- 7 weeks ago
Hollywood has a notorious reputation for playing fast and loose with maps! Join us as we count down our picks for the films where geography goes out the window. From misplaced mountains to impossible journeys, these movies prove that when it comes to locations, filmmakers often prioritize drama over accuracy. Which geographical blunder makes you cringe the most?
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the films where the maps or landscapes just aren't correct.
00:15While some of these films are good, many can't tell their right from their left.
00:23Number 20. The Last Samurai.
00:26The urbanization of Japan made it impossible for much of the modern-day country to stand in for the same area in the 19th century.
00:33This is my son's village. We are deep in the mountains, and the winter is coming. You cannot escape.
00:40Thus, the producers of the film opted to shoot in another island nation that still had large areas of farmland and forest, although this one was in the southern hemisphere.
00:49New Zealand, with its vast landscapes, did its best to stand in for Japan, even when it came to one of the most famous mountains in the world.
01:02Teranaki Narunga stood in for Mount Fuji, and while they bore a similar shape, it's clear that the mountain in the movie is geographically distinct from the real Fuji.
01:10Number 19. Deep Impact.
01:23This film sees its characters jet-setting around the world as a comet races towards the Earth.
01:28However, it seems the comet isn't the only thing traveling at supersonic speeds.
01:32In an emotional scene, a character gives up her ticket to safety.
01:35Atop a Washington, D.C. building, she lets a mother and child take her seat on a helicopter bound for safety, as a part of the comet is due to strike in a few hours.
01:45She's going with you! You're taking my seat!
01:48Come on!
01:50Go! Go!
01:51In her next scene, she tearfully reunites with her father, despite her being at least seven hours away by car, and that's without apocalyptic traffic.
01:59When I was 11, I took $32 from your wallet.
02:02When you were a baby, I once dropped you on your head.
02:13To add insult to injury, the film also misunderstands where Richmond is located in relation to the coast, and Missouri looks suspiciously like Southern California.
02:22Why weren't you at school?
02:24My dad said I didn't have to go.
02:26He said there's no point.
02:27Number 18. Fool's Gold.
02:30Starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, Fool's Gold follows the divorced couple turned treasure hunters, as they search for gold and rekindle their romance.
02:38You were right all along. You were right before anybody.
02:43Where did you find this?
02:44A hundred yards off the reef.
02:49Wow, Finn, oh my god.
02:51That's what I'm saying.
02:52And how could they not when they're in such a beautiful location, surrounded by the white sandy beaches, clear blue seas, and mountains of the Caribbean?
03:00While Key West and the Bahamas have plenty of those first two, islands with mountainous landscapes are nowhere to be found.
03:06That was due to the film being primarily shot in Queensland, Australia, which had a much different topography than the very flat islands where the film took place.
03:13Hey, guys! Come look at this boat! It's got these really big, um, tubes going in the water off the map!
03:22This was reportedly done to avoid the hurricane season, sacrificing accuracy for a shooting schedule.
03:28You act like this is totally my fault.
03:31Can I, can I borrow this?
03:34Come on, Tess, you're not gonna hit me.
03:36Number 17, Waterworld.
03:39Set in a time when climate change has melted all of the world's ice, as the title would suggest, in Waterworld, the entire Earth is one large ocean.
03:48Much of the movie surrounds characters seeking dry land, the peak of Mount Everest, and the only patch of terra firma left.
03:55It's fresh! All of it! It's fresh!
03:59Ah!
03:59While climate change is very real, the possibility of an almost entirely submerged planet just doesn't make sense geographically,
04:12because of the simple fact that there isn't enough ice.
04:15Sea levels would rise roughly 68 meters, swallowing up cities like London, New York, Tokyo, the state of Florida,
04:21and entire countries like the Netherlands and Qatar.
04:24However, Denver, which Kevin Costner's scuba dives to in the film, will remain hundreds of miles from the ocean.
04:49Number 16, Eurotrip.
04:51As the name implies, Eurotrip features a number of locations across the continent, with the characters stopping in a number of iconic cities.
04:59Monuments in the background like Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, and the Vatican accurately portray the cities they are visiting.
05:12What the hell?
05:14However, despite those objects looming in the background, it seems that the streets of London look a lot like Prague, as does Paris, and Rome, and every other European city.
05:23The feisty goat!
05:24The film was in fact shot entirely in the Czech Republic city, even the opening scene set in Ohio.
05:36However, this at least meant that Matt Damon, who was in the country to shoot the Brothers Grimm, got a fun cameo.
05:42Scotty doesn't know that Fiona and me do it in my van every Sunday.
05:47Number 15, Troy.
05:50Removing gods and supernatural events from Homer's epic poem, The Iliad, Troy opted for a more realistic approach.
05:56However, that realism failed to extend to the famous city's geography.
05:59The city as it's presented in the film is neither accurate to Homer's description, with its steep cliffs, nor the archaeological record of the site widely believed to be historical Troy.
06:15Although still in the Mediterranean, the landscape of Malta, where much of the film was shot, is notably different from modern-day Turkey, where Troy was located.
06:23The outer walls of the city were even more noticeably off, being built on the other side of the world in Mexico.
06:49Number 14, 2012.
06:51A good chunk of the first act of 2012 involves main character Curtis, heading back and forth between Yellowstone and Los Angeles in rapid succession.
06:59No kidding.
07:00Thank God for those shake-proof coffee moshies.
07:03They show the true nature of us Californians.
07:05The film portrays the destinations as being within a few hours by car, and not the roughly 15 hours it would actually take.
07:11After some back and forth, and now with a plane, they head for Tibet from Las Vegas, but take a massive detour, stopping in Hawaii for fuel.
07:26Okay guys, the plan is to refill in Hawaii, so sit down and buckle up, or don't and I will do the rest.
07:32While that might make sense as a halfway stop for someone looking at a flat map, anyone glancing at a globe could tell you that this would add thousands of miles to the trip, while unnecessarily crossing an ocean.
07:43A more direct route would pass over Canada and Russia.
07:46We're just going to all stay together, right?
07:47No we're not, we're going to die.
07:49No, we're not.
07:51Promise?
07:52I promise you we're going to all stay together, no matter what happens.
07:57Okay.
07:59Number 13, Moonraker.
08:02Stretching across a large portion of the northern part of South America, the Amazon is the world's largest rainforest, containing some of the most breathtaking sights in the world.
08:10Naturally, when super spy James Bond travels to Brazil, which contains about 60% of the rainforests, he sees those spectacles, including one of Brazil's most famous sights, the majestic Aguazu Falls.
08:32In a tense chase scene down the river, Bond hand glides over the waterfall.
08:41However, while the Amazon and the falls are both some of Brazil's most famous natural wonders, they are nowhere near each other.
08:48In fact, the falls are in the southern half of the country alongside the border of Argentina, roughly a thousand miles away.
08:54Number 12, The Karate Kid Part 2.
09:05The second Karate Kid film moves the action from a Los Angeles suburb to the Japanese island of Okinawa, the homeland of Mr. Miyagi.
09:12How come if this is a fishing village, I don't see anybody fishing?
09:15Ah, Yukiye-san told me last night, after war, Sato Fada bring in big commercial fishing boat.
09:22Inside two years, all fish gone.
09:24The landscape of the Hawaiian island of Oahu stood in for Okinawa, and while the beaches worked well enough, the mountainous landscape seen in the background of many shots did not.
09:33However, the real grievance many had is with the layout of the island.
09:38It put the U.S. air base south of Naha, the Okinawan capital, when it is in fact north of the city.
09:44Where are you going, buddy?
09:46Tommy Village!
09:48Tommy Village?
09:49Yeah!
09:49Never heard of it!
09:50This is Kadina Air Base!
09:52While there certainly was a large military presence on the island at the time, they were heading in the opposite direction of where it would have been located.
09:58Miyagi remember, first time father teach fishing, right off this point, was 1927.
10:10It was much quieter there.
10:13Number 11, Independence Day.
10:15One of the most memorable scenes in this movie, if not American blockbusters in general, is the explosion of the Empire State Building.
10:26Time's up.
10:27As a crowd gathers on Main Street to witness the arrival of the aliens, they quickly learn that the visitors are far from benevolent when they destroy the landmark.
10:43A ball of flame rushes down the street, quickly enveloping the onlookers.
10:47But there's one problem.
10:49The Empire State Building doesn't line up with Main like that.
10:51In fact, the building can't be seen dead on from any street like that.
10:55The primary entrance being located on 5th Avenue crossing by perpendicularly.
10:59Number 10, 300.
11:10Zack Snyder's film, based on the Frank Miller graphic novel, intentionally exaggerates a number of elements about the Battle of Thermopylae for dramatic effect, and the geography is no exception.
11:20Give them nothing, but take from them, everything!
11:27Stay!
11:28Filled with inaccuracies about the group of Spartans that faced off against the Persian army, one of the most notable was the depiction of the pass of Thermopylae itself.
11:41While still rocky terrain and impassable on either side, the dramatic cliffs that the Greeks pushed their attackers over into a watery grave likely didn't exist.
11:49In reality, the pass was about 100 meters wide, with sea on one side, and mountains on the opposite.
12:07While the sea has receded, you can still see the ancient path running alongside the modern road.
12:13If all is solid, it'll do the job of funneling the Persians into the hot gates.
12:17Number 9, Gladiator.
12:20Like so many other historical epics, Gladiator plays fast and loose with much of the geography of Rome.
12:25Even more egregious is how the film seems to shrink Europe, or at the very least, put cities much closer together than they are in real life.
12:33The opening sees Maximus claiming victory in the Battle of Vindabona, a real historical event that took place in what is now Vienna, Austria.
12:47After learning his family will be killed, he rides to his home in modern-day Spain, on horseback, seemingly only stopping one night to sleep.
12:55Blessed Father, watch over my wife.
12:57My son, you have already sought.
12:58You have taught me.
13:00Whisper to them, I live only to hold them again.
13:02My wife and son, you have already sought.
13:03For all else is dust in air.
13:04Whisper to them, I live only to hold them again.
13:06The trip is about 2,400 kilometers, with multiple elevation changes, and crossing several countries.
13:13You could certainly cover it in that time frame.
13:15In a car.
13:16Number 8.
13:2810,000 BC
13:29This prehistoric action flick cares as much about geographical accuracy as it does historical accuracy, which is to say, not at all.
13:38Utterly impossible landscapes, such as snowy mountains bordering lush jungles, crop up in the film, but that's only the tip of the iceberg.
13:46It is hot here.
13:48Baku, stay close.
13:52Looking at the fossil record shows just how wrong the filmmakers got the geography.
13:57The mammoths that helped build the pyramids in the film, about 7,000 years early, were confined to Siberia, nowhere near Egypt or even southern Europe.
14:11Look at it.
14:13Smilodon, meanwhile, lived only in the Americas, and terror birds in South America, although those have been extinct for hundreds of thousands of years.
14:21The movie even implies that Atlantis was a real place.
14:24Some say they came from the stars.
14:27Others believe that they flew across the great water when their land sank into the sea.
14:31Number 7. The Lost World Jurassic Park
14:34The first Jurassic Park film was famously shot in Hawaii, with its lush rainforest standing in for the fictional Isla Nublar off the coast of Costa Rica.
14:43The jungles made sense for the Central American climate, similar to the jungles on the mainland.
14:47The sequel, set on Isla Sorna in the same chain of fictitious islands, however, decided to go a different route, shooting in the redwood forests of California.
15:06This meant that the coastal redwoods, which only grow in California, and a splotch of Oregon, were present and out of place in the tropics, while also clashing with the first film.
15:16Compounding the confusion was Jurassic Park 3, also set on Isla Sorna, going back to film in Hawaiian rainforests.
15:36Number 6. Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves
15:39When Robin Hood arrives in his English homeland, he lands at the White Cliffs of Dover.
15:44So far, this makes sense, as the memorable Cliffs of Chalk lie along the south of England, the direction Robin would have come from.
16:00However, Robin then says he will be celebrating with his father in Nottingham by nightfall, which is in the middle of the country, 200 miles away, an estimated 72-hour walk, without stopping to sleep or eat.
16:11Our fighting days are done. By nightfall, we will celebrate with my father.
16:21You understand, of course. I had to try.
16:25In fact, Robin does stop, appropriately, but anachronistically, at Robin Hood tree at Hadrian's Wall.
16:32While this is thematically fitting, it's geographic nonsense, as Hadrian's Wall is in the north of the island, another 180 miles past Sherwood.
16:40Azeem, the Great One! I am home!
16:48Number 5. Godzilla
16:50In the American reboot of the monster franchise, Godzilla and the monstrous Muto battle in and near a geographically muddled Honolulu.
16:58Locations like the airport, Waikiki Beach, and the forest reserve all butt up against one another.
17:10After the clash, the Muto heads towards the mainland in search of more radiation for it to feed on, which is where the trouble really starts.
17:17A second Muto emerges from Yucca Mountain and begins heading towards the Pacific, where it will rendezvous with its kin in San Francisco.
17:24All our models have the targets converging on the Pacific coast.
17:27As of now, it looks like Godzilla is still following the Muto.
17:30On the way, the second Muto crashes through Las Vegas, raining down death and destruction on the Strip.
17:36That's despite the fact that Vegas is southeast of Yucca, while its route to San Francisco would take it northwest.
17:41Number 4. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
17:53Escaping from Shanghai, bound for what he believes to be Bangkok, Indiana Jones boards a plane, and the audience is treated to one of the franchise's famous traveling montages.
18:03Ever since you got into my club, you haven't been able to take your eyes off me!
18:07Oh yeah?
18:11Featuring a map overlaid with footage of the plane, Indy's travels are displayed in an effective and entertaining way, often while providing some interesting shots.
18:26In this case, as he's crossing China, it's no surprise we see his plane pass over the Great Wall, while a red line marks his location.
18:34However, the two images are at odds, as the Great Wall is nowhere near the part of China they are flying over.
18:39In fact, both Bangkok and the Himalayas, where he actually ends up, are hundreds of miles in the other direction.
18:56Oh no.
18:57Number 3. The Sound of Music
18:59With Germany annexing Austria in the days leading to World War II, the conclusion of The Sound of Music details the musical von Trapp family escaping to freedom.
19:07They do this after being spirited away from their hometown of Salzburg, to make their way across the Alps to neighboring Switzerland.
19:21Aside from being a treacherous mountain crossing, that journey wouldn't take them into neutral Switzerland, but straight into Nazi Germany.
19:28The real life von Trapp's peacefully crossed into Italy via train, before eventually making their way to the US.
19:33Stay on your life for as long as you'll be.
19:43After seeing the film, the real Maria allegedly even exclaimed,
19:47Don't they know geography in Hollywood?
19:49Salzburg does not border on Switzerland.
19:52The response from director Robert Weiss,
19:54In Hollywood, you make your own geography.
19:56Bring home till you find your dream.
20:08Number 2. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen
20:12If one film franchise consistently has a blatant disregard for geography,
20:16it has to be the Transformers films from Michael Bay,
20:19and his second is the worst offender.
20:20After teleporting to the Pyramids of Giza,
20:23the heroes head by car to Petra,
20:25making their way across the Egypt-Jordan border.
20:27This is despite the fact that Egypt and Jordan don't share a border.
20:31Okay, first thing we gotta do is get Optimus to the Dagger's tip.
20:33How are you gonna get him halfway around the world?
20:36I'm gonna make a call.
20:37Before that, however,
20:38they make a trip to the National Air and Space Museum.
20:41Heading out the back of the museum,
20:42they find a large airfield in the middle of a desert,
20:45surrounded by mountains,
20:46without a building in sight.
20:47What do you want?
20:49Look, we just wanna talk.
20:50I have no time to talk.
20:51I'm on a mission.
20:52I'm a mercenary doombringer.
20:53What planet am I on?
20:55Earth.
20:55Given that the museum,
20:57as correctly pointed out in the film,
20:58is in Washington, D.C.,
21:00that's absolute nonsense.
21:02What do you get so with honor,
21:04dignity,
21:05now it's...
21:05Before we continue,
21:12be sure to subscribe to our channel
21:13and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
21:16You have the option to be notified
21:18for occasional videos or all of them.
21:21If you're on your phone,
21:22make sure you go into your settings
21:23and switch on notifications.
21:26Number 1.
21:28Krakatoa, East of Java
21:29Of all the films included on this list,
21:32one holds the distinction
21:33of having its geographical error in its title.
21:36Krakatoa, the volcanic island made famous in 1883
21:39for having one of the most powerful
21:41and horrific explosions in recorded history,
21:44sits between Sumatra and Java.
21:46The caldera is actually southeast of Sumatra,
22:00while it is in fact located due west of Java.
22:03Although the producers did apparently own a map
22:05and realized the error in the title,
22:07they left it unchanged,
22:08as it sounded more exotic.
22:09Do you think it'll work?
22:13It better.
22:14In the film,
22:15a group of ragtag adventurers
22:16heads east out of Java
22:17and encounters the eruption
22:19as they search for a lost stash of sunken pearls,
22:21with even the theme song getting the direction wrong.
22:24Which of these geography errors annoys you the most?
22:35Let us know in the comments below.
Comments