AD

2nd Dec 2013

The L Word (2004)

Let's Get This Party Started - S5-E4

Factual error: Two U.S. Army officers arrive at Alice's apartment to question her about her suspected homosexual relationship with Tasha and then start going through her apartment looking for signs of the relationship. In reality, this would be highly illegal and out of the authority of the Army, considering Alice is a civilian with no ties to the military. No JAG lawyer worth his salt would even consider ordering something like this because it would open the Army up to a very embarrassing lawsuit and could potentially lead to harassment charges against the officers as well.

AD

13th Feb 2013

Melancholia (2011)

Factual error: The movie's final scene spectacularly shows planet Melancholia colliding with the Earth, causing the destruction of the planet and everybody dying. The problem is that, in reality, tidal forces from Melancholia would have at a minimum caused extreme natural disasters when the planet made its first pass of Earth. When it turned around to come back (another mistake in itself considering powerful gravity forces would have been needed to cause the planet to do a 180 to hit the Earth), entering Melancholia's Roche limit would have destroyed all life on Earth before actual impact and may have torn the Earth itself apart before the actual collision.

AD

1st Jun 2012

Battleship (2012)

Factual error: How does the main hero Lieutenant Alex Hopper even get into the Navy as an officer in the first place with a felony breaking and entering on his record? You need at least a Secret clearance and a good moral background to commission as an officer, neither of which would be something Alex can get with a felony on his record.

AD

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

Suggested correction: He was enlisted prior to becoming an officer. You can get a waiver for a lot of things in the Navy, especially with a good record as enlisted.

This entry was already previously corrected for the same reason (arguing that Alex got a criminal waiver) and returned to being a mistake after more details were submitted. The issue isn't joining the Navy; it's being granted a security clearance required for commissioning as an officer with the felony on his record. It may have eventually been possible for him to get a waiver to commission after an extended period of time, but not within the movie's timeframe between his brother ordering him to join in 2005 and the start of the 2012 portion of the movie showing him already being a lieutenant long enough to be eligible for promotion to lieutenant commander at the end of the movie. Even if we assume they ignored the minimum time requirements to promote to lieutenant commander as a reward for his heroism, there's still the matter of how long he would have needed to be an officer to get to lieutenant in the first place prior to the invasion.

AD

You can get felonies reduced to misdemeanors after completion of things like probation or several years of good conduct in the military.

While it is true that some felonies can be reduced after meeting certain conditions put in place by the court, that doesn't change the fact that the original conviction would be what the military would look at when determining whether or not to give him the security clearance he needed to apply to be an officer. Assuming he joined immediately after he was arrested (which in itself is nearly impossible; while you can get a criminal waiver to join after you complete your sentence, joining the military in lieu of going to jail isn't something the military allowed since after the Vietnam War), that still gives him less than seven years to do his enlisted time, get waivers approved to get a clearance with a felony conviction, go to OCS, and get promoted to O-3 all before the invasion.

AD

15th Jun 2006

X-Men 3 (2006)

Factual error: After the troops are mobilized to fight against the Brotherhood and guard the cure clinics, they make a big show of them turning in their M16s and other metallic items and getting their plastic weapons so Magneto can't use the metal against them. But they wouldn't have had their M16s, to begin with; you pick up your weapon after you arrive for mobilization at your unit. They would have shown up unarmed and then had the plastic weapons issued to them right after they reported for duty. (Most likely, the scene was made just to get the point across to the audience that they need to get rid of all metal and to look flashy). Prior to the President responding to Magneto's declaration of war by mobilizing the troops, the cure clinics were guarded by civilian law enforcement, not US troops.

AD

24th Feb 2006

Rules of Engagement (2000)

Factual error: When Samuel L. Jackson stopped to salute the lowering of the flag, the first song of the Retreat Ceremony (Retreat) was playing. On real military bases, the flag stays in place during the first song while all military members are required to stand at the position of Attention (unless they are standing in formation; which the person in charge of the formation will give the command of Parade Rest) and at the playing of the second song (To The Colors) the flag is lowered, and they are required to salute.

AD