Corrected entry: Data on John Mason in FBI database doesn't show his name when Stanley Goodspeed's colleague searches in it [just a string of X's], in order to hide his identity [as remarked by FBI director Womack]. However, there is a full name and address of nearest relative [his daughter Jade]which is would make him easy to identify in any case.
Corrected entry: When the General is killed, there is a shot of him flying back. During this shot, there are drops of blood visible on the camera lens.
Correction: The blood on the lens is not a mistake. It is not uncomon for things to get splattered on the screen, such as water, mud, or in this case blood. It is done to make you feel more a part of the action.
Corrected entry: In the boiler room where Mason goes under the flames. How is it possible that these flames still work after all these years that alcatraz has been closed?
Correction: Alcatraz is now a tourist attraction. People visit and still work there, so it makes sense for the boiler room to be in operation.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Goodspeed is riding a kid's motorcycle he just stole, he calls an FBI man to get Mason's daughter's address. After getting the address, we see him pull up in front of the daughter's house. This scene takes place in San Francisco. If Goodspeed lives and works in the Washington D.C. area, how does he find his way to the house so quickly and without getting lost?
Correction: This is not a mistake. It does not say how much time elaspses between the two scenes and because of time constraints in films it is not necessary to show his travels to the house.
Corrected entry: During the chase scene, Mason is called by the car's angry owner saying "You stole my Hummer". Mason replies : "I'm only borrowing your *Humvee*". How did Mason know what the abbreviation of "Hummer" was if he was so out of touch with present day ?
Correction: He was in prison not on another planet, the men talk in prison and they have TV, books and magazines to keep up with the outside world.
Corrected entry: When the Marines are making their way to Alcatraz in their minisub for a brief moment you are shown a computer screen on the sub. It shows really cool 3D animation. In the next shot you can see all the screens on the sub, but there's only radar-like screens. The 3D animation is gone.
Correction: They are not Marines but a SEAL team and there are multi-function screens, so this is possible.
Corrected entry: In the end, when the F/A-18s are heading for Alcatraz, the lead pilot says their speed is 450 knots, then as they are getting closer, he says increasing speed to 500 knots. If they are in such a hurry, why aren't they going as fast as possible? The F/A-18 has a top speed of approx mach 1.7, so 450/500 knots is nothing.
Correction: Because they'd overfly Alcatraz in about a tenth of a second. Slowing from 2000kmh to a speed where they could bomb the island would take a long time - time they don't have.
Corrected entry: Everyone in the Seal team is wearing dark clothing in order to be "invisible", and therefore they have also painted their faces in camouflage colours, all but Goodspeed and Mason. They are happily sitting there with their white uncamouflaged faces. What's the point of the rest being camouflaged then?
Correction: I believe that Mason is there to show the way and Goodspeed to defuse the bombs. The Seals are there to take back control of the Rock. Wouldn't it be logical then that Mason doesn't need camouflage for just showing the way and that Goodspeed doesn't wear any camouflage because he will defuse only after the Seals have taken over. He isn't supposed to take part in the action.
Corrected entry: In the scene right after Nic Cage's Ferarri is destroyed, the guy on the dirt bike is talking to him. If you listen closely you can tell the bike isn't on or else you would hear the engine idling which is quite obvious on a dirt bike.
Correction: You can indeed hear the engine idling. It's just been 'quieted' so that you can hear the actors' speech.
Corrected entry: Why does Goodspeed ask for a gun at the Fairmont Hotel? At that time he couldn't be aware that he was going to join the SEALs later in the movie...?
Correction: He was asking for the gun in the case that the situation with Mason at the public hotel becomes dangerous. It has nothing to do w/joining the SEALs later. He ends up with a different gun then, anyways. When the situation w/Mason at the hotel actually DOES become dangerous, Goodspeed uses the gun, so its a good thing he asked for one.
Corrected entry: After the first rocket is launched, Cpt. Frye says 'let's be all we can be'. That was the Army slogan. No Marine would say that. (01:45:05)
Correction: He is probably mocking since "The Few, The Proud" wouldn't really fit in right here.
Corrected entry: When director Womack is explaining that Mason is in prison for stealing microfilm with top-secret files on it, and again at the end of the film when Goodspeed is looking at the microfilm, it is mentioned that the John F Kennedy assasination files are on the microfilm. Alcatraz closed in April of 1963 and JFK was not assasinated until November of 1963, so this information could not possibly have been on the microfilm.
Correction: Although, if they had already decided who was going to assasinate JFK before he was shot, then the name may have been listed.
Corrected entry: In the shower room scene when Hummel is about to close the eyelids of one the dead FBI team. The dead man's eyelid twitches just before Hummel touches it. That's strange as the man is meant to be dead.
Correction: Many body parts twitch in the first minutes after death, as proved later with the twitching leg.
Corrected entry: In the meeting when Hummel speaks with the FBI, Whitehouse staff, etc, the time is said to be 11:58pm. Hummel then says "You have 40 hours until noon, day after tomorrow." That would only be 36 hours.
Correction: That is correct because they are in San Fransisco, not Washington D.C.
Corrected entry: When the group first enters Alcatraz, Sean Connery says that he memorised the pattern of fire flashes so he could roll under the boiler, but when he gets to the other side, he simply opens the door to the outside. When he originally escaped from Alcatraz, why didn't he use the door instead of trying to roll under the boiler?
Correction: In the days when Alcatraz was active, that door was guarded.
Corrected entry: Close to the beginning when Ed Harris and his team are stealing the rockets one of his team members smashes through a watch tower, as he shoots the guard with a shotgun you can clearly see a squishy ball hit the guard and rebound off him.
Correction: They said they were going to take the island using non-lethal force.
Corrected entry: Having removed the nerve gas from the final rocket, and then discharged said rocket in order to take out the marine who is trying to kill him, why does Goodspeed still need to retrieve the guidance chip from the gas canister? The purpose of the chip is to guide the rocket, and as there is no longer a rocket to guide.
Correction: He's fired that particular rocket, yes, but there are still numerous other rockets located around the island, lacking only a guidance chip to be fireable. He needs to get the final chip to prevent anyone from taking it, putting into one of the other rockets, and launching an attack.
Corrected entry: Of course, in real life, VX is not stored in little glass spheres. As you can see in the movie, that's just plain stupid.
Correction: The Vx was contained in metal canisters, inside a mushy thin coating for protection, but also for the gas to burn away as the rocket exploded.
Corrected entry: When the two Marine captains first report to General Hummel on Alcatraz, they salute him, and he returns their salute. One of the captains and the general are uncovered (that is, they aren't wearing hats, or "covers"), and the other captain is wearing a black beret. All are outdoors. When in full uniform, Marines 1) never go outdoors uncovered, 2) never salute uncovered, and 3) do not wear berets of any sort. The Army does all of these, but the Marine Corps never has.
Correction: They have stolen nerve gas, taken Alcatraz and about to hold a city hostage. The general gets saluted because his men respect him. They are not worried about uniforms, or other regulations at this point. They are also not even in Marine uniform. They are in urban camou. They would be wearing woodland BDU's or "digiflauge" to be in uniform.
They made up their uniforms as they are a rogue group, to be distinguishable. However, the saluting indoors without covers (hats) is extremely unlikely as they have a strong Marine ethos, as well as just plain force of habit. This is done in the movie for dramatic effect, by people unaware of naval etiquette.
Corrected entry: When Captains Fry and Darrow are advising General Hummel to launch the rocket, Captain Fry says "Let's be all we can be." This was the slogan for the United States Army, but repeatedly throughout the film the men are called Marines which are the United States Navy.
Correction: He's just making a statement. He's not saying he's in the Army.
A Marine would still never use the Army's slogan.
Correction: It was not easy to find. It took a trained FBI researcher who knew what he was looking for to find it.