Best action movie deliberate mistakes of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest picture Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: When Will is bound and brought before "Chief" Jack, Will says, "The compass!" and there is a close-up of the compass, as it hangs to the right of the long striped cloth. However, in all other shots the compass hangs to the left of the red and white striped cloth. This is a flipped shot - note the large buckles. (00:24:00)

Super Grover

More Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest deliberate mistakes
Back to the Future Part II picture Back to the Future Part II mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: When Old Biff and Young Biff are sitting in Biff's car, the car's rear-view mirror vanishes during all shots of Old and Young Biffs together. Presumably this made the split-screen effect easier to do.

More Back to the Future Part II deliberate mistakes
Mr. and Mrs. Smith picture

Deliberate mistake: When Brad Pitt is in his garage and cleans the spot on this collar, he should have turned the car's mirror to the left to see himself. Instead, he turns the mirror to the right so the camera can get a view of his collar.

More Mr. and Mrs. Smith deliberate mistakes
The Maze Runner picture

Deliberate mistake: Despite taking place for at least three years (prior to the arrival of Thomas) in an isolated post-apocalyptic setting, the boys in the Glade have professional looking hairstyles, not the least of which are Minho and Gally, who both have short hairstyles that look evenly cut and professionally maintained.

Phaneron

More The Maze Runner deliberate mistakes
Galaxy Quest picture

Deliberate mistake: When Commander Taggert and Lt. Madison are about to press the blue button to stop the ship exploding, Lt. Madison's tunic is mostly zipped up. A few seconds later it is suddenly mostly unzipped. Those of you who have access to the DVD of the film can see that there was a deleted scene which was originally intended to go in here where she unzips her tunic to distract the aliens.

More Galaxy Quest deliberate mistakes
Reservoir Dogs picture

Deliberate mistake: In the torture scene, Mr Blonde turns the radio on and listens to "Stuck in the Middle with You" as he proceeds to torture the cop. Mr Orange shoots him before Mr Blonde turns the radio off, but somehow the radio is never heard again in the film.

More Reservoir Dogs deliberate mistakes
Beneath the Planet of the Apes picture

Deliberate mistake: There are no lights ever to be found in the underground world and the ceiling is literally the surface's ground, but there is still a perfect level of lighting regardless.

Casual Person

More Beneath the Planet of the Apes deliberate mistakes
On Her Majesty's Secret Service picture

Deliberate mistake: Blofeld doesn't recognize James Bond in this film, even though they met face-to-face in the previous movie, "You Only Live Twice." There is a production-related reason for this. Ian Fleming wrote "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" in 1963 (in which Bond and Blofeld met for the first time), and he wrote "You Only Live Twice" in 1964. However, "You Only Live Twice" was adapted for film first (in 1967), and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was adapted afterward (in 1969). Because the 1969 film was so faithful to its source material, Blofeld and Bond are basically meeting for the first time... again. The producers were aware of this continuity problem and intended to have James Bond undergo plastic surgery for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (which would conveniently explain Blofeld not recognizing him, as well as the fact that Sean Connery had been replaced by George Lazenby in the lead role). But the plastic surgery idea was discarded in faithfulness to the novel, resulting in a glaring continuity problem between the 1967 and 1969 films.

Charles Austin Miller

More On Her Majesty's Secret Service deliberate mistakes
Ghostbusters: Afterlife picture

Deliberate mistake: When the kids are about to jump start the trap Phoebe hides behind the school bus door. Half a second later, when the trap opens, she's nowhere to be seen, not even jumping or stepping inside the bus. Then half a second later she has managed to get inside, turn around and protect her head while the bus windows burst. It all happens in real time for their hairs are still fluttering. It sure paces up the scene, but it's really awkward.

Sacha

More Ghostbusters: Afterlife deliberate mistakes
Beverly Hills Cop III picture

Deliberate mistake: Twice in this film Axel is shot at by multiple gunmen using automatic weapons at close range - and they all miss. In the Earthquake theme ride the bullets ricochet of the rails at Axel's feet. Why are they all aiming low? Why don't they raise their aim? In the park outside he hides behind a perfectly ordinary park bench and the bullets hit the wooden slats. Not one goes through the open spaces between them? I know bad guys can't shoot straight in the movies, but this is ridiculous ...

More Beverly Hills Cop III deliberate mistakes
Who Am I? picture

Deliberate mistake: At the end of the movie when everyone is on the bridge, the one female cop roundhouses the bad guy, who is clearly a white male in his 50's, but his stunt double is an Asian man (with different colored hair). They use the same stunt man a few other times for people he doesn't even look like.

More Who Am I? deliberate mistakes
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl picture

Deliberate mistake: Not only is the angle of the moonlight that shines through Jack's prison cell window intentionally exaggerated to enhance the shots with Jack, doggy, Koehler and Twigg, but in relevant shots, the moonlight is not seen coming through the window or the broken wall. Nor is it reflected on the floor outside the cells or in the cell next to Jack, particularly in the shots from the dog's POV looking up the corridor towards Jack. (00:36:00)

Super Grover

More Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl deliberate mistakes
The Martian picture

Deliberate mistake: The atmosphere on Mars is only 1% as dense of that as Earth, so 175kph windstorms would feel like a light breeze. They would have very little effect on the astronauts or MAV. The writers of the book and the film were aware of this, it was a small cheat to let the rest of the story unfold.

Grumpy Scot

More The Martian deliberate mistakes
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective picture Ace Ventura: Pet Detective mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: In the scene in which Ace is in the asylum, he breaks into a storage closet to view Finkle's belongings that were left behind when he escaped. At first the doorframe is such that the door closes against about an inch of wood, meaning the lock would be behind this wood, so Ace couldn't pry it open. In the closeup, the door's flush against the frame so Ace can use the sign to get between the door and the frame. In the wide shot it's back to how it was. (00:58:55)

More Ace Ventura: Pet Detective deliberate mistakes
Mission: Impossible 3 picture Mission: Impossible 3 mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: Bare shoulders are forbidden in the Vatican premises, so the sexy dresses in the party would not be allowed.

Sacha

More Mission: Impossible 3 deliberate mistakes
X-Men 2 picture X-Men 2 mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: Almost trivia, but not quite. When Mystique's looking through the guard files to find a suitable candidate, lots of photos flash up very quickly before she finds the guy she uses. Of note is that Bryan Singer pops up in guard uniform (with his own name), and so does someone called "Donner, L". This is most likely referring to Lauren Shuler Donner, one of the producers, and sex is specified as "F", but the photo is of a stubble-coated man. (00:23:10)

Jon Sandys

More X-Men 2 deliberate mistakes
Cassandra Crossing picture

Deliberate mistake: The rail line was supposedly not used in 30 to 40 years, however, in the exterior scenes approaching the bridge where the mile markers were, the tracks are well maintained, has no vegetation, and the rails are shiny, indicating a lot of train use.

More Cassandra Crossing deliberate mistakes
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King picture

Deliberate mistake: In the Extended Edition, the location of the Tomb of the Stewards is shown to be behind the city of Minis Tirith, at the cemetery on the mountainside, accessible via a long bridge. Flaming Denethor later runs to the far prow of the city, leaps off and plummets. The distance between the two areas makes it is obviously entirely impossible for someone, even adrenaline charged Denethor, to run this distance while his oiled flesh burns. Admitted on the commentary that it's poetic license, due to director Peter Jackson's long awaited vision for this dramatic shot. (00:13:15 - 00:30:50)

Super Grover

More The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King deliberate mistakes
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian picture

Deliberate mistake: When Peter and Miraz are fighting, Peter stabs Miraz and then brings the sword back up for the killing stroke. There is no blood on the sword. This is deliberate on the part of Disney, so as not to show blood, but a mistake nonetheless.

More The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian deliberate mistakes
Pearl Harbor picture

Deliberate mistake: In one of the dogfight scenes a Japanese Zero crashes into a tower. It's a quick shot, but you can still see that what crashes is an American P-40 with Japanese markings.

More Pearl Harbor deliberate mistakes

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.