Factual error: The lake that Jack told Rose he went ice fishing on when she was threatening to jump is Lake Wissota, a man-made lake in Wisconsin near Chippewa Falls (where Jack grew up). The lake was only filled with water in 1918 when a power company built a dam on the Chippewa River, six years after the Titanic sank. (00:39:05)
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.
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.
Factual error: In the beginning of the film, the Dowager Empress Marie states that the year is 1916 and that they are celebrating the 300th anniversary of their family's rule. The 300th anniversary actually took place in 1913. (00:01:05)
Factual error: The geography around the VLA in New Mexico is actually relatively flat - in fact one of the reasons why the array complex is there is because the land is flat. The canyon in the film was actually Canyon de Chelly, in Arizona, more than 170 miles (270 km) away. But in the film, when Ellie goes to the canyon, the radio antennas seem to be right there, insinuating that the canyon is part of the VLA's magical desert scenery.
Factual error: Charles and Robert manage to outrun a charging Alaskan brown bear over a course of several hundred meters, leading it into a trap. This is absurd. The absolute maximum running speed of a human being is about 27 kilometers an hour, and that is for an appropriately dressed, fit athlete over a very short course on flat ground. They are in a rock strewn stream and are wearing heavy winter clothes. A fit, healthy, active male Alaskan brown bear like the one chasing them could hit 45 kmh in that environment without popping a sweat and could keep that up for a kilometer or more. When enraged or charging prey - as this one was - they have been clocked at 56kmh. This is nothing to do with an adrenaline rush - that will not enable Charles or Robert to exceed their body's maximum running speed by 200%.
Factual error: After the volcanic eruption, there's a scene where we see our heroes going across a lake, which has been turned to acid by the lava. If this acid is strong enough to corrode the propeller, then surely the fumes would be destroying their lungs, in which case they should be dead, or close to it.
Factual error: Towards the middle of the film,Pacino and Depp are walking downtown, there is alot of traffic and some of the cars are "post 1978" model . One in particular caught my eye, which was a mid-80's Ford Taurus (even the model of the car didn't exist in 1978).
Factual error: The volcanic lava in this movie moves incredibly fast in the subway line. This is not only inaccurate, but also ridiculous and unnecessary. Volcanic lava can possibly move faster when in a concealed area that insulates it, but insulated lava cannot move that fast.
Factual error: The Portuguese slave ship Tecora was one of the most notorious of the illegal slave ships, but no slaves were thrown overboard in mid-ocean as shown in the film - at least on the trip in question. The Portuguese were pros at the slave trade and had plenty of food on board to feed their "cargo" between Sierra Leone and Cuba. The only time a slave would be thrown overboard in mid-ocean was if his/her health posed a serious risk to the crew and "cargo". (Slaves were too valuable to just throw away for the price of their food.) Historically, though, there were instances where whole cargoes of slaves were tossed overboard. The British Royal Navy zealously patrolled the waters off West Africa to try to shut down the slave trade. If a British ship was sighted, the slavers sometimes tossed slaves overboard to destroy the evidence and prevent the seizure of the ship.
Factual error: In the scene when Sandy is whipping a plant on his deck, the plant is a tropical hibiscus. The film is set around Thanksgiving in Connecticut and this plant could never survive the frosty outdoors on this deck.
Factual error: In the hangar scene when Castor and Archer point their guns at each other, if Castor's gun was really empty the slide would be locked back.
Factual error: A photograph is displayed of people at a 25th year MIT reunion in which they are wearing cardinal and grey jackets. Alumni do not receive these jackets until their 50th year reunion. (00:08:00)
Factual error: When they are being kicked out of a Corpus Christi dance club in 1961 for singing do-wop, someone screams "We want to hear Tejano.". Tejano music was born in 1972 in Alice, Texas. In 1961, the correct term was "Tex-Mex" which later became "Chicano" which is now known today as "Tejano". The word "Tejano" was not known in 1961.
Factual error: On 26th May 1989, the Liverpool v Arsenal game kicked off at 8pm, which meant it would be 9:50 at the earliest before the end of the game. Sunset was at 8.59 that day (I checked!) so why is it still light when they're celebrating?
Factual error: The heroine is trying to get to come on the trip in the minisub. She is asked "Name three under-ice amphopods" The word should be "amphipods", and her answer "Gamamarus" should be "Gammarus". (00:25:30)
Factual error: When Jordan arrives at the training base, she is riding in a canvas-topped Humvee. The doors consist of a light wire frame covered by a vinyl canvas, and must be hooked shut with a plastic handle. You can see that she fails to secure the door, and it flops open behind her. Yet there is the sound effect of a full-size metal automobile door slamming shut.
Factual error: The mobile phone which Ordell (Samuel L. Jackson) uses in the film is the Motorola StarTac, which was made during 1997. During the movie Michael Keaton says in his tape recorder : "date, July, 1st 1995....", telling us the film's set in 1995.
Factual error: While Dirk and Reed are running from Rahad's house, and trying to get into Dirk's 'Vette, Rahad fires a shotgun at them. One shot hits the driver's window, which shatters, then a shot at the back of the car showers sparks. Corvettes are fiberglass-bodied, and wouldn't spark. After the sparks, there is no damage to the rear bumper cover, which if really hit with a shotgun blast would at least put some holes in the fiberglass.
Factual error: When Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane and Dennis Miller are climbing through the sewer system to get to the White House, Lane looks up and says that they must be under the National Mall because there's Pennsylvania Avenue. That is incorrect. The National Mall is located behind the White House. Pennsylvania Avenue is the street in front. They do not intersect.
Factual error: The queen's maid tells Brown that the queen is currently reading 'Lord Tennyson.' That would be difficult in 1864, as Tennyson did not accept a peerage until the early 1880s.