Factual error: A computer screen is used to show that a matching record was found for the fingerprint of one of the terrorists. But the two prints shown are identical, meaning they are the same print, shown twice. In reality, a matching print would show the same patterns of skin texture, but the ink pattern, record quality, angle of the finger to the paper, would all vary. You can't make the exact same finger print twice. It's similar to you signature - it's always extremely similar, but never precisely the same. (00:31:40)
Factual error: In the entire movie it's quite obvious Sean Penn has a digital watch on, even though the face is on the inside of his wrist it is occasionally visible, and the modern rubber watch band also gives it away, especially in his close-ups.
Factual error: Mel tells Bobbie that his car is a Coupe De Ville. We see later in the movie that the car has four doors. The Cadillac is actually a Sedan De Ville.
Factual error: When Ratcher's F16 has a system failure, he reports that both his engines are out, but F16s are single engine aircraft.
Factual error: There is a scene where the guy takes a date whale watching in Boston Harbor. There are no whales in Boston Harbor, it's at least an hour and a half trip out to go see whales from Boston.
Factual error: When testing the new phone installation, the engineer only dialled the number, and not the area code, as you have to do on a mobile phone.
Factual error: When Felix and Oscar are on the plane and Oscar goes to sit next to Felice, the pilot says they will be landing in twenty minutes. This cant be as the police sheriff said the flight would take forty minutes. I don't think Oscar was in the bathroom for twenty minutes or the seatbelt sign wasn't on for twenty minutes either.
Factual error: When Vinnie Jones goes to the guy having the sunbed he lifts the top of the bed up and smashes it down on the guy's face, breaking his nose and making it bleed. He does this a few times. The thing is, no sunbed's canopy will come down so low it could touch your face. Even fully closed, inside the sunbed will be enough room above your nose of at least 6-9 inches. Even if the sunbed's canopy is closed with a huge force, unless it breaks the bottom half off then there is no way the top half can touch your face. They are designed like this to prevent accidents.
Factual error: During the morning training session, Shang shot an arrow to the top of the pole so his soldiers can get it, but the arrow is stuck in a horizontal position. A difficult position to achieve, for someone shooting an arrow from below. Even if the arrow hit the pole at such a point in its arc, its kinetic energy would be at its weakest, preventing it from boring into the pole.
Factual error: Peter McCabe escapes the operating room partly by turning his oxygen supply into a flamethrower. 100% oxygen makes everything extremely flammable, but it cannot be lit like a flamethrower.
Factual error: When Chris Farley is climbing up the side of the mountain to return the bird egg, you see the bottom of his moccasins and they appear to be made of a ribbed (for traction) material. Back then, they would have been made from animal hides and the bottoms would have been smooth not ribbed.
Factual error: The sound effect used for Mr. Kogan's Desert Eagle for the shootout in the Chinatown kitchen is WAY too quiet. It almost sounds like a silenced pistol. Any gun buff knows how loud these hand cannons really are.
Factual error: Zeke is in his car trying to fight off Miss Burke and they crash into the school bus, causing an explosion. The gas tank in Zeke's car is under the trunk of his car and the gas tank to the bus is in the rear of it. Everything underneath both hoods is mechanical and nothing is combustible at the front where the impact occurs.
Factual error: If you cover someone's mouth with a 2-3 inch strip of duct tape, or electricians tape, rather than go around the entire head, it is VERY VERY easy to repeated open your mouth wide, then scrunch face over and over again and work the tape off to the point where you can scream. Actually, duct tape, which is used by most of the offending movies is even easier than that. It can usually be almost completely removed in a matter of seconds. Electricians tape as used in this movie, is a little harder since it is stickier, by still can be done fairly easily. I suppose that it can be argued that people in these situations are scared, or don't know any better and therefore don't TRY to remove it. But in this movie, the main character is getting her stomach cut open and screaming in intense pain. This would cause enough facial movement for the tape to work itself free.
Factual error: When Vic is beginning to fall in love with Louisa, he stays up one night reading her novel-in-progress. However, Louisa is Spanish, and it's clear from her accent that her native language is Spanish, and writers very very rarely would deliberately choose to write in their second language when they could write in their first language - so her manuscript is almost certainly in Spanish. And it's extremely unlikely that Vic speaks Spanish: he shows no signs of speaking Spanish; his character is not that bright and not that well-educated; and even if he learned it in school he's been out of it for many years and wouldn't be able to read it at that time. Even if Louisa had chosen to have her work translated so it could be read more widely, she was in the process of writing it; translation is a long, expensive, and involved process and it wouldn't have been done while the work was still being written, as we have already learned it is. Therefore, Vic would have been unable to read Louisa's work.
Factual error: When Bill and Jason are heading up to Canada (and Lucia is following in her own car), they are driving past several high mountain peaks, and up through a winding valley. Problem is, they started in South Bend, IN and are heading towards Detroit, MI, and that area of the country is notoriously flat, other than occasional hills.
Factual error: When Max received a letter, the address showed that he lived in Cincinnati. But at the end of the movie, Max winds up Freak's bird, and lets it fly over the river towards the Cincinnati skyline. This means he is on the other side of the river, in Newport Kentucky.
Suggested correction: That does not mean he lives in Newport, he could have crossed the river to fly Freak's Bird there.
Factual error: When Jack arrives at a roulette table to replace Matt as the dealer, the roulette wheel is stationary. In UK casinos, it is never allowed to stop spinning at any point while the table is open.
Factual error: When Chucky blows up the cop car with a flaming rag in the gas tank, he is shown opening the fuel cap in the side of the car. The car in question is a Chevy Caprice, the fuel cap is located behind the rear licence plate.
Factual error: At the beginning of Ringmaster, a road sign for Tampa is shown, and later, Willie says he works at Wal-Mart in Lakeland, but when Angel gets arrested she is taken to Broward County Jail, which is where Fort Lauderdale is located - on the other side of the state.