Best thriller movie mistakes of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith picture

Factual error: The movie is supposed to take place in and around New York City. However, during the car chase where Angelina and Brad are fighting off the three BMWs, a wide shot shows a street sign announcing Los Angeles.

dettasixx

More Mr. and Mrs. Smith mistakes
The Mummy Returns picture

Continuity mistake: In the British Museum, when Rick and Ardeth are saving Evie, Rick gives her a .45 pistol and they start to shoot the guards, her pistol fires once and the slide locks back meaning the pistol had no ammo, but she keeps firing as if the magazine was still full. (00:39:47)

More The Mummy Returns mistakes
Flight of the Phoenix picture

Plot hole: This film is set in 2004. The thought that no search and rescue operations would be put in place after an aircraft disappeared from radar during a routine flight is absurd. The Chinese are paranoid about intrusion on their territory and the downed aircraft would have been located by a simple satellite search within hours of it crashing. Chinese military satellites crisscross the Gobi and they are equipped with optical cameras, microwave and infrared detectors and radar, so spotting a metal aircraft on the ground would be simple even if it was hundreds of kilometres off course. The crew would have been visited by Chinese military helicopters (and probably arrested!) as soon as the storm had died down.

PEDAUNT

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The Chinese government, for whatever reason, may have denied there was any crash at all if it suited their purposes, and the oil company that owned the plane would have little recourse. The Chinese have done this before. For the purpose of the plot, the survivors decided that they had to save themselves rather than wait for rescue and that was completely plausible.

Suggested correction: It's now 2021, and we still can't find Malaysian Airlines MH370. So this suggestion of planes always being found is laughable.

stiiggy

MH370 crashed into the ocean, and in fact some wreckage has been found. The Chinese military does not have the south Indian Ocean under satellite surveillance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, unlike the Gobi desert where a crashed plane would be spotted within hours of it going missing.

More Flight of the Phoenix mistakes
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.

More Basic Instinct mistakes
Joker picture

Factual error: Based on the films being shown at the theater, the movie appears to be set in 1981. One of the TV commercials shows the Energizer Bunny, which didn't make its first appearance until 1988.

wizard_of_gore

More Joker mistakes
Spy Game picture

Factual error: The hat that Brad Pitt wears in the 1985 scenes is a Padres hat with navy, orange and white as the colours. In 1985, the Padres' colors were brown and yellow. The color change didn't come until late 80's or early 90's.

More Spy Game mistakes
Time Bandits picture

Factual error: When the Titanic sinks all six dwarves and Kevin end up in the sea clutching a lifebelt. The water in which the Titanic sank was freezing - that is how most of the casualties died, by freezing, not drowning. In water like that you'd be lucky to stay conscious for more than a few minutes. Despite this none of them show the slightest effect of the cold. Maybe the dwarves have some 'magical' ability to withstand lethal cold, but Kevin doesn't even react to being plunged into freezing cold water. He'd be screaming in pain, but he doesn't even show the slightest sign of discomfort.

More Time Bandits mistakes
Predator 2 picture

Other mistake: In the slaughterhouse scene, after Harrigan has injured the Predator with his shotgun and Keyes reappears, the Predator throws its disc, and severs Keyes in half at the waist. We see his legs flop to the ground, and blood pour from above, but his upper half (torso, backpack and weaponry) mysteriously remain hovering out of sight. (According to the director, the MPAA made him cut the footage of the top half of his body hitting the ground because it was too gory, creating this odd error). (01:21:50)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: We don't actually know if the disc completely cuts Keyes in half (or just passes through him and leaves a gaping hole). You see the blood, but the movie is edited so that it cuts back to Harrigan looking on in horror for a split-second, then back to Keyes' body on the floor (mostly obscured by a cement pillar).

They blatantly show his legs hitting the ground without the top half! I can only assume you watched an edited-for-TV version or something. It's VERY clear in the movie that he was cut in half. (In actuality, the scene was the victim of the MPAA according to the director... they had to cut the bit where the top half of his body hit the ground because it was too gory... creating this odd movie mistake).

TedStixon

More Predator 2 mistakes
Capricorn One picture

Plot hole: Further to the comments about the Lunar Lander being useless as a Mars Lander - who is going to believe that three men spent eighteen months crammed into a tiny Lunar Command Module? Not only would they go out of their minds, where would they store the tonnes of water and food they would need in that tiny capsule? How could the Service Module carry enough oxygen or have enough battery power to make the trip?

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: You're assuming they travelled from Earth to Mars in the lander alone. The astronauts didn't do this when they went to the moon. The Lunar Lander was attached to the command module during the 3-day journey. When the astronauts reached the moon, they detached the lander from the command module and landed on the surface. It is reasonable to believe the astronauts for Capricorn One did the same thing, except on a much bigger ship for a journey that lasted over a year. We just never saw it.

Mike Lynch

The posting did not refer to the Lunar Lander, it referred to the tiny Lunar Command Module, the only part of the Saturn V that returned to Earth. From 44:00 to 48:08 of the film we see a live broadcast, supposedly from Martian orbit, showing all three astronauts crammed into a Lunar Command Module. The posting is absolutely correct.

This is another Deus ex Machina explanation for a blatant film mistake. The astronauts launched into orbit in a standard Saturn V rocket which could not possibly carry anything like a spacecraft large enough to make the trip to Mars. There is nothing in the film to suggest that there was a "much bigger ship" involved.

They are also shown seated in the tiny Apollo command module, supposedly transmitting messages from orbit around Mars. The posting is absolutely correct.

You're assuming the astronauts were launched in a standard Saturn V rocket, but with all the resources needed for a journey to Mars that took 18 months round trip, NASA would have to send them on a larger rocket to accommodate the required oxygen, water, food, spare parts, supplies, etc. needed to bring them back safely.

Mike Lynch

Did you watch the film? From 1:54 to 2:25 we see an establishing shot of a perfectly ordinary Saturn V rocket on the launch pad. From 6:05 to 6:43 we see all three astronauts strapped into the tiny, Lunar Command Module. As has already been pointed out from 44:00 to 48:08 we see a live broadcast, supposedly from Martian orbit, showing all three astronauts crammed into a Lunar Command Module. There is absolutely no mention of a larger spacecraft and none is ever shown.

More Capricorn One mistakes
Blitz picture

Continuity mistake: When Brant kills Barry at the end of the movie, Brant lowers his gun after shooting him, but in the next shot he is pointing his gun at Barry. Also, the scene shows Brant holding a semi-automatic style handgun before shooting Barry, then when the scene pulls out it shows him holding a revolver, then shows him holding the semi-auto again.

More Blitz mistakes
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

More Salt mistakes
Don't Breathe picture

Continuity mistake: He cuts a hole in her pants for insemination. When in the car moments before fighting the dog there is no hole.

More Don't Breathe mistakes
The Peacemaker picture

Factual error: The Russians stopped using steam locomotives in the 1970's. So bringing one out of retirement in 1997 to haul nuclear warheads would mean that your highly secret nuclear train would be well known among rail enthusiasts for weeks before.

More The Peacemaker mistakes
Body Heat picture

Factual error: Under US law neither Peter Lowenstein nor Oscar Grace would be allowed any level of participation in the investigation, arrest and prosecution of Ned Racine. Both have a highly visible social relationship with him, which disqualifies them from having anything to do with a criminal case against him. In fact as soon as he became a suspect in Edmund Walker's murder they would both be officially 'warned off' - told not to contact him again for any reason.

More Body Heat mistakes
War of the Worlds picture

Continuity mistake: On the ferry, Rachel wears the purple/pink camouflage hoodie over her orange knit sweater with the colorful stripe sleeves, as usual. Now this is where things become strange. In the first shot as the trio come ashore, she is only wearing her orange sweater, she is not wearing the purple/pink hoodie - note the clear lack of fur hood. In the very next shot as they climb a bit more and then rest, Rachel is wearing the purple/pink hoodie - note the hood, but now it's on under her orange sweater. In the underwater shots she is also wearing it under the orange sweater. (This odd mistake has absolutely nothing to do with the very long wool cloak that Rachel wears in the next scene). (01:02:20 - 01:04:40)

Super Grover

More War of the Worlds mistakes
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.

More Halloween mistakes
Jumping Jack Flash picture

Continuity mistake: When Terri is at the party, her blonde wig changes shape and size many times.

More Jumping Jack Flash mistakes
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.

More Evil Under the Sun mistakes
Spectre picture

Factual error: The 15 bus in London does not go over Westminster Bridge.

More Spectre mistakes
Swimfan picture

Continuity mistake: When swimfan85 is trying to talk to Ben and he tells her he has homework to get done, she is talking with the nick name swimfan85 but when she signs off it says "swimfan has signed off." They forgot to add the 85.

More Swimfan mistakes