Continuity mistake: When George Clooney jumps over the bridge after the van, he has a big cut on one side of his face, yet in another shot it is on the other side. Then it goes back to its original position.
Factual error: When the truck carrying the nukes is being tracked by a spy satellite we see a view of the vehicle that is meant to be from high up in the atmosphere. After the truck has left the convoy and is moving along a road in a valley, the perspective of the passing countryside would suggest that the shot is taken from a low flying helicopter, certainly not a satellite.
Other mistake: The Digital logo on the laptop has been turned upside down especially for the film, since the logo would otherwise show upside down to the camera when the laptop is in use (most laptops are the same - the logo is the right way up to the user when the lid is shut).
Continuity mistake: In one scene the right upper cheek and temple area of George Clooney's face is seen with a large reddish purple scrape. That area is miraculously healed in the next scene, which takes place only a few hours later.
Continuity mistake: When George Clooney is fighting in the truck, there is blood on his left temple. Henceforth, when he is standing on the bridge, the injury is on his right temple.
Other mistake: At the beginning of the film, during roll call on the platform, soldiers being put to attention should be given the Russian "smirno" command. They are given American "ten-hut" instead.
Factual error: "Lieutenant" Beach is actually wearing the rank of a Warrant Officer 4 (WO4) on his collar and head gear (beret). (01:00:02)
Factual error: In a briefing room the branches of service are incorrectly lined up in incorrect order and should be Army, Marines Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard.
Factual error: When Dusan, the Bosnian terroist, arrives in the U.S. the text reads LaGuardia Airport. An international flight would have landed at JFK or Newark. Dusan also views downtown Manhattan on the left side of the plane heading east, which is towards JFK. (01:29:00)
Other mistake: When Kelly asks Sgt. Beach how much time is left to track the truck, he says "45 minutes" but if you look at the screen showing how much time is left it is nearly two hours.
Other mistake: Early in the film, LTC Tom Devoe takes a fax of the alleged missile train departure orders off the machine, and starts reading it as he walks to Dr. Julia Kelley's office, taking a moment or so to reach the office. After talking with Dr. Kelley for a moment, he still scans the list looking over her shoulder. After he walks away, Dr. Kelley reads aloud Kordurov as the second name on the list. Wouldn't Devoe have recognized the name as he scanned the list before he gave it to Dr. Kelley? (00:28:55 - 00:29:45)
Visible crew/equipment: When George and Nicole are kneeling down beside a car with bullets and flames all around them, a reflection of a crew member pouring an accelerant on the ground is visible in the hubcap.
Continuity mistake: During the Vienna chase, the guys in the black cars are behind a red van, and the red van passes the side street where Tom pulled into, yet from Tom's POV it's passing again. (00:47:50)
Revealing mistake: At the end of the movie when Dusan sets the bomb for a time to blow up, he also sets his wristwatch, but if you look closely at the watch, he hasn't set it to a timer/stopwatch. (01:31:15)
Factual error: The German text on the screen in Vienna has many small spelling errors. 1.) Under the sign of printing you read the English "Quantity" and the German "Betrag" (Amount) in the same invoice 2.) Under the search bar you first read the wrong word "Schen", one minute later the right "Suchen" (Searching) (00:44:05)
Continuity mistake: At one point during the big car chase the boot of George Clooney's car is opened by a collision. A couple of shots later it is closed.
Continuity mistake: When George Clooney is waiting for permission to enter Russian airspace in the helicopter, you can see all three choppers hover about 2 meters above the ground, but in following scenes, they are at much greater heights. (01:06:50)
Continuity mistake: When Julia is first seen she is explaining the satellite images to a guy, and in one particular shot she holds the photograph near the bottom of it. Then in the following shot of the photo, her hand has moved up to the top of the photo. (00:18:25)
Answer: Presumably they couldn't take the risk that removing the wire would stop that plate detonating, and/or were worried that there might be a failsafe to detect a wire being cut. Physically removing the charge seemed like the safer bet.
Jon Sandys ★