Goofs for
Lord of War (2005) More at IMDbPro »

• Continuity: When Ava confronts Yuri about his real occupation, she is seen naked from behind. She then slips on a bathrobe. Shortly afterward she is seen kneeling in front of Yuri while he is sitting on a sofa, and it appears that she is wearing underwear (bra and panties) beneath the robe.
  
  
• Continuity: The K in Kono on the ship is painted right, but in a later shot it's seen painted upwards down.
  
  
• Anachronisms: During the first scene in the restaurant kitchen (set during the Carter administration), a spice jar above the stove prominently features the recognizable black-and-white "Nutrition Information" block that didn't appear on products until the early 1990s.
  
  

• Anachronisms: The car used by Yuri throughout the film is a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham limousine. The particular model shown was introduced in 1993, yet Yuri has this car already in some scenes which are supposedly happening in the late '80s.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When narrating the story about early stages of his business in 1980s, Yuri Orlov mentions that he has carried several passports at that time, including the Ukrainian passport. Ukraine was not in existence as an independent state up until early 1990s.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Simeon Weisz comes to buy weapons from Yuri's uncle, his lips stay still yet you can hear him saying his name. His lips only start moving again when he asks the soldier if he knows who he is.
  
  
• Factual errors: In the "selling guns by the kilos" scene in Beirut, when a camera closes-up on a pile of weapons, the marking is clearly visible on a top rifle, and it reads "AR-15". The semi-automatic AR-15 is not used by the US Army, but it looks similar to the military version, the M-16. Another difference that can plainly be seen in this shot is the AR-15's lack of a bolt catch. The M-16 would have a hinged ovular button mounted in the empty bracket above and to the right of the AR-15 A2 stamp.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: When Ava Fontaine inters the container used for Yuri Orlov's gun running business the first section of guns are as follows "Top AK-47", "Bottom M-16 or AR-15" but when the camera shows Ava's perspective they are "Top M-16 or AR-15", "Bottom M-16 or AR-15" and then back to the "Middle AK-47", "Bottom M-16 or AR-15" when the camera pulls away form her perspective.
  
  
• Errors in geography: When Yuri telephones home from the Ukraine, he wakes up his wife in the middle of the night (say 11:00pm-5:00am, total darkness). That would be daytime where he is (about 1:00pm-7:00pm), but the movie shows a night scene.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The T.V. Yuri has in his house wasn't available in 1991
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Yuri's voice over claims the "U.S. Army" got a cut of his sale in Lebanon in the form of Lieutenant Colonel Southern, but the officer was wearing a Marine Corps uniform and wearing Colonel (not Lieutenant Colonel) rank. Lieutenant Colonel rank, whether Army or Marine, would be represented with a silver oak leaf, not an eagle. Additionally, this Marine Colonel is wearing the cap of a General but the Emblem of an Enlisted Marine, which makes the rank and service of his entire uniform incorrect.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When INTERPOL has Yuri and his uncle at gunpoint, asking for his papers, Jack Valentine asks whether the ship they met on before was named the Kono or the Kristol. Right after Yuri replies with a smart comeback, the INTERPOL agent to the left-hand side of Yuri supposedly cocks his gun telling him to "answer the question". The INTERPOL agent who supposedly cocks his gun has his right hand holding the gun, and clearly has his left hand on Yuri's shoulder while the gun is cocked. None of his hands could have cocked the gun.
  
  
• Factual errors: The Soviet troops under General Orlov (Yuri's uncle) all carry Norinco Type-56 assault rifles, a Chinese-made copy of the AK-47 that is distinguished by its smooth receiver cover and hooded front sight. It would be inaccurate for Russian soldiers to use Chinese-made AKs, and furthermore, the 7.62-mm AK variants had long been phased out of Soviet service at the time in which the scene takes place (early-1990s). The Russian troops would actually be armed with 5.45-mm AK-74s.
  
  
• Continuity: When Ava Fontaine and her kid Niccolai Orlov are at the deposit, she tells him to wait by the door. Then he simply disappears in the background and re-appears again.
  
  
• Anachronisms: At the beginning of the movie, after the scene changes from introduction to Ava Fontaine back to Brighton Beach, the car wreck that we see is of a 4th generation Toyota Camry which was produced from 1997-2001. At this point, the movie is still in the 1980s.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The map of Ukraine that Vitaly sculpts out of cocaine is a mirror image of the country's actual border.
  
  
• Continuity: After finishing the painting of "Kono" and while they are bringing the painter back up aboard, we see all four letters filled out nicely and without smudges. However, in a short cut the N in Kono is smudged, and then back to normal in the very next cut.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: When Valentine is asking Orlov what he's doing in Africa, he replies to his safari lie by asking if he's hunting with a sub-machine gun and holds up a bullet he finds on the ground. A sub-machine is a machine gun that fires a pistol size bullets (9mm, .45, etc.) Looking closely at the bullet in Valentine's hand and you'll see the distinct shape of a rifle bullet, not a pistol.
  
  
• Continuity: When the soldier is firing the AK-47, it never runs out of ammo, despite the fact it only has a 30 round magazine.
  
  
• Factual errors: When the Liberian dictator shoots one of his guards who is flirting with a woman, the emblem the guard wears on the beret can be seen very clearly: two crossed swords on oak leaves. This is, in fact, the official emblem used nowadays in the modern German army.
  
  
• Factual errors: Interpol agents (such as Jack Valentine) cannot themselves make arrests. This would be an infringement on the national sovereignty of the member states.
  
  
• Errors in geography: When Jack Valentine visits Ava, he leaves his Interpol business card for her. The phone number on the card has a 515 area code. 515 is the area code of central Iowa, nowhere near New York City.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: In the Beirut scene, Vitaly draws a Beretta 92 pistol which is clearly missing the recoil spring guide. Without that part, it would probably fire, but very likely not reload properly.
  
  
• Errors in geography: While en route to Sierra Leone from Liberia, Yuri and company travel though a dry and desolate desert. However, both Liberia and Sierra Leone are in a tropical climate zone, and do not have any deserts such as the one shown. They would most likely be traveling through savanna or rain forests between the two countries.
  
  
• Continuity: In the opening kitchen scene with Vitaly, there is a vodka bottle up on the shelf. When the camera closes in on Vitaly's face the label is pointed to the left. They cut to Yuri and then back to Vitaly. When they do, the label is turned to the rear.
  
  
• Factual errors: As Orlov's cargo plane is being intercepted over Sierra Leone, it is repeatedly referred to as "Charlie Echo India," supposedly the phonetic call letters for an aircraft with the registration CEI. However, the registration on the side of the cargo plane clearly has the last three letters CIH, which would be referred to as "Charlie India Hotel" in the alphabet.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: In the scene where Yuri, Vitaly, and Andre's son are traveling to Sierra Leone, Jared Leto's tattoo representing his band ‘30 Seconds To Mars’ is clearly visible on his right arm. In no other scenes is this tattoo visible.
  
  
• Continuity: When the Soviet Union falls, Nicolai is about 1 year old. By the end of movie, 10 years have passed and Nicolai is only about 5 years old.
  
  
• Factual errors: When Yuri is in Lebanon, talking about how he got his first break there, he is shown stopping to look at a Kool's cigarettes billboard. Lebanon has never had that brand of cigarettes.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Yuri's uncle Dmitri Orlov is introduced as a Major General and wears two stars on his shoulder boards. Although two stars means a Major General in the US military, in the Soviet/Russian Federation Army two large stars means a Lieutenant General, which is a higher rank than Major General.
  
  
• Continuity: When Vitaly throws the grenade into the back of the first truck, he quite obviously makes it about halfway between the two vehicles. However, by the time the truck explodes, he is only about a quarter of the distance.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: In the scene where Jack Valentine enters the port, the name on the entrance "Port Odessa" (in Russian) is backwards so that it can only be read from the inside of the port not from the outside correctly.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The newspaper Yuri reads to his brother is dated Wednesday July 7, 1983, however, the headline story "Arias Peace Plan Calls for Stabilizing Central America" occurred August 7, 1987.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Yuri and Uncle Dimitri discuss the arms stockpile Yuri mentions that it's "dangerously depleted for a battalion" with "only" 10,000 assault rifles. However, the average infantry battalion has about 500 riflemen, so 10,000 rifles is a ridiculous amount. Also, as a Major-General, Uncle Dimitri would not be in charge of a battalion, but of a division (in which case a stockpile of 10,000 rifles would make considerably more sense).
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the arms fair scene set in 1983, Yuri says that Weisz "sold" to both sides during the Iran-Iraq War. Weisz also speaks in the past tense when referring to that conflict. The actual time period of the war was 1980 to 1988, so the war was still going on in the timeframe of this scene.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): During the 1983 arms fair, Orlov claims the Simeon Weisz sold the Exocet missiles used in the Falklands war. Those particular Exocet missiles (French made air-ship weapons used by the Argentinean Armada against the Royal Navy) were directly brought by Argentinean president Leopoldo Galtieri from the French government. In fact, this resulted in an unpleasant reunion involving French president Mitterand and the British government under Prime Minister Thatcher during the peak of hostilities. No arms dealers were involved, but it is possible that for film reasons movie makers made it so.
  
  
• Factual errors: When Yuri sells Glock handguns to the drug dealer, two of the Glocks are 3rd generation models not sold until 2000. The Glock 3rd generations were not sold in 1980. The other two Glocks are 2nd generation models that fit the era. You can tell the difference between them because the 3rd generation Glocks have accessory rails, finger grooves in the grip and a thumb groove. 2nd generations have flat handles, no thumb groove and a slanted front nose.
  
  
• Continuity: Ava and Yuri's heights change at every cut in the scene at their wedding reception where they discuss her parents. When viewed from behind Yuri, Ava is taller. When viewed from behind Ava, Yuri is taller.
  
  
• Factual errors: The airplane on display at the arms fair in the beginning of the movie and the airplane which intercepts the Orlov's cargo plane over Sierra Leone is the same aircraft (its tail number is briefly visible in both scenes). Also the intercepting plane is Czech-built trainer Aero L-39 Albatros which does not have internal cannons/machine-guns installed and can carry guns only in the external gun-pods. But during the interception scene it is clearly visible that no gun-pods are installed under its wings, so the plane would have no weapon to fire at Orlov's An-12.
  
  
• Factual errors: In his monologue about the AK-47, Yuri proclaims that the gun was on Soviet coins and on Mozambique's flag. While several African nations have put the AK-47 on their flag and/or coat of arms (including Mozambique), the AK-47 was never featured on Soviet currency.
  
  
• Factual errors: At the end of the film it is said that "The world's biggest arms suppliers are the U.S., U.K., Russia, France and China." This is incorrect. According to information from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the five biggest arms exporters in 2005 were, in descending order: USA, Russia, Germany, France and U.K., while China is the 11th.
  
  

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