Corrected entry: When a car is blown up on a street, not only do you see the explosion, but also the black roll-over cannon that was used to give the car its lift off.
Corrected entry: When Jack swims towards the edge of the tar pool it's visible that he swims through a channel filled with black water rather than a actual pool as you can see it spill over the edges and flow back inside.
Correction: Much of the action and scenery in the movie-within-the-movie was intended to look faked and staged to emphasize the ridiculousness of the "fictional" world (for example, Jack wiping himself clean of the tar with a single paper towel).
Corrected entry: When the stick of dynamite falls in Slater's car, he goes onto two wheels to get the dynamite in his hands. When he first goes on the two wheels, if you pause it, you can see the face of the stuntman. (Noticeable more in full-screen video and widescreen DVD.).
Correction: If you need to pause the film to see the stuntman, it is not a movie mistake.
Corrected entry: In the car chase scene, the black van that is chasing Jack & Danny follows Jack's car up the side of the bridge and lifts into the air. However, the car begins to catch fire/explode before it hits the ground, where really the impact of hitting the ground is suppose to cause the explosion. (00:29:50)
Correction: That's the point. In real life the van obviously wouldn't explode in midair, but the scene is intended to look unrealistic to show it's a movie.
Corrected entry: When Danny is trying to convince Slater that he is in a movie during the Blockbuster scene, Slater states that everyone in LA has a phone number that starts with 555. Danny says that there can only be 9,999 phone numbers in the city with 8 million people. However, he forgot to take into account the number 555-0000 which would make 10,000 total numbers available instead of 9,999.
Correction: This is just an error on Danny's part. He was thinking quickly, and simply missed one option.
Corrected entry: When Jack Slater and Danny Madigan go into the LAPD station, there is a fountain bearing the seal of the City of Los Angeles. On the actual seal, there is a bear on the upper right corner (to match the California state flag) but on the fountain, there is a rhino. (00:32:15)
Correction: That's the "movie" version of Los Angeles; it doesn't have to match the "real" city in every aspect.
Corrected entry: When it is the scene of the rooftop funeral we see a scene of the camera circling the building. There is something on the window of the helicopter (which can be seen again later) that keeps getting in the way of the left camera.
Correction: That is actually the security helicopter that later fires on Arnie in the elevator. Its a point-of-view shot from one of the people in the chopper. The thing that is in and out of the shot a few times is an air hole in the window. Seems like a mistake, until you see the chopper is part of the action later.
Corrected entry: When Jack is in the elevator we see the door open, Jack duck and the chopper shoot all the wrong men. When the door closes again we see bullet marks everywhere which couldn't have happened as the door was in the wall at the time.
Correction: If you will look carefully toward the sides of the doors as the bad guys are being shot, you will see that the bullets coming from the helicopter actually penetrate and go through the metal doors. In addition, the doors do not completely enter the shaft before the shooting starts, so it makes complete sense for the doors to have holes in several different places.
Corrected entry: When Jack falls in the tar pool Whitney comes in with clean clothes about 30 seconds after it happened. So how could she find out about it, drive over to their new house, get the clothes then drive over to the tar pool in 30 seconds?
Correction: That's the point the filmmakers wanted to make. They wanted us to remember that it is a movie (within the movie), so they deliberately added mistakes and illogical happenings. Besides, Whitney knows that her father needs new clothes, cars, ammo and other equipment on a regular basis. She could just pop by with stuff in case he needed it occasionally. Cheesy, yes, but not more so than shooting a closet because "there's always a guy in there" and being right.
Also, When Whitney says she has new clothes for her father Danny says "Doesn't anyone find this just a little convenient", expressing his disbelief that she should be there so quickly as it would only happen in the movies, not real life.
Corrected entry: Just before the kid leaves and is robbed at his house, he shuts his book and gets into his shoes. He just slides into his shoes in a "cool" way, but it's not really possible the way he does it. It was done by having him take the shoes off and then reversing the shot.
Correction: How exactly is that impossible? I've done it before. It all depends on how broken in the shoes are. Given how poor he and his mother are, it seems likely he's had them for quite a while.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Arnold crashes into the taxi cab, he says 'this is a 1989 Mercury Sable, standard driver's side airbag.' An airbag was not available on that model until 1990.
Correction: Character mistake, not really a movie mistake. Besides which, if the car was built in, say, November 1989, the serial number plate would show a date of 11/89, but in fact, it would most likely be a 1990 model year vehicle. Arnold's character could have seen the year, and mistakenly identified it as a 1989.
Corrected entry: When Jack drives through the pond you very see a hubcap come off. When he drives out all four are on.
Correction: Both, front & rear hubcabs, fall off. Front when driving past the fence. Rear when car hits the water revealing white wheels.
Correction: You mean during the movie with Jack Slater? Yes, it is a spoof of all action movies with typical Hollywood action movie cliches, including all kinds of 'rigged' explosions. Note the references of "how things happen in the real world" towards the end of the movie.
XIII