Revealing mistake: While Bishop and Steve McKenna are practicing with various firearms, a slow-motion shot in the film of Steve shooting a .50 caliber rifle shows that, while the sequence depicts him firing "live" rounds, the extracted shell casing is from a "Blank" cartridge (evidenced by the crimped forward portion of the brass casing). (00:34:15)
Factual error: When Bishop and McKenna are discussing how to kill the preacher, Bishop states that epinephrine and adrenalin are a lethal combination; they are actually two different names for the same thing.
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Bishop gives Steve the first aid kit after Steve's first kill you can see a boom mic in the upper part of the screen. (00:48:25)
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Arthur and Steve visit the bar together, a mike is visible as Arthur gets his coat.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Bishop and Steven are being chased on the skyscraper, after killing Vaughn, Steven encounters a man coming out of a blue door. Steven disarms the man and fires 2 shots into him, yet there are 3 bullet holes in the door behind him.
Factual error: They are supposedly in Chicago when they are fighting on a high rise building. The building is actually the world trade building in New Orleans. Harrah's Casino and palm trees are visible when looking down in one scene.
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Arthur takes Steve to the arms dealer and suffocates him, a mike is visible several times.
Factual error: There is a night scene showing aircraft at the airport. Clearly shown are a Continental 747 and DC9. The tail colors are the old Continental "meatball" colors that were put on in 1968 and then changed to a blue & gold beginning in 1991. By the year 2000, Continental was no longer flying any 747's, and this film is set in modern times. (01:03:40)
Character mistake: 2 men are watching the cameras with Bishop rolling away from the exploding truck. One man says to watch camera 2, but they are actually showing 1 in the upper left corner.
Continuity mistake: In the end, when Steve McKenna is filling the car with gasoline, after he says it is Arthur's last chance for buying something in the shop, the gas hose is out of the car, and Steve is opening the cap, whilst he already started fuelling the car. Next shot, he takes the hose out, and displaces it.
Factual error: Lead bullets don't spark to ignite gasoline. Neither do copper jacketed bullets. The shot to the gasoline scene is purely Hollywood (or in this case, New Orleans) theatrics.
Factual error: In modern automobiles, like the late model BMW Bishop enters with a "slim-Jim" before the final chase, entry without use of the appropriate key or fob will result in the alarm going off and all the car's systems becoming disabled within 30 seconds. A tow to the dealer is then required. If Bishop had appropriate equipment to start the car, he would not need a "slim Jim" in the first place.
Continuity mistake: When Steve and Burke fight, Steve hits Burke with a brass fireplace shovel across the knee and then across the face. In the next shot, Steve stabs Burke repeatedly with a black fireplace poker he's suddenly holding instead.
Factual error: In the beginning, after killing the Cartel boss, Bishop makes his escape, and times his jump off a high bridge so he can hitch a ride with the boat below. Bishop lands in the water unscathed, but you can't jump into water from that high up without killing yourself, or doing yourself serious harm.
Other mistake: When Bishop kills the arms dealer while Steve McKenna looks on, he stands behind the guy and in one quick motion, rips off the belt cleanly from the guy's waist, then he strangles him with it. There is no way you could yank the belt off like that if it were buckled. And even then, the buckle is certain to snag or rip one or more belt loops before you can pull it off.
Continuity mistake: The pearl handled gun that Harry Mckenna pulls out of the garage has stamped on the right side, Auto-Ordnance Corp, West Marley NY and a serial number of TGM10263. At the end of the movie, when Steve Mckenna dies and the gun is on the ground, it is a different gun. Now on the right side it has stamped, United Stated Property M1911 US Army and a serial number of 949186. (00:20:55 - 01:25:35)
