Continuity mistake: Once the Jackal sets off the music at Isabella's house, making Koslova rush outside, the other FBI agent upstairs starts running down them when the Jackal shoots him though the stairs, leaving many bullet holes. As he falls down the stairs though, they seem clean and unscathed. A few shots later as the Jackal is coming out from under the stairs, you can now see there is damage to them. Most notably the large chunk of splintered wood on the 5th step up that appears. (01:22:45)
Continuity mistake: When Witherspoon is shot in the head by The Jackal, we see a large blood splat hit the wall behind him. But later as Declan is running through the house while the FBI and paramedics are there, he runs past this same spot and now the blood splat is much closer to the corner of the wall. (01:24:30 - 01:27:00)
Continuity mistake: The Jackal kills Witherspoon, who stumbles back against the stairwell wall and is in a sitting position. He's seen behind Koslova as she's kneeling behind the couch trying to shoot the Jackal back. Witherspoon's body is then shown again after the Jackal shoots Koslova and is approaching her as she tries to crawl away. Witherspoon's body changes positions in several ways. Most notably, his head is now sitting more straight up and closer to the doorknob. His legs are bent up more with his feet now almost touching the table leg. And also the rug he is on is bunched up more, having only 1 large bump before, but now having two. (01:24:50 - 01:25:20)
Revealing mistake: When The Jackal shoots Koslova through the couch, you can see a small hole in the fabric of the couch already there, before it's made larger by the special effects team's work. (01:25:05)
Continuity mistake: When The Jackal approaches Koslova after shooting her, his rifle is loose in his right hand. After he pushes her to the ground we cut to Koslova and the assassin is holding the rifle with both of his hands. (01:25:25)
Continuity mistake: After The Jackal shoots Koslova, he places a pillow under her head to prop it up. Once at rest, her face is clear of any hair. It then cuts to the Jackal as he tells her about her blood being black and she has 20 minutes to live, then back to her. And now she has some strands of hair down over her left eye. (01:25:40)
Continuity mistake: Toward the end of the movie, the assassin (Willis) fatally shoots the female Russian agent (Venora). As Willis is advising Venora that she will die within twenty minutes, he draws a picture on her cheek with her own blood (a grim pictogram of a love heart). When Gere arrives on the scene a few minutes later, there is no sign of blood anywhere on Venora's face. Obviously, the authorities would not have washed away such a vital clue. Neither would emergency personnel have transferred the victim from the floor where she was lying, onto the living room couch; rather, they would have put her on the ambulance stretcher. (01:26:00 - 01:27:15)
Suggested correction: There is several minutes taking place between these two shots, and Koslova is alive during that time. She was on the floor when the Jackal draws it on her face, and then when Declan is with her, she's on the couch. It is likely that the paramedics moved her to the couch, or she may have moved herself. We don't know how much time lapsed between her conversation with The Jackal and when the medical team arrived. It's very probable that she wiped it off herself. She had blood on her face drawn in a picture by a sadistic killer she hates that just killed two of her friends and is now leaving her to a slow painful death. If I were in that situation and that guy drew a heart on my face with my own blood, I'd wipe it off too. You can still see a faint bit of red on her cheek where it was.
Continuity mistake: As Declan is holding Koslova as she dies, her hand is on the side of his face. As she takes her last breath, you see her index and middle finger next to his ear, while her ring finger and pinkie are bent in and touching his neck. It then cuts to a shot of Declan's face as he reacts to her death, and suddenly her hand is flat on his cheek with all fingers on it, just before it drops as the life leaves her. (01:28:10)
Revealing mistake: When the Jackal shoots Douglas, you can briefly see the outline of one of the blood packs under his white shirt. (01:32:50)
Factual error: The Jackal attempts to assassinate the First Lady just outside the Capitol Heights Metro station, which is in Maryland - yet all the police are DC Metro. (01:36:00)
Continuity mistake: Near the end of the film, as Willis is about to shoot the First Lady, we see a close up of him wearing sunglasses (part of his cop disguise) and looking through his binoculars. We then switch to the binocular view of the podium, but the shot is not given a darkened tint - it looks as if he is looking through the binoculars without the sunglasses. When we switch back to the first view of his face, however, the sunglasses are back in place. (01:36:10)
Continuity mistake: Before the Jackal attempts to assassinate the First Lady, the Chairperson calls the Surgeon General to the podium. In the shot from behind as he shakes her hand then walks up, you can see to the right there is the shadow of him and the podium, with no other shadows visible around him or near him. But then it cuts to a wide angle from in front in the crowd and the shadows are all different, with some even now behind him from the building. (01:36:25)
Continuity mistake: As the FBI and Richard Gere rush to the hospital to save the First Lady they are flying in a helicopter. You see a shot of the helicopter flying over buildings then it cuts to dialogue inside then back to the landscape shot. However in the first shot the helicopter carries the number "28" on the side. When it cuts back after the dialogue it has "29" on the side of it. (01:36:35 - 01:40:00)
Character mistake: As Declan and his spotter see the Jackal's van, the spotter states that the range is it's at is 762 meters. But in the shots showing the van and their position, it is much closer than that. It's possible they meant 76.2 meters, a much more reasonable number. (01:43:05)
Other mistake: The heavy caliber high powered mounted machine gun in the minivan with such a high cyclic rate would have recoiled so violently, that not only would the glass in the minivan shatter but it would have rocked the vehicle and kicked it around so that its shots would have been wild and all over the place after the first shot. Unlike how it's shown in the film. We are dealing with a 14.5 MM rapid fire cannon here. And when the gas tank is shot, the van isn't even shaking as the weapon is still firing. (01:43:50)
Revealing mistake: After the Jackal's van and weapon are destroyed, we get a shot of Preston and the First Lady on the ground as they are helped up. There is lots or concrete rubble around them from the building, however you can tell it is obviously just made of foam. Especially the way Preston knocks it around as he's getting up. (01:44:35)
Continuity mistake: Near the end of the movie, the Jackal tries to kill the first lady in Washington. This is where the hospital opening takes place. When he flees into the subway station, the name it has is indeed of a station in Washington (Capitol Heights), the subway-cars however are from the Montreal subway system (which ride around on rubber tyres). (01:45:10 - 01:47:55)
Revealing mistake: Near the end of the film, when Bruce Willis is trying to escape into the Metro station, he swipes his fare card through the turnstile reader upside down - you can see the magnetic strip is visible above the slot. It still works anyway. (01:45:30)
Continuity mistake: At the end, when Richard Gere is following Bruce Willis in a crowded subway station, we see Gere from behind as he passes by an old lady. Then, we see it from the front, and he passes by the same lady again. (01:45:30)
Continuity mistake: Going down the escalator, Declan decides to jump off it and slide down the metal between like a slide as he can't get around the people. During the slide, there is a jump cut to a closer angle. Between these shots, most of the people on either side of him completely change positions and location. (01:46:10)
