Factual error: Talking about Darius Stone's military record, Agent Meadows mentions in passing that he holds the Navy record for highest dive at 250 feet. That wouldn't be the Navy record, that would be the world record, higher than the current one by over 50 feet. It's fine for a movie to make up some facts, obviously, but here they downplay what appears to be a next to superhuman ability. It's like having the main character running the 100 meters dash in 8 seconds and call it a "navy record." (00:25:50)
Factual error: The train conductor tells the bad guy that "air brakes are blown, can't slow us down anymore." But air brakes in modern trains are fail-safe; if they are 'blown', they lose pressure and therefore activate automatically. (01:27:50)
Revealing mistake: As Lo bids farewell to Darius, you can get a good look at the back of his neck when he catches the keys with his not-so-injured-anymore hand. When he drives away the camera zooms on an XXX tattoo that simply wasn't there. (01:34:25)
Continuity mistake: When the President at the end holds the medal for the 'unknown soldier', the medal at Scott Speedman's neck is nice and straight in the close-up, but curls up above the star in the shot when the Pres quotes Tupac. (01:32:55)
Continuity mistake: When Darius pushes the buttons turning the lights off in the cart where Deckert is holding the President hostage, he begins shutting down the lights behind them, but in the reaction shot those lights are going out later. Moreso, before the camera cuts away from the switches, we see three lights turn off at once, one being below Stone's fingers. (01:28:40)
Revealing mistake: When Cobbs slams Darius against the door after dodging the knife he pulled out, Ice Cube is replaced by a stuntman. (01:26:40)
Revealing mistake: As the bullet train is chased by the helicopters in formation, the helicopters fly as obvious CGI constructs. (01:23:35)
Continuity mistake: When the bad guys open the doors to the bullet train track using President James Sanford's hand, look at the corridor double door. When XXX arrives, he finds the same open doors with door stops that weren't there a moment before. (01:21:00 - 01:21:30)
Continuity mistake: By the power of schizophrenic montage, X and Steele turn around hearing the arrival of Charlie with Gibbons, are side to side, and in the next shot they are on opposite sides of the huge hall and blindside them. (01:19:10)
Character mistake: John Gleeson Connolly appears in the final credits as Lt. Alabama 'Bama' Cobb, but during the movie he's always called "Sergeant." When it's XXX to call him like that, adding that he was too dumb to make Captain, it's logical, as he'd basically address him as the rank they had when they served together and belittles him for not jumping in ranks all that much, but even the General addresses him as such in the Capitol Hill shootout. (01:18:30)
Plot hole: General George Deckert orders his men to kill the President "Get rid of him", but once this execution, that would make perfect sense in the context of his plan, is interrupted by the cannon shot he spends all the rest of the movie until the very end to drag the President with him for no reason. The longer he keeps him hostage, the more difficult for him it is to cover the story up in any way. (01:18:00)
Continuity mistake: When the President realises who's behind the coup, he walks towards him.asking "Are you doing this?" His hair is just fine and very Presidential, but when a cut later he asks "Are you familiar with the word 'treason'?" his hair is messy on his forehead. (01:15:10)
Continuity mistake: Darius and his posse start their assault on the renegades. They drive on the sidewalk and are about to crash into the road block. In the POV shot there's just a couple of soldiers in their way, who move rapidly out of the way. The next shot shows the same spot but on top of 2 soldiers who still have to move out, there's also a construction worker with a hard hat and more people. (01:13:00)
Revealing mistake: When XXX and his friends open the cheese truck, look into it and let Toby work his magic, you can see in the distance above the black SUV the cars blocking the road to allow filming. (01:08:30)
Factual error: From the title itself it should be clear that the movie is set when the President is giving the State of the Union address, which is in the middle of winter (end of Jan, approx). The movie has been shot between June and October, and it shows, since everywhere in Virginia the trees and lawns are in full green and people wear for the most part light clothes.
Continuity mistake: In the silly scene of the two truck drivers getting out to offer some assistance to the skanks, look when the one in red says "Hi boys." The one in white has her hand on her hip, but in the reverse shot she's playing with her hair at shoulder-length. Meanwhile the truck driver tips his hat, but in the next shot his hand is to his side. (01:08:00)
Continuity mistake: Toby is dangling off the car from his suction glove in a different position between shots - in particular when he begs Lola he has his free hand on the door and immediately after he has not. (01:07:20)
Plot hole: The whole premise of the movie and Deckert's plot is moot; as Steele exposits, Deckert, who is the Secretary of Defense, wants to put in the same spot "President, VP, Speaker of the House, Secretary of State." Because, it's "The chain of command. He takes them out, he's what?" Simply, he's NOTHING, because the Presidential Succession includes before the Secretary of Defense the President of the Senate (higher than the Secretary of State) and the Secretary of the Treasury. Deckert's plan was useless. (01:03:55)
Continuity mistake: Steele comfortably waltzes into Darius' hideout surprising everyone. He mentions some car magic he figured out by ear; notice Michael Roof has some tool between his teeth. "I didn't always wear a suit", Speedman says, and when the camera is back on Roof, he's not goofing around with things in his mouth anymore, but it comes back again when the same camera angle as before is used again. (01:03:30)
Factual error: In this movie, it's the Secretary of Defense who picks the security detail for the President, but it's of course the Secret Service who does so, which is in no way in the same chain of command. (01:00:00)
Answer: To break the surface of the water making an easier penetration. Hitting water at high speeds can be like hitting concrete. By stirring up the water it "softens" the impact.
EMTurbo