The Rock

The Rock (1996)

73 mistakes - chronological order

(7 votes)

Continuity mistake: At the start of the movie when Goodspeed and Marvin Isherwood are in the FBI lab trying to diffuse the gas bomb, when Goodspeed first walked into the chamber he stated his name, etc. he said that the time was 9:00am. However in the background you can see a clock that says the time is around 4:15. (00:08:35)

The Rock mistake picture

Continuity mistake: While in the chamber Isherwood shows his glove and says it is eating them. We see him looking through his helmet at the glove and it is covered in foam, however in the next shot from the outside, there is no foam at all. (00:09:55)

Ronnie Bischof

Continuity mistake: When Nicholas points a gun at Connery on the balcony, he pulls the gun's hammer back. In the next shot it's not pulled back anymore. (00:42:00)

The Rock mistake picture

Factual error: When Cage gets into the Ferrari, the camera changes for a few seconds showing the gearbox. In slow motion it is obvious that Cage shifts into 3rd gear instead of 1st, however the car makes a very impressive tyre-burning start. The F355 is indeed a very powerful car, but this would be simply impossible to do in 3rd gear. (00:44:14)

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Suggested correction: He was not doing a stationary burnout. He was moving forward the entire time, and is completely possible especially if the car isn't stock.

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Continuity mistake: During the Hummer chase scene, after the Hummer smashes into the truck with all the water jugs, you can see from a shot inside the Hummer that the windshield is cracked. For the rest of the chase, it isn't. (00:45:28)

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Continuity mistake: Nick Cage is chasing Mason in the yellow Ferrari. The windshield breaks at least twice, but is perfect in the next shot. (00:45:55)

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Revealing mistake: During the car chase, when the first FBI car flips over, the device used to flip it over is visible on its underside. (00:45:55)

Continuity mistake: When Goodspeed is on the roof of the lighthouse with the last pearl configuration of poison gas, one of the 'pearls' drops off the bottom. As he chases it across the roof, from the front shot he has his right hand outstretched. As he dives to grab at it, the shot switches to the side and it is his left hand that grabs the 'pearl'. The shot then immediately switches to a close up of his face and you can again see his right arm outstretched. (01:54:30)

Richard Holmes

Factual error: When Goodspeed crashes the Ferrari, his airbag deploys and he must shoot it to get out of the car. In reality, airbags inflate and deflate again in less than a second - the gas escapes through vents or the material itself, so there's no way for one to stay inflated.

Continuity mistake: When Hummel sends patrols in search of the SEAL Team, the Marine with the messed up hair-cut(the spanish guy with the "bun" on his head) stays behind and is watching the monitors. There are shots of him watching the monitors and saying "something's not right." Yet there are also shots of the Marines on the patrols, and he is one of them. The it cuts back to the monitor and he is the one that alerts the Marines the shower room has been breached.

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Continuity mistake: In the car chase scene, Mason is driving the stolen Hummer and he hits a meter maid truck sending it flying into a telephone pole and blowing it up. They slow down the film a little here and show us this hit from several different angles including from above. When they slow down the film you can see that the Hummer is turned sideways in the impact but in the next frame it drives off as if it had just tapped the meter truck and not slammed into it as shown.

Continuity mistake: As the seal team are about to enter the shower room, we see them cutting the sensor beam using two mirrors. In the next shot we see the seal removing both of the mirrors from the drain ready for incursion. In the shot in which they pull back the drain, one of the mirrors is still there.

Scrappy

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Continuity mistake: In the chase scene, Cage is in a real Ferrari F-355 at some points, but the car switches to a replica 'kit car' in various scenes. When it is crushed, you can see the fibreglass kit car body pop off to reveal the Pontiac Fiero guts. I heard our friends from Maranello were not impressed.

The Rock mistake picture

Continuity mistake: During the movie when Mason is talking with his daughter in the park, his tie in one cut is tied differently then in another cut of the same scene. Look closely at the stripes.

Continuity mistake: When Nicholas Cage steals the motorcycle and is talking on the cellphone, the camera shows a close up. For a split second it shows the front tyre of the bike, and if you look closely the tyre is not turning.

The Rock mistake picture

Continuity mistake: During the chase scene, just before the Ferrari is destroyed by the trolley, you see Cage dive out of the car and a rear view of the trolley hitting the car. In this shot, you see the complete rear end of the Ferrari, with a blue pickup next to it. In the very next shot, the Ferrari is getting sandwiched between the trolley and the pickup.

Revealing mistake: When Mason is having his hair cut, after finishing up, he is talking to Womack and turns his back on him. If you look at the back of Mason's neck, it is clear that he's not just been freshly shorn; there are whorls of hair just above his collar. (Either that, or the barber was terrible at his job).

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Suggested correction: Not all barbers do neck hairs. The barber probably didn't want agitate anyone by taking too long.

lionhead

Factual error: Atropine is on two occasions in the movie stated to offer some kind of protection against corrosive gasses. First, against the nerve agent/gas Goodspeed encounters in the beginning of the movie, which is corrosive enough to eat through a protective suit. Secondly, near the end of the movie against the cloud of VX gas; here Goodspeed injects Atropine into his heart and survives without a scratch even though it is stated that VX will melt your skin. While Atropine is used to counter the effect of nerve agents, Atropine (or any other drug invented by man) wouldn't do anything against a gas that can eat through a protective suit or dissolve skin. In this case the muscle contractions created by the nerve agent would be the least of your worries.

Andreas[DK]

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Suggested correction: He is outside and the gas is not in an enclosed space like in the beginning of the movie.

I think the error refers to the general effect of the gas versus the protection the Atropine gives. It can't protect from the corrosive effects.

lionhead

Simple. The VX isn't what was eating their suits. It was a corrosive aerosol gas the baby doll sprayed from it's mouth.

I don't think that's correct, we will have to get confirmation from the creator of the movie.

erikloleeeee

Factual error: VX is a real nerve agent and it is considered one of the most deadly. But VX does not melt away your skin. In reality, VX gas causes involuntary muscle contractions that result in death by asphyxiation. Apparently this wasn't dramatic enough for Hollywood. It's also amber, not green.

Andreas[DK]

General Hummel: Do you know who I am? Did they tell you why I am doing this? Why I am out here? Or are they using you like they did everyobdy else?
John Mason: All I know is that you were big in Vietnam. I saw the highlights on television.
General Hummel: Then you probably have got no fucking idea what it means to lead some of the finest gentlemen on God's earth into combat, and then watch their memories get betrayed by their own damn government.
John Mason: I don't quite see how you can cherish the memory of the dead by killing another million. This is not combat, it's an act of lunacy, General Sir. Personally, I think you're a fucking idiot.
General Hummel: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
John Mason: "Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious," according to Oscar Wilde.
[Hummel knocks him to the ground.]
John Mason: Thank you for making my point.

More quotes from The Rock

Trivia: The line "I'll take pleasure in guttin' you, boy" is from another Alcatraz-related film, "Escape From Alcatraz" starring Clint Eastwood.

Jedd Jong

More trivia for The Rock

Question: During the SEAL team raid on the rock, they are using two "decoy choppers" which fly towards Alcatraz. What is the point of this? Wouldn't it be easier to just have the transport chopper fly all the way to drop zone under radar coverage?

killin_kellit

Chosen answer: Alcatraz is small enough and out in the middle of the bay that any lookout in a high point could see and hear a chopper, no matter where it approached from. The idea of the decoys was to split any enemy fire received. The whole insertion of SEALS was absurd, in a real situation like that, the SEALS would have been inserted by submarine or used dive motors to pull themselves to the island.

Grumpy Scot

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