Factual error: One of the scenes shows the buildup of American readiness as tensions mount. A B-52 bomber appears carrying four white menacing-looking missiles under her wings. Such missiles can easily be identified as the Hound Dog type, which was under test in the mid-60s but never became operational. America would never deploy those missiles either for real or for training, because the project was scrapped before even being accepted into the Air Force.
Factual error: Right at the end, Memphis escapes by jumping via a flatbed towtruck. The ramp is put down on those to tow away a vehicle so it should be backed right up to a vehicle to lift it on. That begs the question of why the ramp was down with no vehicles anywhere near it. The maximum distance that any driver would want to maneuver with the ramp down would be a couple of feet straight back.
Factual error: During the "Vietnam Scene" at the beginning you see a very long take of an AK47 muzzle appearing slowly from a bush.The problem is, it has the slopping muzzle brake of the AKM, not the plain muzzle of an AK47. The AKM was not in service in 1968, and was never supplied to North Vietnam anyway.
Factual error: When Claire pulls herself out of the bathtub, she falls right over the center of the tub. The bloody fingerprints would have been wiped away or completely smeared by her nightgown and bathrobe during the fall.
Factual error: When the husband swims to the other side of the lake to get some stuff in the truck, he lights his cigarette on one side and when he arrives on the other side, it's still lit. How could he swim trough the lake without getting his smoke wet?
Factual error: In the scene where Shaft has chased the guy running from the drug bust and caught him in the hall with an empty gun you can plainly see the slide is locked back on the bad guy's pistol (indicating an empty magazine). When Shaft steps out to arrest him (before the bad guy jumps out of the window into the other building) you can clearly hear the 2 clicks of a firearm hammer falling on an empty chamber. With the slide locked back, the hammer is locked back also...it would never make any clicks.
Factual error: When David Morse speaks on the mobile phone in the helicopter and just before kidnapping, he speaks to the wrong side of the phone. In the Nokia Communicator, the speaker and microphone are on the same side as the battery, not on the display side!
Factual error: KCN does not causes you to internally bleed, so Yuka Nakagawa wouldn't have spat up blood and died like that in the lighthouse, but would have rather died due to cessation of respiration.
Factual error: The Ohio Supreme Court does not meet in the State House, as portrayed in the movie. (00:07:40)
Factual error: When the group is travelling through the canyon near the end of the film, they are burning liquor to light the way, yet there is a lot more light than would be given off from this small flame. And none of it is flickering as would happen with a naked flame.
Factual error: At the Mexican brothel, in the scene where the ambulance comes to pick up Juliette Lewis, there is a sign that has "Calexico" written on it. But Calexico is a small town on the American side of the U.S/Mexico borders.
Factual error: When Bateman is in his apartment with his secretary, he points a large tool at the back of her head, unbeknownst to her. That is an air powered nailgun for installing plywood. The only way that one could be used is with an airhose and a compressor. The fitting for the airhose that sticks out of the bottom has been removed because it usually would point straight down and stick out about 2 inches. (01:02:45)
Factual error: Alex's 6-year-old kid must be a very powerful little boy: when he grabs that model aeroplane glue tube it bursts in the air like water.
Factual error: Placing a watch over a fresh brand would hurt a lot and they would be adjusting their watches continuously because of the gross scabbing.
Factual error: The sharks in this movie growl. Sharks do not growl.
Factual error: There is a scene where interceptors, flying out of an Alaskan air base, are ordered to go to afterburners in a desperate attempt to catch the lone bomber. When the commander of the flight signals his wing to light their afterburners, they cut to a shot of a jet firing missiles.
Factual error: In the sword fight between Hamlet and Laertes at the end, both characters are wearing jackets of the kind only used in foil fencing, to differentiate between a hit on target and a hit off target. The line in the script is "These foils have all a length?" but the weapons they hold are actually epees - which have a different target and different rules. Laertes' jacket is not properly done up, and he should have been penalised by the referee for removing his mask without permission. And a fencing piste should be 14 metres long - the one in this film is much too short.
Factual error: The average Iguanodon is estimated to have weighed around 3.4 tons, while Carnotaurus probably weighed about 1.5 tons. By this logic, during the final Carnotaurus encounter, the rocks at the edge of the cliff should have crumbled when Kron tried to escape, but remained intact until the Carnotaur was at the edge of the cliff. This is because the Carnotaurs in the film are inaccurately depicted as being T-Rex - sized animals.
Factual error: When the police are looking at the reflection of a neon sign in the glasses in the picture of the girl, the letters are reversed as you might expect. But the sign is on the glass front wall of the shop, facing the outside. Since the photo was taken inside the shop, the inside view of that sign would have already been reversed, and the reflection should have been the right way round. (00:35:15 - 00:39:40)
Factual error: Apparently, Han escapes from a prison in Hong Kong. Then why are the guards speaking Mandarin, which is spoken in China and Taiwan? The guards should have been speaking in Cantonese, which is Hong Kong's dialect. This was probably to convenience Jet Li, who speaks Mandarin but probably little Cantonese.
Suggested correction: The film was set after the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong so the official language of Hong Kong is now Mandarin as it is in the rest of China.
The principal language of Hong Kong is standard Cantonese, spoken by 88.9% of the population at home daily. As an official language, it is used in education, broadcasting, government administration, legislation and judiciary, as well as for daily communication. As a result of its predominance throughout the community, Cantonese is virtually the exclusive language of official discourse at all levels of the executive, legislature and courts of Hong Kong. Mandarin has increased since 97 but still not the official language.
The official language of Hong Kong is "Chinese." Cantonese is a dialect of Chinese, and not a separately set official language of Hong Kong. While many people communicate in their local dialects, it's not unreasonable to assume they could also be communicating in Mandarin, especially government officials, and especially if they are law enforcement. Not a plot hole or a mistake here.