Jump to:
Anachronisms (7) |
Audio/visual unsynchronised (5) |
Character error (3) |
Continuity (15) |
Crew or equipment visible (1) |
Errors in geography (1) |
Factual errors (17) |
Incorrectly regarded as goofs (1) |
Revealing mistakes (9) |
Spoilers (6)
Anachronisms
Near the beginning of the film (1999), Taya uses a type of cordless phone clearly labeled with the new lower case "at&t" logo that did not debut until 2005.
Chris Kyle enlisted in 1999, yet on his 2nd tour in Iraq (2004) someone in the movie calls him Chief. He didn't make Chief Petty Officer until just before he left the Navy in 2009, 5 years later.
Humvees throughout the movie are the original version. Late in 2006 General Dynamics started doing "Up Armour" retrofits in country to the vehicles adding heavier doors and bullet proof glass. Also there were snatch clevises added to the hinges which allowed the doors to be ripped off in emergencies. These should have been shown as the story evolved.
During the Iraqi war but after 2003, the US Army used the Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) instead of the M113 armored personnel carrier that was shown in fight that took place in Al-Sadr city.
On every MICH (ACH) helmet wearing by SEAL's we see OPS CORE VAS Shroud . This NVG mount did not exist at the time. OPS CORE was presented first time on SHOT SHOW in 2008.
There is a college basketball game on in the bar after Kyle returns home after his final tour. It shows a game with Renaldo Balkman playing for South Carolina. Balkman graduated in 2006, Chris Kyle's final tour was in 2008.
In the bar where Chris meets his wife, Fireball Whiskey is on the bar. Fireball Whiskey didn't hit the bar scene until 2011 or 2012 - at least not where it would hold a spot in the mix of bottles that were poured regularly.
Audio/visual unsynchronised
When artillery explosions are going off in the distant background, we see the flash of the explosions and hear the sound at the same time. In fact at that distance, the sound of the explosions would be delayed by several seconds.
Kyle uses a Knight's Armament M110 suppressor, which inaccurately portrays muzzle flashes when fired, even clearly in daylight, which a suppressor by definition is supposed to eliminate. Secondly, a real suppressed shot sounds more like a hard, loud *slap* rather than the *pew* sound as portrayed in the film.
When Kyle takes out the man who falls from a roof, the bang is heard before the whine of the bullet and its hit. Since Kyle use a high-velocity rifle, the bullet travels much faster than the sound of the rifle being fired. Hence, the bullet would whine by before the bang.
When Chris takes his infant daughter from Taya (after feeding) it is obvious that it is a doll and not a real infant. The baby is crying loudly but the action (or lack thereof) of the baby doesn't match.
The drone that does a flyby has the engine sound from a Cessna 172.
Character error
When Kyle dials his scope up to make his final shot, the cross hairs move up. In reality using the nightforce scope, the crosshairs should have moved down making Kyle reposition the rifle to align the bore and the crosshairs for the longer shot distance. IE crosshairs move down, you must re-aim to hit your target. In reality, the shooter cannot see any movement of the crosshairs as the view is fixed.
A trained military man would never point a weapon at another person, whether the weapon is "presumed unloaded" or not, unless he intended to use it. This rule is more fundamental than the rule about never leaving your weapon on the ground.
When Kyle is in the bar after his final tour. The flag over the bar is displayed incorrectly. The canton is supposed to be to the left as you look at it. The flag over the bar is displayed backwards. And is not proper flag etiquette.
Continuity
During a handful of scenes Mustafa is shown handling and cleaning a Russian Dragunov SVD. However whenever Mustafa is shown in combat he uses a Romanian made PSL-54C.
After nursing the baby, Taya zips up her sweatshirt. The camera then switches to Chris holding the baby. When the camera switches back to Taya, her sweatshirt is unzipped again.
During his first tour when he is watching the mother and young boy with the grenade, they show the top and front view of an M1A2 tank but the side view is of a different tank without ballistic skirts.
At the dinner table, Kyle keys in on the father's scraped elbow. But his elbow is visible several times before this scene and it's not red/scraped.
In the early scene of Chris at home with his wife, his upper arm tattoo is seen on the left arm and then the right arm.
When Chris Kyle meets a man he once saved in the mechanics shop, the camera zooms in on Chris holding his son by the shoulders where a watch is revealed by his sleeve. However the watch which is seen disappears in the next scene and then reappears again, even though their is no real movement of Chris' arms in order to raise or lower the sleeve.
After Kyle kills the militant with the RPG in Sadr City, the RPG launcher changes positions between shots.
When Chris is married he has a gold band on. At the nursery he bangs on the glass with a gold band, but at the BBQ he has a silver band with Gaelic markings.
The suicide bomber in the blue car: the rear-view mirror appears & disappears.
Chris sits at the table and Taya joins him and sits on the other side of the table. There is a glass of juice next to the green place mat, but when Taya stands up and moves to Chris, the glass is on the place mat.
When Chris first meets Taya in the bar her lipstick colour repeatedly changes between shots, from dark to very pale, and back again.
In "Tour Two" Chris is late boarding a Huey on the tarmac. The aircraft number, 401, is on the left sliding door. As the aircraft goes airborne, the number changes to 400.
After the soldier takes a ricochet round to the face and the team heads out again, the gunners shield has a Punisher style logo sprayed on. In one shot it is black logo on sand coloured background, and in others it's sand coloured logo on black background.
When the SEALs go out on a mission after 'Biggles' is shot, they are attacked by a group of insurgents in a car; after killing the insurgents, one of the HMMWVs crash into the car and then into a wall, fracturing and holing the left front edge of the vehicle and taking a rear-view mirror off. In the same scene when the convoy parked at the target building, the same HMMWV appears undamaged.
When Kyle is playing an arcade style game and wins a stuffed animal for Taya , the pier can be seen to the right with the ocean's waterline a good 100 yards behind them and they proceed to walk inland. As they continue their conversation, the camera cuts and they are now seen out over the water about halfway up the pier and walking towards shore.
Crew or equipment visible
Camera shadow visible when Chris meets his wife on the airfield after returning from Tour #1.
Errors in geography
When Kyle is in the Texas tire shop with his son the door he opens has a sign stating "This repair facility is registered with the state department of consumer affairs" and has the seal of the State of California on it.
Factual errors
When Kyle was watching the woman and child through his rifle scope, the camera shows him through the other end of the scope and his eye is magnified. In reality the opposite would happen, making his eye appear smaller.
During the military funeral, the American flag is handed off to the next of kin with the top of the triangle folded flag pointed towards the next of kin. This is incorrect. Proper military etiquette is to hand off the flag with the bottom edge of the folded flag towards the next of kin. Handing off the flag with the tip pointed towards the next of kin is called stabbing and is discouraged within the military honor guard community.
Chris Kyle is shown joining the SEALs after the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, and subsequently gives his age as 30 years old during training. However, the end of the film shows his birth year as 1974, which would have made him around 24 during his training.
The movie strongly implies that Kyle was motivated to enlist by seeing images of Americans killed in terrorist attacks. However, in his memoir, Chris Kyle indicates that he had always intended to join the military after finishing school.
During Chris Kyle's Navy Seal training prior to the 911 attack in 2001, it was revealed that he was 30 years old. However, Chris Kyle was born in 1974 and he would have been 27 in 2001.
The woman / child attacking the Marine tank and infantry unit with a grenade are using an RKG3 anti-tank grenade. The slow motion scene shows the grenade spinning in flight before hitting the ground. In reality this grenade has a parachute that is deployed in order to stabilize it in flight before hitting armor, and it does not spin.
Incorrect "Airborne" tab on uniform sleeve of Army shooters from the 75th Ranger Regiment. Though a unit on active jump status, the 75th Ranger-Scroll does not have have the Airborne tab attached to the uniform.
When introducing the enemy sniper Mustafa it is said that he was in the Olympics. It is then explained that he is not Iraqi, he was in fact representing Syria at the Olympics. Later we see Mustafa in his home and there is a photo of an Olympic medalists podium in the room.
In reality Syria has had only 1 Gold medal in Olympics history and it was won by a female in Athletics. Syria has only 2 other Olympic medals - in Wrestling and Boxing.
During the funeral service, one of the Navy personnel in the funeral detail is wearing an Expert Shooting Ribbon on his right side. This is incorrect as he should be wearing the Expert Shooting Medal on his left side and awards that do not have an associated medal are worn on the right side in the form of a ribbon.
During the beginning of the movie, you see an M1A1 Abrams tank go by with with no side blast panels. This is wrong as the M1A1 models all have blast panels all along the side over the wheels in order to protect them from attack. And actually every model M1 has them since the birth of the model in 1979. This is probably because the M1 Abrams depicted here is actually and older tank (probably M60 or M48 ) disguised as an Abrams, since there's a shot where the underside is visible and it is rounded instead of flat like an Abrams should.
When Chris and Taya are watching the news reporting of 9/11, it shows the second plane hitting the tower and then moments later, the building crumbling. These events occurred hours apart.
In the scene where the Humvee tire is showed stopping, the tire is a Goodyear Duratrac; however, Humvees use a version of the Goodyear Wrangler specifically made for the military.
When we see the view through the scope when he is tracking a moving target, the rifle should move as well; it never does.
When Kyle, off duty visits a comrade in the VA hospital, he's wearing a ball cap. As a Navy SEAL, and CPO, he would instinctively know this is a serious breach of protocol. In the Naval services, a cover (hat) is not worn in medical facilities, or in the galley, out of respect of the wounded and dying, except in very rare circumstances and on duty.
At the wedding, Jeff Kyle is wearing his Marine Corps dress blues. His cover (hat) is way too big on him and his hair is nearly out of regulation.
The SEALs go out on a mission to 'avenge' Biggles after he is hit on 3 HMMWVs, with an Army M113 Armored Personnel Carrier leading. In another book, Kyle wrote that on this mission, they went out on 2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles.
At about 1:47 into the movie, during the firefight after Kyle kills Mustafa, Kyle is shown multiple times leaning over the top of the building shooting. Well after the start of the firefight, and after he uses his M4, the ejection port cover is closed and then pops open when he fires a shot. The cover would have been opened at the first shot fired, and it's unlikely that he would have closed it in the middle of a fight.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
When Chris first Meets Taya in the bar scene, she first tells him her sister was married to a seal. She then says to Chris, "I'd never date a SEAL." Chris starts to walk away and she asks, "Where you going?" He says, "Well you said you'd never date a SEAL." She then says, "I said I'd never marry a SEAL." She never said I'd never marry a SEAL she just said her sister was married to a SEAL. However, Taya at first said that she'd never date a SEAL because she said that they're all full of themselves. Then, after Kyle explains to her that he's not full of himself because he'd lay down his life for his country, and Taya asks why, and Kyle told her that it was because it's the greatest country on earth and he'd do whatever he can to protect it, she liked that about him. So when Kyle started to walk away because she said that she'd never date a SEAL, Taya stopped him and changed her comment to she'd never marry a SEAL. Notice the smirk on her face when she changes her statement.
Revealing mistakes
Kyle and Taya's babies are obviously prop dolls. Although the daughter doll's hand was CG-animated to move while Sienna Miller was holding it, Bradley Cooper can be seen subtly moving its arm with his thumb to make it seem like it is moving. The filmmakers acknowledged this after numerous reviews noted the fake baby, with screenwriter Jason Hall saying, "Real baby #1 showed up with a fever. Real baby #2 was [a] no show."
While on a night mission, Kyle and marines entered an Iraqi's home and were invited to stay for dinner. The lights were on in the kitchen. There was a large window with its curtains wide open exposing everyone to sniper fire. The curtains would have been closed upon entering the kitchen.
Near the beginning of the film when the soldiers were being driven through a street in Iraq, the Arabic sign of a coffee shop is visible. A few seconds later, the same sign is seen again giving away the fact they they were going in rounds in a set made to mimic an Iraqi street.
When the Seal snipers are going on a mission to provide cover for Marines on patrol early in the movie, the first "Marine" out of the transport vehicle was wearing on his left shoulder the patch of the US Army 1st Cavalry Division, not a US Marine unit.
During some nighttime raids, just before entry into a lighted room, some of the actors had their night vision goggles (NVGs) set way too low on their face so that it was obvious they were looking "over" the actual tubes. In reality, you adjust the goggles so when you flip them down they sit right in front of your eyeballs.
When they were interrogating the sheikh, his pronunciation of Arabic was quite off. The actor playing the role is Iranian whose native language is Persian, therefore he was reciting foreign language words when speaking in Arabic.
When on the rooftop walking around in the hanging laundry the sheets and clothes all have creases in them as though they were just unfolded. Hanging laundry would not have any creases or folds.
The ammo on Kyle's arm has fired primers, but the bullets are still in the cases.
During the last battle on the rooftop, a drone is shown flying past the camera. The wingtips were sagging downward, not upward as the would when providing lift for the airborne
aircraft.
Spoilers
Anachronisms
At the end of the film, Chris Kyle's son is playing a Skylanders game with an Xbox One controller. In the film, this scene takes place on February 2, 2013, while the Xbox One wasn't released until late 2013.
Continuity
After Chris shoots a man that tried to fire an RPG at the vehicle near him, a boy picks up the RPG and aims it at the vehicle before dropping it. He drops the RPG to his right, quite away from the dead man's body. In the next shot, as the boy runs away, the RPG is right beside the dead man's body.
Factual errors
The movie depicts Mustafa as a major adversary for Kyle and credits Kyle with killing him. In reality, Chris Kyle had only heard rumors about Mustafa and in his memoirs says that another soldier killed someone who was believed to be Mustafa.
Kyle shoots a woman and child who are carrying a weapon, and is overcome with guilt afterwards and blinking back tears. In reality, according to Chris Kyle's memoir, the incident involved only a woman and he felt no guilt or remorse afterwards as he considered the woman "evil" and Iraqis to be "savages".
The movie depicts Kyle's longest range confirmed kill as sparking a firefight which caused Kyle to become disillusioned with his service. In reality, Chris Kyle's longest confirmed kill was against an insurgent armed with a rocket launcher and sparked no such firefight.
The Butcher of Ramadi was shown to be killed by Kyle. This is incorrect. The Butcher was delivered up to an American base by local Tribes alive and dropped in the dirt.