Best movie factual errors of all time

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull picture

Factual error: In the warehouse scene, the lights and other metal objects are affected by the box's magnetic field. Yet the soldiers easily lift the box into a metal truck to load it and slide it forward. If the box's magnetic field was as strong as suggested, it would have dragged the soldiers forward as it was magnetically attracted to the truck, and it would have taken much more effort for them to slide it onto the truck bed once it was stuck there.

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Solstice picture

Factual error: The moon is full every night the highschoolers are at the lake house.

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Guns of Navarone picture

Factual error: Miller rigs his booby trap by attaching the wires from the bomb to a pole down which a metal runner slides, so that when the runner touches the wires it completes the circuit and detonates the bomb. The trouble is, the pole is made of steel, and steel is very conductive indeed. Miller attaches the exposed end of the wire to the pole without any insulation or gap. The circuit will actually be completed when Miller attaches the battery, and he and his booby trap will be blown sky high.

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Robin Hood picture

Factual error: On the cliff top before the battle on the beach, you are treated to a lovely if fleeting glimpse of wind farm turbines, not really fitting for the 12th Century.

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The A-Team picture

Factual error: They are present at Frankfurt, Germany. But with a closer look you see a cathedral at the right side. This cathedral and the central station are located in Cologne, Germany - they are about 220 km apart. (01:04:15)

zehner87

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Spider-Man 2 picture

Factual error: Considering the brightness of the fusion process, Dr. Octavius has to wear special goggles to be able to see it. Yet no one else in the room is wearing such goggles or seem hurt by watching the whole process, just as at the end of the movie. When welding something, no one can look at the arc that's created, as it would hurt his eyes and burn his retina; presumably, the fusion process would be brighter and more powerful than that, and so should have some kind of damaging effect on everyone's eyesight (except Spider Man's, maybe).

Sereenie

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Enemy at the Gates picture

Factual error: When the map of the German advance is shown, Switzerland is shown to be taken over. Switzerland was never invaded by the Germans. (00:05:10)

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Suggested correction: It doesn't show German advances. It shows the German influence over Europe, symbolizing it covers all of Europe and then expanded towards the East. Italy was never conquered by the Germans either yet it was part of the axis and is shown being covered by black. Switzerland, though neutral, was fully surrounded by the Axis and their influence played heavily upon the country. Its a very crude simulation.

lionhead

Suggested correction: It does not show the German advancement in true historical order, but more like a red shadow that expands across Europe in a steady pace. And just as the camera starts zooming in on Stalingrad, you can see a small sliver of red starting to spread on the south-eastern coast of Norway.

dizzyd

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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl picture

Factual error: During Jack's sliding down the rope scene, it is very noticeable that each one of the English soldiers fire their weapons more than once, which is impossible for that time, knowing that repetition weapons weren't invented until the mid 1800s. (00:20:00)

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Suggested correction: The first repeating firearm was invented in 1718.

I think you are talking about the Puckle gun from 1718, which was a crewed gun, not a rifle. The earliest repeating rifle is from 1630, with more variants made till the era the movie takes place in (early 18th century). However, these had all what you call single-action triggers (manual repeating), meaning they need a large lever to reload after firing. The guns in the movie obviously don't have such a lever. What the poster probably meant by repetition weapons is double-action trigger rifles.

lionhead

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Quantum of Solace picture

Factual error: During the boat chase scene, Bond throws a grappling hook/anchor from the old boat he is driving onto the deck of the rubber boat "riding" his. The rubber boat is then violently yanked off of Bond's boat and crashes. This makes no sense. For the rubber boat to be yanked off that way, the other end of the anchor line would have to be tied to something stationary. However, the other end of the line is just lying in Bond's boat. There's even a shot of it sitting there.

Guy

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Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer picture

Factual error: During the opening credits, the show's copyright date is shown in Roman numerals as MCLXIV. In Arabic numbers, that's 1164 - it should have been MCMLXIV for 1964.

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Along Came a Spider picture

Factual error: As the kidnapper is watching TV, we hear a news anchor describing the kidnapped child. She is described as 12 years old, 3 ft. 5 in. tall, and 52 pounds. This is the size of a child half this age. A 12 year old of this size would be freakishly small, which this character is not. And as we see her throughout the movie, she is easily approaching 5 feet tall and in the 70 - 80 pound range. (00:13:30)

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Colombiana picture

Factual error: When Cattleya escapes through the sewer drain and winds up in front of the U.S. Embassy, she uncovers the manhole all by herself. Impossible for such a young child to do.

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Yes Man picture

Factual error: All the Cisco VoIP phones seen in the film have the booting Cisco logo on them and would not work due to no connection.

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Green Book picture

Factual error: Opening scene shows NYC 1962 as a 1964 Chevy Impala rolls by.

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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning picture

Factual error: Gabriel kills the engineer and sets the train to full speed, then locks the control room. Without the engine being resupplied with coal it would lose power and stop before too long, never getting as far as the bridge.

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Suggested correction: It is known for firemen to fill the loco up to allow it to run for 15-20 minutes without new coal. However, it could not run that long at that speed without the boiler being refilled with water, so the boiler would have exploded well before the fire reduced.

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings picture

Factual error: Although it's a commonly used movie trope, cutting the brake lines on a bus would not produce the effect seen in the movie. Buses use air brakes, which by design, can operate even with substantial loss of pressure and often engage automatically if there is too much pressure loss.

wizard_of_gore

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Suggested correction: I don't know what air brakes you have used but the very nature of air brakes means that low pressure means they can't work. If you have no pressure in them, how are you supposed to press the brakes? I have personally driven hundreds of vehicles with air brakes (I am a truck driver by trade) and can tell you this is a fact. All that happens when air brakes lose pressure is a warning light on the dash and an alarm sounding in the cab, one must manually slow down the vehicle at that point.

I respect the fact that you drive a truck, but my dad has been a master mechanic for more than 50 years and he is the one who pointed this out to me. Depending on the system, there are various fail-safe systems that will engage the brakes during an emergency loss of pressure. Plus, a simple Google search led me to several examples of these systems.

wizard_of_gore

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Cloverfield picture

Factual error: During the scene where everyone runs outside, the Statue of Liberty head crashes into the street. The head is scaled too small and its size can be compared to the people taking pictures. In real life the statue head is large enough for people to walk into (17' from chin to cranium).

frecklejam

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The Coldest Game picture

Factual error: Throughout the movie, scenes of the chess tournament room show the American flag incorrectly vertically hung (stars on blue upper left is proper), while the Soviet flag is correctly vertically hung. No real American vs. Soviet tournament would make that mistake.

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Pain & Gain picture

Factual error: The movie is set around 1995. But the SWAT team in the movie is wearing gear from the 2000s. (MICH-2000 helmet, modular tactical vest, M4 variant with picatinny rails and scope). Plus, in a scene when the guys are shopping for a taser (gun shop scene), some of the rifles on display are from 2000s era. AR-15 variants with variant stock, foregrip and picatinny rail. Those style of weapon system were unheard of in early 90s. Even Special Forces just adopted it by the late 90s.

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