2012

Factual error: The scene where Yuri starts the car with his voice has two mistakes in it. The first one is that to use voice activation in any kind of car you have to push a button to let the car know that you're talking to it and secondly no car manufacturer would make the voice recognition the only way to start the car, there would always also be the option to start the car via a button or with the key simply because of safety reasons.

Tanngrisnir

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Suggested correction: I'm fairly sure a billionaire oligarch could afford to pay for a custom job like that considering a pop star from the 2000s paid Ferrari a solid gold engine and a lawnmower.

Other mistake: When Tamara Is trapped in the middle section it's flooding. It is impossible for the middle section to flood before the end section.

Cynthia Gurski

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Suggested correction: It would make sense that the door is designed to close much faster than it opens as it is a sealing door and needs to close quickly to form a water tight seal.

Other mistake: They go into the world's deepest copper mine to an underground computer office with windows lit from outside.

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Suggested correction: That is probably exactly how it would look. Most underground facilities are conventional buildings, trailers, or modular units arranged in a large lighted tunnel or cavern. This is the arrangement in Cheyenne Mountain Complex, the previous U.S. Antarctic base (under the geodesic dome), and for offices and data repositories in salt mines. The buildings have windows, and the caverns are lighted to facilitate movement between buildings.

Factual error: In the poster shot and in the film, the wave from the Atlantic carrying the carrier JFK into a collision with the White House comes crashing in from the west because the south portico of the White House is seen. The Atlantic Ocean is east of Washington, so the wave should come from the other direction. And even a wave coming from the east could not have made the JFK (CV-67) crash into the White House because the carrier was retired in 2005 and is berthed in Philadelphia, which is northeast of Washington DC. (01:30:10 - 01:30:40)

More mistakes in 2012

President Thomas Wilson: Six months ago, I was made aware of a situation so devastating that, at first, I refused to believe it. However, through the concerted efforts of our brightest scientist, we have confirmed its validity. The world, as we know it, will soon come to an end.

More quotes from 2012

Trivia: It's not an accident that Wisconsin was chosen as the new South Pole in the movie, its position being 44N/90W, 44 being a number that Roland Emmerich tries to sneak into every movie he makes since his 'Moon 44' days. (01:37:25)

GalahadFairlight

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Question: At the end of the movie, it is stated that the Drakensberg mountain range in South Africa now has the highest altitude in the world, since the "entire plate of Africa has lifted". Isn't this highly unlikely, seeing as the Drakensberg is incredibly far away from any tectonic plate lines? Wouldn't it rather be Mount Kilimanjaro, which is not only already the highest point in Africa (the continental plate of which is implied to have been raised as a whole), but is also a volcano (thereby being more likely to be raised should there be lifting within the plate itself)? I am South African myself, and though I am incredibly proud of our mention, I wonder if it really is plausible.

Answer: It's really impossible to say, given all of the massive land shifting seen in the film. We see the entire coast of California fall into the ocean. It's reasonable (in the film) to assume some cataclysm struck Kilimanjaro to lower or destroy it, or that the continent has been tilted.

In the movie, it was implied that the continent of Africa as a whole remained unflooded. So it stands to reason that the millions of inhabitants of the various countries may have survived intact. And so, the animals and plant life as well. So the question of saving the human species may be moot in this scenario. It's ironic, since most of the scientific community believes that modern humans evolved there first anyway.

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