Dame Helen Mirren had to learn how to shoot a gun without blinking so as to look more like an experienced killer. (Blinking was one of the main reasons why the stars in The Matrix trilogy wore sunglasses to mask their involuntary reactions.)

Karl Urban nicked Bruce Willis with the cup he throws at him in their fight scene, because he threw it faster than Willis expected. You can see the slight look of surprise on Willis' face in the scene.

John Malkovich read the first forty pages of the script and liked it, but he asked his agent why he was up for the role of Frank. His agent said that he'd been reading the wrong lines. He was up for the role of Marvin instead.

Dame Helen Mirren largely signed on because she wanted to work with Bruce Willis.

Frank Moses' birth date in the dossier is revealed as March 19, 1955, which is Bruce Willis' real birth date.

Continuity

At the waterfront cafe Marvin notes the registration of the helicopter that follows them as November-9-7-4-5. Later at the airport the same helicopter is identified by him as November-9-7-4-8. Same number can also be seen on the helicopter.

When Frank Moses goes to Eagle's Nest he has a wound next to his right eye. When he speaks with the woman in the house and the camera goes back to Frank - the wound is gone.

When Frank and Sarah leave the CIA building, the body style of the black Humvee they are standing in front of changes between shots.

During the vice president party shoot-out, Victoria (Helen Mirren)'s lipstick keeps changing.

The main character of "Love's Savage Secret", which Frank and Sarah read early on, is spelled "Rinaldo" in the visible pages of the book, but "Renaldo" on the back cover.



Factual errors

The eagle on the doorplate of the Russian embassy has one head. The eagle on the real Russian coat of arms is two-headed.

When the team traps the Vice-President's group in the parking garage, Victoria (Helen Mirren) is firing a 50 caliber machine gun at the group to keep them pinned down. An ammunition can is visible hanging off the weapon's left side. The armor-piercing ammunition readily pierces the vehicles. The 50 caliber weapon is a belt-fed machine gun. Its large ammunition (5.45" in length) is usually fed from an ammunition can weighing 35 pounds and holding 100 rounds. The weapon at the sustained high rate of fire shown would be firing 450-550 rounds per minute, requiring it to be reloaded with a new can about every 13 seconds. Before and after the VP's security team flanks the weapon and discover it is unmanned, it has been firing for at least 30 seconds without being reloaded. The armor-piercing ammunition would not only have easily penetrated the vehicles but the people hiding behind them.

When Sarah finds the location for Gabriel Singer, she says he is Mobile. However, she pronounces it "Mobil" (like the old gasoline company). It should be pronounced "mobeel" with a long "e".

In the Ballroom after Stanton's announcement while they are showing the dancing, the large flag projected on the back wall of the stage is completely wrong. Not enough stars or stripes. Additionally, the flag hung on the wall behind Victoria and Ivan is hung backwards.

When Frank Moses radios in the description from the Police car he was driving after rescuing Sarah, he said "Driving a Black Chevy Tahoe" but it was actually a Black GMC Yukon.



Incorrectly regarded as goofs

When Joe is introducing Victoria to Sara He says, "she is an artist with an RPN", some might think this is a mistake thinking it should be RPG. Others might think, because she is dressed in white and is going to extract Frank's bullet, that she has an "RN" or that it is something like "LPN" ("RPN" would be 'Registered Practical Nurse'). It is probably not a mistake. When referring to RPN and "being an artist with an RPN" they are most likely referring to a series light machine gun (Ruchnoy Pulemyot Nikonova) similar to an RPK.

At one point, Marvin says "switch the flip" instead of "flip the switch." This is probably intentional; he is supposed to be insane.

The scene outside of the Chicago Fairmont hotel displays a Canadian flag, regarded as a goof because the scene was shot in Toronto. However, Fairmont is a Canadian hotel chain, so it would not be unusual for them to fly their national flag on their foreign properties, including Chicago.

When Frank Moses enters the deep file room under the CIA headquarters he kicks a hole next to the door and opens the lock from the inside. When he opens the door and is greeted by Henry there is no damage next to the door on the inside wall. This is because he doesn't kick all the way through the wall. He only kicks through to the door controls which are inside the wall.

When Sarah is in the CIA building cafeteria she is reading Forbes - upside down. it's intended to show that she's so nervous she isn't paying attention to what she's doing.



Revealing mistakes

When the CD recording of Alexander Dunning's humanitarian sales pitch skips, it skips like a slowly revolving vinyl record would skip, not like a rapid, stuttering digital CD skip.

The Plantronics hands-free headset that Sarah uses in her office has a red indicator light on the end of the microphone boom. The light is supposed to be off when the phone is not connected, flashing when the caller is on hold and constant-on when connected normally. However, every time Sarah is shown talking to Frank, the light is flashing, indicating that the phone is actually on hold.

At the beginning of the movie, you see Christmas decorations, but when Frank opens his Social Security check, the date on the check is March 1, 2011.

When Frank moves his hands down after Cooper cuffs him you can see the handcuff open on its own showing that it was never locked around his wrist.

Frank wakes up at 6:00 in the opening scene (according to the bedroom clock). It is supposed to be Christmas time. At that time of year (in the USA) it would be dark out at 6:00 (a.m. or p.m.) yet there are signs of daylight in his unlit home.



Miscellaneous

At the beginning of the shootout at Mobile Airport, when Gabriel Singer is shot and laying on the floor, his arms change position between shots from both laying at his sides to his right arm turned up and his left arm resting on his chest.

When Victoria uses the machine gun at the hotel, she's wearing a white dress. She would have been covered in gunshot residue, yet nothing is on her dress.

When Frank takes the police car in New Orleans and makes the "officer down" call, he states that the suspect (Cooper) is driving a Tahoe. The vehicle used was a GMC Yukon, not a Chevrolet Tahoe, but they are nearly identical vehicles made in the same assembly plant, so the Yukon is commonly referred to as a Tahoe.

When Sarah arrives home from her date she gets a can of Corona Extra beer out of her refrigerator. She takes two sips of it before she's surprised by Frank being in the apartment. She immediately throws the can of beer at him and it hits the wall behind him. It's obvious by the sound that the can is now suddenly empty and dry.



Errors in geography

The address on Frank's check says Parma Heights, yet he puts out a City of Cleveland trash can.

When the characters leave New Orleans and the postcard says "Mobile, Alabama", the characters are actually walking through the train station in New Orleans.

Mountains are seen outside the window of the airport control tower in Mobile, Alabama.

When the outside of the hotel in which the VP gives his speech is shown, you can see a large Canadian flag. This is because even though the scene is supposed to take place in Chicago, the location is The Royal York Hotel, located in Toronto, Canada.

The airport in the film portrayed as being in "Mobile, Alabama" is actually far larger than either of the real Mobile airports, both of which are regional airports and experience relatively light traffic. Additionally, neither airport is close to Mobile's port facility meaning that the container farm where the shootout occurs would not be possible.



Plot holes

It's interesting -how Marvin is able to walk through an airport while carrying a very large handgun.

Apparently Cleveland, Ohio is the most lawless city in America when hundreds of bullets are fired into a house and neither the neighbors nor the police are the least bit interested.



Character error

When "General" Moses is challenged by armed guards, they give him a hand salute. Armed guards in the performance of their duty would not lower their weapons to hand salute anyone, and these guards in particular are not military service members so they are not required to salute anyone under any circumstances.

When Frank takes the police car in New Orleans and makes the "officer down" call, he states that the suspect (Cooper) is driving a Tahoe. The vehicle used was a GMC Yukon, not a Chevrolet Tahoe.

Frank's decision to wear a US Army General Officer's uniform is an interesting choice for infiltrating the CIA headquarters. The CIA is not actually part of the Department of Defense, so access for military personnel would be granted on a case-by-case basis, and it is unlikely that any military personnel would have unrestricted access, let alone unaccompanied access. Frank wears the uniform of a four-star General, which is particularly risky since federal law restricts the number of four-star Generals that may be on active duty at any given time (the Army would have had around ten at the time of filming), and it is hardly beyond the realm of possibility that security personnel at CIA headquarters would be required to know each of them on site for exactly this reason. Next, while Frank does a good job of putting together a tailor-fitted Army Class-A uniform on short notice (particularly for a film), he does make a number of errors: 1) He does not wear any regimental insignia above his Meritorious Unit Commendation on the right side of his service jacket. This is particularly important to an Army General Officer since by definition they do not wear branch insignia, and a General would want to display regimental affiliation to indicate his past branch. 2) For the number of campaign ribbons he wears (the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and the Iraq Campaign Medal) there are two items noticeably missing from his ribbon rack, namely a bronze numeral on his Overseas Service Ribbon (to denote multiple awards) and the NATO-ISAF Campaign Medal (universally awarded by NATO to US Military personnel who served in Afghanistan). 3) Assuming the film occurs during the period it was filmed, Frank should actually be wearing more individual awards. A US Army four-star General Officer who served during the Global War on Terror would almost certainly have been awarded at least one (each) Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Army Distinguished Service Medal, and Defense Superior Service Medal. The highest award Frank wears is the Legion of Merit. 4) Also noticeably absent is the Bronze Star, which is commonly awarded for meritorious service (or valor) in combat to Army personnel between the ranks of Sergeant First Class and Colonel. 5) Frank wears the Army Staff Identification Badge on the right side of his service jacket when it should be worn on the left side. Finally, for someone who is supposedly a Veteran of the US Marine Corps, Frank's salute is terrible.

When Frank calls in the alert on the police radio, he says the suspect is wearing a black suit and tie. When Cooper gets out of the car, his suit is dark blue and the tie is blue.