Factual error: Considering the brightness of the fusion process, Dr. Octavius has to wear special goggles to be able to see it. Yet no one else in the room is wearing such goggles or seem hurt by watching the whole process, just as at the end of the movie. When welding something, no one can look at the arc that's created, as it would hurt his eyes and burn his retina; presumably, the fusion process would be brighter and more powerful than that, and so should have some kind of damaging effect on everyone's eyesight (except Spider Man's, maybe).
Factual error: The scene where Nightfox steals the Faberge Egg is all wrong. A laser security system must have a photoelectric receptor at the other side to detect if somebody pass between the two devices. As shown in the film, the laser beams points everywhere, so the system can't work and somebody could cross a beam without starting the alarm. Even if it was some weird system based on measuring distance it wouldn't work - if the laser hits the floor at an angle it won't bounce back to the source, it will reflect towards the ceiling.
Factual error: The Swedish subtitlers made Amanda's situation even more tragic, incorrectly translating her dead cellmate as her dead soulmate. (00:24:40)
Factual error: In the scene in Costa's apartment after the failed baiting ploy, Costa describes himself as a loner who "bought a gun for a false sense of security", appeared to have had it with him during the evening, and gave the impression that he bought it after he witnessed the murder. Although IlIeana mightn't know, the Montreal police in the room might (should) have wondered about this. Even if legal, it is very difficult to acquire a restricted weapon (handgun) in Canada, the process taking one month to as many as six or more for clearance and permits, let alone courses and examinations. In addition, concealed carry of a weapon is prohibited for civilians. (01:00:25)
Factual error: In 1973, directly after the scene where Sam had to chase the dog down the street, he sits in his apartment alone, watching Julie Nixon's wedding on TV. She was married in 1968.
Factual error: Right after the movie title is shown, you can see in the background a UPS truck. The only problem is that it has the new logo on the side of it. (00:02:00 - 00:06:00)
Factual error: Laurel shoots her husband dead and gets the fingerprints of Catwoman on the gun. When Catwoman/Patience later is interrogated for the murder, they say that her fingerprints were on the weapon that killed George Hedare. In a case like this, they would surely do a test for gunshot residue on both Patience and Laurel. The lack of GSR on Patience would at least have created certain doubts.
Factual error: In the deleted scene where Bill kills the black guy and his henchmen, Bill slits the throat of the black man, and then sheathes the sword immediately. This would cause the blood to clot the inside of the scabbard, making it sticky and difficult to draw the sword. And if left long enough, it would rust the blade. The scabbard will have to be taken apart to be cleaned properly, which would be a lot of meaningless extra work, instead of simply taking 5 seconds to wipe the blade. A swordsman of Bill's caliber would never have mistreated his weapon like that. It is like seeing a soldier deliberately burying his rifle in mud to give himself a nice, long job of cleaning afterwards.
Factual error: When Max and Vincent are at the second contract killing destination, Dispatch calls and Vincent is holding the receiver. In one particular shot he does not release the button on the side of it and we hear Lenny speaking. This would not be possible: he would have to release the button first to hear what Lenny is saying. (00:29:55)
Factual error: When Ford is about to start up the Y2K bike, Ice Cube's character is giving some stats on the bike like o to 200 in ten seconds, and carbon fiber chassis, he's got it all wrong. The bike does zero to 204 in 6.1 seconds and is made of aluminum; with only carbon fiber wheels, not the chassis.
Factual error: When Ryan is waiting for Jason Statham to call him back, the ringtone heard is polyphonic. The type of phone Ryan has plays monophonic ringtones only.
Factual error: A key plot point hinges on the Iraqi fellow believing he has shot someone but caused no harm. A brief shot of the bullets he has loaded his revolver with reveals that they are black powder blanks. Such blanks produce large clouds of white smoke when fired (indeed, they are used specifically to produce that effect in movies), but the shooting scene shows no smoke at all.
Factual error: At the beginning of the movie, the narrator states that the lowest possible SAT score is 500. In reality, the lowest score at the time of filming was 400 (200 on each section).
Factual error: When the pills are being recovered in the mock police raid, we see, several times, an observer watching through binoculars. We see his eye enlarged, despite our looking the wrong way down the lens.
Factual error: After Samuel shoots himself he is lying on the floor next to the Glock he used. The slide is locked back even though he had only one round and no empty magazine in the gun. The slide will not lock back in this configuration.
Factual error: There are many police interactions that would not take place in reality. For example. (1) All officers would be trained in vehicle use. Failure to be able to handle the vehicle would result in termination. He would have been booted from the academy. (2) When an officer is suspended, the badge, ID AND weapon are all removed by the officer in charge. In this case, only the badge was taken. (3) The officer in charge would likely only have the option of offering suspension without pay pending an emergency suspension hearing with a recommendation for termination. She could not fire him on the spot. Also, once officially fired, based on the merits of the inappropriate activities, he could not be taken back, regardless of the good deeds - past, present or future.
Factual error: Marie discovers that letters in a 9th century ornament are actually Arabic numerals. Those were not introduced into Europe until the 13th century and although the numbering system was already in use in Arabia, it used different glyphs than the ones she identified.
Factual error: In the final credits, the song "Brazil" is credited to "Aro Barrosa". The composer's real name is Ary Barroso.
Factual error: The main plot of the film takes place between the draw for, and playing of, the FA Cup Third Round tie between Millwall and Chelsea. In reality the Third Round is drawn in early December and played in early January, however the film makes no reference to this time of year, ie. no signs of Christmas, in fact much of it appears to take place during summer time.
Factual error: In the scene where Micky and Howard are discussing Livia's parking ticket, Micky mentioned that date the ticket was issued was September 5th, a Thursday. The movie takes place in 2003 where September 5th was a Friday.