Factual error: Dressler is supposed to live in Vienna, Austria. However, in the final scene, when his car explodes, the county-code on the numberplate is not the one from Vienna, nor from any other county in Austria. What is more the letters have the wrong font and the county emblem is missing.
Factual error: After the US President gives the order to launch the missiles, you see a view of a missile preparing for launch. This is followed by scenes of B-2s launching. The missile shown is an older liquid fuelled missile. The US military retired all liquid fuelled missiles from its inventory long before the first B-2 rolled off the assembly line. As such you wouldn't see both in use at the same time.
Deliberate mistake: When asked about the effects of a gas attack on a village in Russia, the president is told that the effects were similar to end stage cerebral palsy. One major problem - cerebral palsy is a chronic condition, not acute. The condition itself is not fatal.
Factual error: When the F16 are attacking Russian bases one of the US pilots is wearing sunglasses. Combat pilots do not wear sunglasses when piloting their planes - their helmet has a visor with shaded glass to protect their vision from sun flare.
Continuity mistake: The President is told the missile launch sequence will take 30 minutes. When he gives the order to begin the sequence, you see B-2 bombers launching from bases in Italy. A short time later a Russian staff member reports the B-2's somewhere over Poland, however the missile launch sequence still hasn't completed. B-2's are not fast enough to go from Italy to Poland in under 30 minutes.
Plot hole: The Bedouin who found the unexploded nuke in the desert was supposedly dying of radiation poisoning when Clark questioned him. All he did was dig it out and load it in a truck, while all the shields were in place. If it was emitting THAT much radiation, the 3 scientists who spent DAYS refurbishing it for Dressler would have been made too sick by the radiation to finish the job.
Suggested correction: The person who found the bomb can be seen in the 'bomb pit' putting his hand under the bomb's damaged shielding. At which point he says "it's still warm." It's reasonable to assume that he touched the radioactive material, leading to poisoning.
Factual error: The Trident II, submarine launched ICBM is actually identified as the "D5" not "D3" missile.
Factual error: In the cockpit of the Israeli A-4 Skyhawk being flown in 1973, shows a HUD (Head-Up-Displays) in the windscreen. No aircraft in 1973 had HUDs (Head-Up-Displays). HUDs were developed after 1973.
Factual error: As the President's motorcade is supposed to be approaching Ravens stadium in Baltimore via I-395, the motorcade is on the wrong side of I-395 & is actually traveling away from the stadium - it's unquestionably on the ramp portion of I-395 which leads directly to I-95 north.
Continuity mistake: When Clark pulls the radiation indicator off the dead scientist, the readout is 7.0. The very next shot is a screen shot of the readout now displaying 6.9. Unlikely the plutonium was decaying that fast, or the bomb would not have been as potent...
Revealing mistake: At the end of the movie when Spinnaker is approaching Jack and Cathy, the wide shot shows the couple sitting further apart. When it jumps to the close view, she is much closer to Jack.
Other mistake: When Clark cut the Ukrainian fence with a gas device, the following two shots of the fence show that the links were clearly not cut, but just undamaged cyclone fencing.
Factual error: On the way to the football game it appears that they make the football stadium into a dome stadium. Baltimore doesn't have a dome stadium, this is evident a few minutes later when they show a panoromic view of Baltimore and you can see the 2 stadiums side by side as open stadiums. In the movie, Baltimore has a third domed stadium that is a CGI image in only one shot and not shown later.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the film, the American and Russian Presidents are making a speech at the White House. The medium shot shows the audience seated directly in front of the podium. When you see the wide shot later, there is an aisle that goes straight up the middle to the podium, where nobody is seated. Strangely, it looks like the entire presentation in front of the White House is digitally added (like Forrest Gump). Couldn't they easily match the medium shot if they are creating it later?
