Character mistake: At the beginning of the film, the officer states that the kid taken was named Jeremy Jenner, when he was in fact named Darius Jenner.
Character mistake: A radio report refers to a character with two different police ranks with 15 seconds apart in the same broadcast - first as a Police Chief and a few seconds later as a Captain. (00:21:28)
Character mistake: Bart is sitting on a bench outside the hotel. After Detective Espada talks to the Mercer hotel manager/owner, he goes to talk to Bart. Bart has blood on both hands and lower left sleeve. Detective Espada is supposed to be investigating a fresh murder case that puts Bart at the scene, but he does not confiscate Bart's bloody clothes, conduct a gun powder test on Bart's hands to check for residue, or take him to the police station for formal questioning. Espada did not follow police protocol. (00:17:36)
Character mistake: After Mort finds the two bodies in the truck, he makes a great effort to avoid leaving any fingerprints on the door handle and also on the screwdriver he removed from the one body and takes with him. However, when he's pushing the car towards the cliff, he reaches in the window to grab the steering wheel with his bare hand, leaving his prints all over it and uses his other hand to push the truck.
Character mistake: When looking at the newspaper about Chester Copperpot, the caption under his picture reads, "Reclusive scavenger claims, 'I have they key.'" It should read "I have the key."
Character mistake: At the truck stop, Mark (young Damian) meets with Martin. Martin tells Mark that he had the shedding pills reverse engineered and hands him a piece of paper. The percentages of the 5 ingredients only add up to 90% rather than 100%. (01:29:25)
Character mistake: Laura is on the floor, screaming and exhibiting bizarre behaviour, so Dr. Rose Cotter goes to the wall phone to call for help. Instead of maintaining observation and continuing an evaluation of Laura, the psychiatrist faces the wall while making the call and even stares at the wall for a couple of seconds after hanging up. A patient's body language can/do help make a diagnosis, so the psychiatrist should keep her eyes on Laura. (00:11:20)
Character mistake: When Cole and his mother are stuck in traffic due to an pedestrian accident, a cop ignites a flare to place on the road by the car that hit the pedestrian. The police were already on scene, traffic was gridlocked up and down the street, nothing was moving, and he places the flare about 2 feet in front of the car - a move that is unsafe (potential fuel leak) and unnecessary. It would never be done on a city street, and never in heavy traffic. (01:27:25)
Suggested correction: We don't see the cop place the flare on the ground, the camera cuts away as he leans down with it. It could be assumed that he's putting it down but it's possible he's just bending down to pick something up and has to move the flare towards the ground to do that. Without confirmation that the flare was placed where it's suggested there can be no definite mistake.
Character mistake: In the scene where Denzel Washington and company are beginning to analyze the evidence from the first murder, Washington verbally lists some of the elements found at the scene including the "iron bolt". A little later, someone mentions "by the way, the bolt is iron, not steel" and Washington is surprised.
Character mistake: Cross knows (for some reason) by memory the last words of the Lindbergh kid kidnapper (and killer) and that Soneji/Mercusio referenced in a book he finds in amazingly oblique ways. He calls him "Richard Bruno Hauptmann", while his name was actually Bruno Richard Hauptmann. (00:42:30)
Character mistake: When we see the door to Elisabeth's, her name is spelled with a s. Later when Nick looks her up on the computer, it's spelled Elizabeth.
Character mistake: When Sammy, the postman, arrives on the scene, he rushes up and attempts to take Vera's pulse in her neck. Unfortunately, Sammy's fingers are nowhere near the carotid artery, so he couldn't take her pulse.
Character mistake: The Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause does not apply. Libby could be convicted of 1st Degree murder when she gets out and pursues Nick. It doesn't really matter to the plot, however, because it was what Libby believed to be true and motivated her. Further, she ends up shooting Nick in self-defense. So it's all good.
Character mistake: Joe Dirt mistakenly refers to his 1967 Plymouth GTX as a Road Runner while talking to Jill at the carnival.
Character mistake: Casanova refers to Cross's gun as a "Glock," but it is a Sig.
Character mistake: White says Exley's father died in the line of duty. Exley said he was off duty when he was shot, and he didn't correct him.
Character mistake: When Cary Grant holds up a picture in the hotel room, he says, "he's assembling the General Assembly today" instead of addressing the General Assembly. (00:30:00)
Character mistake: A space traveler would not be "going to Orion." The major stars in Orion vary in distance from the earth from 243 to 1,360 light years. Orion is only a constellation as visible from Earth; once you get away that far, the stars would not be in the same alignment as they are from Earth. They would have been going to a specific star, probably Bellatrix at 243 light years, as Taylor mentions being at 320 light years.
Suggested correction: I'm not sure what scene you're referring to, but I never heard anyone say they went to Orion. Taylor says they're on a "planet in orbit around a star in the constellation of Orion. That could be Bellatrix." To Taylor, who is from Earth, the star is still in the constellation of Orion.
I agree with your take, but I still think it could be interpreted as Orion's stars all being in close proximity. And I would hope they would know about the 320 - 243 light year issue.
Character mistake: The guitar player is holding the guitar the wrong way. There is a cut-out designed to play higher notes for a right-handed player; he is playing it left-handed, hence the correct way would be in the other hand. (01:04:35)
Character mistake: Shiwan Khan uses mind control to make Nelson commit suicide. Later, when Lamont is talking to one of his agents, the agent talks about a murder at the museum.