Continuity mistake: When Jack and Harry are pulling people out of the elevator there are two men offering to help the stubborn lady out of the elevator. 2 seconds later there is only one man jumping to get out. (00:15:50)
Revealing mistake: During the rescue of the elevator passengers at the start of the movie, when coaxing the last woman out, there is a shot of the interior of the elevator where you can see the ground through the hole in the elevator floor, even though the elevator is still meant to be on the 22nd floor. (00:16:47)
Continuity mistake: When Dennis Hopper's shooting the shotgun through the lift roof, the number of holes doesn't match the number of blasts. He shoots once and a hole appears. We then see a close up of him and he shoots twice more, but when we cut to the ceiling after the third shot overall, there are only two holes in it. Doesn't seem likely he'd miss the roof at a range of 2 feet. (00:18:55)
Continuity mistake: When Dennis Hopper psyches the police chief out by making him think he's on the third floor, the elevator clicks one too many times. The camera shows the numbers: "5, click, 4, click" then it switches to the police chief, during which time you hear another click. It then switches back to the numbers: "3, click." Shouldn't it be on floor 2? (00:20:50)
Character mistake: There is no way on earth that a police officer would shoot a hostage in the thigh to 'take them out of the equation'. Anyone who suggested such a thing would likely be taken out and shot themselves. Bullet wounds to the thigh are often fatal, as an injury to the femoral artery causes massive and frequently unstoppable blood loss. Breaking the femur often leads to fat embolisms as bone marrow gets into the bloodstream and then to the lungs. In fact a broken femur is a life threatening injury in itself, and a shattered femur - a typical bullet injury - would almost always result in a total amputation. You cannot aim carefully enough to avoid the bone or artery as their position in the body varies, (as will the bullet trajectory upon impact). Jack is an experienced cop and would know the potentially disastrous consequences of shooting someone in the thigh. He'd shoot him in the foot. (00:21:05)
Continuity mistake: When Howard Payne gets off the elevator with Harry held hostage, Jack walks off the elevator and there is a light on the wall that Jack passes twice and/or turns the small corner twice. (00:21:10)
Continuity mistake: In the first part of the movie, it appears that the building is approximately 53 floors high, we can see this as when Keanu Reeves and Jeff Daniels go to the roof the label on the door is "ROOF/53". However, the service elevator seems to reach the top of the shaft after Dennis Hopper enters level 46 on the control panel. This is rather unfortunate, especially as the security console says that the elevator "serves floors GE-52". I wouldn't like to be in the elevator as it tries to go past level 46 to a higher floor such as 52. (00:21:45)
Continuity mistake: After Jack shoots Harry in the leg, Denis Hopper runs out the door which is wide open. The explosion shot (seconds later) happens and we see the door completely shut. (00:22:05)
Continuity mistake: Travis shoots Harry in the leg, and Harry is slumped against the wall next to the doorway. When Payne sets off the bomb, Harry is now no longer near the door, and is halfway down the corridor. Not enough time had passed between shots for this to have occurred. (00:22:20)
Suggested correction: Harry drops to floor by door 1 on the right-hand side of the corridor facing the parking lot. We then get a 2-3 second shot of Jack shrugging and shouting "Freeze" at Howard. Howard is then seen staring at Jack in disbelief at the thought of him shooting a hostage. We then see Howard (still in the initial 3 seconds) walk into the parking lot and Jack run towards the door. As Howard is going through the door the shot changes to Jack and in this shot you can see Harry shuffling down the corridor.
Continuity mistake: When Jack shoots Harry, the door (to the garage) behind Payne has a deadbolt lock right above the door's finger plate, but just before the door blows up that deadbolt lock has vanished. (00:22:35)
Continuity mistake: After Jack wounds Harry's leg, Payne makes his escape to the parking garage. Watch as a garbage can appears from nowhere on the left hand side of the door frame in the shot where Payne starts laughing maniacally. (00:22:40)
Continuity mistake: In the cafe, Jack shouts to Bob "Have a good one" and holds his arm out with his coffee in his hand. When the shot changes and Jack is turning back to the counter, his coffee has swapped hands. (00:26:20)
Continuity mistake: Just before the first bus explodes, Jack leaves the cafe and puts his coffee cup onto the top of his car. When he runs back to his car, the coffee cup is different as well as in a different position. (00:26:25)
Continuity mistake: As McMahon watches Harry stumble out of the bar, he takes a puff of his cigar. Between frames, his right hand quickly moves from the cigar to the counter-top. (00:26:30)
Visible crew/equipment: Close to the beginning of the film we see Jack in a coffee shop and his friend walks in. When they both leave and Jack goes to his car, a cameraman is reflected in the car window after the palm tree. (00:26:40)
Revealing mistake: When the first bus is blowing up, in the shot of the right side of the bus as it's being engulfed in flames, look closely and you'll see the cable attached to the front of the bus, under its bumper, as it's slowly being pulled by the van in front of it (some DVD or Blu-ray versions may have been edited). (00:26:45)
Continuity mistake: In the cafe, when saying goodbye to Bob, Jack's coffee cup changes hands between shots. (00:27:20)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jack goes and answers the phone after the bus exploded, if you look at the reflection on the phone, it shows the explosion right behind the phone, but the bus is actually down the road maybe half block. (00:27:50)
Continuity mistake: After the first bus explodes, Jack ducks for cover near his Bronco. Soon he looks over at the burning wreck and stands up - but notice that he's still crouched down in very next shot. (00:27:50)
Other mistake: As the first bus explodes on its way from the cafe, we can see a blonde pedestrian casually walk past a window with her ears covered. At no point does she even stop to glance at the burning wreck. It seems (from her perspective) as though the explosion were merely an inconvenient loud noise and nothing worth noticing. (00:27:55)
