Other mistake: During the infiltration in the carrier, Ice Cube steals an M2 Bradley and drives it around damaged for an extended period of time; the flames keep burning with different intensity always at the same spots; one wonders what makes the same point of the armor and the very bottom corner of the back ramp for so long, without spreading at all. (00:56:00)
Factual error: XXX took a hit in his M2 Bradley and to get out of the predicament he rams the other tank, muscling it off its way and into the wall with crushing force. You don't need to look the tank specs up to see that something is wrong there, because tanks are fairly grounded vehicles not easily shaken off, and one looks much much smaller than the other; in fact the M2 Bradley is bit less than 30 tons and the bad guys' Abrams is around 60 tons. With this kind of disparity, not even Ice Cube's bulk can make the difference. (00:56:00)
Factual error: The way Darius hooks the APC up to the steam catapult wouldn't work. He apparently raises an arm of the catapult and attaches it to the APC, in reality however the arm is on the front landing gear of the fighter jets and the catapult is more like a small sled. (00:57:10)
Factual error: In this movie, it's the Secretary of Defense who picks the security detail for the President, but it's of course the Secret Service who does so, which is in no way in the same chain of command. (01:00:00)
Audio problem: At the NSA, General George Deckert asks Kyle what did Stone tell him when they spoke. Kyle replies "He didn't say much", and in the following reverse shot you can see Scott Speedman's jaw as he's speaking, but no sound is heard. (01:02:15)
Continuity mistake: Steele comfortably waltzes into Darius' hideout surprising everyone. He mentions some car magic he figured out by ear; notice Michael Roof has some tool between his teeth. "I didn't always wear a suit", Speedman says, and when the camera is back on Roof, he's not goofing around with things in his mouth anymore, but it comes back again when the same camera angle as before is used again. (01:03:30)
Plot hole: The whole premise of the movie and Deckert's plot is moot; as Steele exposits, Deckert, who is the Secretary of Defense, wants to put in the same spot "President, VP, Speaker of the House, Secretary of State." Because, it's "The chain of command. He takes them out, he's what?" Simply, he's NOTHING, because the Presidential Succession includes before the Secretary of Defense the President of the Senate (higher than the Secretary of State) and the Secretary of the Treasury. Deckert's plan was useless. (01:03:55)
Continuity mistake: Toby is dangling off the car from his suction glove in a different position between shots - in particular when he begs Lola he has his free hand on the door and immediately after he has not. (01:07:20)
Continuity mistake: In the silly scene of the two truck drivers getting out to offer some assistance to the skanks, look when the one in red says "Hi boys." The one in white has her hand on her hip, but in the reverse shot she's playing with her hair at shoulder-length. Meanwhile the truck driver tips his hat, but in the next shot his hand is to his side. (01:08:00)
Revealing mistake: When XXX and his friends open the cheese truck, look into it and let Toby work his magic, you can see in the distance above the black SUV the cars blocking the road to allow filming. (01:08:30)
Continuity mistake: Darius and his posse start their assault on the renegades. They drive on the sidewalk and are about to crash into the road block. In the POV shot there's just a couple of soldiers in their way, who move rapidly out of the way. The next shot shows the same spot but on top of 2 soldiers who still have to move out, there's also a construction worker with a hard hat and more people. (01:13:00)
Continuity mistake: When the President realises who's behind the coup, he walks towards him.asking "Are you doing this?" His hair is just fine and very Presidential, but when a cut later he asks "Are you familiar with the word 'treason'?" his hair is messy on his forehead. (01:15:10)
Plot hole: The last part of the movie focuses entirely on what will happen to the President, but as per the villain's plan (wrong and incomplete, but it's another issue) he needed to kill also the VP and the others before him in the succession. The bad guy already lost 20 minutes before the end of the movie but the movie refuses to tell us the obvious and it's simply swept under the rug or forgotten. (01:16:20)
Plot hole: General George Deckert orders his men to kill the President "Get rid of him", but once this execution, that would make perfect sense in the context of his plan, is interrupted by the cannon shot he spends all the rest of the movie until the very end to drag the President with him for no reason. The longer he keeps him hostage, the more difficult for him it is to cover the story up in any way. (01:18:00)
Character mistake: John Gleeson Connolly appears in the final credits as Lt. Alabama 'Bama' Cobb, but during the movie he's always called "Sergeant." When it's XXX to call him like that, adding that he was too dumb to make Captain, it's logical, as he'd basically address him as the rank they had when they served together and belittles him for not jumping in ranks all that much, but even the General addresses him as such in the Capitol Hill shootout. (01:18:30)
Continuity mistake: By the power of schizophrenic montage, X and Steele turn around hearing the arrival of Charlie with Gibbons, are side to side, and in the next shot they are on opposite sides of the huge hall and blindside them. (01:19:10)
Continuity mistake: When the bad guys open the doors to the bullet train track using President James Sanford's hand, look at the corridor double door. When XXX arrives, he finds the same open doors with door stops that weren't there a moment before. (01:21:00 - 01:21:30)
Plot hole: Gibbons is presumed dead and is an NSA officer with no documents or anything, but in the space of a couple minutes from furious shootouts he's the man who orders everyone around, summoning Black Hawks and all sorts of military forces just like that - and supposedly the whole army in the vicinity is hostile and loyal to the bad guys, even. (01:21:40)
Revealing mistake: As the bullet train is chased by the helicopters in formation, the helicopters fly as obvious CGI constructs. (01:23:35)
Factual error: The Cobra is doing about 160-170 when XXX jumps onto the tracks. At that speed, any sort of erratic movement would cause the complete loss of control, even without jumping tracks to get airborne. (01:24:20)
Answer: To break the surface of the water making an easier penetration. Hitting water at high speeds can be like hitting concrete. By stirring up the water it "softens" the impact.
EMTurbo