final scene, when she is talking with Sean Penn about her future steps, she says she has been deported and given one day to leave the country. She was a US citizen, so it is impossible that she would be "deported".
Factual error: In the scene when the police are heading to Clyde's house to arrest him, this tactic is highly unrealistic. In real life, when a person is simply a suspect in an investigation, the police do not all drive to the suspect location with lights and sirens going. This loses the element of surprise. They didn't even know if he was home, anyway.
Factual error: Rios records a message for her daughter on her mobile phone. The phone is a Nokia N81. The film is set two days after the first one, in 2005. But the N81 wasn't released until 2007. (01:02:00)
Factual error: When TCAS sounds on an airliner, it should include instructions for the pilot to climb or descend. The pilot should not have to call another plane to inform that pilot. It would take too much time.
Factual error: When Holland March is swimming behind the bar with mermaids, "Get Down On It" from Kool and The gang is playing. That song did not come out until 1981 and the film is set in 1977. (00:39:50)
Factual error: The repairman was freeing the soldiers from inside the locked gate using bolt cutters. The terrorist noticed this on the video feed so they electrified the fence, shocking the repairman. This would not have happened because the bolt cutters have plastic handles just for that reason, to keep you from being electrocuted by mistake. (00:54:50)
Factual error: When the Ranger trainees first meet Samuel L. Jackson, he's wearing the rank of a Specialist on his collars even though he's a Master Sergeant. Title 18, Chapter 33 of the US code prevents the unauthorized wear of a military uniform (among other things), however this does not automatically correct the mistake since a common misconception is that one slight alteration is sufficient to make the uniform legal. Having the wrong rank on is too obvious of an alteration, especially for anybody who has spent more than a day in or around the Army and would still be punishable by law, if he was dressed in an attempt to fool your average citizen outside of a movie.
Factual error: Winter in Antarctica would not have a night and day as portrayed, with the amount of light changing so much during the course of 24 hours.
Factual error: The detective played by Rory Kinnear is shown in 1951 typing a request for Alan Turing's military records. He changes a name with correcting fluid - unknown in the UK in 1951.
Suggested correction: You can see him applying a detonator prior to him shooting it.
If he applied a blasting cap (detonator) he should have used it then. Just putting a detonator into C-4 doesn't all the sudden make it vulnerable to being shot, he would have to actually hit the blasting cap's wire, which is about 5mm thick and relatively short (and it would have to be one that's sensitive to gunfire). Not a very probable shot, even less so when he doesn't even look when he shoots.
Bishop73