Continuity mistake: The Suburban that swerves onto the LAX runway to retrieve Jack has no scaffold equipped on its driver's side, but we know for a fact that moments later Jack actually exits the bus and steps safely onto one. Somehow the Suburban has managed to gain a scaffold at cruising speed, but this couldn't have possibly happened unless a different, identical-looking vehicle with a scaffold pulled up at some point during the scene to take its place. (01:10:05 - 01:11:15)
Continuity mistake: The 2 SWAT team members are not visible on the preceding truck between two shots. (01:12:55 - 01:13:32)
Continuity mistake: When Jack is inspecting the bomb from a red trolley connected to a tow truck, a spool of cable unwinds and breaks free from its clamp, leaving Jack to fend for himself. Soon, McMahon and Norwood are riding alongside the bus trying to see if Jack is okay, but notice how the cable has reattached itself to the empty spool. (01:16:30 - 01:17:30)
Continuity mistake: When the cops arrive at Payne's house, the front passenger door of the silver car closes. However, in the next shot it is open. (01:19:45)
Continuity mistake: When Jack starts tying a rope to the access panel, he faces the back of the bus initially but manages to turn completely right between shots, facing the side windows all of a sudden. (01:29:20)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where the Pacific Courier Freight plane gets blown up, you can see that it is being towed alongside another plane, and some people standing/walking around next to it. In the next shot, where we see the camera moving closer and closer to the plane from the bus's perspective, the runway the plane was just being towed on is gone, as is the plane it was going past a moment ago along with the people. There was no time between shots for the plane to have been moved so far away. (01:30:35)
Continuity mistake: The paint that sprays on Payne's face changes splatter pattern throughout the rest of the scenes with Payne. (01:35:30)
Continuity mistake: When Jack tells the other cop to "turn it on" in reference to the money tracker, soon as they realize Payne has the money, and Jack runs out to the garbage can, the red car that screeches to a stop to avoid hitting him is a red Ford Tempo. In the very next shot from the opposite direction, it's a red Mazda Protege. (01:36:55)
Continuity mistake: When Payne shoots the train driver in the back, blood appears on his shirt. A few seconds later when he is falling down, his shirt is clean. (01:37:10)
Continuity mistake: When Payne is about to board the subway train with Annie, he fires warning shots into the air and she ducks her head in response. But she repeats the same action in the next shot. (01:39:30)
Continuity mistake: Payne has just forced his way into the subway car with Annie as his hostage. Jack shoots the lock off an emergency door in pursuit. The bullet holes on the two sides of this door do not match. (01:40:05)
Continuity mistake: On the subway train where Payne opens the money bag, a dye pack goes off and leaves a purple stain on the dead man's handle. But moments later in the shot where Payne stops firing his machine gun at the ceiling, the stain has vanished. (01:42:35)
Continuity mistake: After Payne loses his head, Jack says "Yeah? Well I'm taller." Between shots, Jack's right arm instantly goes from resting at his side to a lifted position. (01:44:35)
Continuity mistake: When Jack starts wiggling the train's pole, his hands switch places between shots. (01:46:05)
Continuity mistake: When the subway carriage bursts out into the street, Annie's handcuffs slide off the broken pole and in slow motion you can see the pole is shorter than all others. Besides, all the other poles in the carriage are intact. (01:49:15)
Continuity mistake: Early in the film, Jack shoots Harry through the left thigh (taking the hostage out of the equation). At the police awards ceremony, Harry is using a cane on his right side and his limp favors his right leg. After the ceremony, in the bar, when Harry gets drunk and starts to leave, he's using his cane on the left side and his limp favors his left leg.
Continuity mistake: In one scene where Dennis Hopper is holding the phone with one hand, he very obvious snaps with the other one just a little bit off camera. The hand holding the phone has all of the fingers, but the off-camera one is missing a thumb. How can you snap without a thumb?
Continuity mistake: In the last 20 minutes of the movie when Howard Payne is on the train and offers Jack some money, Howard opens the money bag and gets sprayed with purple paint. When Howard climbs on top of the train to fight Jack, all of the paint is gone.
Continuity mistake: The bus hits many cars in the movie, yet there is virtually no damage sustained by the bus throughout.
Continuity mistake: When the bus hits the back of the car on the tow truck, it appears that the hit is hard enough to launch the car up the ramp and over the front of the truck, but there is no damage to the front of the bus.
