Knowing

Knowing (2009)

31 mistakes - chronological order

(15 votes)

Factual error: The 9/11 death toll of 2996 - which John Koestler notices on the sheet of numbers - is the overall total for that day's attacks. But it is next to New York's co-ordinates, and the other attack sites have their own entries with locations and death tolls.

Dristarg

Other mistake: He says his wife died in a hotel fire at 4 am, and then says he was blowing leaves when she died. Who blows leaves at 4 in the morning?

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Suggested correction: His wife died at 4 am in Phoenix, Arizona, while he was in Boston, Massachusetts.

Even with the time difference it's still pretty late to be blowing leaves.

Depending on the time of year, Boston can be three hours ahead of Phoenix. 7:00 AM is hardly too late to be blowing leaves.

Phaneron

Continuity mistake: Early in the film, Nicholas Cage is hitting the bottle. After pouring one or two drinks, he starts to pour another, nearly fills his glass, then spills it. Although the bottle is about half-empty at this point, the next time it is shown standing on a table, there is only a small amount remaining at the bottom.

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Suggested correction: There's no indication how much drink is in the bottle after he spills it. There's the correct amount of drink in every point of the scene.

Continuity mistake: When Ms. Thomas is showing them the time capsule, she pulls it out of a box. The box is on the floor when the capsule is put on the desk, and it is plain to see that the capsule would not have been able to fit in the box that is shown.

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Suggested correction: The capsule is laying in the box on the side. It's totally the same box in which the capsule was from the start, and there's no reason for the filmmakers to change it at all, it's always the right size to contain the capsule.

Continuity mistake: The day after John has discovered that the numbers refer to dates and number of deaths, he shows the sequence to his friend on a flat screen TV. On the left of the TV there is a pile of 4 DVD boxes with white labels. They are gone in the shot where John leaves the room.

ployp

Continuity mistake: When Nicolas Cage runs outside and yells at the elusive intruder, he hits the tree with his baseball bat, breaking in half. But a second later, after picking up his dropped flashlight, his bat is whole and unbroken.

Factual error: The envelopes and letters from the time capsule are in pristine condition after 50 years underground. Even the papers are crisp and unfaded.

Factual error: The aircraft that crashes in the movie is an Airbus A320-200, but however the wing strobe lights (white blinking lights on the end of the wings) are flashing in single phase (only flashing once a second), Airbus aircraft flash twice every second, only Boeing flicker once.

Revealing mistake: Right after the plane crash (when John is running to the crash site) you can see that the fire is C.G. because of the tracking errors.

SonicPhoenix

Continuity mistake: When Caleb and his father talk about his late mother on this bed while watching TV about tigers, watch the position of Caleb's head on the pillow. In close-ups, it is resting on the right edge. In medium shots, it is in the middle.

ployp

Continuity mistake: In the scene where there is heavy traffic on the road (before the plane crash), John gets out of his car to see what's going on. As he's making his way to the front, he passes a black pick-up truck. The camera angle changes, and you can see John pass the same truck again.

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Suggested correction: He never passes a black pick-up truck, the only minor flaw is he is shown a little further in the next shot from that truck, than he was in the previous shot.

Ted Myles: Stay with me. I know how this sounds, but I've mapped these numbers to the dates of every major global disaster from the last 50 years in perfect sequence. Earthquakes, fires, tsunamis... The next number on the chain predicts that tomorrow, somewhere on the planet,81 people are going to die, in some kind of tragedy.
Phil Bergman: Whoa. Just step back. Have another look at it! Systems that find meaning in numbers are a dime in dozen. Why? Because people see what they want to see.

More quotes from Knowing

Trivia: The first few disasters listed on the sheet are: Malpassat Dam, France (December 2nd 1959), Coalbrook Mine, South Africa (January 1st 1960), Agadir earthquake, Morocco (February 29th 1960), Valdivia earthquake, Chile (May 22nd 1960), asylum fire, Guatemala City (July 14th 1960) and Nedelin disaster, USSR (October 24th, 1960). Incidentally, Lucinda's listing of dates is inconsistent; sometimes she wrote them the American way (month before day), others day before month.

More trivia for Knowing

Question: Why, near the end of the film, does Caleb start writing numbers which are supposed to be predictions of future events, when the world is going to end?

Answer: Great question. Probably writing predictions for the "new" world.

Paul Van Scott

So did someone decode the list? Just for s* and giggles :).

Answer: I think Caleb started writing the numbers so he could tell his father the coordinates of the location he needed to take the children in a last ditch effort, since the girl whom originally wrote the numbers didn't complete them. He un-"knowing"-ly made the same mistake and interrupted him again.

More questions & answers from Knowing

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