'Matrix' makes flying start on mistakes site

Critics agree that the sci-fi blockbuster Matrix Reloaded is short on plot. And film fanatics have also noticed that it's not hot on continuity either, picking out 29 errors in the $300m (£200m) sequel to the 1999 original.

Critics agree that the sci-fi blockbuster Matrix Reloaded is short on plot. And film fanatics have also noticed that it's not hot on continuity either, picking out 29 errors in the $300m (£200m) sequel to the 1999 original.

Although it only had its premiere in the US last Thursday and was shown to public audiences from last Saturday, users of the www.moviemistakes.com website have spotted that benches magically repair themselves, car crashes disappear and tyres blow out and then appear normal again.

So far that does not seem to have affected the film's popularity: it drew $42.5m on its opening night in the US, and had the second-best opening weekend, after Spider-Man. Perhaps coincidentally, Spider-Man also had the highest recorded number of continuity errors - 64 - on its film release. That number will climb once fans get hold of the DVD, when they will mercilessly dissect it frame by frame. The Matrix, released in 1999, holds the all-time record, with 144 errors.

Joel Silver, the producer of the Matrix series, said: "It's gratifying that there's so much discussion about it". The film does not open until Friday in Britain, although it has already been the topic of much discussion, with some pirated copies thought to be circulating on the internet.

The detail of the criticisms suggests that some of the continuity errors have been spotted from those pirated copies. In one scene, the hero, Neo, fights 100 identical enemies called Agent Smith. "The benches have a bad habit of being broken and then being fixed again," said a moviemistakes user. Another error involves the rear windshield of a car containing two of the heroes which shatters during a chase, yet later in the scene appears unscathed.