Factual error: There is no possible way to cause a power line to drop from its support pylons and hit a person on target. These wires are fastened extremely securely, designed to withstand extremely high tension through all kinds of weather, and they are not equipped with some sort of explosive charges to release them.
Factual error: There is a scene where an F-16 pilot was ejected by ARIA. This is impossible as the ejection systems in fighter aircraft are purposely non-electrical (to prevent failure due to loss of power or EMP), and are shielded and controlled by isolated pyrotechnics and manual levers/cables, etc.
Factual error: Ethan Shaw is mentioned throughout the movie as graduating from the Air Force Academy, and also as a Lieutenant by other characters. When his brother Jerry Shaw is shown his brother's ID by ARIA (the eagle eye computer,) the ID shows Ethan Shaw as a SMSgt (Senior Master Sergeant). This is impossible by Air Force standards, even if he was a genius. It cannot be part of a fake cover as listing a 20-something year-old as a SMSgt would be so obviously fake as to be useless. No one in the Air Force would believe it and anyone competant enough to design ARIA and the infrastructure to accompany her would not make such a ridiculous mistake.
Factual error: In the beginning of the movie the kids speak Arabic, bu they are in Afghanistan. Official languages of Afghanistan is Pashto, Dari, and Urdu.
Revealing mistake: When the Porsche Cayenne is lifted out of the water at the scrap yard then placed on the ground, if you look through the gap between the front passenger wheel you can see the engine is removed from it.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film when ARIA gives a 36% match to the terrorist being tracked, one of the Soldiers throws a small prop driven UAV to get visual identification. Before visual identification is attempted, the screen at the NMCC already states a 51% match BEFORE the visual identification is compiled by the computer and then told to the SECDEF. ARIA didn't change the match percentage until AFTER she ran the visual identification program.
Continuity mistake: When the Porsche Cayenne is racing through the junk yard, in one shot the right headlamp is broken. In the next, it is fine again and then it's broken once more.
Revealing mistake: When Jerry jumps out of the building to escape the FBI, when he lands it does not look like Shia LaBeouf but a double.
Factual error: There is no multi-towered interstate in Indianapolis. The interstate shown is the Los Angeles freeway outside of LAX. When the Air Force plane left Dayton, there was a shot of the mountains outside of the airport. There are no mountains near Dayton.
Factual error: The Super computer causes the fire sprinklers to go off in a building. This is not possible at all. The only way to set off a fire sprinkler is by heating the fire sprinkler to about 160 degrees or by hitting it really hard. Just to make it clear, there are no electrical components connected to fire sprinklers by which someone or something can activate them remotely.
Factual error: The timeline of the movie is near the end of January 2009, as seen on cellphones throughout the movie. This would mean a new President would have been inaugurated only days before. Therefore, his address to Congress would not be called the State of the Union Address as this does not officially occur until the 2nd year of the Presidency.
Factual error: After Jerry and Rachael steal the case, ARIA is shown somehow activating the sprinklers in a nearby bank to crowd the street. These kinds of sprinklers are controlled manually, not electronically. The only way the water can flow from the sprinkler heads is if a glass vial stopping water flow breaks from high temperature. There is no knob, switch, lever, or button that can activate these sprinklers. There's no way ARIA could interface with it, even in the future as it would never meet the fire code (if the sprinklers are electronically activated, what happens if a fire has destroyed the control mechanism?).
Suggested correction: By the logic of the movie, the super computer should have simply hijacked another person's life and instruct him/her to set a fire manually (just like the old-man servant in the capitol, who instructed Rachael to get changed in 3 minutes).
Factual error: The tunnel in which the reaper attack takes place is supposed to be one of the tunnels under the Mall. This tunnel however, with two-way traffic and support pillars along the tunnel walls, is unlike any traffic tunnel in Washington DC.
Revealing mistake: When Jerry is in the tunnel and Morgan blows up the drone, Jerry hides behind the front of a car. Then he runs to the back, but he is shown again at the front of the car.
Continuity mistake: The wounds on agent Thomas's forehead that got in bridge crash change position several shots later.
Continuity mistake: The wounds on Jerry's forehead change position through the film.
Plot hole: This observation regards a computer whose memory architecture is on a physical scale (e.g., size) that allows multiple humans to enter and maneuver within it. With electronic components, scale imposes a design limitation such that the greater the distance between components, the more time is required for a signal to traverse between components. This computer's massive size would assure substantial performance limitations which are inconsistent with the plot line of the computer's overall power.
Factual error: At the end of the film, the shots from the security cameras in McPherson Square and Farragut West stations are not of DC Metro stations or trains. Also, the traffic camera is labeled "I-5 South". Interstate 5 is located on the West Coast, not in the DC area. (01:48:25)
Continuity mistake: When Jerry discovers the deliveries to his apartment and takes the gun out of its wrapper, in the first shot he's holding it quite loosely in his hand, then the angle changes and his fingers are wrapped tightly around the grip. (00:17:20)
