Continuity mistake: Soon in the Ian vs Ivan fight the two end up on the ground exchanging kicks. Kelly is at ringside; her hair is in a different position on the lapel of her jacket between shots. (01:28:45)
Continuity mistake: Ian and Ivan start trading blows with the referee looking at them kinda frightened in the corner, both arms over the top rope. Next shot and he's watching the same exchange but with his hands down. (01:28:55)
Continuity mistake: For the final part of Ian and Ivan's first round, the timer jumps from 1:03 to 0:58 during one of Ian's punches. (01:29:35)
Audio problem: It's not even during a cut, just a badly timed cue; the second round in Ian's match starts, and the bell rings, when the wall clock signals already 1:55. (01:30:45)
Revealing mistake: Ivan goes berserk and kicks the referee out of the ring; you can see the actor bounce up. Apparently in some prints of the movie it is possible to even see a mat - not in the Region 2 DVD. (01:31:40)
Revealing mistake: During the final fight, Ivan the Russian forgets completely how to fight and never, ever pulls guard. Look no further than the moment when right at the beginning Jason charges at him; Van Damme blatantly drops the arms on purpose to be hit. (01:32:30)
Continuity mistake: Ivan in his rage puts Ian through the ropes flipping him; to be flipped, Ron Pohnel is holding the ropes; the second one in the first shot, the top rope in the second shot. (01:32:55)
Continuity mistake: Van Damme rips his shirt off and drops the gloves. Starts circling his young opponent. You can see the items he drops but a couple of shots later they are in the corner in different position, which will change again when he brutalizes the opponent against the ropes. (01:34:00)
Revealing mistake: When Jason does his backflipping move that wins him the match...you can actually see it's Corey Yuen dressed as him that does it. (01:35:25)
Continuity mistake: When Van Damme flies out of the ring (handspringing like a pro-wrestler), the surprise and cheer from Ian's cornerpeople is different across the two shots (for instance, Dean leans in to look at two very different times). (01:35:40)
Factual error: During the karate tournament towards the end of the movie if you'll notice the American flags in the background you'll see that they are displayed improperly. Whether flags are being displayed horizontally or vertically, the stars should always be on the left side of the flag.
Continuity mistake: In the tournament at the end of the movie, when Dean and Ivan meet in the center of the ring before the match, we can see that Ivan's stance has his back to our view. However, when the shot sweeps over the crowd and judges, and then back to Dean and Ivan, we can see that Ivan is now facing us.
Revealing mistake: When Jason is doing a two fingered push-up on the table in the park, a wire can be seen on his back lifting him up. The mistake has been fixed with proper framing in recent home video versions.
Continuity mistake: When Scott bullies RJ outside the burger place, Scott is in one side of the table and is kicked by RJ in the stomach, RJ falls to the floor and in the next shot Scott is now beside him.
Other mistake: The timekeeper stops the clock when Jason charges in saving Ian, but kept it going just fine for a minute when the official for the match was roundhouse-kicked to the curb, a fat kid bit an athlete and everything was obviously not legitimate in any way or form.
Plot hole: Kelly is a friend of Jason's from LA and they have been seeing each other since he transferred to Seattle (he mentions 'the other day' she saw something at the pet store). Basically the one passion in life Jason has, is karate. Her brother is the US karate champion, and yet Jason didn't know that or even that he was from Seattle. That's absurd on several levels, since it implies that he wouldn't know her last name (then how did they stay in touch?) and they never ever talked about anything personal, because it's fairly obvious it would come up really easily.
Other mistake: Van Damme in the opening credits is presented quite literally as "Ivan, the Russian." During the movie they call him Ivan and is last name in the tournament is mentioned by the announcer as "Krasinki." So naturally in the end credits roll Van Damme is billed as... Karl Brezdin. Close.
Continuity mistake: When Jason and RJ are putting the wood horse on the floor and drinking the coke Jason's legs change position between shots.
Continuity mistake: After Kelly's party Jason gets to his home and his dad yells him about fighting then gets to the garage and drops just some magazines and rips out the Bruce lee's poster but in the open view you can see several things on the floor.
Visible crew/equipment: When Jason and RJ get to the abandoned house and drink some cokes a boom mic is seen at the top of the screen.
