These Mistakes & Bloopers Left In Huge Blockbuster Hits

By: Carol Kingston | Published: Sep 28, 2023

When we sit down to watch a movie, whether in the cinema or at home, what we want is to be transported away from our daily lives and into a new and captivating world. This is perhaps why many film fanatics are so quick to spot mistakes – they break the illusion, dragging you back out into reality and robbing you of the sense of escape you wanted.

Some of the movie mistakes you’re about to see are so massive and so obvious that you’ll wonder how the filmmakers missed them. Others are so subtle that you’ll wonder why viewers were so upset about them. Either way, you’re in for a fascinating ride through some of the biggest films of the last few decades. Some of these put thing like the Game of Thrones scandal to shame.

Lord Of The Rings: Do You Have The Time?

Gandalf was an all-powerful wizard, but Tolkien never gave him the ability to conjure timepieces from another dimension. However, if you look closely in one of the battle scenes, you can clearly see a watch on his wrist. Perhaps they’re hinting at a “Lord of the Watches” follow-up franchise.

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Though most people were distracted by the intensity of the action during this scene, many attentive fans spotted the out-of-place accessory when they were sitting in the cinema. News of the subtle mistake soon spread, and now it’s found its way to you!

Gladiator: What Spaniard?

At the turn of the century, we were all treated to some Roman Empire fun with the release of The Gladiator. Some grammar extremists took issue with the fact that Russel Crowe’s character, Maximus, was referred to as “The Spaniard” throughout the film.

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Their problem is that the word “Spaniard” is a 14th-century French word, so no one would have been using it in 180 AD. True though this may be, none of the characters would have been speaking English either, and they certainly wouldn’t have looked like Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, or Derek Jacobi. So, this criticism seems a bit short-sighted. 

Titanic: The Lake That Never Was

Before the Avengers franchise came along, Titanic was the top-grossing film of all time, and it seemed nothing would ever steal its title. However, just like the infamous ship itself, the film’s days on top were numbered. Of course, it will always be a classic. However, there’s one hideously inaccurate line that makes many people flinch.

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 Jack (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) tells Rose (Kate Winslet) that he used to go fishing with his father at a place called Lake Wissota. However, this man-made lake was formed in 1917 – a full five years after the Titanic sank. Once again, the only plausible explanation would be time travel!

Spy Kids: Smile for the Camera

This 2001 kid’s classic won fans of all ages. The main characters, the Cortez siblings, learn that their parents are spies when they are captured. It’s up to the kids to come to the rescue.

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In one scene, Carla Gugino is sitting with three mirrors in front of her. This is a tricky shot for camera operators to capture, and they have a very understandable slip-up. For a moment, you can see a cameraman in the shot.

Django Unchained: Misplaced Sunglasses

This flaw is up for debate. As you can see in the image below, the character of Django from the 2012 film Django Unchained wore some pretty chic-looking sunglasses. Jamie Foxx rocked the look exquisitely, but some people were annoyed because sunglasses were rarely worn at the time the film is set in.

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Of course, this was a revisionist history helmed by Quentin Tarantino, so the whole point was for it to deviate from history. Yes, sunglasses were only worn occasionally back then, and only when prescribed by doctors, but when you’re already taking liberties with history, a detail like this only adds to the charm.

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Forrest Gump: An Apple a Day

Forrest Gump is another timeless classic that received many award nominations. It too played with history, weaving its fictional story around real events in a unique way that was well ahead of its time. Unfortunately, the inclusion of the tech brand Apple was a bit too much ahead of its time.

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Forrest Gump spans many years, but even with all this time at their disposal, the writers messed up some key dates with Apple. Forrest’s friend buys him stocks in “some kind of fruit company,” but the purchase was made in the 70s, whereas Apple wasn’t a publicly-traded company until 1981.

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Back to the Future: Time Traveling Guitar

Back to the Future is so iconic that everyone probably recognizes the scene in the picture below. The main character, Marty McFly, has traveled back in time to 1955 in a bid to ensure his parents still meet and fall in love. At the high school dance, he sends the 50s kids wild with a Gibson ES-345 guitar.

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The only problem is, the ES-345 didn’t go into production until 1958. Since it’s a film about time travel, we’ll give it a pass. Perhaps the DeLorean dropped into 1958 so Doc Brown and Marty could pick one up on their way to 1955. Or perhaps another character in the film figured out how to time travel. 

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Straight Outta Compton: Wrong Logo

Straight Outta Compton is another one of our favorites. The film tells the turbulent history of the infamous rap group NWA. Although it was a massive box office hit, many super fans noticed a small error in the strangest of places.

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Eazy-E was known to be a big fan of the Chicago White Sox, so giving him a White Sox hat was a good idea. The only problem is, they didn’t double-check which logo to use. The one you see in the image above wasn’t around back in 1986.

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The Aviator: What’s with the Cookies?

Released in 2004, The Aviator was hailed a success, even by the pickiest film critics. Audiences loved it, and it performed exceptionally well at the box office. However, there’s a major flaw in the film that many people missed. The flaw in question appeared in a scene where Howard Hughes (portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio) picks up some chocolate-chip cookies.

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How on Earth could this be a flaw? As it turns out, chocolate-chip cookies were invented in 1930 – two years after the moment depicted in the film. There’s no way Hughes could have eaten the baked treats at that time. Unless, of course, he was a time traveler.

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Dirty Dancing: Real Frustration

The iconic film, Dirty Dancing may be a cult classic, but it’s not without its movie mistakes. For example, when the dynamic duo of Johnny and Baby are practicing their dance moves and Johnny runs his hands down her arm, Baby won’t stop laughing.

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This direction actually wasn’t in the script. Jennifer Grey kept laughing much to Patrick Swayze’s disapproval. The actor was actually getting annoyed that Jennifer was acting silly, but this unwritten frustration worked well on the screen and the director left it in.

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Braveheart: You’ve Got to Be Kilting Me

This fictionalized historical film was a major blockbuster in the 90s. It received ten Academy Award nominations and won half of them, which was a testament to the quality of the work the cast and crew did on the movie. There was just one issue, and it was with the strangest thing.

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Though we’re all used to the idea of Scots wearing kilts, they didn’t come about until the 1600s. Since the film’s action takes place in the 1300s, the timeline is completely off. Since it was a fictionalized history, we can give Braveheart a little leniency.

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The Dark Knight: Spell Check Fail

Christopher Nolan is known for being something of a perfectionist, but even his obsessive nature failed to catch this embarrassing blunder. Of course, you’d have to be paying close attention to catch this misspelled headline as it flashes on the screen. However, if there’s one thing all filmmakers should know by now, it’s that if you miss something, at least one fan will catch it.

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While most Batman fans were caught up in the action of the film, this misspelling of the word “heist” stood out to audience members who were bigger fans of the English language. We bet their Batman-obsessed friends were less than impressed when they complained about it in the middle of the film.

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Malcolm X: What’s 9-1-1?

Here’s another incredible film that we don’t wish to throw any shade on. Malcolm X was masterful, but they got one small detail wrong. When his home is fire-bombed, Malcolm X yells for someone to dial 911. The problem?

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This ubiquitous emergency number wasn’t put in place until three years after Malcolm X’s assassination. He may have been influential, but this was a detail about the future the real Malcolm X certainly didn’t know. 

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Wonder Woman: What’s With Wonder Woman’s Armpit?

After the Wonder Woman trailer was released in 2017, fans had an extremely strange complaint. The more observant viewers became fixated on the appearance of Wonder Woman’s armpit at the 1:47 mark in the original trailer. This complaint quickly spread across the internet and caused Warner Bros. to take notice and do some last minute editing.

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If you stop the trailer at just the right time, or take a closer look at the screenshot above, you can see that Gal Gadot’s armpit is a paler color than the rest of her body. Fans were upset that alterations were digitally made, making her armpits look less natural. Warner Bros. acknowledged these concerns and went in later to digitally alter her armpits once more.

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: We Can See You

Though we will forever love the Harry Potter books and films, both are filled with plenty of mistakes that send the superfans wild. While many of the blunders in the early films were blamed on the youth of the main cast members, this one is all on the crew.

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In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second film, released in 2002, a cameraman can be seen as Snape pulls Malfoy to his feet. Though this is one of the more obvious ones, you can spot crew members and equipment in every one of the Harry Potter films. Happy hunting!

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Sherlock Holmes: Geographical Impossibilities

For a film about a character who is an absolute perfectionist with extreme attention to detail, Sherlock Holmes sure messed up on this geographical detail. While it is a fantastic film with a stellar cast, there’s an issue with the chase scene that comes at the climax of the film.

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The chase started in the sewers under the Houses of Parliament and ended at Tower Bridge. The only problem is, these two landmarks are more than two miles apart. The chase was not feasible, but it was entertaining!

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Gladiator: Again

Gladiator is back with yet another mistake. This time, however, viewers aren’t being overly nit-picky. This one is a significant error. It arises in one of the film’s most memorable scenes. As you can see in the still shot, a gas canister is on full display in the back of that chariot.

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We’re not sure whether the production team thought audiences wouldn’t notice it, whether it was meant to be edited out, or whether something was meant to be covering it. Whatever the case is, we do know one thing: there were no gas canisters back in 180 AD.

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Troy: Plane Spotting

The 2004 film Troy was massive. With actors like Brad Pitt and Eric Bana taking center stage, and brilliant director Wolfgang Petersen at the helm, the film was destined to be a blockbuster. Its incredible battle scenes were mind-blowing, but one thing stood out to many viewers who saw it on the big screen. 

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This detail is a little harder to spot if you rewatch the film on a TV, laptop, or smartphone. However, on the silver screen, it stood out like, well, an airplane in Ancient Greece! The image above captures the moment the plane appears behind Achilles’ head. We still love this epic film!

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Panic Room: Chemistry Fail

Compared to some of the other mistakes on this list, the error in The Panic Room is a big one. In one scene, Jodie Foster’s character lights propane that has been pumped into the room and the fire rips across the ceiling only.

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However, propane is heavier than air, so it wouldn’t rise to the ceiling like that. Instead, it would sink to the floor, and Jodie Foster would be in a whole lot of trouble if she lit it on fire!

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300: Bombs Away

Here’s another epic film that wasn’t at all punished for its major mistake. The film 300 performed incredibly well at the box office, and its artistic direction inspired many movies that followed. The error in 300 was a historical one. The antagonist, Xerxes, threw everything he had at the Spartans, including bombs.

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The only problem is, we didn’t have the necessary ingredients for such weapons until the 9th century – well after the period in which this film was set. Nothing can shake the excellence of this film, but this detail did get on the nerves of many historians!

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The Usual Suspects: Plane Swap

This is what happens when you use stock footage in a film! The Usual Suspects is a classic of the whodunit genre, and we don’t have any complaints about its storyline or epic plot twist.

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Our problem lies with the fact that this aircraft appears to have shape-shifted mid-flight. In the first shot, we see a four-engine 747. In the second, we see a two-engine 767. Either this is a mistake or a clue as to what happens in the end. What do you think?

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The Titanic: Some Modern Day Warnings

This small moment in The Titanic probably slipped by most people’s perception, but some serious watch dogs caught the mistake. In it, you can see Rose trying to open a sealed door.

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What makes it a blooper or error is the writing that is beneath the lever. Ships like the Titanic did not have the kind of red modern day writing on exit points that we see today.

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The Shawshank Redemption: One Million Years BC

No one is here to argue about whether The Shawshank Redemption is a good film. This Frank Darabont recreation of the classic Stephen King novella got everything right. Well, almost everything.

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In the film, Andy Dufresne escapes by covering his tunnel out of the prison with a Raquel Welch poster. The only problem is, the film One Million Years BC premiered a year after The Shawshank Redemption was set.

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Independence Day: Wrong Address

Here’s another muddled-up detail in an otherwise epic film. Independence Day was a game-changing sci-fi action film that blew people’s minds when it came out. In the film, the Empire State Building and other important landmarks are destroyed, but the filmmakers got something wrong.

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The address of the Empire State Building in Independence Day is 53rd street, but the beautiful building is not at that location. In real life, it can be found on 34th street.

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The Sound of Music: Bad Luck

Though The Sound of Music is remembered for its cheerful songs, it also had some incredibly tense moments. As the von Trapp family are quietly plotting their escape, they are stopped by Nazis. After a tense exchange, they are allowed to proceed, and Herr Detweiler gives Maria and the Captain the fingers crossed sign for “good luck.”

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While this is the popular sign for good luck in many English-speaking countries, it would not have meant much to these German-speaking Austrians. In reality, Herr Detweiler should have pressed his thumbs into his fists in the traditional “Daumen drücken”.

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American Sniper: Creepy Baby

Plenty of controversy surrounds this 2014 biographical war film. However, we’re not getting into the details of Chris Kyle’s story today! Instead, we have a simple mistake that creeped quite a few viewers out.

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In one scene, Bradley Cooper is meant to be holding a baby, but the thing looks lifeless, pale, and downright creepy. The truth is, Cooper is holding a doll, and it’s way too obvious.

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Suicide Squad: Harley Quinn’s Hair

This 2016 film is based on the DC Comics where a team of supervillains assemble to save the world in exchange for reduced prison sentences. Throughout the film the gang is seen behind bars. In this one scene depicted below, we see inconsistencies with Margot Robbie’s hair.

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Margot Robbie plays Harley Quinn in the film and throughout her performance, her hair often changes between shots and scenes. In this scene alone, her hair continually changes from wavy to straight then back again.

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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Wrong Timeline

While the Nazi book burning scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was terrifying and incredibly well-orchestrated, it was sadly out of synch with reality. The film was set in 1938, but the book burning took place in 1933.

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Of course, nothing can detract from the wonder of this film. Indeed, many Indiana Jones fans hail it as the best installment of the franchise. However, it would have been even better if it got this moment in history right.

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The Patriot: Forever Young

Here’s another creepy mistake from a blockbuster film. The Patriot is supposed to take place over many years. Usually, films that span a large amount of time either use makeup and prosthetics or different actors to portray the age differences in the characters.

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The Patriot took a different route. They didn’t show aging in any of the characters – not even the kids. This gave audiences the uncanny valley experience we get from robots and mannequins.

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Spider-Man: Continuity Error

Spider-Man was one of the first films to kick off the superhero trend in 2002. Peter Parker (played by Tobey Maguire in this version) discovers he can shoot webs, and he breaks a lamp in the process.

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The only problem is, moments later the lamp is sitting in its place on the shelf instead of smashed on the floor. In filmmaking, this is called a continuity error as the lamp has broken the continuity of the storyline instead of breaking itself!

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Charlie’s Angels: The Cutest Mix-Up

The 2000 film Charlie’s Angel was loved by some and hated by others. Whether you adored this girl-power classic or not, there’s no denying that it featured a few mistakes.

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In one scene, the Angels chase down the film’s villain (played by Crispin Glover). Mid-fight, Drew Barrymore calls out to Lucy Lawless’ character, but instead of calling her Alex, she calls her Lucy.

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Saving Private Ryan: Future Bike

The blockbusters just keep rolling, and so do the historical inaccuracies! Saving Private Ryan was a masterful film, but even Spielberg isn’t immune to mistakes. In the image below, we see Tom Hanks’ character, Captain Miller, propped up against a Ural M-63 motorcycle.

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Though most audience members were worried about his injuries, many motorcycle fans instantly spotted an issue. This model didn’t exist in WWII and wouldn’t be around for another 18 years.

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Dallas Buyers Club: The Wrong Lambo

Matthew McConaughey took us on a wild ride in the incredible Dallas Buyers Club. He portrayed Ron Woodroof in the film, and the character was based on the real-life Ron Woodroof who dealt with HIV and AIDS in the 80s.

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In the scene pictured above, you can see a red Lamborghini Aventador on the poster behind Ron. This car was released in 2011, which makes us wonder how such an obvious mistake was missed.

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Public Enemies: The Hit List

This film gets events all mixed up. It has John Dillinger take out Babyface Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd, despite the fact that the real-life Dillinger died before both of them.

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Who knows why the writers, director, actors, and everyone else who worked on the film were happy to have it be so inaccurate. Perhaps they decided their version of events was more cinematic.

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Game of Thrones: The Infamous Coffee Cup

While Game of Thrones isn’t technically a movie, the epic fantasy series was a huge hit with a movie-like budget. Based on a book series, the TV show took the world by storm and had everyone at the edge of their seat, wondering who would ultimately claim the throne.

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In its final season, the series was riddled with bloopers. Potentially the most infamous of these errors was in season 8, episode 4 in which a Starbucks coffee cup can clearly be seen in front of Emilia Clarke’s character, Daenerys. Fans quickly spotted the mistake and this screenshot went viral on the internet.

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Top Gun: Impossible Stunts

Top Gun was an 80s classic that is still worth revisiting today. In one of the most famous scenes, Maverick and Goose fly in a wild formation, with one of their planes upside down and perfectly aligned above the other.

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Spectacular though it may be, such a stunt would be impossible. Trying it would result in a fatal collision, and no one would get to take home the leading lady.

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Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Confusing Eyes

Harry Potter fans are some of the sharpest movie critics out there. They are quick to spot mistakes and discrepancies and are always one breath away from declaring that the books are better than the movies.

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One mistake that’s often pointed out is the fact that the film got Lily Potter’s eyes all wrong. In the books, they’re green. In the film, they’re blue, and in this flashback scene, they’re brown!

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Halloween: California Dreamin’

The horror classic Halloween is set in a fictional town in the state of Illinois. However, if you take a closer look at the background of this image, you’ll see some telltale Californian palm trees.

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Of course, this isn’t a big deal. The film still hit us with plenty of terrifying moments. However, the Californians in the audience noticed immediately that it was set in their home turf, not Illinois.

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Pirates Of The Caribbean: Singapore Slipup 

In Pirates of the Caribbean: The World’s End, the Black Pearl travels to Singapore where its crew has a wild battle with the East India Trading Company. While these scenes were undeniably spectacular, something was dreadfully wrong.

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The film is set in the 1700s, but Singapore’s port wasn’t developed to this level until the late 1800s under the influence of the East India Trading Company.

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