Character mistake: In the scenes in San Diego, all the scenes outside the sub are taking place during daylight hours. Immediately after the crewman relays the message about the mysterious telegraph transmission, the scene shifts to the sub. The commander asks what time it is in Melbourne and is told it is 1500 hours (3PM). But if it were that time in Melbourne, it would be 10PM in San Diego, and thus not during daylight hours. (01:33:30 - 01:38:05)
Character mistake: During the dancing girl scene, as they are singing the praises of Kane, the girl to the immediate right sings out of time with the rest of the dancers during the line "His favorite son." Even though she forgets to sing the line, she can be heard singing it a bit too late. (00:41:00)
Character mistake: Civil rights lawyer says bring up the 1983 case. Should have been 1893 or 1883.
Character mistake: During the debrief meeting with the generals, Roy states the Lima Project was "some 29 years ago" and "the ship disappeared approximately 16 years into the mission." A few minutes later, Roy narrates "I was 16 when he left, 29 when he disappeared." This of course is only 13 years into the mission. (00:11:27 - 00:15:03)
Character mistake: About 3/4 of the way through the movie, when Jennifer Aniston is talking to Ben Affleck, she calls him Ben instead of his character's name Neil.
Character mistake: In the scene where Sophia confronts Celie in the cornfield, she starts by saying, "You told Harpo to beat me". Later she tells Celie, "If you want a dead son-in-law Miss Celie, you keep on advising him like you do". Harpo is actually Celie's stepson, NOT her son-in-law.
Character mistake: After Macer shoots the shotgun man during the house raid, she checks his pulse without removing the weapon from his hands first.
Character mistake: On the way approaching town the camera pans to a woman's hanged body with a sign written in German around her neck. One of the crew asked Wardaddy what it said, to which he answered something like "It reads 'I am a coward who refused to fight for the German people'." That sign actually translates to "I wanted my children not to go fight" or Anglicized for better effect, "I refused to let my children to go to war." Interestingly, once into town, there appears the corpse of a hanged man with a sign written in German that does translate to what Wardaddy said of the first sign. (00:43:00)
Character mistake: In the opening scenes when Brian goes back to the shop, he demands that he needs some nitrous to boost his low top speed. Well I'm sure that most tuners will agree that more horsepower doesn't equal more top speed, it only contributes IF you have a transmission that can handle it and distribute it. (00:09:53)
Character mistake: At the beginning of the movie, the German sub gets surprised and severely damaged by a destroyer. The sonar man first notices the enemy destroyer approaching, but only a short time before the destroyer is already literally on top of the sub. German sonar at the time had the capacity to detect ships up to more than 7 miles away, so the sonar man really had to be asleep at his sonar station not to notice the destroyer approaching. (00:03:40)
Suggested correction: He was in the sound room, not running sonar...given they were attacking a convoy, they wouldn't be running soar as that could be picked up by other ships.
Character mistake: When Moss is arguing with the border guard at the Eagle Pass international bridge, he claims that he is a veteran of the "12th Infantry Battalion." There has never been such a thing as the 12th Infantry Battalion in either the Army or the Marines. Rather, they are based on a structure of 3-4 battalions per numbered regiment (i.e., 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment/2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, etc). The film takes this seriously, as the guard, a veteran himself, buys Moss' story.
Suggested correction: He might have meant 12th Infantry Regiment. From Wikipedia: "Three 12th Infantry battalions deployed to South Vietnam with the 4th Division from August through October 1966."
If he said "battalion" but meant "regiment", then it's still a valid mistake for saying it wrong and being believed.
Regiments have not existed as functional units in the US Army since shortly after Korea; they are simply historic names associated with various battalions. Marine battalions are not numbered higher than 4 in any regiment, and in any case do not carry an explicit designation of "infantry."
Character mistake: While he may not have figured it out the moment he found the forest dying, certainly a botanist like Freeman Lowell would know plants need light to survive.
Character mistake: The crew many times refers to the sub as a ship - subs are always called a boat.
Character mistake: When they are having the going away party for Paul, "leisure" is spelled wrong on the cake.
Character mistake: When Buquet hangs over the scene, you can see Meg screaming along with three other dancers. Four shots later, Meg is still screaming, but the two girls who were to her right (on the left of the screen) are still dancing, as if they haven't seen Buquet yet. (01:05:10)
Character mistake: When Wes is drinking the mezcal with the worm in it, he makes a toast to "la vida luna" and tells Sissy it's Spanish for "the crazy life". This is untrue, the correct Spanish translation for "the crazy life" is "la vida loca". "La vida luna" literally translates as "the life moon" or better yet "the moon life", but a more accurate translation is "the night life."
Character mistake: The story arc set on the Mole covers one week. The Highlanders attempt to refloat the beached trawler on the last day of that week. One of them confidently states that the tides are three-hourly. (The audience know this isn't true because we've seen a similar conversation between the Admiral and the Colonel.) At least some - if not all - of those Tommies have been on the beach all week. Have none of them have noticed that the tides are six-hourly?
Character mistake: Kimble has just finished talking on the phone with his lawyer when the cops hear the noise in the background. They figure out the sound is that of an El-Train. They then start to list the different places that have an El. One of the cities they name is Milwaukee - there has never been an El-Train there.
Character mistake: At Henley, Prince Albert of Monaco is introduced as "His Royal Highness Prince Albert." He is a Serene Highness, not Royal. A British VIP would know the difference and say "His Serene Highness" instead.
Character mistake: When Craig gets the milk out of the fridge he takes it to the table and pours it on his cereal. He looks surprised when there isn't much in the carton. He would've known this from the weight of the carton when he first picked it up.