Plot hole: In the lobby of police headquarters, Danny Roman's lawyer tells him to make a deal with the prosecution. Danny turns to his wife Karen and tells her to wait in the car and he will be right back. Then he proceeds to go upstairs and overtake Niebaum's office. Much later when Chris Sabian is negotiating, Karen arrives on the scene wondering what's going on. How long was she waiting in the car? (00:28:35)
Suggested correction: This isn't a mistake. Karen (and anyone else still on the property) would have been sent away by the police once they became aware of the hostage incident. She went home to wait for Danny because she doesn't know he is the perpetrator. When she is called back to the scene by Sabian she wonders what is going on because she doesn't know that Danny has taken hostages in the building.
So she drove there with him and then just leaves him there? Lol. Can't see her just leaving without him since they drove there together. Even if people went around telling everyone to leave the area, I just can't see her not hanging around and waiting for him.
Factual error: Chris Sabian tells them to "Cut the electric, cut it now." Shortly afterwards Danny calls Chris on a cordless phone. Cordless phones only work if the base unit is powered, so Danny wouldn't have been able to make the call. This happens a few more times when they turn the power on and then off again. (01:17:40 - 01:20:30)
Continuity mistake: When Samuel L. Jackson tries to get into Niebaum's computer he lets the secretary tell him the password. The secretary tells him the code is C-I-COMG9. They type C-I-COM then when they cut back it says A014487G9. (01:22:15)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Samuel L. Jackson is walking by the stairwell to get J.T. Walsh, the SWAT team member is not handcuffed to the stairwell, and in fact is not seen in the room. A few seconds later, as Samuel L. Jackson is attempting to push him into the other room, the SWAT member is shown handcuffed to the stairwell. (01:42:11)
Factual error: Adam Beck says "Kill the lights, unit one." They just don't shut off a main breaker but they cut the main wires. Then shortly afterwards the lights are back on again. It would have taken an electrician hours to replace the cut wires to the power. (01:44:25)
Continuity mistake: In the scene at Niebaum's house you see Danny Roman sitting in front of a computer screen. Behind him Chris Sabian's plaid shirt is easily recognizable. However, in the next shot Chris is not standing behind Danny, but is at the door keeping watch. (02:02:10)
Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the movie, Frost comes out to tell everyone that Roman has been killed. We hear over the 2 way radio Sabian saying "Let's get you some help." Just before he says that, you can see in the background behind Frost that Sabian is already helping Roman out the door. Seconds later Sabian starts helping Roman out the door. (02:04:00)
Continuity mistake: At the end, the paramedics are taking Samuel L. Jackson into an ambulance. His head is toward the front of the ambulance but in the next shot, Jackson's head is at the back of the ambulance. (02:08:25)
Factual error: At the end, as Samuel L. Jackson is being put in the ambulance, it is standard practice to strap the patient to the gurney for safety reasons, which is not done - nor can any straps be seen as the ambulance pulls away.
Plot hole: In the final scene Sabian gives the bogus discs to Frost who crumbles them up. After Frost is shot outside, Sabian is helping Danny Roman out of the house, he is holding the discs in his hand. Since they couldn't find the real discs and the computer was destroyed what were these discs he was now holding?
Suggested correction: This isn't a plot hole. Danny is just holding presumably blank discs. They couldn't find the wiretaps so Sabian tricked Frost by pretending the discs he were holding were genuine. Since Frost admitted on the radio to everything and there are literally dozens of witnesses, they don't need the wiretaps anymore. Danny is just showing Frost exactly how Sabian tricked him: he's still alive and he was fooled by false evidence.
Factual error: Towards the end of the movie, just before he leaves the police headquarters, Danny Roman piles up a huge amount of office furniture as a barracade and ignites it with a grenade of some kind. The smoke detectors/sprinklers above the naked flames don't trigger for about three minutes.
Continuity mistake: In one scene Kevin Spacey goes up the building in a pair of dark trousers and comes down in a pair of light trousers.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of his seizure in Niebaum's office, Danny Roman handcuffs Niebaum to the arm of his chair. In subsequent shots, the latter's right, then left, then right hand is the one shackled.
Factual error: An ambulance would never be parked directly in front of a hostage scene, as shown at the end of the movie, because (a) the ambulance would have to arrive before the police, (b) that location puts both the medics and the ambulance itself in jeopardy if shots are fired, and (c) the ambulance would be blocked in by the numerous police vehicles and thus unable to quickly leave with a wounded patient.
Factual error: When Sabian views Niebaum's chair, you can see the bullet holes through the chair and into the desk behind it. The SWAT members were using 9mm MP5s, and they would use hollow point ammunition. Hollowpoints bloom when entering the body and do not pass through. Even if they used full metal jacket rounds, 9mm still wouldn't pass through a 250 lb man, a chair, and into a metal desk.
