Factual error: The idea of two spacecraft blasting off together so close to each other at the same time is a joke. One would put the other at great risk. Not only is there massive fire and heat, but the vibrations from the noise of the exhaust do great damage to the surroundings. And there is great inconsistency about just how close the two spacecraft really are. The first still shot taken in the dark has them at different towers about 150 yards apart. But, then all the men take an elevator up ONE tower and are split apart into the two groups at the top of the tower. Furthermore, the launch takes place at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39: the fixed and rotating service structures built for the Space Shuttle are visible. The pads at LC 39 are 8,700 feet apart (just over 1.5 miles). (01:00:00)
Factual error: When Gregor shoots the guy in the car after nearly killing the little girl, blood sprays over the window, but there's no bullet hole. If the bullet exited his head, hence spraying blood, it should have gone through the window too. (00:55:00)
Factual error: After the soldiers' initial disembarkment they are shown crouching in groups near the shore and later running towards the bunkers. Unlike the movie shows, anything even as simple as crouching behind the tank traps, let alone actually standing up and running, was impossible at Dog Green Sector and indeed for anyone when pinned down by a machine gun from a high far-away position. In the real-life landing at Dog Green within 7-10 minutes all the officers of the landing company were dead and the survivors inert. They could do nothing except throw away all their equipment and slowly crawl up the beach, shielded from bullets by the incoming tide and dead bodies. 1 hour 40 minutes after landing twelve (known) survivors made it to the base of the cliffs. Only 2 had enough strength left to go on and fight with another group. (The second wave, apart from one boat which was almost entirely killed, opted to land elsewhere when they saw the fate of the first wave.) In this way the movie rather poorly represents what it meant to make a properly opposed landing on D-Day - although whether this is justified or not is another matter. (00:07:00 - 00:07:40)
Factual error: The Apaches in the film are depicted with dual machine guns on each side of the cockpit, mounted directly on the windows. In real life, Apaches cannot mount such cannons, and instead use an M230 Chaingun in a turret underneath the helicopter, which the film Apaches have, but for some reason do not use. (00:49:25)
Suggested correction: Yes, we can all see they are supposed to be Apaches but not once are they mentioned by name. The US Army obviously didn't allow for real Apaches to be used. This isn't a mistake as there would have been no official licence to use the real deal.
Factual error: During the scene towards the end of the film where Alejandro is chasing Captain Love in the shack with the furnace at the mine, we see a pressure gauge just before the furnace explodes. The unit of measurement on the pressure gauge is shown as kg/cm2. Metric measures were not used in Mexico until eleven years after the film was set, and as California was a part of Mexico at the time, metric measurements would not have been used there.
Factual error: When requesting images from the satellite, the position (latitude and longitude) is always given in degrees and minutes (but NOT seconds), and a few moments later they get a picture centered on the person they are looking for. Now a minute equals a nautical mile (or 1.85 kilometers), so with a position given in degrees and minutes you'd get a region bigger than 3 square kilometers.... which makes it impossible to find a person that fast (especially in a crowded town).
Factual error: Riggs is shown using a laser-sight on his handgun throughout the entire movie. However, almost every single time he turns it on, the entire "beam" of the laser is visible, which doesn't happen in real life unless there is smoke/vapor/debris in the air. Obviously done for the sake of the audience seeing where the laser is pointed, but still a mistake.
Factual error: Adam Beck says "Kill the lights, unit one." They just don't shut off a main breaker but they cut the main wires. Then shortly afterwards the lights are back on again. It would have taken an electrician hours to replace the cut wires to the power. (01:44:25)
Factual error: When Christian Slater and Minnie Driver are trying to get out of the water before it reaches the transformer, there is a real big problem with this scene. If there really was a flood and it was rising that high, the city should have shut off the electricity to the entire city, to prevent any electric hazards that may happen in that situation.
Factual error: When the Jupiter 2 blasts off, it does so in the most fuel inefficient way possible - flat surface first. The air resistance would be fifty times less if they'd angled it side on. Plus, when the aerodynamic cover blasts away, the Jupiter 2 itself is revealed - and it is more aerodynamic than the cover. Rocket science must have taken a few steps backward lately... .
Factual error: 6 years in a mask and he's able to keep that lovely babyface with just a little bit of grime, which easily comes off? Of course it would have wrecked the whole story but still...
Factual error: When the aircraft crashes on the island, the front of the aircraft strikes the ground which would have bent the propeller. They would have never been able to fly it again with that prop.
Factual error: The locations mentioned in the film are all over the world, including South Africa and Rotterdam. During the car chase through South Africa, it is very clear that all the locations in this car chase are in Rotterdam. For example, at one point the car drives down stairs through a shopping-mall, this is a well-known landmark in Rotterdam. As a matter of fact it is about 1 kilometer from the bridge used in the finale of the movie.
Factual error: When Swayze starts the truck, he turns a key and it starts. The key only switches on the electronics. Peterbuilts have a push button starter switch.
Factual error: During the plane crash scene, the vertical stabilizer snags a hydro line, which rips it off. There is no way that the tail of a commercial jet would be so fragile. It is far more likely that the lines would snap.
Factual error: Whilst impressive, the snow covered set of Trafalgar Square is still far too small.
Factual error: When the hitmen shoot out the windshield of the yellow Firebird, it shatters into pieces and falls apart. All DOT windshields have a plastic coating on both sides of the glass so that it remains one big sheet, regardless of the many pieces the glass in-between shatters into. No US windshield in the last 40 years is tempered - they are all coated. Side and back glass are tempered. As for objects poking holes and other "possibilities", watch the film before suggesting things that do not occur in this specific crash.
Factual error: When Cable calls his mother in Phoenix from his desk in Chicago, he only dials seven digits, as if making a local call.
Factual error: After we are shown an aerial shot of New Orleans, then we see the scene where Lawson Russell pulls up in a New Orleans cab outside of a skyscraper. The only problem is, the skyscraper is the Library Tower, which is situated in downtown Los Angeles. (00:38:00)
Factual error: When Carter is meeting with Clive in a diner car park, as Clive is escaping in a car with a trunk full of C4, Carter starts shooting at the car. It eventually blows up leaving Clive badly injured. The explosion is caused by Carter's bullets reacting with the C4. However, C4 is inert and if a bullet hit it, it wouldn't create an explosion. You could also argue that this explosion was caused by Carter shooting Clive's gas tank, but this is another myth created by Hollywood to please audiences.