Factual error: It's mentioned that the British and New Zealanders turned the Americans away. This is untrue - the Americans stayed with both for a time until it was decided that they would be safer with the Canadians.
Factual error: In the scene where Arthur first enters the house and starts going through paperwork, there's a shot of Nathaniel Drablow's death certificate which shows 'body was not recovered' in the box next to his cause of death. Such a thing would not be written on death certificates of the time - that box is reserved for 'Signature, description and residence of informant', a heading which can partially be seen as the camera pans across the certificate. For the death to have been registered, an informant's signature would have to have been there. (00:20:05)
Factual error: When Henry uses someone's mobile to call home, which would be overseas, he only presses about 4 numbers, when he should have had to press about 10.
Factual error: In the movie, when the elevator ("the fall") reaches the middle of the planet, everything turns weightless. In reality, everything should have turned weightless as soon as the elevator was dropped, given they're in freefall.
Factual error: At the start of the war, it says Fort Sumter 1861. However, on the battlefield we see the US flag with 35 stars. In April 1861, there were only 33 states.
Factual error: At the beginning of the film, Nick gazes up at the Roosevelt Hotel. The camera pans up and we can count the number of floors - 18. Yet, during the film, Nick is purported to be on the 21st floor.
Factual error: During Bond's fight with Patrice in the Shanghai high-rise, Patrice's sniper rifle fires several times, presumably by accident. However, moments earlier, when Patrice assassinates his target in the neighboring building, the rifle is shown to be bolt-action. A bolt-action rifle can't be fired more than once without manually re-cocking the gun in order to fire the next round. (00:45:50 - 00:47:20)
Factual error: In the beginning scene in the locker room, Taylor brings up his Glock and calls it the "Glock 19", however a shot shows the pistol's trademarks, displaying it as a Glock 22.
Factual error: When the bridges are blown up, some of the bridges are suspension bridges, but the bridge only fails at the point of the explosion. The main horizontal supports are severed, but large portions of the bridge remain magically aloft. The nature of suspension bridges means the remaining vertical cables and road deck would fail as well, resulting in the loss of the bridge between the two main pillar supports.
Factual error: Semi-automatic guns don't just click empty, like they do in a lot of movies. The slide would lock back until you manually cock the gun. Yet in the corridor of light scene, this is exactly what happens: Alice's gun just clicks when it's empty.
Factual error: When the agent searches for Abu Ahmed in Peshawar, Pakistan, in one scene he gets out of his car, and a shop named Bhatia sons appear in the background, a company based in Delhi, India. In the next scene he is walking down a market, where a sign board of Jaggi sweets, (existing in Punjab, India) is seen, with words written in Hindi (only to be found in India).
Factual error: In the movie the graphics shown include geographical positions, with the latitude and longitude. Every one is wrong except the one in Somalia.
Factual error: Bryan tells Kim to go to the US Embassy if he doesn't return in 5 minutes, and enters "US Embassy" into the GPS. Later there is a chase scene that ends at a building with "United States Embassy" on the signage. This is impossible unless they drove about 6 hours to Ankara, the capital city. Istanbul has only a US Consulate (albeit a very impressive one).
Factual error: There is a scene in midtown Manhattan toward the middle of the film outside a NYC subway station, which according to the sign on the subway entrance is at 6th Avenue and 39th Street. There is no such subway station on those streets.
Factual error: The rifle Aaron Cross is shooting is a bolt action rifle, but it's shot semi-automatically. (00:33:46)
Factual error: When the main character goes into the church, she looks at a picture from 1989 labeled "annual picnic". In the picture a boy (next to the main character's mother) wears a hat with a DC (DC Shoes) logo on it. DC Shoes was established in 1993. (01:00:00)
Factual error: Before Harland arrests Will, he gets out of the cop car with a block of cash. Later in the movie you learn he burned it. There was a burn barrel next to the car with a low fire in it as he gets out of the car. It cuts to the cops yelling at him with a mega phone and then back to Will walking away from the barrel. Now the fire is roaring high up. It grew much too fast and high for such a short time. Money is not that flammable. (00:19:40)
Factual error: When Ranger takes Stephanie to buy a gun, the one she gets is a 5-shooter, but in the scene where she is firing it at the gun range by herself she shoots it 12 times without reloading. Later, in the scene where she shoots Jimmy Alpha, she fires it 7 times without reloading.
Factual error: The station under Cape Town stadium do not exist. Although the first tram line was from Cape Town to Green Point (the stadium's location) it was discontinued just before world war 2.
Factual error: The Logans flee into a parking garage, where Ben breaks a van window to access the hood release...then, upon opening the hood, he immediately rubs two wires together to start and run the vehicle. This is physically impossible, although often depicted in films. The starting circuit for an automobile is completely separate from the ignition circuit. (00:39:35)