Other mistake: As they drive away from the base stormed by the mysterious invaders, Gibbons mentions that they need to get "off the grid." His watch indicates it's 12:45. The Secretary of Defense informs the President. Who, shocked, reschedules the budget meeting; the clock of the room signals 3:30, but the attack, in Virginia so not in a different timezone, "just" happened. (00:04:30 - 00:07:00)
Continuity mistake: The President's assistant asks him the first time we see him "Roses or tulips?" George appears out of the blue in the next shot despite being barely (perhaps) visible at the very end through the side door, while the other people in front of the President were exactly where they are in the new shot. (00:06:30)
Character mistake: When the drone looks Gibbons in the eye, the 'elevation' data keeps fluctuating wildly between 33 and 39 meters, which is obviously wrong. Besides, they are underground. (00:03:10)
Character mistake: The officer at the control room screen mapping the advance of the invading force tells Gibbons that they've covered all the halls, but looking at the map it's simply not true; if the man is a highly qualified professional, he is doing a terrible job, because he provides no help and paints the situation under the wrong light not telling the responders where the bad guys are coming from and all the areas (about 2/3 at that point) that are still secure. (00:02:40)
Other mistake: Gibbons asks for a lockdown, and on screen several doors appear in the map of the facility, in red, but the villains move undisturbed for big corridors past huge metal doors that would have easily slowed their path down if they closed. The movie does nothing to establish if they managed to prevent those doors from locking up, and how - they did not hack the system, they broke in blasting holes from the surface. (00:02:00)
Character mistake: The bad guys at the beginning of the movie launch a drone that scans for target. The woman's data appears in the HUD and it says "Stacey Canon - Interpol REGISRTY" (00:02:20)
Revealing mistake: When Darius stomps on the police car with the speedboat, an explosion starts from the bottom of the car just the moment the boat nicks the roof. (00:25:00)
Revealing mistake: In the fight against the first 2 prison guards, in the shots furthest away from action Ice Cube is replaced by a leaner stuntman. (00:10:40)
Continuity mistake: XXX aims the RPG above the fence, but when we see the shot being fired, the pipe is between two boards of the fence. (00:20:50)
Continuity mistake: When Ice Cube climbs from the ventilator slot, the light changes between shots. (00:11:50)
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.
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)
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)
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: XXX and his ex (as redundant as it sounds) are learning from the TV the news of Gibbons' demise. He then tells Shavers "Let's get to work" and they plug the hard disk in, for the very first time because they realise that it's been wiped clean. It is night, and their mission was during broad daylight; if Gibbons had to wait nighttime to sneak into his own home, he could have easily helped them out during their mission, and it's absurd that they just sat on the crucial hard disk while chilling and watching the nightly news. Gibbons' house is billed as "Chevy Chase, Maryland", so it's just a few minutes away from their position. (00:31:00)
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