Corrected entry: Having recently visited the National Archives, I find it amazing that Ben and Riley entered the Archives as much as they did. Entry to the National Archives requires waiting in a very long line which takes hours and getting into the rotunda where the Charters of Freedom are requires waiting in line as well. I don't think that Ben and Riley had that much time on their hands.
Corrected entry: When they are searching the Arctic for the Charlotte, there are high mountains visible in the background. There are mountains in Antarctica, but not the Arctic, which is a frozen ocean.
Correction: The movie states that they are north of the Arctic Circle, but never specifies exactly where they are. While it is implied that the are on a frozen ocean, those mountains in the background could be on the coast of any of the landmasses north of the Arctic Circle, such as Canada, Alaska, Russia, Scandinavia or Greenland.
Corrected entry: When Ben is dipping his fingers into the glass before he tested the ink with the smiley face he made on the table, you can see between his fingers the coin he gave Abigail.
Correction: That's because he hasn't given it to her yet.
Corrected entry: It is doubtful that the Declaration of Independence says "Original Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776" on the back as Abigail states, because in fact no where on the front of the document will you find the phrase "Declaration of Independence." The founders of the USA referred to this document as "The Unanimous Declaration"
Correction: Well, considering that the true Declaration of Independence DOES have this written on the back you are wrong. No one says that this label was written in 1776. It might have been added later.
Corrected entry: After Ben takes the Declaration of Independence in its case into the elevator, we see him start to remove screws again. When we see the back, there are two screws out in the two compartments next to the one Ben is taking a third screw out. There's no way he had time to take out 2 plus screws from the time he started while in the elevator and the time we see the back with the screws out.
Correction: Ben was planning to take out all the screws in the preservation room so he could roll up the declaration and leave. He had unscrewed two when Riley lost his feeding, so he ran to the elevator, and continued unscrewing inside.
Corrected entry: After Ben mixes the solution, it shows him moving his fingers towards the beaker, in between his fingers is the pin he plans to give to Abagail. A second later it shows only his fingers going into the solution, and the pin has disappeared.
Correction: Untrue. We only see Ben's knuckles and the top of his hand as he moves towards the solution the first time (wide & full screen). Then we see him dip the pin into the solution after his smiley face blacklight check.
Corrected entry: When Ben Gates toasts the Founding Fathers with Abigail at the scene in the National Archives, the glasses are filled with Champagne. When Gates actually guzzles the drink, look closely - its water.
Correction: No it's not. It's still bubbly and has a slight color to it. It's either champagne or a substitute.
Corrected entry: The case that holds the Declaration of Independence changes throughout the movie. This might be explained away except for the fact that the last change, to the black case, would have meant that Ian would have taken it out of the gray/white case that he picked up in the street after Abigail falls and loses it and puts it in a nice, new black case that he just happens to have. The case was originally red with the gray/white case as an inner case or liner for the red case. Ian's character hasn't cared if the Declaration gets shredded to confetti, so why would he care that it gets a nice, new black case instead of the gray/white one he picked up in the street?
Correction: Because it's his bargaining tool. Without it in pristine shape, he can't get Ben to cooperate. There's plenty of time between him picking up the white case and meeting up with Ben for him to pick up a new case for it, or he had it from when he'd planned to steal the document.
Corrected entry: In the shot where Ben is telling Riley the passcode is "Valley Forge", he says "It's Valley Forge. You press the in L twice." What he should've said was, "You press the L in twice."
Correction: He actually says "It's 'Valley Forge.' She pressed 'E' and 'L' twice." Gates was referring to the keys that Abigail would have pressed when she entered her password earlier.
Corrected entry: Dr. Chase gets the invisible ink on her hands from the campaign button Gates sent her. Several hours later, she attends a gala and leaves her nice and clear fingerprints in the invisible ink on her glass, where Gates retrieves them. Time has passed, and she has dressed up and gotten ready for a gala event - and she has not washed her hands even once?
Correction: The invisible ink was not meant for him to take her fingerprints at all, but to figure out what is her password to access the preservation room. He doesn't need any sort of ink to take her fingerprints - just the superheated Crazy Glue and the Ziploc bag which he uses in the restroom. The fact that she showered has no bearing on that, because she went down to the vault and entered her password much earlier in the day, soon after getting the button from Gates.
Corrected entry: In the Charlotte, Ian has one of his goons point a gun at Ben. When Ben starts pleading for his life, he addresses Ian (Sean Bean) as "Sean."
Correction: Ban Gates addresses not Ian as Sean but the other guy pointing the gun as Shaw. If you read the subtitles this can be confirmed.
Corrected entry: When Ian turns against Ben at the beginning of the movie in the ruins of Charlotte, he takes the pipe with the message engraved in it. This is still evident when Ben first talks to Abigail and she says "Did Bigfoot take it?" But when Ben finds the treasure room and the key to open the door is the pipe, Ben pulls it right out of his pocket. Nowhere in the movie does Ian ever give Ben back the pipe. (01:53:30)
Correction: Ben gets it back after he escapes from the FBI, on the aircraft carrier, when he meets Ian, he gives it back to him then. He gets back both the pipe and the Declaration of Independence. Ian also states on the phone that he will "even throw in the pipe from the Charlotte."
Actually Ben gets the Declaration and pipe back in front of Trinity church at Wall St. and Broadway. Ian puts them on top of the car and then Ben takes them both then, not on the Intrepid.
Corrected entry: When Ben is running through the graveyard from Ian's men in Philadelphia, he shuts a gate behind him to hamper his pursuer. The man tries to open the gate, but it is locked. However, the gate obviously bares a keyhole for an old skeleton key. In order for Ben to have locked the gate, he would've had to have the key with him. But we see no action of him locking the gate at all. In reality, it should have remained unlocked.
Correction: It can easily become locked when the door is shut. There are many doors that have "one way locks" (no matter how old or modern the door is), you can lock them by closing the door without turning a key. However you need a key to reopen it.
Corrected entry: Ben had digital scans of the Silence Dogood letters before ever having gotten the clue about "The key in Silence undetected". Obviously, he'd need the originals that his father had to get scans, and Ben seems surprised when his dad tells him that he donated the letters. Ben didn't meet his father between going to the Charlotte and the National Archives (as evidenced by Patrick's shock at the fact that Charlotte was a ship), so why did Ben have the scans of the Silence Dogood letters when as far as he knew, he didn't need them?
Correction: Ben is a history major and a collector. While he didn't know for sure what clues he'd need, I imagine he probably made sure to collect anything that came from the founding fathers hands as they were involved with this treasure and could be holding clues anywhere. It would also make sense to make scans that way he doesn't have to keep going back to his father who does not support his hunt for the treasure. He may have previously looked over the letters to see if there was any clue in those letters as to who "charlotte" was.
Corrected entry: When Ben meets Abigail for the first time in her office, he admires her collection of Washington's campaign buttons. In fact, there is no such thing as a Washington campaign button, since presidential campaigns (as we know them today, with a candidate declaring the desire to be president and actively promoting himself or herself) did not come into existence until the mid-1800's. Washington never "ran" for president. In fact, at the time it would have been considered very un-gentlemanly and arrogant to publicly express your interest in the office. There were however buttons made to commemorate his inauguration and his presidency itself (saying "Long Live the President", etc., but nothing like those seen in the film), and these are, indeed, collector's items.
Correction: There were never any buttons made up to commemorate Washington's military campaigns. Also, political campaign buttons were not seen until the presidential election of 1840. The buttons could have been referred to incorrectly by Ben; perhaps they were coat buttons from some of Washington's uniforms; which would make Abigail's collection very rare indeed. Unfortunately, they don't look like uniform buttons. Alternatively he might have meant inauguration buttons.
Corrected entry: When Riley uncovers the frozen seaman in his hammock, he gets scared/excited, starts flailing his arms and knocks both hammocks on either side of him as he falls backward. That would have left both hammocks moving/swinging a little. But in the very next frame where Riley is still making noises and turns over on all fours, we see the hammock on the left side of the screen as still as the dead.
Correction: There are 2 levels of hammocks, one over the other, Riley actually moves an upper one to see the frozen seaman, and when Riley is scared he only hits the top hammock on his right on his way down. When you do not see it swinging it is a closeup and you only see the lower hammock that he did not hit.
Corrected entry: When Ben is crossing the street to enter National Archives building for the Gala, the street is wet but the pavement, steps, etc. around the building are completely dry.
Correction: There is no indication that it has been raining except that the streets are wet. Washington DC's Department of Public Works has street cleaners that operate on heavily traveled areas routinely or as requested by the public. It would not be unusual for the National Archives people to request a street cleaning before this big gala. The street cleaners operate by spraying a thin film of water on the street before sweeping the dirt, etc. into a hopper on the machine. It makes perfect sense as to why the streets could be wet. Also, they only suspend operations during the winter and this take place outside of that time.
Corrected entry: When Ben leaps into the water and meets the SCUBA diver, sounds indicate that he immediately takes a deep breath from the respirator. If he had actually done this, he would have breathed in the sea water the respirator would have been flooded with. This, as you well know, would not have been very fun at all. (01:31:00)
Correction: The diver was there waiting for Ben and would be aware of his immediate need for air. Purging a regulator second stage is as simple as pushing the purge button and holding it in a mouthpiece-down position. Some Hudson River water would likely be in it, but a deep breath would be possible without first needing to exhale to purge the regulator.
Corrected entry: When Ben enters the big gala as a janitor, he has to go through a metal detector after putting his supplies on the tray. The problem is when he goes through the metal detector, he doesn't set it off. Later, in the bathroom, he takes off his janitor's clothes and is seen wearing a tuxedo underneath, and an expensive looking watch. The watch should have set off the alarm, but he didn't take it off when he entered.
Correction: We don't see Ben's every move after he enters the gala. He could have very easily had the watch in the toolbelt and just slipped it on after he got inside. Or it just might not have set off the metal detector. My watch cost me several hundred dollars, but I never take it off when I go through metal detectors because it doesn't trigger them.
Corrected entry: When Ben reveals to Abigail that there is a map on the back of the Declaration, she says she has seen it and there is nothing on the back but a notation that reads "Original Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776". Yet, later on at Ben's dad's house, when they turn it over to find the there is nothing written on the back.
Correction: Yes there is, if you look at the bottom of the document on the back, it says that, just like the real one.
Correction: I too have been to the National Archives and there was never a line for me. It depends on what time of year you go. You must have gone during vacation season.
Phixius ★