Continuity mistake: In the POW camp, Co Bao is discovered by a guard who points a handgun at her. Rambo shoots an arrow into the guard's forehead, who then falls back against a tree with his cap down low over his eyes. In the next shot his cap is much higher on his head, and the arrow is pointing at a different angle. How could his cap have moved up that far with the arrow holding it to his forehead? For that matter, how could the arrow have moved when it was firmly embedded in the guard's skull? (00:33:25)
Continuity mistake: When Rambo is escaping with the POWs in the helicopter, one of the POWs clearly machine guns the Russian helicopter and one of its rocket pods falls off and into a tree near a house, yet in the next scene it's back on.
Revealing mistake: Towards the end of the movie, when Rambo is setting everything afire with his exploding arrows, an enemy soldier stumbles through a patch of tall burning grass. As he falls to the ground covered in flames, the fireproof mittens the stuntman is wearing are visible. (01:11:10)
Continuity mistake: As the Russian Hind comes up over the trees, it angles just right and it can be seen that the rocket launchers are empty.
Factual error: It is completely implausible that Rambo, an experienced green beret would be careless enough to get his gear caught in the plane while jumping out. Also even if he had gotten got, soldiers carry their gear in different layers that are quickly releasable via strap or clip just in case they do get stuck. Rambo would not have gotten stuck, and if he did he could detached his his gear easily and without all the drama.
Suggested correction: Isn't it possible Rambo did this himself so as to get rid of all that useless crap they had given him? He had already stated the mind was the best weapon...why rely on the hi-tech stuff they packed off with him. Not only that but isn't it also plausible that in amongst it could have been a tracking device of some sort, and he didn't want to be tracked?
Deliberate mistake: When Rambo attacks the POW camp with the Hue helicopter you can at one point see that the rocket pods carries 7 rockets each, however during the attack Rambo launches roughly 26 rockets from each pod as they fire simultaneously.
Continuity mistake: The length of Rambo's beard goes from a little long, to shorter, then shaved between getting to the camp and speaking with Murdock on the radio.
Continuity mistake: The small wound that Rambo got from the knife moves throughout the film.
Continuity mistake: When Rambo is firing at the computers at the end of the film the amount of ammo feeding into the gun goes from very little to much more in the next shot.
Continuity mistake: When the Russian chopper first spots the Huey on the ground, smoke is pouring out the left side of the Huey. A second later, there's barely any smoke.
Continuity mistake: In the aerial pursuit, the Huey goes from in front of the Hind, to port, then back to the front in a matter of five seconds.
Factual error: In the shot where Rambo is blowing up everything in sight from the Huey, there's a quick moment when it is seen from the front. The chopper has two seven tube rocket launchers, and after he fires all the rockets, there are trailing wires on the starboard pod. This is wrong because these launchers, as well as the nineteen tube model, fire 7.65 inch rockets that are electrically primed and fired from a contact pin in the rear, so no external wiring exists. Also, after he fires all the rockets, and therefore has no more, in the next shot, the launchers are loaded again.
Revealing mistake: When Rambo destroys the POW camp with the helicopter, the same hut blows up 3 times, (you can tell by the v-shaped flames).
Suggested correction: The arrow was able to move because upon piercing the skull, the arrow penetrated the brain, a soft matter that would not hold the arrow in place. The brain matter is much softer than flesh. Imagine shooting an arrow into a watermelon. It is not fixed, but moveable.
But the point of the arrow is sticking in the tree. If it wasn't the guard would have fallen to the ground. So it shouldn't have moved.
lionhead