Best thriller movie factual errors of all time

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xXx: Return of Xander Cage picture

Factual error: When Xander Cage is chasing Xiang on the dirt bikes, he lets his bike get entirely submerged, which would flood the engine.

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Knives Out picture

Factual error: Opening the blank envelope, Marta finds the fragment of the toxicology report. It is signed "Office of the chief medical examiner, Norfolk County, Massachusetts." But then it writes also the address of said office, which is in Marlborough. Marlborough is also the city when Marta resides, and where the lawyers' letters we see come from. But Marlborough is also a city in the Middlesex county, not Norfolk. (01:28:25)

Sammo

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Don't Breathe picture

Factual error: In the basement scene where the blind man is shooting at the home invaders with the M9 Beretta, the weapon should lock with the chamber open once the last round is fired. Instead the slide goes forwards, allowing the blind man to continue pulling the trigger.

Duane Zook

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The Pacifier picture

Factual error: Shane is a lieutenant and the Principal is Petty Officer first class. Shane states the Principal is the senior officer. This is wrong as the Petty Officer is a Non Commissioned Officer, while Shane is a commissioned officer. Shane outranks the Principal.

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Flightplan picture

Factual error: Jodie Foster states that as a propulsion engineer, she knows the internal structure of the plane by heart and has worked extensively on it. The problem with that is that propulsion engineers work on the jet engines - which are all on the outside of the plane, on the wings. Sure, a propulsion engineer might have some basic knowledge of the plane's interior design and engineering, but the in-depth knowledge she claims comes from her job simply isn't right - that's the job of avionics engineers.

swordfish

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Suggested correction: Nonsense. Not all can be put out with water, some can.

If you did research on fires you will see that putting water on chemical fires makes it spread. Gasoline and oil float to the surface of the water and continue to burn.

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes picture

Factual error: When Koba steals an Armored Security Vehicle class M1117A Guardian, he kills the gunner from the turret and then somehow manages to use the 240B attached to the turret. First, it takes three men/apes to operate the ASV, and second, the ASV cannot be operated from the turret. In that scene, it is assumed that Koba is operating the entire vehicle, something most humans cannot do or do not know how to do. Let alone a 240B, MK19, or .50 Cal M2 Browning. The ASV turned in the direction of the wall, which was the only way that the Apes were able to breach the city walls. This is also kind of an important plot hole blunder too because if it were not for the breach from the ASV, the Apes would not have won. The other blunder from this is that the gunner would not have been exposed from the hatch, since the ASV was using .50Cal and MK19. No need to use the 240B.

Bradley Holmes

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Plane picture

Factual error: After a power outage the captain states that operating on batteries (?) he has 10 minutes of power, followed by an uncontrolled descent. That is ludicrous. Aircraft can glide to a landing with no power or engines. Further, commercial airliners have a Ram Air Turbine that can supply hydraulic as well as electrical power even if the engines are not functioning.

toroscan

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Cliffhanger picture

Factual error: How is it that when Sly comes out of the freezing, icy water, his hair and clothes are bone dry? I don't know too much about hypothermia, but I would imagine that his fairly thin sweater isn't wind proof. I'm sure by the time the movie ended, he would be suffering from more symptoms of hypothermia other than chattering teeth.

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Mission: Impossible 2 picture

Factual error: In the scene at the race track where they show the virus infecting and destroying cells in the blood stream, they clearly show that it is red blood cells being infected. Viruses, in order to replicate, require the cell's DNA replication machinery. However, mature red blood cells in the circulation no longer possess this machinery since they no longer have a nucleus or DNA. It would therefore be impossible for this virus to replicate.

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Clockstoppers picture

Factual error: In the DJ spin-off scene, Zach and Francessca help make Meeker cool by going into hypertime and giving him a dance lesson. At one point, we see Zach and Francessca in hypertime making Meeker do flips. Then, in real time, we see that Meeker is doing the flips at the same speed that he was doing in hypertime. Wouldn't he be going a lot faster in real time, not the same speed as he was in hypertime?

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Dirty Harry picture

Factual error: When Harry is confronting the bank robber and the robber says he has to know if Harry had any shots left, Harry cocks the hammer which rotates the cylinder. If you watch closely when he pulls the trigger the cylinder rotates again. This can happen only when the trigger is pulled in double action mode (hammer down). (00:14:00)

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Alien Vs. Predator picture

Factual error: When they're first entering the whaling camp, a penguin startles Miller. That penguin was a black-footed penguin, which is a bird native to much warmer climates. If that little guy had actually been in Antarctica, he would have died within minutes. (00:20:40)

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A Quiet Place picture

Factual error: Grain engulfment is not depicted in a scientific manner. It is not possible for engulfment to happen without a valve being opened at the base - which has not been shown in the movie when the boy falls in the grain storage. It is very unlikely that two engulfments will happen so close by in the same storage - if so, they will converge quickly. But, the movie shows both victims help each other one by one. They succeed in 5-10 seconds. Engulfment become entrapment in less than 20 seconds and require more than thrice the body weight to pull some one out (unlike one kid being able to pull other one out while both are on the grain). Finally, they both sit on the door and avoid entrapment.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: It's possible for grain to look sturdy but not be underneath so the engulfment could have possible. But you're right about them not being able to pull each other out.

Well observed. It's a factual error.

I jumped into grain hundreds of times. It is not possible without the grain moving underneath.

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The Net picture

Factual error: Angela Bennett finds the Praetorian's IP while using the PC in the Cathedral's bank: it's 23.75.345.200 - they want us to believe that this is an IP, but no IP can contain numbers greater than 255. [Common practice, like fake phone numbers, but still worth noticing].

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Jeepers Creepers picture

Factual error: When the kids are getting hit from behind by the truck, cut to a side shot of them in the car, the boy's body moves forward, while the girl's body is more properly propelled in a backward motion relative to the car. This happens several times.

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The Thing picture

Factual error: Winter in Antarctica would not have a night and day as portrayed, with the amount of light changing so much during the course of 24 hours.

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The Untouchables picture

Factual error: In the warehouse scene with the wooden crates with maple leaves, even though a correction has been submitted saying a maple leaf was valid, the real mistake is the type of maple leaf used. The film shows a modern graphic style of leaf that did not come into use until the 1960s and appeared on the new Canadian flag in 1965. In the time of Capone, the maple leaves used to depict things Canadian looked like actual maple leaves and not like a stylized graphic.

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Sherlock Holmes picture

Factual error: In the scene depicting life on Baker Street (after the "Sherlock Holmes" title), a horse-drawn carriage races through the streets of London. The only problem is, the carriage is driving on the right side of the road with others passing on the left. In England, carriages would be driving on the left. (00:07:05)

mphe

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The Blair Witch Project picture

Factual error: A girl is playing with a Tamagotchi virtual pet in the scene set in 1994, but the toy was not released in Japan until 1996 (it wasn't officially available in the USA until May 1997).

Rev.Erebus

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