Best adventure movie mistakes of all time

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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring picture

Visible crew/equipment: After starting their four day journey through the long dark of Moria, a few shots later Gandalf pulls on his hat brim, and just as he walks (with Legolas close behind) to his left (towards the viewer's right), up some stairs, the black electrical cable leading from the staff to under the robe's left sleeve is visible. (00:19:30)

Super Grover

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Cats & Dogs picture Cats & Dogs mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As Buddy walks out into the street at the start of the movie when the cat is playing dead, you can see several parked cars on the street behind him. When the van backs up to 'catnap' buddy, there are no parked cars. Then as the van drives off again, there is a different bunch of parked cars in the street. (00:03:54)

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Jack Reacher: Never Go Back picture

Revealing mistake: When the leading hitman jumps from the balcony you see him land on a rubber mat.

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Shrek Forever After picture

Continuity mistake: Rumpelstiltskin looks completely different in this movie than he did in the previous film Shrek The Third; Prince Charming momentarily talks to Rumpelstiltskin in the tavern during the third film, and the character looks completely different, has a different voice and different demeanor.

Purple_Girl

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Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery picture

Revealing mistake: When Austin enters the bathroom at the casino, keep your eyes on the door during the scene - it opens by itself before closing. (00:31:10)

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Jurassic Park III picture

Audio problem: After the aeroplane crashed, a dinosaur stepped over it and the windows shattered making the typical sound of made-of-glass things when broken. They are made of plexiglass (a sort of fibrous plastic).

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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial picture E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the exterior front shots of Elliott's house there are some significant changes to the landscape in different shots. For instance, the two lampposts at the bottom of the driveway change to an entirely different style in some shots, and the huge garden boulders repeatedly vanish and reappear. Also, note when Michael takes off on Elliott's bike to go search for ET, the in-ground lamppost that should be beside the mailbox has vanished, but it reappears when all the government agents are setting things up outside the house.

Super Grover

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Kong: Skull Island picture

Plot hole: The idea that Marlow would simply take a taxi to his wife's address after being missing in action for thirty odd years is stupid beyond belief. He was on a ship sailing from the central Pacific for days and those ships have radios! The US military would have known he was coming. Someone, somewhere would have notified the authorities that a US serviceman long thought dead was actually alive and on his way home and his wife and son would have been there on the docks to greet him, not standing slack-jawed in the kitchen dropping trays of drinks on the floor when he turned up! What would have happened if she had remarried? Or moved house? Or she was dead? Don't tell me the US military didn't know he was coming - he is wearing a brand new uniform, clean and pressed.

PEDAUNT

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Suggested correction: The implication is that Marlow went through an extensive debrief and nobody had contacted his family until the debrief had concluded, based on the top secret nature of the mission. As you say, the fact he has a brand new uniform suggests that he has contacted the US Military prior to ever contacting his family. The fact that his wife would have moved and re-married is irrelevant, he still would have made an attempt to contact her so he could see his son.

BaconIsMyBFF

And they wouldn't have contacted her after the debrief had been completed? What utter nonsense. Allowing him to just turn up on the doorstep without notifying his wife first is an utterly irresponsible and even dangerous act. She could have fainted with shock or even had a heart attack. She would absolutely, definitely, 100% carved in stone, been advised of her husband's survival and return.

Since we know very little about the completely fictional organization Monarch, we obviously cannot say they would "carved in stone" do anything. In order to be a mistake in the movie, it would have to be something that is impossible. A secret government organization that doesn't even exist in real life not behaving the way the real military would is not impossible. At least not by the rules set forth in the film. It's perhaps improbable but it is most certainly not impossible.

BaconIsMyBFF

It is an inviolable, carved in stone, fur lined, ocean going, top of the list rule that the next of kin are immediately advised of the change of status of military personnel. MIA, now confirmed dead? They'd be the first to know. MIA, now confirmed to be alive, same outcome. His wife would know he was on that ship coming home.

This is true in real life but in the fictional world of the movie Monarch is a secret, government agency that has some degree of control over the military. You can't apply the same rules as in real life in this situation.

BaconIsMyBFF

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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers picture

Continuity mistake: Gimli is lying with his face under the water, after jumping off the Deeping Wall and landing on the Uruk-hai. In the close-up, the right arm that grabs Gimli's shoulder to help him out of the water is Legolas' right arm. Yet, in the wide shot, suddenly it is Aragorn helping Gimli to his feet, not Legolas. (01:11:10)

Super Grover

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Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle picture Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: The scene where Spencer throws the boomerang for the first time and misses the bikers they take off running. While they are running from the bikers, there is a shot right before the boomerang hits the bikers where you can see a camera man sitting in the bushes on the left side. You don't have to pause it, but can to see it better. (00:36:30)

Blickenstaff

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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom picture Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: After Willie spits in Indy's face it cuts to Short Round running through the mine, and just as Shorty turns his head toward the camera behind him, we can catch a glimpse of something blue which does not belong in this dark dreary environment, at the right side of the screen. There is a tall spotlight and two crew members, one is wearing a solid blue shirt and a cap, and the other a blue/white striped shirt with white pants. (01:21:25)

Super Grover

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Suggested correction: This takes place in milliseconds and there's no way to see it unless you pause the image or play it in slo-mo. It should be under trivia.

Sacha

Right now I have it playing on Netflix, and there is no slow motion. The striped blue shirt is noticeable as it plays without any slo-mo. If something catches my eye onscreen, it is fair game to go back and rewatch what was noticed in the first place. And in order for me to confirm what I find, I do pause, and may take screenshots. By the way, I've seen this movie countless times over the years, and it was just a matter of catching that glimpse of the color blue because it popped out against the dreary surroundings. I'll leave it up to Jon whether to move it to trivia or not.

Super Grover

Fair enough :).

Sacha

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Back to the Future Part III picture

Factual error: Though extremely modest by today's standards, the dress worn by Clara at the hoedown shows far too much cleavage for the time. No schoolteacher would ever wear a dress like that in the 1880s.

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Anaconda picture

Revealing mistake: In one shot when the boat is pulling away from the waterfall, you can clearly see that the shot is the same one they used earlier in the movie. The water from the waterfall now is going up the cliff! They have just put it in reverse.

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Pee-wee's Big Adventure picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Pee Wee is chaining up his beloved bike you can see the long chain coming up through the bottom of the bike box. Full screen version only. (00:13:40)

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Mission: Impossible 2 picture Mission: Impossible 2 mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The tyres on the crotch rocket motorcycles they were riding kept changing from knobbly tyres to road slicks, back and forth depending on what terrain they were on. Easiest to see when Ethan skids on the road to avoid the white van - clear shot of slick tyres - then about 30 seconds later they're on the dirt, he skids into the old car and you can easily see that he's got off-road tyres front and back.

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Independence Day picture Independence Day mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Dr. Okun is about to unlock "the vault", and says, "The freak show," a crewmember wearing a black and white striped shirt is hiding under the vault's floor, right behind Okun. (Only visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Super Grover

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The Lion King picture

Audio problem: (May only apply to the original VHS release.) When Scar has Zazu locked up in a cage, Zazu mentions Mufasa's name and Scar yells at him, "What did you say?" Right before Scar's actual line, whilst Zazu is talking, you hear Scar's "What did you say?" line very faintly in the background, even though Zazu has not even mentioned Mufasa yet.

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Spider-Man: Homecoming picture

Factual error: When the bus is shown entering Washington, DC for the competition, the shot shows the bus traveling over the Arlington Memorial Bridge with the Lincoln Memorial in the background. That bridge is on the southwest side of the city. Since NYC is to the northeast of DC, this means that to get to that bridge and enter DC that way, the bus had to drive all the way around the city and then come back in from the opposite direction. Even if the bus driver made a mistake and missed the most direct route into the city from the north, there are dozens of other ways to get to the heart of the city without adding a good 45 minutes to an hour to the trip.

Guy

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The Living Daylights picture

Plot hole: Necros had absolutely no way of knowing that Bond and Saunders had arranged to meet at the café when they did and wouldn't have had anywhere near enough time to track them down and set up his elaborate booby trap. Saunders only suggested the meeting place and time a few hours earlier, and it was kept strictly between him and Bond. The scene in Tangier, where Whittaker tells Necros to kill another British agent, takes place on the same day Bond arrived in Vienna; meaning that Necros got from Tangier to Vienna (a 5-hour plus flight), tracked down Saunders, acquired the materials to booby trap the café doors (or had planned this ahead of time - unlikely), and set the trap up well in advance of him and Bond getting to the fairground. There was nowhere near enough time for all of that to happen without Necros having psychic knowledge of Saunders' movements.

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2001: A Space Odyssey picture

Other mistake: There is something drastically wrong with the design of the spherical 'Aries' moon shuttle. Some seats and many fixtures are 'upside down' relative to the up-down orientation of the shuttle itself, and we see loose food trays and equipment about the place as if this is routine. But - the shuttle is designed to land on the moon. What happens then? The moon has gravity, remember? There are going to be quite a few very disgruntled people dangling upside down like spiders, and there will be loose gear (and perhaps a stewardess or two) bouncing about all over the place. It is not a matter of stowing loose gear or lying flat on landing - some parts of the shuttle are upside down relative to others, which is why the stewardess has to do that famous 180 degree upside down walk. Whichever way you look at it the shuttle is going to encounter serious problems when it reaches a gravity well, which will occur whenever the engines are fired up, never mind landing on the moon.

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Suggested correction: The shuttle lands "on its back" with legs extending beyond the engines. As in most traditional sci-fi, and ALL actual, space flights to date, the launch (and landing) orientation for humans is to be on one's back. This minimizes blood being sucked down to your feet if you were sitting upright at launch - you could pass out. So we see this when the shuttle lands on the moon - the cockpit (red window) faces up (pilots on their backs, facing out the window). When we presume that the passenger cabin was 180 degrees spun around from the cockpit seating, they're still on their backs. Any loose objects would have been stowed before landing - the airlines don't lock down your bags, newspapers and coffee cups, right? They're loose in the cabin during flight, but put away on takeoff and landing.

Airliners do not fly upside down. The Orion shuttle cannot possibly operate the way it does if it lands in a gravity environment - some rooms are upside down relative to others - why else would the stewardess do the 180 degree vertical walk? It is an idiotic design flaw, and the posting is 100% correct.

The Aries passengers sit and stand with their feet down towards the moon. The pilots sit with their back down to the moon, as conventional astronauts do on Earth. But the attendant's 180-degree walk is completely wrong to the orientation of the shuttle's interior: it should have been only 90° if you look at the Aries exterior. One assumes that Kubrick preferred a longer, more cinematic shot, over a technically accurate shot. But nobody was upside-down to the moon.

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