Deliberate mistake: The elevator chime we hear at the beginning when the CIA exec reaches the floor, and the one we hear when Michael Bisping storms out of it to tackle the agent, are different. That's obviously a Deliberate Mistake since the second time around the chime is meant to resemble the bell ringing at the beginning of a match, a nod to Bisping's main occupation. Deliberate or not, the implication that Bisping has been hiding for no reason in a closed elevator for minutes is kinda comical. (00:07:40 - 00:10:10)
Revealing mistake: Xiang storms the CIA headquarters at the beginning of the movie and fights off a dozen of agents and executives. Check out the moment when Toni Collette comically pokes her head from under the table and Donnie Yen kicks two agents. The second agent is charging at him with his fist raised, but blatantly stops with no guard raised, waiting to be spin-kicked into oblivion. He was also seen hopping up but when they get blasted away it's the burly Asian guy who is level with Donnie Yen, not him. (00:09:35)
Continuity mistake: When Donnie Yen is at the CIA HQ, at one point he's looking for a way out and jumps back-first on the large desk starting to spin on his back shooting all around himself. In the first shot there's nothing directly under him, but in the aerial shot he's doing the weird breakdance move having one of the desk pads underneath him. (00:09:20)
Continuity mistake: When Donnie Yen snatches the Box from Jane Marke and puts his butt on the table to do some showboating, the old looking guy reaches for his gun very promptly with an angry face right at the beginning, then it cuts to a shot of Donnie doing a silly shrug, and the guy is frozen and befuddled for a second, pulling the gun only later with an even meaner face, that is instantly different at the cut. (00:09:05)
Continuity mistake: At the meeting of the CIA high-ups, Toni Collette says "One of you is behind this", holding the Pandora Box. Notice the man who just spoke before her, with his arm resting on the table. Reverse shot, and the forearm is raised so his hand is on his cheek. (00:08:55)
Plot hole: Ice Cube's cameo is really neat for the fans of the series, but does not make a lick of sense. Brushing aside the fact that the fangirl knows who he is when in theory his involvement in XXX 2 was never officially sanctioned and he gets no mention, presidential pardon or anything in his own movie, the fact that dialing 9 he just shows up in the space of minutes in Detroit with no reason for him to be there is nothing short of supernatural.
Other mistake: Ice Cube is so awesome that a single grenade from his DefTech 40mm causes THREE simultaneous distinct and separate explosions in the parking lot after he scowls at the baddies the first time we see his face in this movie. (01:27:45)
Continuity mistake: Xander receives the phone call from Serena that informs him of the failed jamming. When he says "Oh and tell Nicks..." he is holding the telephone in a different grip. (01:30:00)
Audio problem: When Hawk says "Damn, I'm out of bullets!", Michael Bisping's lips don't move. (01:17:20)
Continuity mistake: When Ruby Rose gets her gun back from Deepika Padukone in the building shootout, she casts her shadow against the wall to her left or to her right depending on the camera angle. (01:22:05)
Other mistake: Xander cushions the fall of the soldier and tries not to make noise since there are other bad guys nearby, but the thud he'd make is not any louder than Xiang shouting to get attention, or the sound effects of their kicks and punches. He also puts him to sleep with a (fake) punch to the nose, hardly the efficient way to knock the daylights out of someone. (01:19:20)
Continuity mistake: When Jean Marke picks up the Pandora's Box, she is wearing the pearl grey nail varnish she had during the air trip from the Philippines. When she reaches the plane after a short car trip, she is sporting a teal manicure. (01:15:00 - 01:16:40)
Continuity mistake: After apprehending Xiang and dragging him on the plane, Marke gets a phone call from 'the President'. Behind her, Xander Cage approaches; the military guys in the background move between shots. (01:16:20)
Continuity mistake: Once the rogue director dies, Xander and Xiang look down at his corpse. His handgun rests on the dusty floor with a couple of wood splinters and a pebble nearby, and the Box is by his torso, with a noticeable shadow cast on it. Jane Marke then kicks the gun away from a spot with none of the previous debris around, and picks up the box with no shadow in sight. (01:14:40)
Continuity mistake: Cage is In the building in Detroit with the crazy CIA director. When he shouts at him "So what are you gonna do about it, huh?" Vin Diesel's hand, his right thumb in particular, is in a different position from the previous shot - and finger position is particularly emphasizes during the rest of the scene. (01:13:35)
Other mistake: Xiang leaves Cage and his team in the hands of Hawk and Talon and jumps off the bridge onto a moving semi. Meanwhile Cage has a quick fight with Hawk that still takes some moments that simply can't be written down as cinematic time-compression that shows actions happening simultaneously in separate moments; Hawk stops him, they exchange words and blows, Cage gets dragged and goes back first through a car window. Then Vin Diesel gets the upper hand, supermarios Michael Bisping's head and as he falls down...there's the same semi where Donnie Yen is. HOW? Donnie was even further down the bridge and the van is moving at full speed and not caught in the traffic jam above. (01:07:20)
Continuity mistake: Jane Marke tells Xander Cage that he's been "pissing up the wrong tree." Look at Ruby Rose in the background. She scowls and looks at her. During the next sentence there's a cut, and she instantly turned towards the annoying soldier guy Cage flushed out earlier in Eastern Europe (and that somehow has been in that briefing room maybe for hours without a single quip by Cage). (01:00:35)
Plot hole: A plot twists occurs around midway through the movie; the Pandora's Box that was stolen at the beginning of the movie was not the 'real' one but just a prototype which, Becky Clearidge says, "Only ever had the ability to control one satellite." Literally a couple minutes later, Serena says they found the Pandora's Box (the one they did not know was just a prototype) because it "needs to keep reconnecting itself because the satellites orbit." First of all; they found the prototype, which already crashed the one satellite it could control...so what was it reconnecting to? Second; they know nothing of this actual model, but are able instantly to track it down with this 'newfound' knowledge, which means that A) the box is ridiculously easy to track down for anybody B) they should have spotted this second signal already when they tracked down the prototype. (00:59:20 - 01:01:40)
Plot hole: Donnie Yen rides away on the bike while XXX is still fighting baddies on foot, and when he grabs a bike he fights some more off with one wheeled acrobatics. So Donnie should have a huge head start, and inside the jungle of the hideout he knows and Xander does not. Still, with no explanation a couple scenes later they are side-to-side, Xander just happens to have miraculously caught up with him. (00:55:30)
Factual error: When Xiang shoots at the agents in the conference room sliding along the table, he surfs through it without buttscooting or moving his legs or anything; he gave himself a light push with the foot at the beginning, but he couldn't glide like that for such a prolonged time and length even if the room were built not level, and he soaped up his fancy leather jacket before the fight. (00:09:45)
