Deliberate mistake: Especially in action movies and westerns, people in gun scenes often go through way more ammo in their weapons than possible and never reload. Especially the heroes.
Common movie and TV mistakes - page 7
This is a list of mistakes, things done wrong, etc. that happen so frequently onscreen we barely notice any more. 'Movie logic', stupid behaviours, and everything related.
Character mistake: When someone gets shot and the first thing people try to do is remove the bullet, often with a knife and no anesthetic.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: This commonly happens but this is not a mistake. What is wrong with removing the bullet with a knife and no anesthetic. Many times the characters don't have access to a medical facility with all the accoutrements to remove a bullet or don't want to go to a hospital where bullet wounds are reported to law enforcement.
It seems my original entry was edited to make it more brief. But in real life, bullets are not commonly removed because there's no need. The bullet is not the concern, it's the hole the bullet caused that's the concern. They (and more specific to what I was trying to suggest, they as in medical experts) are increasing the risk factors for no viable reason and are never addressing the main cause for concern. And the point of not using anesthetic is they are increasing the risk factors even more for an already pointless surgery.
Character mistake: People who carry a loaded pistol, or keep a loaded pistol next to them, that never have a round in the chamber, just so the character can cock it right before a shootout. Or when a round is suppose to be in the chamber and the person cocks the gun anyways and no round is ejected.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: On the first point, this is not a mistake. Proper gun handing would dictate that you don't have a round in the chamber until you are going to use the gun. On your second point, you are assuming too much that there is a round in the chamber.
Proper gun handling would be to use the safety. It's ridiculous for a character to keep an unchambered gun that they're planning on using, or think they might use. On the second point, I'm not assuming anything. I'm saying when it's suppose to be chambered because we saw it chambered, or it was fired and a round was chambered, etc. I didn't say when it's assumed to be chambered.
You are right that it would be ridiculous for a character to keep an unchambered gun they are planning on using, but that is not my point. My point is that proper gun safety would be to not normally keep a round in the chamber unless you were going to use it. Cocking the gun shows the audience he intends on using it. Before that, you didn't know his intent. On the second point, OK, you provided additional clarification.
Revealing mistake: Cars flipping after a crash which have had their petrol tank taken out for safety or for effects equipment.
Factual error: Films depicting criminal trials in American courtrooms frequently show the defendant receiving their sentence right after their guilty verdict is rendered. In real life, people found guilty will have a separate hearing to receive their sentence several weeks later.
Factual error: Every time somebody pulls out a Glock handgun a click can be heard. Glocks are striker fired, they have no external safeties that can be manipulated. Glock did make a version with a flip up/down safety for the military procurement trials but Glock lost the bid, and commercially made Glock's have no external safeties which would make a clicking sound.
Revealing mistake: In many in-car scenes, the background shown outside the windows either doesn't change or is the same scene used over and over.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: I don't think I've ever seen this outside of animation. It certainly isn't a common error. Can you cite some specific examples?
What is more common in driving scenes, especially in crowded cities, is drivers never having to stop for street lights or make turns. They continue driving through the city in a straight line as the characters talk.
Factual error: Military uniforms are often wrong. When it comes to ribbons, medals, rank, or branch; very few TV shows/movies have no uniform mistakes. Hiring a military advisor from the branch in question would alleviate all of these issues. And no, it's not illegal for Hollywood to portray uniforms correctly.
Audio problem: When someone is holding a gun, you often hear the sound of a hammer being pulled to the rear and locked even when the gun (usually a Glock) doesn't have a hammer to pull.
Revealing mistake: Whenever people drive in cars at night, lights angled upward are used so the characters' faces can be seen.
Other mistake: People gaining access to a computer system they've never seen or used before, but manage to figure out exactly how to do the thing they need to do, often in a very limited timeframe. No clicking around trying to find the right area or the right command.
Other mistake: Bullets pass through people, but don't shatter any glass windows behind them. Likewise bottles in bars without hitting mirrors behind the bar.
Factual error: Computers, security keypads, cellular devices, etc. that make loud beeps with each button press or mouse click and every image popping up on the device screen accompanied by a loud sound effect. Working in an office where computers make as much noise as they do in films and TV would drive the average person mad.
Continuity mistake: Countdown timers that bear no relation to reality.
Character mistake: When kids/teenagers have something urgent or important to tell adults (especially parents), the adults say "uh-huh" but aren't really listening OR do not believe the kids even though they are telling the truth. Adults might view the alleged event as a joke ("The Chumscrubber"), too far-fetched ("Eight-Legged Freaks" and "Dog Gone"), an emotional reaction ("Good Boys"), or due to an overactive imagination, often attributed to watching scary movies ("Home Alone III" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid").
Plot hole: Despite there being hundreds of witnesses, a villain who assaults someone or commits some other crime are not arrested or sued and are free to just walk away and live their daily lives as if nothing ever happened.
Audio problem: A real-life band will be giving a live performance, but the audio is of the studio recording, such as Rammstein performing "Feuer Frei!" in xXx or Alice Cooper performing "Feed My Frankenstein" in Wayne's World.
Plot hole: Minuscule towns where you'd expect even a robbery at the local diner would be big news and horrify the local community for months, somehow end up having a crime rate worse than a Mad Max dystopia. Examples; Cabot Cove, Maine (where Jessica Fletcher lives), or the "This is the police" videogame series, where a small town in the mountains ends up having in just a couple months hostage situations, bomb threats, several murders, armed robberies and about half a dozen of violent crimes every day.
Factual error: Often a person on the run will scale a fence quickly and get over it with little problem. And usually this fence has coils of razor wire or barbed wire at the top, and yet they show no sign of injury. This razor wire would cut you and your clothes to shreds. That's the whole point of it.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: I don't agree it's common to see people jump barbed wire fences without injuries. Its more common to actually show cuts and torn clothes, as that adds drama.
The problem with "common" mistakes is that they are supposed to be easy to recall. From the top of my head I can't think of a movie scene where someone jumped over a barbed wire fence and got off without injuries. How common is it really?
Have the same problem with the nuclear explosion one, can't think of any movie where people looked at a nuclear explosion without properly guarding their eyes.
I can see what you mean about the barbed wire fence then. I know I've seen it in several films and even CinemaSins has pointed it out a few times... but I can't recall specific titles. As far as the atomic explosions one... The Wolverine, Dark Night Rises, Sum of all Fears, Godzilla 2014 (There's even a dumbass watching the explosion through binoculars), The Crazies, and The Divide to name a few.
Alright for the nuclear explosion, although in some of the movies you gave an example it's simply not true (Dark Knight Rises, Sum of All Fears and Godzilla nobody is watching the flash, Godzilla is even historical footage), it does happen often. So I'll thumb it up.
In Dark Knight Rises, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's is standing on the bridge watching Batman fly away. He's staring out at the ocean and watches as the explosion goes off.
No, in the next scene you see he actually fully turned his head to cover his eyes. A group of people are seen ducking too but you don't know they can see the flash directly.
Continuity mistake: In episodic television shows, the heroes can be shot, stabbed, have broken bones, etc., but these vicious scars and injuries are never carried forward into the following episodes - the heroes are unscathed.
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.