Visible crew/equipment: On the train, Jack hears Mac saying the track isn't finished, then Jack becomes aware of the broken emergency stop button. When Jack walks back over to Annie and tells her they have to jump, we can see the reflection of the standing camera operator on the right door's window, and the reflection of a crouching crew member (possibly boom operator) on the left door's window. Definitely crew given they're meant to be alone on the train. (01:45:55)
Continuity mistake: Shortly before the bus gap you can see an END sign at the end of the road. This disappears a second later. (01:03:11 - 01:03:36)
Factual error: Harry is a LAPD SWAT team member. SWAT trains and trains and trains, then exercises and trains some more. Harry would not be investigating the case as shown when he asked to see the files for the last 10 years. If he was on desk duty for his injury, yes, he could be working the investigation. But soon after, he was on the entry team at Payne's house. That would have required more prep work by the SWAT team that Harry would have had to be doing instead of looking through the files.
Continuity mistake: When Jack handcuffs Ray to the metal handrail, Ray's right wrist has the double strand bars facing up and single strand bar facing down, but when Jack tells the passengers about the gap and then uncuffs Ray before the jump, the handcuff's single strand bar is facing up on his right wrist.
Revealing mistake: The Jaguar owner holds up the piece of paper with "bomb on bus" written on it, then he loses his grip on it, and when the paper lands directly on the bus windshield, the stunt wires are visible at its sides. (00:37:35)
Continuity mistake: The 2 SWAT team members are not visible on the preceding truck between two shots. (01:12:55 - 01:13:32)
Visible crew/equipment: After the first bus blows up, Jack talks to Howard on a payphone. The boom mic is reflected in the receiver.
Continuity mistake: After the first bus blows up, Jack hears the phone ringing. It is a two phone stand. When Jack first reaches for the phone to answer it you can see he answers the phone on the right hand side. To the right of the phone you can only see trees to the right side. In every scene after that, he is on the left hand side phone.
Plot hole: Payne's finger prints would've been all over the elevator, on his shotgun, and near the area where he killed the security guard as he was never shown wearing gloves. Since he was a former police officer, I would assume his prints would've been on file with the FBI and in a multitude of databases. You would think they would've been able to identify him much earlier in the movie than they did by running the prints through all databases of finger prints.
Suggested correction: IAFIS, the FBI fingerprint database, wasn't implemented until 1999. At the time this film was released, the LA police would have to individually run any prints found through the databases they wanted to search. Essentially, they would have to know beforehand that Howard Payne was a former Atlanta police officer or have made a wild guess.
Factual error: The bomber wants his money by 11 am. The sun should be almost directly overhead. Why then are there late afternoon-early evening shadows at the end of the film?
Plot hole: The police thought they could catch the bomber at the ransom drop because he did not know that the bus had exploded. However, the exploding bus would have created a huge plume of smoke that would have been reported by the media. (01:30:00)
Suggested correction: The news reporters at the airport had been blocked by the Police from reporting. Reporters that weren't at the airport would see a cloud of smoke but wouldn't know what was causing it.
Yes, but the reporters would still report it, and the bomber would know what had caused it.
Revealing mistake: At the beginning, when they're talking about "shoot the hostage," the angle of Keanu Reeves is out of focus for a good five seconds. It drifts into focus.
Visible crew/equipment: The camera operator and camera are visible reflected in Tuneman's sunglasses. It's especially evident right before he crashes into the water barrels.
Revealing mistake: When the bus jumps the gap and comes into land, you can see there are no passengers, not even dummies.
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)
Audio problem: Right before they get off on the first exit to city streets, there's a shot of one of the passengers (Helen) who makes a distressed moaning noise. Her moan has an odd noticeable echo that is very out of place.
Revealing mistake: In the elevator, Payne grabs Detective Temple by his nose holes, but it's very obvious that Payne is not grabbing his nose and Temple is pushing himself sideways and upwards with his left arm.
