It's been bugging me ever since i watched the film...
Why did the character Tarzan read everything backwards? For example: When he comments on the melbourne cup horse number "24" he says "42" and then we see him reading a sign that says "Staff Only" but from his point of view we see it as "ylno ffats". Yet when he read the security code he typed it in correctly and not backwards. I dont get it!
Did anyone else notice this?
He's reads everything backwards because he's dyslexic.
However, he did not type in the security code correctly - he tries entering it in a couple times but can't get in. He pounds on the door and demands to be let in. When someone inside refuses to open the door, so he just shoots off the doorknob and gets in that way.
he wasn't reading it correctly. If you look at a closeup of the note in an earlier frame it shows 6425 when it is held in Joel Edgerton's hand, but then when 'tarzan' is trying to read it it shows 5246.
Obviously it's a different bit of paper, but it is supposed to mean that we are seeing it as he is seeing it as a dyslexic person might. In an earlier shot he looks at another sign and rather than the letter order being reversed but the letters appearing the right way around, it's just a mirror image of the word. I think the sign said 'surveillance' .
They also show him earlier looking at the number on a house they are at prior to the big job, and seeing the numbers the wrong way around if I recall correctly, and he also speaks about a racehorse someone else is betting on and gets the numbers the wrong way around.
I suppose they could have spent extra money on special effects, but really would it be necessary. I think eventually (perhaps on a second watch if need be) most people will work it out and it's not a massive issue beyond that I guess. He's put on the spot and asked in a fairly frank manner 'can't you read' when he's looking at the security door of the surveillance room, and this partially sets him off (presumably because his dyslexia has been a source of torment and abuse from others over the years)