Factual error: The main character manages to save the Prez thanks to a blatantly absurd trick; he gets (just like that, on the fly, at 160 mp/h bumping everywhere like in a pinball) his car on the railroad tracks, and rides them completely consuming the tyres, and going just on rims he actually attains a better peak velocity. Assuming the Cobra has exactly the same width as the train, this is not how cars and their wheels work. (01:24:20)
Revealing mistake: When Cobbs slams Darius against the door after dodging the knife he pulled out, Ice Cube is replaced by a stuntman. (01:26:40)
Continuity mistake: When they are on the train and Stone and the other SEAL guy are fighting in the kitchen. Stone drops his lighter, when it hits the floor it is closed, but when he is on the floor and he goes to grab it, the top is open. (01:27:05 - 01:27:35)
Factual error: The train conductor tells the bad guy that "air brakes are blown, can't slow us down anymore." But air brakes in modern trains are fail-safe; if they are 'blown', they lose pressure and therefore activate automatically. (01:27:50)
Continuity mistake: When Darius pushes the buttons turning the lights off in the cart where Deckert is holding the President hostage, he begins shutting down the lights behind them, but in the reaction shot those lights are going out later. Moreso, before the camera cuts away from the switches, we see three lights turn off at once, one being below Stone's fingers. (01:28:40)
Continuity mistake: When the President at the end holds the medal for the 'unknown soldier', the medal at Scott Speedman's neck is nice and straight in the close-up, but curls up above the star in the shot when the Pres quotes Tupac. (01:32:55)
Revealing mistake: As Lo bids farewell to Darius, you can get a good look at the back of his neck when he catches the keys with his not-so-injured-anymore hand. When he drives away the camera zooms on an XXX tattoo that simply wasn't there. (01:34:25)
Continuity mistake: When Darius Stone is a waiter carrying glasses of champagne, the number of glasses on his tray changes - down to one and then back up to three between shots.
Suggested correction: Incorrect; he starts with 5 glasses on the tray, 4 when Charlie picks hers. At no point (except the very end when General Jack Pettibone grabs his) he has just three, or just one. I can very much see that it looks that way when Ice Cube's head is in the way (looks like there's just one glass left) or part of the tray is off camera (it totally looks like there's just 3), but rewatching the scene is very clear and evident that the number of glasses is accurate.
Revealing mistake: Obvious stunt double when Darius is escaping from jail.
Visible crew/equipment: As Gibbons' car drives into the car park the dolly tracks are reflected in the red car.
Factual error: It's been proven that when falling fast towards water, breaking the surface tension makes no difference in it's "softness", yet XXX is fine when he falls into the water after shooting it. If he fell for 5 seconds he would be going 60-70 mph and would certainly be injured or killed upon impact.
Factual error: From the title itself it should be clear that the movie is set when the President is giving the State of the Union address, which is in the middle of winter (end of Jan, approx). The movie has been shot between June and October, and it shows, since everywhere in Virginia the trees and lawns are in full green and people wear for the most part light clothes.
Plot hole: Forgetting the fact that Charlie Mayweather knows everything about General Jack Pettibone's home including where he keeps his shirts (somehow the same size as Ice Cube...), and that there's nothing in his home that tips anyone about its owner (both can be explained), what is pretty hard to explain is how did this Machiavellian plan work when Darius made a hasty very early exit from the party the General was at, they drive to his house in that fast sports car, and...his corpse is already there, or at least is by the time Darius gets out of the shower. If this was the plan all along, it hinged also on the fact that Darius would have been at the party (he arrived on his own, not with Charlie) and chose of all the possible moments and actions to get close to the General and eavesdrop on the exact moment when the bad guy talked to him; they needed also picture proof. That's all levels of arbitrary and impossible.
Plot hole: To taunt Agent Augustus Eugene Gibbons, General George Deckert namedrops Darius Stone. Gibbons looks at him genuinely shocked, which the General acknowledges scoring an important moral victory and establishing himself further as a Machiavellian villain. The problem with all this is that Gibbons would have to literally not know what he's been doing and why up to that point, to think that the General, who is also the Secretary of Defense, does not know about it.Gibbons broke Darius out very openly, from a military prison that is the only maximum security correctional facility in the Department of Defense. His reason to bring Darius out was also, explicitly, that Deckert is targeting the ex members of their unit (which is, we have to assume in retrospect giving perhaps too much credit to the screenplay, the only reason why Gibbons could execute such a flawed plan to begin with and why Darius is still alive). So, Gibbons being surprised that his adversary "knows", after a couple of days even, is pure absurdity.
Continuity mistake: When we see the train get blown up on the bridge Darius is nowhere to be seen falling, but in the next shot he's falling under the carriages.
Continuity mistake: Gibbons' scars on his face disappear and reappear between shots towards the end of the film.
