Swordfish

Swordfish (2001)

45 mistakes - chronological order

(11 votes)

Other mistake: In the opening coffee shop scene, Gabriel is seen preparing and lighting a cigar. Following this you have several clear shots of both hands above the table. However when he leaves the coffee shop, he has a bomb trigger in his hand, that he implies will go off if he lets go. Where was it when he was preparing his cigar and sipping his coffee? (00:01:33)

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Suggested correction: That's because he picks it up as he stands.

But the dead man switch was the only thing keeping the police from subduing him. Why didn't they subdue him then?

Continuity mistake: At the beginning Gabriel and Stan leave the coffee shop. The high up shot (with the helicopter flying past it) shows them walking out into the road, with Gabriel almost at the middle of the road before the shot changes. Then there's a shot of his face then in the next shot from behind a police car they are just leaving the pavement area. (00:04:25)

Factual error: Considering the explosion's force vector, I am at a loss to explain the flying cars. The cars should have been pushed sideways. Inertia of the cars is another problem. Explosions occur in very short time intervals. So, the force needed to overcome a car's inertia and accelerate it into the air would be extremely large. Unfortunately, car bodies aren't designed for such forces. A violent explosion would hit a stationary car like a speeding bus. The car would be demolished, not thrown in the air. Bad physics! (00:07:20)

Continuity mistake: During the slow motion explosion, there are two SWAT members standing beside the black SUV in the first few seconds of the explosion. After the camera goes behind the third police car, the two SWAT members have disappeared. (00:07:35)

kaydee91

Continuity mistake: When the Senator is first called out of session he's talking to the other guy.The Senator asks 'When was this?' and looks to him. In the next shot he's facing more forward. (00:10:30)

Swordfish mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When we first see the interview room with Axel Torvalds in, a detective is standing behind him and his lawyer. He then goes to lean on the desk with one hand remaining on his hip. In the next shot he's put both hands on the table. (00:18:10)

Visible crew/equipment: After the '60 seconds test' Stan goes to the bathroom. After Ginger says 'I really wanna help you Stan' he moves to the towels. Watch the mirror to the far left of the screen and you'll see the boom mic to the top-right of the mirror just before the shot changes. (00:29:40)

Visible crew/equipment: When Gabriel and Stan make the deal he's sitting at the computer and he swivels round to face the screens. When he's taking his jacket off look to the upper right part of the screen. The boom mic is just poking down far enough to be seen and wobbles continually. (00:36:05)

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Continuity mistake: Where Hugh Jackman drops his daughter off at her mother's home the headrest behind her is down. After she leaves, the cop jumps into the passenger seat and the headrest is up. (00:40:25)

Continuity mistake: When Hugh Jackman, Don Cheadle and the extra jump off the cliff and slide down the muddy, dusty side of the steep hill they are covered in filth on the way down. When they hit bottom the only evidence of the trip is a little sweat. Even their shoes are clean. (00:42:20)

Continuity mistake: When the car stops at the bottom of the hill that the three blokes have fallen down, its a dusty blue colour, camera pans away, returns, and it changes to a nicely polished dark car. (00:44:27)

Continuity mistake: Throughout the chase scene several cars appear at least twice. The most noticeable are an Oldsmobile Sedan, A Lincoln coupe, and a mustang convertible. (00:59:10 - 01:01:20)

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Other mistake: When Stanley is driving the Tuscan TVR while trying to escape the assassins, each close-up of the dashboard readout reveals that the speedometer is actually at 0. (01:01:00)

Continuity mistake: When the Hummer charges into the bank, it drives into the office. In the view from the desk, a blond man leaps out the way. In the next shot, the Hummer is further away and the man leaps out the way again. (01:07:15)

Factual error: In the beginning, when Halle Berry is going to get Hugh Jackman, there is a caption saying "Midland, Texas". Midland does not look like that! There are no hills, and hardly any green vegetation. That couldn't have been shot anywhere in West Texas, especially not Midland. (01:31:55)

Factual error: At the end of movie, the TV speaker says US Embassy in Istanbul was bombed by terrorists. US does not have an embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, but has a consulate. Embassies are located in the Capital, i.e. Ankara. (01:49:45)

Factual error: Worms are not created in AutoCAD. Ever. Period. Does not happen, cannot happen. Building design work and the like is done in AutoCAD. Viruses and worms are coded out by hand or created with a generator by slackers that don't know the code and then compiled into executables.

Swordfish mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When the Senator is being killed by Travolta in the river, we can see some shots of his assistant before his car explodes. If you watch closely just half a second before the frontal shot of the explosion, you can see in the driver's seat a dummy with a green face.

Swordfish mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the car chase scene Gabriel goes to get the gun from the boot leaving his door open then he starts to fire the gun with the boot open later the view switches and both are closed.

Factual error: When the copter is getting ready to lift the bus, there is a shot where you can clearly see high-tension electrical wires and a tower behind the parade of vehicles. The wires path must have crossed the roadway the bus etc. were on just moments before. How then, did the copter remain cabled to the bus?

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Even though you see the tower behind the bus, the wires weren't down or attached to the bus before the tower, only afterwards.

Bishop73

Ginger: If you want a chance in hell at getting your daughter back, you better listen up. Unless of course, you want to stay here, in this loser existence, while your daughter grows up to be the fluffer in her daddy's new videos.
Stanley Jobson: Please pay me the courtesy of not confusing your own childhood with my daughter's.

More quotes from Swordfish

Trivia: Very little of the bus/helicopter scene was CGI. The director insisted that a real helicopter be used that could handle the load. This made the crew and the pilot extremely nervous as the load was almost 80% of the helicopter's capacity. The stunt crew held firm on the scene where the bus crashes into a meeting however. That was completely CGI as the pilot insisted that it was way too dangerous to attempt it even with a fake building.

More trivia for Swordfish

Question: After Stan finished building the Hydra, he said: 'it's time to disguise you as internal destruction'. Now, I'm not a hacker or a great programmer, so can anybody please explain to me what he meant?

Answer: He wants to dupe everyone who investigates the problem into thinking it was an internal error, rather than a virus. Doing so would lead them away from Stan, and he would get away with the attack.

Ryan Andersen

More questions & answers from Swordfish

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