Factual error: When the Toad's foot breaks the pipe of liquid nitrogen, it should have frozen the water immediately, but it takes a lot more time to allow the wave to get closer.
Factual error: The movie is set in 1983, but small satellite dishes seen attached to homes were only available around 1989 when Sky was introduced, and the even smaller sizes visible on some homes did not exist until many years later.
Factual error: There are numerous rusty warning signs around the test sites from the Department of Energy. The DOE wasn't created until 1977 but the tests occurred from 1945 to 1962. They should have read Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). (00:06:40)
Factual error: The two uniformed police officers who take Dargis away at the end have haircuts that touch their collars. Plain clothed officers are allowed to be less stringent about their appearance, uniformed officers are most certainly not, and long hair like that simply doesn't happen.
Factual error: During the "University Challenge" competition: Brian answers a question with "Calcium Sulphite" and the question-master says he gave the correct answer of "Calcium Sulphate" (a different compound).
Factual error: When Angier and Cutter are looking for a new workshop they enter a room, with a fully glassed wall on one side. A very modern white radiator is in the room. (00:35:00)
Factual error: In the scene where the rocket launcher is fired and blows up the plane, the sound should have been delayed a second or two after the plane exploding.
Factual error: The introduction of the film has Alexandria (331BC) on the map, but the timeline is several hundreds if not thousands of years prior to then.
Factual error: Winter in Antarctica begins in June and ends in September. The movie says winter is beginning in February which is incorrect in the Southern Hemisphere.
Factual error: An AED delivers an electric shock for a fraction of a second. It is not capable of producing a sustained current, as is depicted in the movie when Roger and Dr. P are being electrocuted.
Factual error: In the standoff between Meat and O2, Meat pulls the trigger to shoot O2 and his gun clicks - it is out of rounds. This is a common mistake: semiautomatic pistols do not re-cock after the last round is fired - the chamber remains open, so the gun will not click if the trigger is pulled again.
Factual error: The three scorecards of 95-94 for the Dixon vs Balboa fight could not possibly be scored that way for a ten-round professional fight in which so many knockdowns occurred. Each fighter went down multiple times, which would've resulted in a much lower set of numbers using the ten-point-must system enforced in Nevada (and pretty much everywhere else). (01:30:25)
Factual error: Sharpe follows a wagonload of powder kegs into the Western Gatehouse, then down a corridor lit with torches, to the end of the corridor where Indians were tying together quickmatch, once again by torchlight. With the propensity for powder kegs to leak, even an Indian subadar would use closed lanterns.