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Character mistake: John Gleeson Connolly appears in the final credits as Lt. Alabama 'Bama' Cobb, but during the movie he's always called "Sergeant." When it's XXX to call him like that, adding that he was too dumb to make Captain, it's logical, as he'd basically address him as the rank they had when they served together and belittles him for not jumping in ranks all that much, but even the General addresses him as such in the Capitol Hill shootout. (01:18:30)

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Plot hole: The last part of the movie focuses entirely on what will happen to the President, but as per the villain's plan (wrong and incomplete, but it's another issue) he needed to kill also the VP and the others before him in the succession. The bad guy already lost 20 minutes before the end of the movie but the movie refuses to tell us the obvious and it's simply swept under the rug or forgotten. (01:16:20)

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Plot hole: General George Deckert orders his men to kill the President "Get rid of him", but once this execution, that would make perfect sense in the context of his plan, is interrupted by the cannon shot he spends all the rest of the movie until the very end to drag the President with him for no reason. The longer he keeps him hostage, the more difficult for him it is to cover the story up in any way. (01:18:00)

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Continuity mistake: When the President realises who's behind the coup, he walks towards him.asking "Are you doing this?" His hair is just fine and very Presidential, but when a cut later he asks "Are you familiar with the word 'treason'?" his hair is messy on his forehead. (01:15:10)

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Continuity mistake: Darius and his posse start their assault on the renegades. They drive on the sidewalk and are about to crash into the road block. In the POV shot there's just a couple of soldiers in their way, who move rapidly out of the way. The next shot shows the same spot but on top of 2 soldiers who still have to move out, there's also a construction worker with a hard hat and more people. (01:13:00)

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Revealing mistake: When XXX and his friends open the cheese truck, look into it and let Toby work his magic, you can see in the distance above the black SUV the cars blocking the road to allow filming. (01:08:30)

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Factual error: From the title itself it should be clear that the movie is set when the President is giving the State of the Union address, which is in the middle of winter (end of Jan, approx). The movie has been shot between June and October, and it shows, since everywhere in Virginia the trees and lawns are in full green and people wear for the most part light clothes.

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Continuity mistake: In the silly scene of the two truck drivers getting out to offer some assistance to the skanks, look when the one in red says "Hi boys." The one in white has her hand on her hip, but in the reverse shot she's playing with her hair at shoulder-length. Meanwhile the truck driver tips his hat, but in the next shot his hand is to his side. (01:08:00)

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Continuity mistake: Toby is dangling off the car from his suction glove in a different position between shots - in particular when he begs Lola he has his free hand on the door and immediately after he has not. (01:07:20)

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Plot hole: The whole premise of the movie and Deckert's plot is moot; as Steele exposits, Deckert, who is the Secretary of Defense, wants to put in the same spot "President, VP, Speaker of the House, Secretary of State." Because, it's "The chain of command. He takes them out, he's what?" Simply, he's NOTHING, because the Presidential Succession includes before the Secretary of Defense the President of the Senate (higher than the Secretary of State) and the Secretary of the Treasury. Deckert's plan was useless. (01:03:55)

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Continuity mistake: Steele comfortably waltzes into Darius' hideout surprising everyone. He mentions some car magic he figured out by ear; notice Michael Roof has some tool between his teeth. "I didn't always wear a suit", Speedman says, and when the camera is back on Roof, he's not goofing around with things in his mouth anymore, but it comes back again when the same camera angle as before is used again. (01:03:30)

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Factual error: In this movie, it's the Secretary of Defense who picks the security detail for the President, but it's of course the Secret Service who does so, which is in no way in the same chain of command. (01:00:00)

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Audio problem: At the NSA, General George Deckert asks Kyle what did Stone tell him when they spoke. Kyle replies "He didn't say much", and in the following reverse shot you can see Scott Speedman's jaw as he's speaking, but no sound is heard. (01:02:15)

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Character mistake: At the party, George Deckert tries to sway his old army buddy and convince him to join the coup. He says "With or without you. Three days." Within minutes he gets killed. Day after, Stone goes to the air carrier. Then the day after is the State of the Union day, when the coup takes place. Not 'three days' then, but two. (00:38:50 - 00:58:20)

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Other mistake: During the infiltration in the carrier, Ice Cube steals an M2 Bradley and drives it around damaged for an extended period of time; the flames keep burning with different intensity always at the same spots; one wonders what makes the same point of the armor and the very bottom corner of the back ramp for so long, without spreading at all. (00:56:00)

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Factual error: XXX took a hit in his M2 Bradley and to get out of the predicament he rams the other tank, muscling it off its way and into the wall with crushing force. You don't need to look the tank specs up to see that something is wrong there, because tanks are fairly grounded vehicles not easily shaken off, and one looks much much smaller than the other; in fact the M2 Bradley is bit less than 30 tons and the bad guys' Abrams is around 60 tons. With this kind of disparity, not even Ice Cube's bulk can make the difference. (00:56:00)

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Revealing mistake: Aboard his M2 Bradley Stone dodges the other tank's cannon shot, which destroys the helicopter without piercing its outer frame; the helicopter simply implodes. (00:55:10)

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Revealing mistake: On the receiving end of a prison sex joke, 'Sergeant' Cobb shouts irate to his men to kill Stone. An RPG is fired at him but Stone apparently makes a tank as maneuverable as a bike and just dodges it. The rocket hits a truck, but if you look at the trajectory, the CGI rocket gets inside the truck making it explode from the inside without breaking the side of the truck itself, which is pure witchcraft. (00:54:45)

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Character mistake: Darius in his waiter suit arrives at the party and goes past two officers with flags. At the back of the room there are sequined versions of the flags hanging as banners; the US flag is displayed 'backwards', as the union section should be in the top left. With an official event with generals and top level official government brass present, that's a flagrant breach of etiquette. (00:37:20)

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Audio problem: When Stone runs away from the cells where Gibbons, Harris and Jackson are, there's a guard in his pursuit super-close, but in the next shot he's battling a guard to the totally opposite end of the corridor - if he locked the door or managed to kick the guy back, we did not get to hear it, only Samuel Jackson yelling. (00:53:20)

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