Best mystery movie mistakes of 2019

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Ad Astra picture

Factual error: It is not possible that Pitt could have gone up to the ship when it was already blasting off. There was literally fire in the tunnel.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: It was a bit confusing, but what I saw was a shower of sparks or hot particles and some fumes, and no fire in the tunnel until he was through the hatch. The makers may have been influenced by seeing vapour prior to a rocket launch, and then some rockets use a shower of electric sparks to ignite the engines. It was implausible, but no fire in the tunnel.

More Ad Astra mistakes
More The Highwaymen mistakes
Knives Out picture

Plot hole: The killer shows up at the scheduled appointment at 8 AM. They kill the idiot blackmailer with an overdose of morphine. Remember, that morphine that supposedly killed Thrombey in 10 minutes. Marta finds the blackmailer at 10 AM...alive, and does CPR on them, keeping them alive long enough for the ambulance to come and bring them to the hospital, even if in critical condition. So we went from "kills in 10 minutes, you can't even try to save him" to "after 2 hours, you are still hanging on"? (01:56:10)

Sammo

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Marta injected an absurdly large dose. A smaller overdose would not kill in 10 minutes.

I read that objection before. From 10 minutes to 2 hours there's quite a leap that the movie does not explain or address at all, if it were part of the plot they should have said why this difference, on something so time sensitive (of which they got the factual details wrong anyway). Even visually when you look at the dose injected to Harlan and the dose in the syringe for the murder, they do not look different. He even stabs her with the syringe. Which makes sense since he has no reason to leave her there with a small. Controlled overdose in her veins risking that she would be saved as it -almost - happens - it's amazing he got away with it to begin with because she is so dumb to show up for no reason in a derelict place without talking to her accomplice that passed her the toxi report, or anyone.Without a throwaway line from an investigator or anything of the sort ("but you injected her the wrong way, so she was still alive two hours after"), we are just left with an inconsistency.

Sammo

Suggested correction: You've assumed a hell of a lot! Marta said Thrombey was given a dose of 100 mg (instead 3) of Morphine and would die in 10 minutes unless given the antidote. You just asserted that "Thrombey would die in 10 minutes" as if it was fait accompli, while Thrombey didn't die of morphine overdoes at all! (He cut his own throat.) For all we know, Marta's 10-minute assessment was a worst-case-scenario assessment. Fran's age and physique, as well as Marta's CPR, helped negate the effect until the ambulance arrives. If the medics administered the antidote, it could have prolonged Fran's life. Finally, 2 hours is the time after which the viewer is informed of Fran's death, not her actual death time. Most importantly, this happens in the medical world all the time: A person who is supposed to die after 3 days lives for 16 years. There are case-by-case explanations for each one, but they baffle the medical examiners at first.

FleetCommand

Two hours is not my assumption or when the viewer is informed of her death; the killer gives the appointment to the victim at 8 AM and to Marta at 10 AM, so as I said, after 2 hours with 0 medical care on her she is still hanging on and with barely a little tap she is ready to dispense important clues. I go by what the movie says also about the 10 minutes overdose time. Of course if you tell me that baffling freak occurrences can happen all the time in medicine and that very precise statements from the movie don't matter because the character can just have gotten it wrong by over 10x and the movie does not acknowledge it at all, well, that's a very respectable opinion; mine is that fiction (a whodunnit, not a slasher flick with a killer surviving multiple gunshots and the like) is not reality and it should respond to higher standards than "I guess she was still alive somehow."

Sammo

I re-watched the movie to verify that Fran was given an appointment at 8 AM. I discovered something new: The bottle that was injected to Fran contained only 5 mg of Morphine. That's 1/20th of what was "supposedly" given to Thrombey Sr. So, yeah, 10x is OK. In fact, 20x is OK.

FleetCommand

No, no; it contains 5 mg of morphine PER ml, it's the concentration, not the total. Go back to the scene when Marta "messes up", the vials are the exact same as the one that Ransom injects (obviously, since they come from Marta's bag after all). It's new for you but I covered that already in the Factual Error about it. It's something that piles upon a previous mistake. She did not give him 100 mg of morphine because it would have emptied the vial (which is more than half full) and because a full vial of ketorlac would have killed Trombe regardless, at that concentration! The movie gets both the props and the medical facts wrong (100 mg of morphine does not even kill most patients, Harlan would have not died in 10 minutes especially since he takes safely big doses of toradol and morphine), but nothing - in the script - says that Marta or Ransom got basic medical facts wrong.

Sammo

Okay! It seems mistake after mistake is piling up. Now, it appears Fran lived 4 hours, during 2 of which she was unattended. Plus, 100 mg of Morphine from a 5 mg/ml vial amounts to 20 ml of liquid. Well, now, everything you say makes sense... or at least most of the things. On the whole, I think it was a complicated situation.

FleetCommand

More Knives Out mistakes
Midsommar picture

Revealing mistake: When the Hårgas begin eating their meal after Dani is crowned May Queen, there is a shot of Dani just after the Hårgas pick up their knives and forks where she is looking over at Christian. Sitting next to her is a woman who cuts her food with a knife and fork, raises the fork to her mouth and takes a bite, but there is no food on the fork. She is just miming the actions. (02:13:15)

Casual Person

More Midsommar mistakes
Pokémon Detective Pikachu picture

Character mistake: Some characters use the letter "s" at the end of a Pokémon's name when the plural of a Pokémon is just its name. The best example is when Pikachu says, "Roger must've sent the Greninjas to cause the car crash." Being a Pokémon himself, there's no way Pikachu, out of all characters, would say that.

More Pokémon Detective Pikachu mistakes
Glass picture

Continuity mistake: After the beast and David break the window and fall down they do so beside each other, but when they hit the ground they are separated by several feet.

oswal13

More Glass mistakes
Murder Mystery picture

Continuity mistake: After Sandler shaves in the cabin he gets back on the deck unshaved. When they appear at the dinner he is shaved.

More Murder Mystery mistakes
Annabelle Comes Home picture

Other mistake: The movie is said to be set one year after receiving Annabelle, but the music box from The Conjuring is on the shelf. Judy in The Conjuring is an 8, possibly 9 year old whereas in this film she celebrates her 10th birthday. If Annabelle Comes Home" is only 1 year after obtaining the doll (2 years prior to The Conjuring timeline) then Judy would not be turning 10 years old; she essentially lost a few years of life rather than vice versa.

More Annabelle Comes Home mistakes
Escape Room picture

Other mistake: While in the pool room, Zoey falls off the wall onto a portion of floor that hasn't collapsed yet and loses consciousness. This area is next to the section of floor that collapsed first. Jason jumps down to help Zoey. As he is helping her up, and onto the wall, that section of floor collapses, forcing him to grab the wall to avoid falling 20-ish stories with the floor. As he looks down drop, the section of floor that fell first is amazingly back intact. (00:59:20)

PinkGlitterMom

More Escape Room mistakes
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark picture Video

Continuity mistake: After the kids are told Sara hung herself at the hospital, Chuck asks "what are they waiting for, let's go". Stella is bending down to pick up the book in one shot, but the angle cuts while Chuck is still saying the word "go" and suddenly he has vanished from the room as the other two start to leave.

Quantom X

More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark mistakes
I See You picture

Character mistake: Detective Spitzer went into Harper's dark/unlit house, saw his partner Greg on the floor, and then saw Alec standing in the kitchen. Without identifying himself, telling Alec to drop his weapon (pistol pointed toward the floor), or bothering to determine what happened, Detective Spitzky shoots Alec. (01:27:08)

KeyZOid

More I See You mistakes
Foreign Exchange picture

Continuity mistake: When Ana finally escapes in Peter's truck, the truck is a Nissan Frontier extended cab with a long bed, no tonneau cover and no roof rack, but shortly after they show her crossing a bridge in a Frontier crew cab (4 door) short bed with a tonneau cover and a roof rack. It is also has dirt on the side that looks like road salt whereas the original truck was very clean. (01:16:00)

movvom10

More Foreign Exchange mistakes
Vivarium picture

Other mistake: Aerial views of Yonder gave the impression that a basic grid pattern was used - parallel horizontal and parallel vertical lines that form right angles; yards were of equal area, either a square or rectangular lot. [However, some of the views from the couple's car as they were trying to find the exit showed some slightly curved roads that didn't fit the grid.] Following the sun as a way out, the couple was jumping over fence after fence - but they could've simply walked along perpendicular roads.

KeyZOid

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: But they tried getting out using the road by car, and they felt that the roads were causing them to go into a loop. So instead they take a route they know for sure is straight. Btw, Yonder isn't real so the way the roads bend and how the grids are made up is purely an optical illusion.

lionhead

Walking (not driving) along the perpendicular fences would be the same difference only easier and less exerting. If/when they encountered a fence that looked different, that's when they could jump over it to see if it made a difference. How could they "know for sure" that the fences they were jumping over took them in a straight line? Also, they realised the clouds weren't real, so following something in the sky (the sun) was not necessarily a good idea. [This will be my only response here.].

KeyZOid

More Vivarium mistakes
The Lighthouse picture

Continuity mistake: After being buried alive, Wake returns to attack Howard with a pick. There isn't a speck of dirt on him.

More The Lighthouse mistakes
Scooby-Doo: Return to Zombie Island picture

Continuity mistake: Scooby and Shaggy are lying face down on the massage table when the zombies arrive. Shaggy has his robe lowered baring the upper back, but in the close-ups you can still see the robe up covering his shoulders perfectly. (00:28:00)

Sammo

More Scooby-Doo: Return to Zombie Island mistakes
Come to Daddy picture

Other mistake: Jethro said to Brian, "Shall I tell you how I know you're lying? Because when you said that, you looked up to your left." However, Brian looked to his right and Jethro even pointed to Brian's right when he was telling Brian that he looked to his left. (00:56:00)

KeyZOid

More Come to Daddy mistakes
The Good Liar picture

Continuity mistake: The spacing (almost touching versus several inches apart) and appearance (shape and whether there are shoots) of the two flowers in the vase on Estelle's/Betty's table at the restaurant vary. Sometimes, the flowers on her table look more like the ones that could be seen on the table in front of hers after Brian/Roy entered the restaurant. (00:03:40)

KeyZOid

More The Good Liar mistakes
The Last Boy picture

Continuity mistake: Sira pours Sprite into a glass until it is about three-fourths full, but the glass is closer to half-full when he hands it to his mother. (00:02:00)

KeyZOid

More The Last Boy mistakes
Mermaid Down picture

Continuity mistake: There wasn't much blood noticeable on the axe after it was used to chop off the mermaid's tail, but a little later when the man was carrying it over his shoulder, it was heavily covered in blood and dripping. (00:14:17)

KeyZOid

More Mermaid Down mistakes
The Wolf Hour picture

Continuity mistake: For a second time in the movie, someone buzzes June on the intercom. She tries to overcome her fears and get out of the apartment, but can't. She shuts the door, leans with the left hand on the doorframe by the chain, and lowers her arm. In the next shot, Naomi Watts is breathing deeply still with her hand by the chain. (00:06:05)

Sammo

More The Wolf Hour mistakes

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.