Revealing mistake: When Jack is on the phone with Payne at LAX, a Suburban carrying Lieutenant McMahon and Norwood skids onscreen from between some orange cones. But tire tracks from earlier takes can be seen on the pavement. (01:10:00)
Revealing mistake: When Payne opens the money bag to see a dye bomb explode, he is wearing a transparent protective face shield (partially visible). (01:42:35)
Continuity mistake: After Payne loses his head, Jack says "Yeah? Well I'm taller." Between shots, Jack's right arm instantly goes from resting at his side to a lifted position. (01:44:35)
Continuity mistake: An obvious stunt double is briefly visible pushing a baby carriage full of cans into the crosswalk as Annie unknowingly rams the bus into it. Initially we see an older woman pushing the carriage along after chatting with her friend. In a view from within the moving bus's front window, however, a much younger woman has briefly taken her place for a couple of shots. (00:50:05)
Visible crew/equipment: A film truck is reflected in the bus's bumper when Jack exits and steps onto the Suburban. (01:11:15)
Continuity mistake: The Suburban that swerves onto the LAX runway to retrieve Jack has no scaffold equipped on its driver's side, but we know for a fact that moments later Jack actually exits the bus and steps safely onto one. Somehow the Suburban has managed to gain a scaffold at cruising speed, but this couldn't have possibly happened unless a different, identical-looking vehicle with a scaffold pulled up at some point during the scene to take its place. (01:10:05 - 01:11:15)
Continuity mistake: When Jack starts tying a rope to the access panel, he faces the back of the bus initially but manages to turn completely right between shots, facing the side windows all of a sudden. (01:29:20)
Visible crew/equipment: When Jack flashes his badge at Tuneman, a camera's shadow is visible on the pavement. (00:35:00)
Visible crew/equipment: Right after the bus passes 50 mph and arms the bomb, filming equipment can be seen in the Jaguar's vent window reflection. (00:36:45)
Visible crew/equipment: When the credits are rolling, a crew member in a gray shirt on the lower left portion of the screen can be seen waving extras into the street. (01:51:05)
Visible crew/equipment: When the bus is traveling on the shoulder, a camera truck is visible to the extreme left immediately before Annie asks whether or not she should stay on the highway. (00:46:35)
Continuity mistake: When the crane breaks free from its bolts and starts flying towards some ventilation windows, it obliterates the upper pair. However in the next view from within an air duct, both of these windows just swing open freely as the crane busts through, and yet they barely appear to have suffered a scratch or bend in the process. (00:15:00)
Revealing mistake: At the off-ramp's red light Jack stomps on Annie's foot to keep the bus going, but she screams in pain before her foot actually gets crushed. (00:47:15)
Visible crew/equipment: Just after the bus has got on to the empty freeway, there is a long shot of the bus driving off. In this shot, the camera's shadow can be seen to the extreme right of the shot. The shadow is faint, but it is there. (00:51:30)
Continuity mistake: When the crane is torn out of the floor and flies towards the ventilation window, from a shot behind, the holes on the base (where the screws used to be) are gone. (00:14:30)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where the Pacific Courier Freight plane gets blown up, you can see that it is being towed alongside another plane, and some people standing/walking around next to it. In the next shot, where we see the camera moving closer and closer to the plane from the bus's perspective, the runway the plane was just being towed on is gone, as is the plane it was going past a moment ago along with the people. There was no time between shots for the plane to have been moved so far away. (01:30:35)
Continuity mistake: In a camera shot from behind the bus, it shows Traven moving the Jaguar in front of the bus. In the next camera shot from the front, it shows Traven moving the Jaguar again in front of the bus. He'd already completed the move in the previous shot.
Revealing mistake: When Traven is walking back to his car before the first bus explodes, as the bus drives past him, you can see from the shadow it casts that the bus isn't driving straight on. It turns the corner behind his car. Obviously a prop bus is further down the street and that is the one that blows up in its place.
Audio problem: When the first bus blows up (the one that Bob was driving) you can hear the explosion before the bus actually blows up.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the movie we see Keanu Reeves taking Jeff Daniels "out of the equation" by shooting him in the leg. We realise it's a serious injury as he requires the use of a cane when receiving his medal. However later on in the movie when they move in on Dennis Hopper's home, which takes place the next day, Daniels is part of the assault team and has no cane, no limp and is obviously very mobile.
Answer: I'm curious why you think Payne would do anything to make it easier for Jack? He's set a bomb with the express intention of killing people if his demands aren't met...why would he give Jack even the slightest chance of escaping that? And even if he was willing to, just because Payne can detonate the bomb remotely doesn't mean he can disarm it temporarily, then turn it back on.
Because the odds of the bus making that jump intact were incredibly small - if the bus blows up because of an infrastructure issue, Payne gets nothing.
If this plan fails, just like the elevator job, then they play a different game the next day so Payne would just look for another scheme to get his money.
ctown28
Payne had no way of knowing what way the bus was going to go. How could he have prepared for the exact circumstances that led to needing to jump the gap.
Ssiscool