Continuity mistake: When Nicolas Cage is standing on a roof top patio with the oil industry financier, an orange disappears. The oil guy is peeling an orange as he talks to NC and then when Cage leaves the scene the orange is gone without it ever being eaten or discarded. (01:00:00 - 01:05:00)
Factual error: Dev Patel is standing in front of Trinity College's statue of Issac Newton. Directly behind the statue is a marble wall with names carved into it. This wall is a list of the members of the college who died in World War II. It would not have existed in 1914.
Continuity mistake: When Zipper drops her off at her car at the beach, Marnie is wearing boots when she gets off his motorcycle. When she walks to the car she's wearing shoes.
Continuity mistake: The first time we see Roland on his own at the bar, he's talking with the bartender, Michel. When he asks Roland in French where his wife is, Niels Arestrup's arm changes position instantaneously in an edit mid-sentence, and does the same a couple more times after. (00:11:30)
Continuity mistake: When Simon asks Clarence to send his regards to Killian, in the shot of Iniko saying "He says he will be glad to hear it", Simon places his hands on Clarence's face. In this shot, Clarence's ponytail can be seen going over her right shoulder. When the shot cuts, Clarence is standing completely still, but when the shot cuts again, the ponytail is suddenly away from her shoulder. (01:22:50)
Continuity mistake: Charlie's mock trial: the latina maid walks up the stairs, with Sebastian saying "OhmahGod, thank you." In the foreground, London is holding her goblet with her right hand, but in the next shot she has it in her left. (00:05:15)
Continuity mistake: First meeting with Lazarus; the pastor sits down, his wife is just about to, and Verdean's assistant has placed her bag on the table. Next shot, pastor and wife seated, but Miss Jensen is still just only then approaching the chair and putting the bag down. (00:08:25)
Continuity mistake: After the shooting at the concert, Lysistrata is in the bathroom downing the pill with some Don Julio tequila. The bottle lid is to the left of the bottle in the wide angles, to the right in close-up. (00:10:00)
Factual error: The film opens in 1914, then states "12 years earlier," meaning 1902, yet there are many references to Queen Victoria as being alive. She died in 1901.
Factual error: Michael's wife meets with Longo in prison, and she has an iPhone. The trial was in 2003, 4 years before the introduction of the iPhone in 2007.
Factual error: Although this 2015 Norwegian disaster film is far superior to the many American disaster movies that it emulates, "The Wave" still suffers the most common error found in tsunami-themed disaster flicks: Crystal-clear flood waters. Of course, tsunami flood waters in particular are always inky-black with churning sediment and debris.
Continuity mistake: Théo shows up in class unannounced. The teacher tells him to sit next to "that girl", mistaking Daniel for one. The classmates of course have a cackle at that; the girl at the desk behind Daniel's laughs holding a pen in her left hand at first, right hand at the cut. (00:08:50)
Factual error: Jack could not be demoted from sergeant to corporal by his CO. Substantive NCOs can only be demoted by court martial. As aircrew, his rank of sergeant would be a substantive rank, not an acting one (since it was the minimum rank for aircrew). And rank chevrons were made in one piece (two for a corporal, three for a sergeant), so if he was demoted he would have a new set of chevrons, not the top chevron removed as depicted (not only would this be impossible, but it would be a clear indicator that he'd done wrong and given he is still an NCO this would be demeaning).
Continuity mistake: At the beginning while Laing goes to the pool area he says hi to the pregnant woman in the water, and there is a girl beside her who switches side from shot to shot. (00:15:30)
Other mistake: Whilst the main character is having a 'talk' with the general, the world clocks on the way show 3:50 on time 1, and 3:49 on time 2. (01:25:10)
Continuity mistake: Before the 11th round Billy is seated on his corner and has some drops of blood on his chest but in the next shot the blood is gone.
Continuity mistake: Right at the beginning of the movie, the Sergeant pulls his jeep over and headbutts a prisoner who is carrying a Danish flag, seizing it. In the following shot he has his arms open and shoves away another prisoner, no flag in his hands. Next shot, he's standing by the bleeding prisoner, folded flag in hand. (00:02:25)
Factual error: The delivery van bringing gear for the walk has a 718 area code on it. That area code did not exist until 1984.
Factual error: When Tony first goes to Johnnie's house a satellite dish can be seen mounted on the house in the background. Not in 1973. (00:57:00)
Continuity mistake: Ilya is standing across from and about midway between Chris and Alicia. He spears the shovel into the ground, but it unintentionally falls over to his right (mostly off-screen). The next view of the shovel shows it has fallen to Ilya's left. (The entire shovel is to the right of Chris, which would be too far regardless of which direction the shovel's handle fell.) In the next view, the shovel's blade is opposite Chris' left foot and later the angle is different. (00:36:30)