Corrected entry: The Jailbird is supposed to be state of the art super max facility, but the guards don't scan the prisoners for pins, which some of the prisoners use to escape from their handcuffs.
Corrected entry: Still before the hijacking, Pinball is talking to his left neighbor, sitting in the same row. In one shot, from the left, they both sit next to each other, in the same row. In a shot thereafter, Pinball has his head turned left and is talking to his "neighbor", but there is nobody. The guy sits in the row behind. (00:18:40)
Correction: I see what you see, but look again. When the shot changes, the angle kind of does give the impression that Pinball is talking to an empty seat. The perspective makes it seem like the headrest is next to Pinball, but it isn't. The headrest is from the row in front of them, which is empty. Pinball and his neighbor are in the same row in all shots.
Corrected entry: The crash-landing in Las Vegas is totally unrealistic. a) The plane flies/approaches way too fast: a crash-landing would be attempted with minimum possible speed, but the C-123 is at full cruise speed. b) In one shot you can see that it's getting pulled and/or pushed from rest. c) The whole crash-landing takes way too long. All the obstacles that are getting hit (buildings, cars) would only slow it down. Even if brakes don't work, it cannot take that long to come to a halt.
Correction: This is a character mistake, there is no suggestion as to how good a pilot the con is, so he simply screwed up the landing. As for the plane taking too long to come to a standstill, it's called a 'willing suspension of disbelief'.
Corrected entry: After the fight at the airfield, Colm Meaney and John Cusack board the Cobra helicopters to act as weapons operators. How could they be better trained than the guys who were there originally? Would they even know what to do and just how likely is it that the average DEA agent or US Marshall would be able to operate the weapons system on a Cobra anyway?
Correction: The DEA agent wants the aircraft shoot down and Larkin wants to prevent that, that's why they both jump onto the choppers. This is a time of crisis, so probably the pilots took off with them. Plus the weapons system on a cobra can easily be operated by the pilot alone.
Corrected entry: Regarding the undercover DEA agent - during the inspection of the prisoners before boarding the plane, it is stated that no personal possessions are allowed on the plane... as the undercover agent is climbing the steps to board the plane, you can clearly see the outline of his wallet in his left hip pocket.
Correction: Agent Sims wasn't searched by the guards (Falzon, Bishop, etc...), he was searched by Agent Malloy. This would mean that Malloy wouldn't take the wallet away, and the rest of the guards probably wouldn't pay attention to Sims' rear-end, or suspect anything, because Sims had already been searched. After all, they didn't find the gun either.
Corrected entry: The idea that Baby-O needs to get his shot or he will die is completely incorrect. Anyone who is diabetic would know that it's not high blood sugar that can kill you, but an insulin overdose. Assuming that he had eaten breakfast that morning, he should be glad he had not been given an injection, because he was on the plane for who knows how long and then crashed at the remote airstrip with nothing to eat; his insulin levels would have been so high that he could go into a coma.
Correction: This is incorrect. Baby-O has severe Insulin Dependent Diabetes - a form of diabetes that requires the daily injection of the hormone insulin to maintain normal body chemistry. Avoidance of insulin in these patients will result in a severe metabolic derangement known as diabetic ketoacidosis, the symptoms of which are very accurately portrayed in this film. (Though I doubt that someone in ketoacidic shock would survive a bullet impact.) There are milder forms of diabetes that fit the description above, but Insulin Dependent Diabetes is not one of them.
Whilst plausible, It's highly unlikely DKA would develop within 24 hours of not having background insulin.
Since we don't know when Baby-O had his last insulin shot, the time frame is irrelevant.
Correction: Whilst plausible, it's highly unlikely DKA would develop within 24 hours of not having background insulin.
Since we don't know when Baby-O had his last insulin shot, the time frame is irrelevant.
Corrected entry: Poe writes a note to the US Marshall on Pinball then throws him off the plane. Pinball lands on a car after falling - there wouldn't be much left of Pinball, let alone the message. (00:54:05 - 00:55:05)
Correction: I've seen many people after they hit the ground or a vehicle in free fall. For the most part, the body remains externally intact - especially if they hit a vehicle or ground that has some "give." That is why skydivers say people "bounce" - because they do; they almost never splat unless the go head-first onto concrete; that gets messy. But in this particular case, it's entirely plausible and likely that the body would be sufficiently intact for the message to be read.
Corrected entry: Pinball's body would have exploded when it landed on the hood of the car in Fresno.
Corrected entry: The planes' weapons load is extremely unsuitable for a prisoner transfer plane. Shotguns would be perhaps suitable to wipe out the entire plane in a major riot, but not to contain one. M-16 rifles are way too powerful and would punch more holes in the fuselage than prisoners, are much too bulky in close quarters, and don't offer anything to the guards' handguns couldn't - the plane just isn't big enough for distance accuracy to be a factor. Worst of all, it carries grenade launchers and explosive grenades. Using them in in the plane would be suicidal if the plane was on the ground, let alone flying. Granted, though, they do enable a battle scene.
Correction: The clear intent of the weapons in the belly of the plane was not for use on the plane but if the plane crashed. As explained only the pilot carried a secure pistol just in case of any hijacking. If the plane had to make an emergency crash landing, they would need to take the prisoners off the plane. Obviously they could not contain the prisoners with what they have on board. As for the choice of weapons. They were carrying some of the most dangerous prisoners in the country. With some of the connections they had if they came under attack, then they would need sufficient firepower. However it is purely a character choice what weapons are acceptable.
Corrected entry: After the prisoners start the trouble on the plane, the marshals use a taser on "Diamond Dog" Jones. One shot shows someone's hand on "Diamond Dog" shoulder. The shock would have surely travelled to whoever was holding him down.
Correction: Stun guns and tasers don't work like that. You can touch someone who is being tasered without the current passing from them to you.
Corrected entry: Poe handcuffs one of Cyrus' arms to the ladder of the firetruck, yet when Cyrus is launched off of the truck to the ground, he's still wearing the cuff and his arm has not been pulled off.
Corrected entry: On two occasions you can see horizontal lens flare at the top of he screen. When they start digging on Lerner Field, and when the cargo door on the C-123 opens and they look at the dangling car.
Correction: This is not a mistake; those particular flares are due to the anamorphic lenses used to shoot the film, and many films, including this one, use them as a deliberate stylistic choice (director Simon West has said on several occasions that the flares are one of the reasons he likes the anamorphic format).
Corrected entry: When Sandino attempts to flee Lerner Airfield in the chartered plane, all the other inmates look over at the plane and then chase after it as it begins to depart. Vince Larkin comes out of hiding and sprints alongside the plane to the tractor so he can sabotage the departure of the plane. If the inmates were able to see the plane taking off, wouldn't they have been able to see Larkin as well?
Correction: Before the plane takes off Larkin is already well out of the way of the hangar. Being that the inmates would be looking more behind the plane they would not likely see him. Also he is running alongside the plane on the other side of it, not in direct view of the inmates. So combined with the distance away from the inmates and on the other side there is no guarantee they would have seen him.
Corrected entry: At Lehrner airfield, when the awaiting drug smuggler's plane starts its engines and Cusack is blown backwards, the engines appear to "shoot" a flame out, such as an after-burner would create. However, this type of plane is not equipped with such engines and even if it was, they would cause too great a stress for the plane to handle.
Correction: It's a Rockwell EX60 'Sabreliner' private jet dating from 1969. You don't need an afterburner to 'shoot flame out', you need an obsolete plane with old, badly maintained jet engines like this one has.
Corrected entry: When Cameron Poe's lawyer tries to get him to plead guilty, it is called a plea bargain. This is a deal set up ahead of time with the prosecutor. If the judge rejects it, it goes to trial, the guilty plea does not stand.
Correction: The judge didn't reject the plea of guilty. He rejected the prosecutor's sentence suggestion, which he has every right to do.
Corrected entry: When the two people in the cockpit hear about the disturbance, the co-pilot decides to go out with a revolver. They would in reality have locked the door and waited to see what happened, and then possibly landed the plane. You don't need to be taught this. Anyone who has been trusted to fly a plane containing a load of dangerous convicts would have the common sense to not go out and see what has happened, but to lock the door and land the plane.
Correction: He wanted to be a hero. Really, characters in action movies do things a lot more stupid than this.
Corrected entry: When Larkin and several prison guards are checking Cyrus's cell, one suddenly stumbles upon the section where Cyrus has hidden all the blueprints, plans, letters and assorted paraphernalia and the lunch box. Don't you think the cell of a high profile and extremely dangerous prisoner that is under 24 hour video surveillance would prevent him from doing any such things? For example, where and how would he get the elements to create such a powerful explosive device locked away in a cell? Or if he was receiving a letter of possible criminal correspondence from the Spanish drug lord, don't you think it would be checked over many times to discover the content? Instead Larkin discovers this within seconds. Why would Cyrus just not destroy these documents instead of hiding them in a prosthetic brick made from soap or something? I don't see how he could have done under the heavy surveillance.
Correction: Someone has been heavily bribed to overlook these things being smuggled into Cyrus' cell. The letter in itself was innocent enough and could only be read with the aid of the "Last Supper" postcard, neither of which would attract much attention if it arrived in the mail. The blueprints and plans and so on are not something Cyrus can use from his cell, so the guards would not see much harm in letting him have it (and themselves profiting from it). The bomb contents would be more difficult, but smuggled in in seemingly innocent components unchecked by several bribed guards (all of whom would just see one or two parcels), it would not be impossible.
Corrected entry: When the undercover DEA agent is being briefed, he is told that he has two hours to get the drug kingpin to talk. The flight from Carson City, NV to Alabama is much longer then two hours.
Correction: The flight may be longer than two hours, but he may have been referring to the tape recorder, meaning that there was only two hours worth of tape.
Corrected entry: Colm Meaney says he has locked onto the C123, so he can fire missiles at it. Locked on with what exactly? The Cobras appear to be carrying pods that can carry 2.75 inch unguided rockets (intended for ground targets, not planes) the only way he is going to get them to lock onto the C123 is if he gets out and does it himself with a padlock and chain.
Correction: He isn't a trained pilot. He is just saying 'locked on' meaning that the plane is in his sights. He doesn't know the technical language.
Corrected entry: When Nicholas Cage is shot in the arm on the plane, you can clearly see that blood is shot out of the back of his arm, then a split second later you see the hole in the front of his arm appear.
Correction: Cage was shot in the front of the arm, causing the hole. The bullet would have passed through his arm causing another hole (and blood) at the back.
Correction: Cyrus had a pin inserted into his hand. There is no way to scan for that. Pinball had something in his stomach. They had concealed their means of escape very well. Not even a plot hole if they didn't scan for it anyway, just a human mistake to not see something that is concealed.
lionhead