The Bourne Identity

Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film, Matt Damon has a flashing light attached into his chest, then we see it's a big red battery pack attached to a light, at the end of the movie, when he is having flashbacks, the battery pack and the light are not on the wet suit he has on, and the light is not flashing when he was in the water. (00:01:46)

The Bourne Identity mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Matt Damon is on the boat, his gun shot wounds are on his left shoulder blade in a horizontal line. In the hotel scene when Marie is taking off his shirt, they are diagonal between his shoulder blades. (00:02:53)

Continuity mistake: When Jason goes into the bank in Switzerland for the first time, he puts his hand up to the identification plate, and then he takes it off. It reads him and allows him to go in, but the next shot shows him taking his hand off the reader again. (00:15:12)

Continuity mistake: When Bourne gets the box from his numbered bank account, the bank clerk carries it by holding its handle. Then he puts it on the table tipping it over to the side, so Bourne can open it. Thus the ingredients (especially the heavy weapon) should all be laying on the right side, what used to be the bottom of the box. But when Bourne opens it, everything is nicely arranged. (00:15:22)

The Bourne Identity mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the part of the embassy scene where Matt Damon starts clobbering security people, the Marine's hat falls off no less than three times. (00:21:10)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Bourne is moving up the stairs in the embassy, as he approaches the 5th floor you see the legs and feet of someone either standing, or perhaps an evacuee. In the shot immediately following, the person is gone. (00:21:30)

Continuity mistake: Early in the film, Matt Damon is running up several flights of stairs. He is shown walking around a corner when the camera suddenly cuts to a different angle. In the new angle, he is shown running around the same corner. (00:22:27)

Continuity mistake: When Jason is on the 5th floor of the embassy looking for an exit he is holding a walkie-talkie in his right hand, wearing white earphones and carrying the red bag on his left shoulder. In the next shot the white earphones and walkie-talkie have disappeared and the red bag is suddenly on his left shoulder. The bullet hole pattern in Jason's back has also been reversed as if the scene had been flipped. (00:22:32)

Continuity mistake: When Jason breaks through the embassy fire escape door onto the outside platform the metal door has two round keyholes. However, when he climbs up onto the railings it's a different door which has a different type of lock with a rectangular keyhole cover plate. Also, initially there is a chain welded to the top of the left hand railing above a small hinge and extending across to the right-hand railing. The next shot shows the chain wrapped around a large hinge further down on the left-hand railing. (00:23:07)

Continuity mistake: When Bourne is escaping the embassy, he has to scale down a wall below a broken fire escape. As he is inching his way to his right, towards the corner, the shot changes to one from below, and he is suddenly about six feet lower than he was the moment before (there is a curved pipe jutting out of the wall that allows you to easily judge his actual position.) (00:23:33)

The Bourne Identity mistake picture

Continuity mistake: This is the scene where Jason is on the fire escape platform in the consulate in Zurich. Before he goes down below the platform we see that the platform is cleared of all the snow. Then moments later, when security guard opens the door and Jason is under the platform, the top of the platform is fully covered with snow again. (00:23:46)

Continuity mistake: When Bourne is escaping from the Embassy, he drops the bag, which hits some metal thing on the way down, making it wobble to and fro. The camera cuts away while it's still moving and we see the marines coming upstairs. When Bourne climbs under the fire escape, we can see down to the ground and the metal thing's stopped moving. All well and good, except after the marines leave Bourne looks down, and in that shot the metal thing is moving again, then stops - obviously the rest of the shot we saw before. (00:23:46)

Jon Sandys

The Bourne Identity mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Bourne approaches Marie about a ride, they talk across the top of her Mini. First, there is lots of snow on the car's roof. Then, there isn't. (00:25:40)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where all the Treadstone agents are being contacted, we see Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. In the first shot of the building we see cranes standing next to it. In the next shot, the cranes have disappeared. (00:27:00)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jason and Marie go to Jason's residence in Paris, Jason picks up a Bic Pen to write while he's talking on the phone to the hotel. He takes the cap off and places it on the back of the pen. In the next shot, the cap is missing from the back of the pen. (00:39:15)

Continuity mistake: When Jason enters the train station to stash the red bag, the large clock on the outside of the station reads exactly 12 noon. Once he's inside the station the clock reads after two. (00:48:37)

Continuity mistake: During the car chase there is a shot of Bourne steering frantically. In the centre of the steering wheel is a Mini badge. Cut back a few moments later and the badge has changed to a Cooper badge. (00:51:15 - 00:52:05)

Continuity mistake: When Jason and Marie are in the car prior to the car chase they have a conversation with camera angles switching back and forth in the car. From shot to shot the window glass is alternately covered with a lot of rain droplets, a few rain droplets, and even completely dry. (00:52:15)

Continuity mistake: In the car chase scene, the windscreen wipers on the Mini change from being on, then to off, then back on again throughout the whole chase. (00:52:42)

Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the car chase, the red car has a burnt out leftside tail light. For the remainder of the chase, it's working. (00:52:57)

The Bourne Identity mistake picture

Continuity mistake: This is the scene where Jason is on the fire escape platform in the consulate in Zurich. Before he goes down below the platform we see that the platform is cleared of all the snow. Then moments later, when security guard opens the door and Jason is under the platform, the top of the platform is fully covered with snow again. (00:23:46)

More mistakes in The Bourne Identity
More quotes from The Bourne Identity

Trivia: In the final scene at the scooter shop, look at the hanging plant behind Marie. The red bank bag used throughout the movie is the pot. (01:50:23)

More trivia for The Bourne Identity

Question: On the DVD main menu, does anyone know what song is playing? And is it on the album?

Answer: The artist is "Genuine Childs", the song is just called "The Bourne Identity DVD menu music score". It's not on the Bourne album, but you can find it on their soundcloud page: soundcloud.com/genuinechilds.

Bishop73

More questions & answers from The Bourne Identity

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.