Continuity mistake: After Don escapes from the house at the beginning of the film, the infected are right behind him. He manages to escape in the boat but when the following shots show the river, there is no sign of any bodies or blood (despite one infected being killed by the boats propeller) or any disturbances on the surface apart from waves being caused by the boat. There is no chance that the infected could have all gotten out of the river so quick (including the dead infected body) without leaving so much as a splash. (00:10:35)
Factual error: When the two kids are going back to their old house, they take a moped from an old pizza shop. The registration plate on said moped is 'KW54 JKO'. This would indicate that the moped was produced after September 2004, two years after the first outbreak. (00:31:20)
Visible crew/equipment: When the helicopter pilot watches the kids exiting their home, a cameraman is reflected on his sunglasses. (00:35:50)
Continuity mistake: When Andy gets sprayed with blood at the virus outbreak scene, when a sniper saves his life the blood splatter changes several times over the movie. (00:54:15)
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Doyle is talking to the helicopter pilot at the park, you can see another pilot on the left side of Doyle's head for a split second. (01:14:50)
Visible crew/equipment: When Jeremy Renner is pushing the car, a cameraman is visible behind him to his right. (01:20:10)
Factual error: There is a point where the children travel to their home to get some things. They travel to SOUTH London but as they near their home, look at Canary Wharf in the background! The positioning of the buildings show they are in the EAST towards Dagenham area.
Revealing mistake: During the scene where the military loses control of London, and their snipers are told "all targets are free", you can see heavy padding beneath Infected/civilian victims' shirts, etc, as they're shot. Presumably it's to stop them injuring themselves when they fall over, or to hold apparatus for the blood effects, but it's too bulky to be part of the characters' clothing.
Factual error: The aeroplane lands at London City Airport, although the passengers enter Stansted Airport.
Factual error: There is a point when the boy and girl are travelling to Canary Wharf. A couple of shots before they arrive there, you see the DLR train approach a bend (There is a white building to the left). This is approaching "South Quay Plaza" station. This station is two stations past Canary Wharf.
Revealing mistake: Fire proof gloves appear on Doyle's hands when he is on fire.
Audio problem: In the scene where Doyle, Scarlett and the kids jump into the Volvo estate to escape the gas and infected, a number of references are made to the car having a manual gearbox, i.e. "pop the clutch". Doyle puts the car into second gear and several shots of the gear lever are shown. However, when Doyle push starts the car and they drive off, listen carefully and you will hear the distinct sound of the gear change of an automatic box.
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Don is fleeing from the farmhouse he jumps into a boat, and there is a shot about 10:24 in where you can see him in the boat and the infected in the water. However you can also see someone sat in the boat with him, appearing to be holding a camera.
Other mistake: Towards the end of the film, as the two kids are escaping through the subway being guided through the night vision scope used by the army major, they are virtually blind and have to pick their way through dead bodies, escalators etc. This seems a bit unnecessary as the M4 rifle to which the night vision scope is attached also has a torch attached to the RIS rail. Military spec torches are extremely bright - why not just turn it on? They can't be worried about being spotted, because they are shouting at each other, not concerned with what might spot them.
Factual error: When Scarlet, Tammy and Andy enter the train station, there is a poster for Oyster Cards, which didn't get introduced until July 2003. This film is set 28 weeks after the occurence in 2002. There would be no need to update the train system, as London would have been in turmoil.
Factual error: This film takes place 24 weeks after the film "28 Days Later", which is approximately 6 months later. Yet in both films it's the middle of Summer.
Continuity mistake: Don attacks a man in the underground carpark and thumbs out his eyes as he did with his wife. The man gets up in the next shot perfectly OK.
Continuity mistake: When the plane lands at the airport, it is a Boeing 737 without winglets. When it taxis to the apron in the next shot, it is a Boeing 757. Then again it is a 737 with winglets, then without and finally with them.
Factual error: The route the children take to their house on the moped doesn't make sense - this is just to show the London landmarks.
Answer: I suspect that it's really not that simple. Remember that in the first film, Jim was lying alone in a hospital bed for some considerable time before waking to the deserted London. He would certainly not have smelt clean and fresh, yet he was still clearly detectable as prey by the infected. While being nice and clean makes it easy for them, it seems clear that it's not the sole indicator that triggers an attack.
Tailkinker ★