Unknown

Plot hole: After January Jones has just told Liam Neeson she doesn't recognise him. Neeson is trying to persuade Herr Strauss and two cops that he really is Dr Martin Harris of Langmore University, and suggests they look for a photo of him online. However, the cop using the computer says that it could take him ages to find a photo of Dr Martin Harris, as "there are more than 40 000 in the USA." This is very true, but as Neeson has already told him not only his name but also his place of work (Langmore university) in reality the cop would have found the photo far more quickly.

swordfish

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Suggested correction: The average cop wouldn't be that quick to realise that he could filter the results. Instead of being a plot hole, this is simply a very human initial response to an initial search result.

ReRyRo

Plot hole: The Aldon Hotel is seriously damaged by the explosion including scenes in the lobby and ground floor as the principal characters are escaping. Yet, a press conference is held in the same hotel just days later announcing the scientific breakthrough.

bnemirow

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Mistakes

Character mistake: When the EMTs are resuscitating Dr. Harris, they use a defibrillator despite their being on a wet metal dock. Not only is this highly dangerous to absolutely everyone present, it would be completely ineffective at restarting his heart as the water and the metal would dissipate the electric current too much for it to do any good. At the very least, they would have stabilized his spine then moved him to a dry surface before beginning defibrillation. (00:08:30 - 00:09:10)

Phixius ★

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: External defibrillators are self grounded and so can be safely used on wet or metal surfaces. https://danboater.org/travel-health-and-safety/are-aeds-safe-to-use-in-wet-environments.html.

AEDs are indeed safe to use in wet areas - but in the film, it is not an AED that is used. AEDs are automated, and not operated by humans, so as to reduce risk. Your link explicitly states the rescuer must not have direct contact with the body: they just apply the pads, then move back. In the film, it is shown in detail that the medic applies the paddles and then operates them while still in contact with the body. The mistake stands: it's a traditional defibrillator, thus incorrectly used.

swordfish

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Quotes

Ernst Jürgen: We Germans are experts at forgetting. We forgot we were Nazis. Now we have forgotten 40 years of Communism - all gone.

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Trivia

Trivia: Throughout the movie if you look in the background at the various graffiti tags, one in particular stands out. Look for the tag OZ. In almost every scene that has graffiti on the walls you 'll see it somewhere in the background, sometimes more than once. Although it is common for graffiti artists to leave multiple marks in multiple areas, Berlin is a big city and it can be spotted too often for it to be coincidence.

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Questions

Question: Why do they simply kill dozens of people in the movie, but with him it has to be something long and drawn out, like poison in the hospital or drugs in the parking garage?

Answer: Because the killers need to make Liam Neeson's death look accidental. The police think Neeson is crazy, and is not telling the truth when he claims Liz is his wife. The police simply think that Neeson is mentally ill and so dismiss his stories and allegations as untrue. However, if Neeson is then found murdered, there is the possibility that the police think Neeson might have been telling the truth, investigate, and foil the villains' plot. Therefore, Neeson must be killed to stop him investigating - but he must he killed inauspiciously, so it looks like an accident, so as not to make the police suspicious. Thus the poison in hospital - hopefully it would be put down as a standard non suspicious hospital death. And the drugs in the car park at the end of the film are deliberately mentioned by Professor Rodney Cole as being essential in making Neeson's death look an accident. Cole says that Neeson will seem to have killed himself with heroin and so will not consider his death suspicious. So basically these elaborate ways of killing are in order to make Neeson's murder seem an accident and so not make the police investigate.

swordfish

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