Factual error: It is said in the film that Ice Cube's character works in an airport in Detroit. When the scene shows Ice Cube at work as a baggage handler, there are mountains in the background. There are no mountains in the Detroit area. (00:14:10)
Continuity mistake: In one scene, some of Saddam's troops pour oil all over Mark Whalberg's face (while forcing him to bite down on a CD so it runs into his mouth) in an attempt to torture him. The next scene, when he is rescued, he has nothing but the requisite smudges and "movie dirt" on his face. Apparently the Iraqis decided to clean the oil slick off of his face before he got rescued.
Factual error: At times in the movie we see George Clooney handle solid bars of gold as if they were made of balsa wood, or chocolate. Gold is one of the heaviest metals, and bars the size of those depicted in the movie would weigh about 75 pounds. (00:33:40)
Factual error: Near Karbala, during the first choppy, slow motion shootout, Mark Wahlberg is shot in the vest with an AK-47 and somehow manages to walk it off. This is preposterous. The vest issued to troops in Desert Storm (and the one he is wearing) is the PASGT fragmentation vest, which is only rated to stop shrapnel from explosions and won't even defeat a pistol round without offering severe ballistic trauma to the wearer. If you were hit with an AK-47 in a vest of that rating, it would tear through the kevlar like a hot knife through butter.
Continuity mistake: Right after Troy and Chief try and pick up the luggage full of gold and it falls to the floor, Chief (Ice Cube) grabs what looks like a leather duffel bag and says something like, "these bags will hold about 65 pounds each." But in a previous post, someone said each of those gold bars would weigh about 75 lbs. So that means one bag, one bar.... (00:34:25)
Continuity mistake: When Ron takes off in a helicopter after his argument with Archie, Archie gets bothered by the wind. You can see that both his hands are empty, but when he covers his face with his hands he is holding a pair of sunglasses. (00:09:20)
Continuity mistake: Directly after Amir's wife is shot Amir runs and puts his tied-up arms around his daughter, holding her face-to-face. In the next shot the girl is turned around with her back towards him. (00:38:00)
Continuity mistake: When the soldiers are leaving the village the 1st time a man runs after the truck screaming to take him with and jumps on the truck. You can see others close to him. However, when the camera angle gives a long shot of the truck and village you can see there is no-one near the truck. (00:25:00)
Continuity mistake: After the milk truck is shot at the four protagonists dive away from a door to avoid the blast. In the next shot Archie lands meters away, far beyond jumping distance. Then they are swept back to the door by the resulting milk flood, and when Archie gets up it's again far away from the door, against the direction of the flood. (00:24:00)
Revealing mistake: When they find the paper map sticking out the Iraqi soldier's bottom it is neatly rolled up and straight. One should imagine it being quite crumpled after having spent some time in this particular hiding place. (00:08:00)
Continuity mistake: When the Middle Eastern woman/mother is shot in the head by the Iraqi soldier the gun is about level with her temple but the blood spray comes from her upper cheek level. (00:37:35)
Factual error: Many people through the film are speaking Arabic and they are mostly Iraqi, but they are speaking dialects similar to Syrians & Lebanese.
Continuity mistake: When you see Chief Elgin working at the baggage belt a suitcase pops open and stuff falls out. He throws everything into the lid, but when he closes it the lid is empty. (00:14:10)
Plot hole: When Archie and the others take the castle acting as Saddam and his guard two Iraqi soldiers come running out, passing by Archie and Chief, for some reason not looking at them and thus not noticing their American uniforms. (01:18:55)
Revealing mistake: When an Iraqi soldier shoots a grenade at the milk truck he aims too high to hit the truck. (00:22:35)
Visible crew/equipment: Right after the argument between Archie and Ron you see for a second the silhouette of a cameraman rushing by in front, almost covering the whole screen. (00:09:10)
Revealing mistake: When Troy's torturer tells him how his son was killed by falling concrete there's a flashback where one can see that the boy is a dummy. (01:04:50)
Continuity mistake: When the soldiers are leaving the village the 1st time, a man runs after the truck screaming to take him with and jumps on the truck. Troy pushes him off wearing sunglasses, in the next shot he has no glasses visible. (00:25:05)
Factual error: The stolen cars from Kuwait have Saudi Arabian registration plates instead of Kuwaiti ones. (01:09:30)
Other mistake: When the milk truck tips over, look at the wheels on the trailer - they're cocked to the left so it can slide without flipping. (00:22:30)
