Factual error: There is one scene in the movie where Heath Ledger reads a Latin sentence in a book. As he is translating the sentence, he goes over the words one by one with his finger. This would never be possible in a Latin sentence, because words in Latin are never - I repeat: never - in exactly the same order as in English. Words that actually belong together can be placed on opposite ends of a sentence.
Factual error: When Gadji hears Ace imitating a gorilla, he says 'Silverback'. In the next scene he says to Mick 'Female'. A silverback is the dominant male in a gorilla group, named for his coloring. See http://www.wwfus.org/gorillas/species.cfm.
Factual error: The movie was meant to be set in Oregon, but it was actually filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana. In the scene that has Tracy leaving the apartment complex where Bafford (Mr. Smith) is, she is worried that she is being chased by a jogger who may possibly be Mekes. In the background, during the shot where the jogger first appears, a brown sign can be seen. These specific signs are unique to Louisiana and describe the history of certain locations, this one obviously being Shreveport.
Factual error: When the crowd is gathered outside of the Armstrong homes, there is an extra wearing a "G-Unit" shirt. The movie was set in 1999, but G-Unit didn't launch their clothing line until 2003.
Factual error: When New York is destroyed by the fireball, the Times Square giant TV (& other electrical items) is still on (although no picture - just static), but the super-flare would cause electrical items to overload before the main fireball hit, almost like an EMP.
Factual error: This film takes place in the early 90's. When Walter and the Dude are talking about the toe in the cafe, you can see late model cars driving by on the street, such as a late model Ford Explorer and a Cadilac. This is also evident when the Dude gets kicked out of the cab and a mid '90s Nissan Maxima drives by.
Factual error: When Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane and Dennis Miller are climbing through the sewer system to get to the White House, Lane looks up and says that they must be under the National Mall because there's Pennsylvania Avenue. That is incorrect. The National Mall is located behind the White House. Pennsylvania Avenue is the street in front. They do not intersect.
Factual error: Banker Carl (Goldwyn) threatens to kill Molly at 11 pm if he doesn't get his $4 million. Goldwyn goes searching for his money at Whoopi Goldberg's house. Goldberg is arguing with her sisters over whether to watch The Arsenio Hall Show or change the channel to watch Love Connection. In New York, where the movie takes place, The Arsenio Hall Show was on at 11:30 pm (already past the time he threatened to kill Molly) and Love Connection was on at 9:00 am and both shows were broadcast on the same channel.
Factual error: The fake Rheya tries to kill herself by drinking liquid oxygen. The liquid shown is green, viscous, and foaming and looks a bit like the monster's body fluid in Alien. Liquid oxygen is colorless, non-viscous and doesn't produce sticky bubbles. (01:00:25)
Factual error: When Christine is about to crush Moochie you see the car is a few inches wider than the entrance to the loading dock. Even a small box truck that you can rent is 7'3" wide so that opening would have to be wider than that for the truck to back in. A 1958 Plymouth Fury is only 6'6" wide. Christine would have had plenty of room to just drive in and crush Moochie. (01:45:45)
Suggested correction: Just to the side there is a sign saying fork lift loading area. A fork lift is much narrower than a truck or a car.
Not disagreeing that a forklift couldn't go down there but @ 1:05:28 you see DANGER spray painted on the right in yellow on the bricks. Below that you see a yellow sign with black letters that say FORKLIFT AREA. Does not say "loading area." Also notice the black rubber bumper that goes across the entire length of the loading dock. That is there to cushion the trailer or box truck when it touches the loading dock. Then the yellow black yellow bumper that goes around the inside of the area is there to protect the building when the driver is backing up with either a trailer or a box truck.
Factual error: Spoiler: In the scene toward the end of the movie when the dad is burned alive, his skin is completely black but his clothes are still on and intact, just blackened. With fire hot enough to completely blacken the skin, it would have burnt the clothes completely off (or at most they would have been shredded rags). (01:51:25)
Factual error: When the crew member aboard the Excelsior detects the incoming shockwave, he states, "Energy wave at 240 degrees, mark 6, port". However, when the shockwave hits the Excelsior seconds later, it is coming from her starboard side. (00:04:05)
Factual error: The train to London that everyone gets on is a French TGV. The TGV doesn't run through the Channel Tunnel, only the Eurostar trains do.
Factual error: The dying colonel opens the bomb bay doors, and drops the "little man" atomic weapon on the island, destroying the flying reptiles. In fact, the bomb and the fusing assemblies were transported to Tinian by separate methods. No one in his right mind would have loaded a FUSED atomic bomb into a B-29 to transport it to Tinian.
Factual error: When Brian fires a rifle at the shark from the boat, he fires the rifle multiple times very quickly. The rifle he is using is a bolt action rifle, which must have a bolt part moved before each fire. He does not touch the bolt.
Factual error: There is a major error in the scene where Geena Davis steals the tractor trailer. They show a closeup of the brake line between the truck and the trailer being cut. The problem arises when fluid starts pumping out of the line and Geena screams because she's lost the brakes. First, every tractor trailer is equipped with air brakes, so there is no fluid in the lines to leak. Second, if these air lines are severed it causes the brakes on the trailer to lock up and drag the truck to a stop.
Factual error: A headline from the Pantagraph (an Illinois newspaper) dated 19 December 2001, is shown in big letters to read, "Latest Florida recount shows Gore won election." In fact, no edition of the Pentagraph has ever featured an article that claimed this. The only time those words appeared in that newspaper was in small print over a letter to the editor dated 5 December 2001.
Factual error: A woman is shown receiving electroshock treatment ("ECT") in a hospital scene which took place in 1928. Although chemicals were used to induce seizures in psychiatric treatments at the time, the use of electricity for the purpose was not discovered until 1937 and not used in the United States until 1940.
Factual error: When Josh Hartnett's character pulls up the bathroom tile and find the cash, the bills are labeled "Federal Reserve Notes." Federal Reserve Notes didn't come into use until the 1960s. Back at the time of the Black Dahlia murder, Silver Certificates were in use.
Factual error: When looking at Anna's cell phone, you can see the logo for Telus, a Canadian communication company that only offers cell phone service in Canada.