Factual error: The hanging is shown using the "standard drop", with a trapdoor, breaking the neck. This was not introduced until the 19th century (after France had abandoned the gallows for the guillotine), whereas the film is set in the 18th century. In those days the victim was just strung up on the gallows and left to strangulate (the "short drop").
Factual error: In the ending credits, in the cast section, the word "Mobile" is misspelled as "Mobil" five times.
Factual error: There is a reference to Meggido (aka Har Meggido aka Armageddon) as being "south of Jerusalem". Meggido is actually to the very north of Jerusalem.
Factual error: When, on their second date, Jenny sucks in air and pulls a cab backwards, the driver spins the tires trying to go forward. The smoke rolling off the tires does not get drawn backwards towards the suction.
Factual error: Willow drops cartridges on the ground that appear to be .45ACP rounds. These are considerably larger than the 9mm rounds that Edward's Beretta pistol would actually use.
Factual error: When Eddie and Jack are in the ambulance you see a curtain over the window behind Jack. This would be a MAJOR infection control/sterility issue and therefore no ambulances have curtains, especially linen.
Factual error: In the parking lot of the race track, as the camera zooms out you can see a new Ford Thunderbird. This is impossible, as the scene takes place in 1979.
Factual error: In one of the opening scenes, when Queenan and Dignam are first interviewing Billy Costigan and Colin individually, Dignam refers to himself as a "staff sergeant." However, the Massachusetts State Police has not had staff sergeants since 1992.
Factual error: The guy who is invisible is ran down by a car while running after the cop and the scientist. He is shown getting up covered in blood. Everything about him is invisible which includes his blood. It shouldn't have been visible after the accident.
Factual error: During the movie the Germans are more then once using halftracks of the type sonderkraftfahrzeug 251, which originally were only allowed to be used by panzerdivisionen (armored divisions), and at the moment the movie is supposed to take place, there were no panzerdivisionen in Holland.
Factual error: When Officer Cybil Bennett is burned alive over a roaring bonfire, we see her clothing start to smoke and the skin of her face blacken, split open and peel away from the intense heat (all of which are added digital effects, of course). Yet her blonde hair does not burn, smoke, nor even singe as her face is roasted. Her hair should have been the first thing to burn away.
Factual error: The President goes to the G8 summit in Toronto at the end. The G8 is comprised of Canada, United States, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Russia. In the room there are a number of non-G8 countries represented.
Factual error: When Chevy is free-falling from the helicopter, his jacket is flapping gently in the breeze. In reality, he would have been falling so fast that his clothes would have been plastered against his back and flapping wildly in the front.
Factual error: You can tell that the "Brillo pad" Andrew eats is not real as Andrew would have been VERY ill due to the cleansing chemicals on the pad and the fact that the metal would have cut his mouth considerably. There was no blood, no foam coming out of his mouth (the box says Oxy action implying foam), and he keeps eating despite that the taste would have been horrible.
Factual error: When Eisenheim is at the Vienna rail station, catching his train after the Crown Prince has died, the overhead electric cables of the modern railway are visible in several shots.
Factual error: In the scene where Captain Vidal's dinner guests arrive in the rainstorm, Vidal's men are using automatic umbrellas which weren't invented until the 1960s. The film is set in 1944. (00:38:20)
Factual error: At the end when Ryan Reynolds unplugs Israel and Sparazza, both Israel and Sparazza die. Only Sparazza is on a ventilator. Israel is on a regular oxygen mask, which requires the patient to be breathing without assistance, such as a breathing machine. The type of mask Israel was on is not a life support mechanism that would be affected by being unplugged, as it either runs from O2 from a wall insert or directly from an O2 tank, both of which run without electricity. I work in an ER so I know how O2 systems work.
Factual error: After the last of the crew is in the water, (girl with life vest goes in), a major land mass is seen not more than a mile from where the crew was left stranded. (00:24:00)
Suggested correction: There is no actual land mass shown after the girl with the life vest is thrown into the water. The land that is shown is from her memory as child.
Factual error: When Angier and Cutter are looking for a new workshop they enter a room, with a fully glassed wall on one side. A very modern white radiator is in the room. (00:35:00)
Factual error: In the standoff between Meat and O2, Meat pulls the trigger to shoot O2 and his gun clicks - it is out of rounds. This is a common mistake: semiautomatic pistols do not re-cock after the last round is fired - the chamber remains open, so the gun will not click if the trigger is pulled again.