Spy Game (2001)

◄ Spy Game (2001)

Anachronisms

Late-1990s vintage computers and monitors appear in the scenes set in 1985 (the embassy in Beirut) and 1991 (the CIA headquarters).
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While in Lebanon in 1985, Tom is wearing a style of San Diego Padres hat that did not exist until the early 1990s.
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The cellphone that Muir uses was not available in 1991 when the movie was set. First models in the Nokia 2100 series were available during the summer of 1994, many other 21xx models much later on in America.
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By April 1975, the US air base at Danang had been evacuated
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The opening to Baywatch being watched by the businessmen shows a credit for Pamela Anderson. This scene takes place in 1991, and Anderson did not join the show's cast until 1992.
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In 1985, there weren't any small satellite dishes in Lebanon.
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GSM mobile phone panel antennas, not used in the '80s, can be clearly seen all around the roof of the building in West Berlin.
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There's a huge Coca-Cola sign in the Beirut café in 1985, but Coca-Cola wasn't re-introduced to the Lebanese market until July 1990, after a 23 year absence.
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In addition to putting a non-existent US embassy into Hong Kong, the movie also places one in Berlin. In the 1980s the US Embassy to West Germany was in Bonn, not West Berlin (which was not strictly speaking part of West Germany).
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In 1985 in the Beirut café, the song heard in the background is "Noor Eshams" by the Lebanese singer Pascal Mashalani, the song was released for the first time in 2000.
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There are no American military bases in Penghu. All US military personnel were withdrawn from the Republic of China (including Penghu) after the US switched diplomatic recognition to mainland (Communist) China in 1979.
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Audio/visual unsynchronised

When Bishop chastises Muir on his views of Hadley's apparent neutrality, his mouth isn't moving.
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The prison Su Cho seems to be a late edition. You can clearly see that Su Cho is dubbed over.
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Approximately in the middle of the movie, when the train is arriving at the platform in Berlin and Bishop gets off, we can hear the train bell. The bell is common for US railroads but is not used in Europe.
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The motorcycle in the building bombing scene is clearly a 4 stroke motorcycle. You can know this by the throttle has two cables as on a 4 stroke (a 2 stroke only has one). Also you can see the exhaust header is small like a 4 strokes as compare to a 2 stroke which is very fat. When the motorcycle rider pulls out of the basement you can hear that it is a 4 stroke. It makes a 4 stroke sound - low, thumping sound. But in the scenes on the road, and when doing the jump, they used a 2 stroke motor for the sound effect - high pitched, high revving, pinging sound.
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Character error

Innumerable breaches of security procedure (failing to sign for classified documents, writing on pads of paper, using a non-GSA approved safe, not wearing ID tag, etc.)
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Once Operation Dinner Out is accomplished, the pilot of the helicopter identifies himself over the radio with a Blackhawk ID. This is in line with Muir requesting "02 MH-60K" from Commander Wiley. Yet, the helicopters in use were not Blackhawks, but Hueys.
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Bishop's hair is not USMC regulation length while in Germany.
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When Harry Duncan counteroffers $282,000 to the Chinese General to shut off the power, he actually said $2,820,000 in Chinese instead.
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Muir tells the doctor in Beiruit that his patient's death was from 'CO2 asphyxiation' i.e. carbon dioxide. From the pictures and the presumed accidental cause of the death this should probably be CO asphyxiation, i.e. carbon MONoxide.
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When training to defeat a polygraph, the polygraph examiner asks Tom Bishop his favorite color. Polygraph examinations consist of "yes/no" or binary questions.
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Muir, after having Bishop elicit a piece of information, tells Bishop he gave out 4 facts about himself (Bishop) for one dubious piece of information: "You're straight, you're engaged, tomorrow is your girl's birthday, and you have no taste in women's fashion... What if she was an asset: You told her four lies that now have to be true." But Bishop *is* straight. He only told 3 lies.
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Continuity

The film takes place in 1991. The trade confirmation form that Harker acquires shows Muir having liquidated his assets that day, and signed the form on "10/11/90". In a similar vein, the deed Muir receives from the C.I.A. director is dated "November 1990". Yet, a TV report refers to the "2nd Anniversary Berlin Wall" which supports the idea of the film taking place in 1991.
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Muir's breakfast switches around between different shots when Bishop gives him the flask.
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When Muir and Bishop meet at the railway station in Berlin, behind Muir and his wife the same woman (an extra) gets off the train twice.
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When Bishop is brought onto the helicopter two soldiers proceed to stand on the skid of the helicopter as it begins its takeoff. The soldiers disappear in the next shot, when the helicopters are several feet in the air.
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When Muir and Bishop meet after the failed attempt to free a man from East Germany, Bishop grabs the chair twice before sitting down.
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Although the story spans 16 years, nobody ages in the movie. Assuming Tom Bishop is 21 in Vietnam, he would be 37 in 1991, yet he doesn't age a day.
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When the STASI are chasing Bishop in Berlin they deploy the blue-lights on the roof. The cord is going through the open car window. When they take it off after leaving the pub (after the chase) the cord is not going through the window.
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Tom Bishop's hair is streaked with gray in the beginning of the film, when he is infiltrating Su Chou Prison. During the brief flashes of interrogation scenes throughout the movie, his hair is black. During the final rescue scene, his hair has streaks of gray in it again.
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When posing as a photojournalist, Tom Bishop carried two cameras: a Nikon and a Leica. While in photographing the doctor and an injured child in Lebanon, Tom's camera switches back and forth between his Leica and his Nikon, depending on the camera angle. From the front he is shown shooting with his Lecia (with external range finder), then in the same moment he is shown shooting with his Nikon (the silver body and empty hot shoe are visible), then again with his Leica.
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Crew or equipment visible

When the rescue helicopters are landing on the prison room, there is someone in the bottom right corner waving them in. It couldn't have been a guard because they were taken by surprise, and it couldn't have been one of their own, since none of the helicopters had landed yet.
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Errors in geography

The building used as CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, retains some of its native English "fire door - keep shut" door stickers.
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The prison guards are speaking Cantonese instead of Mandarin, and the Chinese characters shown are traditional Chinese characters whereas in mainland China people use simplified Chinese characters.
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UK "zig-zag" road markings when Muir is driving to the Langley offices.
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In the beginning of the movie Muir is traveling eastbound over the TR bridge into Washington D.C. If he were going to Langley he would be traveling west bound on I-66 and onto the GW parkway coming from Maryland.
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The lat/long coordinates Muir types for the Dinner Out operation are 6 miles inland near Qinhuangdao near North Korea, about 1200 miles North of Hong Kong.
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There is no 'Kaarachi' in India - Karachi is, in fact, the largest metropolis in the south of Pakistan, not India.
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The USA has no embassy in Hong Kong. Embassies only exist in the capital of an independent nation, not in a colony. The U.S. has a consulate in Hong Kong. In the two live TV reports from Hong Kong the reporter correctly refers to the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong, even though he's standing in front of a building marked as "Embassy".
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Factual errors

The windows and walls at CIA headquarters are made to block radio transmissions; a cell-phone would not work inside.
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When Muir talks to Commander Wiley on the phone near the end of the film, a caption shown misspells Su Chou as "Su Cho".
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When Nathan Muir is approaching the exit of the CIA building, close to give his badge on his final day, he has already tipped off the press and he thinks Bishop is fine. But he sees on the TV screen a new "live report from Hong Kong" where the reporter says that Bishop was already dead. It is about 3pm in Langley when Muir is leaving, which makes it impossible to be daylight in Hong Kong... yet the live report from Hong Kong is clearly in daylight.
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China has enough experience with cholera that it would not require foreign aid personnel to help deal with it. In any event, it's highly implausible that a foreigner would be allowed into a Chinese prison without being adequately screened.
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Operation "Dinner Out" takes place between 0700 and 0800 Eastern time. The assault on the prison takes place in the dark, aided by the power blackout, and by the time the team withdraws it has become daylight, indicating morning. 0700 in Washington would be 1900 in China (evening not morning).
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The Bekka Valley site in Lebanon is spoken of a "becca or Becca" when it is actually pronounced "be' ka" and is in two syllables rather than one.
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Revealing mistakes

An RPG gunner is shown firing his weapon, but the rocket is obviously not loaded.
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In car chase in the beginning of the movie, the two East German policemen speak with heavy Hungarian accents.
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Early in the movie when Muir is opening his safe to remove his files on Bishop (and we first get to see his Bahamas brochure) the numbers on the safe, the combination buttons, are upside-down.
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When Nathan needs money to rescue Tom Bishop, he calls his broker's (Mitch Alford) office in London to liquidate his accounts. The time is a little after 9 PM Washington time, which would be after 2 AM in London, but the office is open and a secretary answers the phone.
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