Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film when the police arrive at the Resistance hideout we see the police pull up then take cover behind their cars, G36 rifles at the ready. A lone guy comes out and is immediately put down, as this happens you can see the windshields of the police cars are already shot up and cracked even though at this point the Resistance people have yet to return fire. (00:01:50)
Continuity mistake: In the opening action sequence, one of the sense-offenders slams wide the front doors of the hideout and begins firing at the police. The camera cuts to the police, who immediately open fire; when we cut back to the sense-offender being riddled by bullets, the hideout doors are securely closed behind him. (00:02:00)
Continuity mistake: During the first fight of the movie, several cops burst through a window and rush into the building. As they burst through, there is a center support piece of the window that begins dangling. This bar vanishes and comes back a couple times between shots of the cops rushing in. (00:02:25)
Continuity mistake: Preston orders the police to blow the bulbs when the door is down. Immediately after this, you see the police take aim at the door's handle and hinges. The first one, you see a guy kneel down and aim at the handle. A few shots later, you see a guy standing and aim at the handle. The guy who was kneeling down aiming at it is now gone. (00:03:05)
Factual error: The real Mona Lisa is much smaller than the 'authenticated' painting shown in the film. (00:06:30)
Factual error: When they first pick up the Mona Lisa, they show the back. There you can see a canvas sheet over a wooden framework. However, the Mona Lisa is painted directly onto wood, no canvas at all. The scan they run even says it's painted onto wood, despite visual evidence to the contrary. (00:06:35)
Continuity mistake: When the Mona Lisa is found, two of the Grammaton cops lift it up. The official looking guy walks in to examine it, and when he does the cops' hands change positions on the painting. (00:06:40)
Visible crew/equipment: After verifying that the Mona Lisa found is the real thing, the guy with glasses turns his head to Preston. As he does, a white screen is reflected in his glasses. (00:06:50)
Continuity mistake: The cover of the book Sean Bean is reading reads 'The Poetry of William Butler Yeats'. However, while he's turning over the pages, the poems 'The Detective' and 'The Courage of Shutting-Up' by Sylvia Plath can be seen. (00:07:50 - 00:15:10)
Continuity mistake: The book Sean Bean takes is quite narrow when it's in his pocket, but when we see him reading it later (definitely meant to be the same book), it's about 50% thicker. It was also originally a hardback, but when he's reading it he's bending the cover like a paperback. After he drops it, it becomes a hardback again. (00:07:50 - 00:15:55)
Revealing mistake: There is a shot right after the first time the clerics are entering the city from the nethers that you see an APC patrolling the wall road above the entrance. In that shot two shadows are being cast on the road. As the CGI APC passes through them they simply don't cast a shadow on it as they should. (00:08:40)
Continuity mistake: Preston mentions that returning to the city reminds him why they do what they do. Partridge slips and asks, "It does?" Just before he says that, he looks up and ahead of him then back down to his Prozium gun. But later when Preston is watching the play back of that conversation from a different angle, Partridge never looks up before he asks "It does?" (00:10:55 - 00:14:00)
Continuity mistake: When Preston and Partridge return from the Nethers and shoot themselves up with Prozium, watch Preston's Prozium syringe: even though he inserts a vial of the drug, the syringe is still empty when he puts it to his neck (you can see the tube that the needle's connected to doesn't have any liquid in it). It's only during the close-up that the syringe is suddenly full of the amber-colored Prozium. (00:11:20)
Continuity mistake: Preston confronts Partridge in the church about the book. Partridge talks first, and then Preston raises his gun and pushes on the book in Partridge's hands to see the cover. The shot from behind Partridge shows the book tilted up at less of an angle than when from Preston's view. (00:15:50)
Revealing mistake: When Preston executes Partridge, as Partridge's head tilts back, you can see that it is not Sean Bean, but a stand-in who more resembles Val Kilmer than he does Bean. (00:17:42)
Continuity mistake: When Preston returns home after killing Partridge, his son is watching Father on a TV. As Preston walks in, his son raises the remote control to mute the TV and then lower his arm. It then cuts to a close up of his son, and now he raises and lowers his arm again to mute the TV. (00:19:25)
Visible crew/equipment: When Brandt picks up Preston from Equilibrium you can see the white screen in the reflection of the front passenger window. (00:24:35)
Continuity mistake: In their first interview, Preston slides a 1/3 full vial of a yellow substance across the table to Mary. After a moment, she picks it up off the table and puts it in her lap. Moments later, before she grabs Preston's hand, she reaches out to slide the vial back, which is now already back on the table before she touches it. (00:28:40)
Continuity mistake: During their first interrogation, Mary grabs Preston's hand and pulls him close to ask why he is alive. Pulls his hand right up next to her chin, almost touching it, as you can see from the side angle showing both of them from the side. But it then cuts to showing Preston from over Mary's shoulder. Preston and Mary are now further apart suddenly. You can tell by looking at the distance of Preston's wrist in relation to Mary's hair. (00:28:50)
Continuity mistake: In the bathroom after the first interrogation of Mary, Preston is holding a vial of Prozium. He holds it between his thumb and index finger. As he looks at it, he rotates his wrist and turns the Prozium sideways, still between the same two fingers. The close up shows Preston's thumb facing inwards, towards his face and his index finger facing out. The next shot from in front switches these, the thumb facing out, and the index finger on the inside. (00:31:30)
Chosen answer: As I see it, the point of the speeches is not to evoke emotions in the listeners, but rather to show what emotions such as anger and jealousy lead to in the course of human history. So they use historic "evidence" to justify their actions (such as killing sense offenders) and to show what emotions can lead to.
Andreas[DK]