Continuity mistake: The first footprint - the one Nick is standing in - is clearly smaller that those shown from the helicopter (watch the toes). (00:11:05 - 00:12:25)
Continuity mistake: Nick and company are in a plane after leaving Tahiti. A soldier goes up to the colonel and tells him about the fishing trawlers that were pulled under. Just after that, the camera shows three guys sitting down that look up. In the following shots those guys are gone. (00:19:50)
Revealing mistake: When Godzilla attacks the fish market, the creature picks up the seafood/fish truck with the driver still inside. As he's being knocked out of the cab, you can see dozens of boxes set up where the truck was once parked for him to land on. (00:26:00)
Suggested correction: Boxes are actually beside the truck before it is lifted off the ground.
There are crates next to the truck, not nicely stacked boxes.
Continuity mistake: When the Mayor of New York is talking to the crowds and people can feel the ground bouncing, Godzilla is a fair bit away, but when she is stomping through the streets the people don't feel it at all - shouldn't they be thrown into the air from that proximity? (00:26:25)
Continuity mistake: The mayor is giving a speech as Godzilla arrives in NY. There are five microphones in front of him. They move between shots, most noticeably the blue and yellow ones in the middle. (00:26:30)
Continuity mistake: When Nick (Animal) first goes after Godzilla to film him, he grabs his camera and chases the lizard. There is a fire hydrant that is shooting tonnes of water and the next shot it's stopped and vanished entirely. (00:28:31)
Continuity mistake: As Godzilla is about to step on Animal, we see two cars are directly behind Animal (a yellow taxi and a gray car). Each shot of Animal from the front as the monster approaches (and he's trying to get the tape locked into the camera) shows portions of the cars. But in the side shot of the foot as it lands, no cars are right behind Animal at all. (00:29:50)
Revealing mistake: When Godzilla's foot steps "around" Animal, then lifts, the large wall of windows in the background has no reflection of the foot, leg or any portion of the monster, yet our viewing angle would require it. (00:30:00)
Factual error: When Godzilla first attacks New York and then disappears, we are shown the MetLife Building, which has a massive gaping hole in it. The immense structural stress of a gigantic lizard smashing through the building, not to mention most of the center supports being taken with it, should have collapsed the building, yet it still is standing. (00:33:35)
Deliberate mistake: The pile of fish in the first fish trap is much taller than the trucks. That's impossible without some sort of lifting equipment - and no such thing is around in the aerial shots. (00:42:50)
Continuity mistake: When they are tracking the monsters movement towards the pile of fish, on a computer screen the icon representing Godzilla moves forward and in the next scene repeats over the same territory. (00:47:00)
Factual error: The Apaches in the film are depicted with dual machine guns on each side of the cockpit, mounted directly on the windows. In real life, Apaches cannot mount such cannons, and instead use an M230 Chaingun in a turret underneath the helicopter, which the film Apaches have, but for some reason do not use. (00:49:25)
Suggested correction: Yes, we can all see they are supposed to be Apaches but not once are they mentioned by name. The US Army obviously didn't allow for real Apaches to be used. This isn't a mistake as there would have been no official licence to use the real deal.
Continuity mistake: In the scene when Victor is chasing Nick after crossing the airport sign on the road, you can see the steering wheel of the van is being held in Victor's right hand from his point of view inside the news van, but in the next shot Victor is holding the steering wheel with his left hand. (01:09:40)
Other mistake: When they are tracking Godzilla to the second pile of fish in Central Park, the tracking device says that Godzilla is moving with a speed of 175 mph. If you look at the shots before it with the soldier looking over the top of the building, it is impossible for her to walk at that speed. (01:18:15)
Suggested correction: She was moving at 175 meters per hour, not miles.
That would be an even more ridiculous speed. First, "mph" in America is the standard abbreviation for "miles per hour." Second, 175 meters per hour is less than 2 inches per second, which is slower than a slug.
Factual error: When the F-18s are inbound to Madison Square Garden, the lead pilot arms a pair of AGM-84 harpoons, but he says he is arming LGBs, which stand for Laser-Guided Bombs. Harpoons are not laser-guided, they are radar-guided sea-skimming anti-ship missiles. (01:46:00 - 01:46:35)
Continuity mistake: Godzilla noticeably changes size throughout the movie. For example, she is shown lairing in a subway tunnel, but she cannot fit into the Hyde Park tunnel (taxicab scene), which is significantly larger than a subway tunnel. Also, compare the size of Godzilla's eye next to Matthew Broderick during the fish scene and Godzilla's death scene. The eye is way bigger in the latter.
Continuity mistake: Near the end of the movie there are 3 US Navy F-18 planes. The lead plane shows a graphic of 4 missiles, 2 of which he launches at Madison Square Garden. Then later, and without landing, the 3 planes fire at Godzilla, 2 missiles from each plane on both passes. This means the lead plane fired 6 of its 4 missiles.
Factual error: When Matthew Broderick teams up with the French Commandos and they are driving into the restricted area - when the French Commando says gum chewing makes them seem more American - they stop at the guard shack. Matthew Broderick leans forward to answer the guard who tells him "I wasn't talking to you, soldier!" In a military vehicle, the highest ranking person sits in the front passenger seat (where Broderick was sitting). The driver is just the driver - usually the lowest ranking member in the vehicle. There is no way a soldier would tell who is probably an officer to be quiet so they could speak to a private driver.
Other mistake: At the taxi cab chase at the end, you can notice when the car is a real one and when it's CGI. Note how the real car has scratches and other things on the front of it, but the CGI car, if you look closely, has almost no imperfections, and even if it does have some, it doesn't match the real car one bit. You can see these things when the car drives off his mouth or when you see Godzilla running behind.
Continuity mistake: When Godzilla is chasing the taxi, the taxi crashes through a chainlink fence. As it rounds the corner shortly after going through the fence, the sign on top of the cab comes loose and is being held loosely by a wire toward the front of the cab. You can clearly see that the sign is loose, but a few shots later, the sign is attached firmly in place atop the cab.
