Goofs for
Hollow Man (2000) More at IMDbPro »

• Plot holes: The elevator to enter the lab requires a visible-light thumb scan, but Caine enters the lab (and apparently not by following someone) after he has become invisible. A fingerprint is not sufficient for the type of scanner shown. (A deleted scene shows that this was originally acknowledged and that Caine sneaked onto the elevator when someone else used the scanner.)
  
  
• Continuity: When Dr. McKay pushes open the freezer door, she is standing behind the row of wires still connected to the door. A moment later, without moving, she is on the other side of them.
  
  
• Plot holes: Numerous problems inherent to the "invisible man" premise are completely ignored. Some examples: Since light passes through the retina Sebastian would be blind. The soles of his feet would be visible from the dirt picked up by walking barefoot. The food he eats becomes immediately invisible.
  
  

• Continuity: The blood comes off Sebastian impossibly quickly; he has no time to take a shower, and blood is somewhat sticky (though not as sticky as fake blood).
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Since the viewing goggles used infrared radiation for seeing invisible objects, they could not see through a metal locker. However, the woman in the locker was leaning against, and hence warming, the door, and its her warmth that was shown.
  
  
• Continuity: Latex smeared on end of breathing tube disappears in subsequent scene.
  
  
• Continuity: When pouring the face mold on Caine's invisible head to make the mask it appears as though his head is shaved completely bald, yet in later scenes (swimming pool) it is clear that he has hair. No bald cap or similar covering is shown protecting the hair, but without it, the hair would become embedded in the latex.
  
  
• Continuity: Caine's skin becomes visible when it chars, for no reason consistent with the other invisibility. Further, it drops off in an impossible way (since there's no indication the invisibility otherwise changes metabolism/healing). Caine acts far too healthy for someone so severely burned. Finally, the extreme damage to skin and muscles that this implies is not seen when he becomes visible. (Even if the material flaking off is clothing, most of the arguments still apply; burned clothing would adhere to burned skin, and would provide little to no protection from the fire.)
  
  
• Factual errors: When Caine injects himself with the fluid to make him invisible, you see bubbles going through the tube into his arm. These bubbles, once in his veins, would cause severe pain (though are probably not enough to kill him). Hence doctors in real life flick the bubbles to the top of syringe and squirt them out. At the least, a medical professional injecting air would be highly unprofessional.
  
  
• Continuity: When Matt hits Sebastian in the middle of the head and looks at (the visible) Sebastian he is looking at the wrong spot - he is looking beside Sebastian.
  
  
• Factual errors: When the other scientists do CPR on Caine, they are not in a position to do effective compressions. However, *real* CPR breaks ribs, so this "acting" facsimile ought really to be allowed.
  
  
• Factual errors: The wire to a de-fib paddle is used as a constant power source for a powerful electromagnet. This isn't possible as the power source for a de-fib paddle is a capacitor which would only be able to emit a brief burst of charge.
  
  
• Continuity: When they put the reversal liquid into the ape a rubber band was used to help find the blood vessel. When they did the same thing for Sebastian no rubber band was used but they were quickly successful at finding the vessel.
  
  
• Factual errors: Nitroglycerin cannot be simply mixed up in a matter of a minute or so. It requires careful and precise work (ideally under a fume hood), and very careful watching (the mixture has to be within a slim temperature range or it'll either not form nitro or explode prematurely). Also, nitroglycerin requires nitric acid in addition to the sulfuric we see him use.
  
  
• Plot holes: After being electrocuted and hit over the head with a crowbar, Sebastian is still very much alive and in good shape, considering. No mention is ever made that the invisibility serum also provides the subject with invulnerability and superhuman strength. A normal man would be killed if he were hit over the head with a crowbar. Also, lying on top of uninsulated steam pipes would have burned Caine, as would the escaping steam.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When Sebastian is stalking his neighbor, there is a brief moment where you can see the reflection of camera crew in the window looking into Sebastian's apartment.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: While a defibrillator is of no use if a patient has truly flatlined, a patient in a "fine v-fib" rhythm can appear to have flatlined but still be revived with the paddles. Therefore, when in doubt, the Advanced Cardiac Life Support guidelines call for administering the shock, though it's not the treatment of choice.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Steadicam operator reflected in window when invisible Sebastian enters the observation room to touch Linda.
  
  
• Factual errors: Due to braking mechanisms and the fact that the elevator floor was at the same level as the lab floor, the fire would not have pushed the elevator upward. Instead it would have come up through the access panel that they opened, and possibly blown the top of the elevator off.
  
  
• Continuity: At the end, Sebastian pulls Linda through a water puddle. Her shirt becomes dark because of the water absorbed. The next shot, it's light again.
  
  
• Continuity: Linda pulls a frozen tear from her face. If a tear freezes that fast, the water on her eyeballs should be frozen too.
  
  
• Continuity: The blue spray on Sebastian's arm when the scientists tried bring him back to visibility.
  
  
• Factual errors: McKay repeatedly touches metal objects at below-freezing temperature with bare hands. This should cause severe injury from cold burns (or at least more discomfort than we see).
  
  
• Continuity: Just before the big explosion, the hallways were filled with water. When the camera tracks the explosion through the hallways, there is no water present, not even vapor that should have been present if the heat generated from the explosion was enough to vaporise it that fast.
  
  
• Continuity: Caine is seen in the monitor to be lying on the bed, but the mattress is not indented.
  
  
• Continuity: When the mask is made and Linda cuts out the holes for the eyes, they are rigid and angular. In later scenes they are perfectly smooth ovals.
  
  
• Factual errors: The pressurized tanks of flammable liquid that Linda uses to make a flamethrower are sitting unsecured in the lab. OSHA regulations require pressurized cylinders to be secured to prevent them from tipping over. The danger is that the top will get knocked off, and the tank will shoot around like a rocket. Any lab would have their tanks secured for this reason.
  
  
• Continuity: Sometimes the mattress retains heat (as seen through the monitor) after Caine gets up, other times it does not.
  
  
• Factual errors: Duct tape would not stick to bloody skin at 40 below zero, and probably not at higher temperatures.
  
  
• Continuity: The images on the heat monitor screens do not match the images of the actors, especially at the beginning when a visible Caine pets an invisible dog.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: After the elevator comes to a stop, green screen material can be seen behind Linda as she begins to climb.
  
  
• Factual errors: The gorilla is referred to as "she" yet when "she" becomes visible, it has a silver back. Silverbacks are the dominant male of a gorilla group.
  
  
• Continuity: When Linda and Matt are trying to escape from the freezer, the amount of blood changes on the door lock.
  
  
• Continuity: When Sebastian is electrocuted he is standing in the same water as Matthew and Linda, the electric current would have traveled through (thus killing) them too.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the team tries to make Caine invisible, he tears off all the sensors and wires from his chest. Yet the surrounding machines continue to display his heart rate and blood pressure.
  
  
• Factual errors: An injection into a vein will first reach the heart, then the lungs, after that return to the heart and finally distribute through the body. The sequence shown with the Gorilla and Cain returning from invisibility was anatomically incorrect.
  
  
• Plot holes: How did the fire department find the super secret government installation so quickly to fight the underground fire?
  
  
• Continuity: When Sarah throws blood on the floor, her shirt hardly has any blood on at all. When she is about to put the remaining bag of blood back in the freezer, a few blood smears appear on her shirt. They disappear and reappear in between shots throughout the scene.
  
  
• Factual errors: The scene in which the gorilla is defibrillated has multiple errors. Defibrillation pads are supposed to be applied beforehand so that the animal can be defibrillated without delay. The skin should be shaved beforehand because shocks delivered through fur/hair can be ineffective. When Linda uses the external paddles, she yells "Clear" and then places the paddles. She should place the paddles first and then yell "Clear". Finally, the gorilla struggles against the restraints the entire time. Ventricular fibrillation produces unconsciousness within seconds, so the gorilla should be out cold.
  
  
• Continuity: When Isabelle escapes the cage after biting Kensington on the hand, Caine stands in front of the goggles and bets Kensington he can tranquilize her first. He grabs the tranquilizer gun, but not the goggles. When shown running down the hallway with Kensington, who already had the goggles on, Caine pulls goggles down that he never put on.
  
  
• Factual errors: Even if the lift had been able to fall unrestricted, it could not fall faster than Caine, as depicted. Its acceleration shouldn't be reduced by air resistance (especially as the fire below would increase pressure blow the lift) but even in a vacuum, the two objects (Caine and the lift) would always be falling at the same speed (as proved by Galileo at about the turn of the 17th century).
  
  

• Continuity: SPOILER: When Sebastian shoots Sarah in the chest with the dart gun, the dart moves between shots.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: SPOILER: When Linda gets her head smashed into a pipe, seconds before she even gets near hitting her head, you can see the 'blood' on her where she's supposed to be hit.
  
  

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