Factual error: Near the end of the film Knox is flying a Huey helicopter and the Angels hitch a ride by shooting it with a spear gun and dangling on the line behind it. Suddenly adding about 200kgs to a Huey in flight like that is going to cause all sorts of problems with the trim and airspeed of the aircraft - the pilot would know immediately that something was wrong. (01:23:20)
Factual error: The serum is transported by blood. Hair has no blood traveling to it, only the root. So, unless Bacon shaved his body clean, his hair wouldn't have become invisible, likewise all of the fur on the gorilla.
Suggested correction: The serum could have been absorbed by the roots and made its way to the tip of the hair strands (similar to colored water going up a piece of celery, changing the color of the celery).
Mammal hair is not porous and is not subject to capillary action.
Factual error: Gary Sinise looks at a computer screen with a short section (about two full twists) of DNA on it and proclaims that "This DNA looks human." He could have been looking at DNA from any single-celled organism and it would have looked just as human as what he was looking at. All mammals have 90+ percent of their DNA in common, he would have to have sequenced the entire DNA strand (something like 3 billion pairs of nucleotides) to identify it as human, something that would be totally beyond the capacity of anything but a well-equipped genetics lab, something they show no sign of having.
Factual error: When Bruce Willis is looking at his old high school news clippings you see a professional baseball score on one of the newspaper clippings. The game was Pittsburgh vs. Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks were not a team yet when he was in high school. (00:33:35)
Factual error: A ham radio requires the person to hold down the button while talking. Numerous times in the movie they are talking without pushing the button.
Suggested correction: This is actually subtly addressed in the film. The magic which allows the radio to work across time also allows the two men to speak without pressing the button. There is a moment where Frank wonders what is going on with the radio and presses the button a few times to talk but then notices that he doesn't have to press the button to be heard.
If that was true, then it wouldn't make sense for them to continue to show Frank and John hitting the squawk bar throughout the film.
That is a separate issue. The mistake entry states that you need to hold the button to talk on a ham radio, which is true, but the magic ham radio in the film doesn't require it. If the actors continue to occasionally press the button that could be considered a character mistake but it could also simply be a force of habit by the characters.
Factual error: In the scene at the race track where they show the virus infecting and destroying cells in the blood stream, they clearly show that it is red blood cells being infected. Viruses, in order to replicate, require the cell's DNA replication machinery. However, mature red blood cells in the circulation no longer possess this machinery since they no longer have a nucleus or DNA. It would therefore be impossible for this virus to replicate.
Factual error: The helicopter markings and paint schemes are exclusive ONLY to POTUS (President of the United States). Senator Kelly, even thought he's trying to get a Presidential bid, wouldn't be allowed to fly around in aircraft marked like that. (00:30:10)
Factual error: Nitroglycerin does not react with sunlight, nor does it boil in sunlight.
Factual error: When Buck first sees the videotape left behind by Pastor Billings, Bruce Barnes tells him about a prophecy contained in "Daniel Nine, Chapter 27." As a pastor, Barnes should have known that the Bible is divided into chapters and verses. He should have said "Daniel 9:27," "Daniel Chapter 9, Verse 27," or "Daniel Nine, verse 27." The point is, "27" is the VERSE, not the CHAPTER. (01:15:05)
Suggested correction: You have to keep in mind that Bruce was one of the only people in the church to be left behind. He admits himself that he wasn't where he should have been spiritually. So it makes sense that he wouldn't quote scripture properly at this point, he was practically a brand new Christian that was thrust into leadership, learning with his new congregation.
Factual error: In the scene where the FBI agents have taken Giovanni Ribisi in for interrogation, one of the FBI agents says at one point "...and I want the whole C:/ Drive backed up on a floppy.", which is pretty hard to do, if not impossible, unless you've got about a 5Mb hard disk drive (depending on compression levels). But later on in the scene where Ribisi is actually doing it, he does it in about 10 seconds...with a 1.44MB floppy.
Factual error: When Arnold is in the police station reporting that he has a clone and passes through a control room, one computer screen is flashing "OVERIDE." The correct spelling is "OVERRIDE." (00:38:05)
Factual error: The teens are traveling presumably along the Meadowbrook or Wantagh parkways, when they enter Jones Beach. They see a sign just before the beach entrance that says "New York: 93 miles", when Jones Beach is less than 15 miles from NYC limits and approximately 25-30 miles from Manhattan.
Factual error: When Richard goes to the mainland with Sal, he calls back home to say that he is OK. International phone calls cannot be made from the blue public phones of the type he uses. Only public phones from CAT (Communication Authority of Thailand) can be used for this purpose. Richard was calling from a TOT (Telephone Organization of Thailand) phone.
Factual error: Towards the end of the movie when the President is addressing Congress, Joan Allen is seen outside of the building jogging. Joan Allen, being a senator and thereore a part of Congress, should have been inside the building.
Factual error: A couple of times during the film, someone exclaims in horror that if this-or-that system fails, they will have to land the shuttle dead-stick (unpowered; no chance to veer off and try again). Actually, all shuttle landings are dead-stick; they are computer guided but nevertheless are unpowered, one-shot deals.
Factual error: The roach-like insects that are apparently eating the algae and "producing oxygen" are continually referred to as nematodes. Nematodes are actually tiny round worms that have unsegmented bodies (unlike an earthworm).
Factual error: In the beginning, Leonard looks at a copy of John G/Teddy's driver's license. The expiration date is listed as 2-29-01, but of course, 2001 was not a leap year, so there would've only been 28 days in the month. (00:12:45)
Factual error: The movie was set in 1991, but there is a newspaper with a Kia advertisement. Kia's first U.S. cars arrived in 1994.
Factual error: In the beginning of the movie, the killer calls Cotton on his cell phone. When the killer hangs up on him, you hear a dial tone. When someone cuts you off on a cell phone, you don't get a dial tone. (00:02:40)
Factual error: In the scene where Cousin Avi takes Bullet Tooth Tony's Desert Eagle, he unloads on the dog & kills Tony by accident. He shoots a total of 10 shots, but Desert Eagle .50's only hold 7 in the clip & one in the chamber. He never reloaded his gun.
Suggested correction: Knox wasn't a trained pilot. Either he had no clue to what was going on, or he thought something may have been wrong, but didn't know what to do about it.
Taking off and landing a helicopter are by far the most intense and difficult part of a pilot's training. Seriously, 99% of learning to fly is learning how to land and take off. If the pilot is skilled enough to take off in a Huey he is easily skilled enough to notice a massive additional drag on his helicopter due to the additional weight of the angels and the air resistance put up by such a bulky protrusion on his aircraft. If he isn't skilled enough to notice that, he isn't skilled enough to take off in the first place.