Factual error: In the museum, Peter and his friends are real-time videos of live, moving biological specimens shot through 'the largest electron microscope on the Eastern seaboard'. You can't film live specimens in an electron microscope. The electron beam only works in a vacuum chamber, in which the specimen - invariably dead - is held. The microscope is identified as a scanning electron microscope - current technology - and nobody can fire an electron stream through air. The electrons will collide with gas molecules and scatter, ruining the image.
Factual error: The time period of the movie is 2054. There is an election day (April 22nd) that is on a billboard and then announced as a Tuesday. However, April 22nd, 2054 is actually on a Wednesday.
Factual error: A force of Russian Tu-22 Backfire bombers attacks the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) by sneaking in under the ship's radar. This is all well and good except that carriers usually don't use their own radar, they have Airborne Early Warning aircraft (E-2 Hawkeye's) that can see much further and not give away the carrier's position (let alone the F-14s which would be patrolling too) not to mention the fleet of destroyers other ships guarding the carrier. The whole point is, the US Navy practiced and planned for such a "carrier versus Backfire" battle for years. I guess in the interest of furthering the plot Hollywood has to ignore the immense measures the USN takes to protect those multi-billion dollar assets, not to mention the 5000+ sailors that man them.
Factual error: When Philby and Alexander are talking about Albert Einstein, Alexander mentions that Einstein is a patent clerk. The beginning of this movie takes place in the year 1899. Einstein was still in school and didn't become a patent clerk until 1902.
Factual error: During the scene in which Bond escapes from MI6 custody, after inducing a drop in heartbeat, he seizes the defibrillator paddles and uses them to shock the two male orderlies. However, only one of those paddles would have administered a shock. The other one is only there to form a circuit for the electric charge. Therefore, at best, it should only have shocked one of the orderlies. (00:25:15)
Factual error: When they first pick up the Mona Lisa, they show the back. There you can see a canvas sheet over a wooden framework. However, the Mona Lisa is painted directly onto wood, no canvas at all. The scan they run even says it's painted onto wood, despite visual evidence to the contrary. (00:06:35)
Factual error: The movie is set in 1944, when there were only 48 states, yet we see many American flags with 50 stars, then 48, then back to 50 throughout the film.
Factual error: Xander puts a load of those sticky bombs on a line of motorbikes outside the bad guy's house. These bombs had a detonator switch, which Xander has. When he eventually sets them off, the motorbikes blow up in the order that he put the bombs on. These bombs didn't have timers or anything on them, so why would they blow up one by one and not all at the same time? (01:09:50 - 01:20:30)
Factual error: All the scenes which are supposed to play in Zürich were being shot in Prague, the capital of Czech Republic. The director didn't choose Zürich because the city was too clean for him. The signs on the walls are sometimes written in Czech language, and the people speak German with a strange (Czech) accent, not like someone from Zürich.
Factual error: As the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry lifts off from LZ X-Ray at the end of the battle, it can be seen that there are no more American troops left at the battlefield. However, by the time 1/7 CAV left LZ X-Ray, it had been relieved by two full battalions (2/7 CAV and 1/5 CAV). There were around 700 American soldiers occupying LZ X-Ray by the time 1/7 CAV lifted off.
Factual error: When the special forces arrive in the Station of the hive, the computer identifies the soldier`s weapons. The name under the picture is right, but the picture always shows an MP5, even at the soldier carrying a G36 Assault rifle. (00:19:20)
Factual error: All swords in this movie are made from steel, and in the beginning it's said that the film takes place years before the Pyramids were built (they were built around 3200 BC). Steel wouldn't be around for 2000 more years. (00:03:50 - 00:12:40)
Factual error: In the scene where MGySgt Beckett and his female Balkan contact are in the basement weapons storage area, he is searching for a sniper-capable weapon to use to rescue Sgt Cole his captors. He holds up an old rifle and refers to it as a "Mauser, 7.92mm, best rifle the Germans made". He is, in fact, holding a Soviet era Mosin-Nagant M1891 rifle, probably chambered in 7.62x54mm.
Factual error: When the archangels jump from the helicopter, the "bait" is looking behind him saying he can see the dragon. For a parajumper to look between his legs to view behind himself, he would de-arch and thus de-stabilise himself while travelling at that speed. It would send the jumper into a barrel-roll spin.
Factual error: The imprisoned Count is crawling through a tunnel with his neighbour prisoner leading the way. His neighbour prisoner has a lit candle showing the way, but when he breathes out, the candle goes out but the 'light' remains. You can clearly see smoke rising from the candle before the scene cuts away. (00:43:25)
Factual error: When the soldiers are bombing the camp site they only use grenade launchers and the explosions are huge, far too large for one grenade.
Factual error: When the house explodes, the only survivors were Private Cooper and the dog, who were hiding in the cellar. With an explosion big enough to destroy the house, the cellar would have been destroyed too, if not from the fireball then definitely from the shockwave. (01:35:00)
Factual error: In the scene where Lucy Lui blows up Vancouver city police cars they are depicted as dark blue. Vancouver police are white and green.
Factual error: In the scene where Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins are driving through the woods with the bomb, they crash head on into a tree. The car they are driving is quite obviously a new model, but the air bags don't deploy. They also crash again when they go over the bank at the end of the field, and again, the air bags don't deploy.
Factual error: The spiders shown in the movie have no adhesive pads like real spiders, but only sharp points on the tips of their legs. Given the mutation, this is possible, but without their gripping apparatus, they should not be able to climb up anything. (01:00:10)