Continuity mistake: In the dormitory, when lovestruck Ron is going gaga over Romilda, he is wearing a brown sleeveless tee shirt and its tan trim has many holes. When Harry brings Ron to Slughorn, Ron is still wearing that tee shirt, but now some of the holes are gone and the rest of the holes have changed position. (01:26:50)
Character mistake: The newspaper article states that Lucinda was thirty-three at the time of her death in 1988. However, that would make her just four years old when she wrote the time capsule note in 1959 - four years old in the 3rd grade?
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Watson and Adler are laying out the map, they place two objects on the map to hold it down. In the very next clip where it shows Holmes talking, you see Watson and Adler placing those same objects on the map.
Factual error: Abby has trees surrounding her house yet there aren't any in Nome Alaska.
Continuity mistake: After Emily burns her home it's night time, then she follows the police cars and it seems like evening, and when she comes out from the water the sun shines in the background.
Factual error: Contrary to what the movie states, priests can be elected Pope - they are simply elevated to the rank of Bishop before taking the office.
Suggested correction: Him being only a priest was simply an excuse not to elect him. Those who did not want him to be pope were trying to find any reason to keep it from happening.
Any baptized Catholic male can be elected pope, although it has only happened once. Pope John XIX in the 11th century was a layman, ordained after his election.
Continuity mistake: After Esther suffocates Daniel in the hospital, Kate slaps Esther in the face. The hospital staff then hold down Kate and she drops her iPhone, screen down. The iPhone starts ringing, even though the screen is facing the floor. In the next scene, it is still ringing, but with the screen facing upwards.
Character mistake: In the film, five items are stolen: the Magna Carta, the Turin Shroud, the Imperial Sword of Japan, the Pope's ring and the Pink Panther diamond. When Alfred Molina's character is challenged that they had found everything but the Pink Panther, he protests that 3 out of 4 is not bad, that's 75%. In fact, they had found 4 out of 5 or 80%.
Factual error: When Sam speaks with his daughter on the long range phone there is virtually no delay between some questions and answers. It takes over two seconds for radio waves just to travel from the Moon to the Earth and back in a straight line. The interval between question and answer physically can't be shorter than that and realistically should be around 3 seconds or even more, accounting for additional signal relays and time needed for a person to form a statement. Same for the communication between Gerty and the Lunar employees when Sam 2 got out of his infirmary bed.
Factual error: We see Hoffman has to use pliers and force to remove Strahm's hand from the grill. However, since the hand is freshly severed, rigor mortis would not have set in, and he should have been able to remove it with ease. (01:09:30)
Visible crew/equipment: James Marsden and Cameron Diaz are getting ready to go to bed. They have a short conversation about turning off the Christmas tree lights. As Marsden is bending over to turn the lights out, there is a window behind him. As soon as the lights go out, you see a head start to pop up in the window. You only see the forehead of the person, then the scene changes quickly.
Continuity mistake: While Sam is talking to Trudy in the bank about the burned church, the name tag on the door in the background when the camera is focused on Trudy is there, then it isn't, then it reappears again throughout the scene. (00:35:30 - 00:36:00)
Revealing mistake: During crash scenes towards the end the local traffic in the background is driving on the left hand side of the road (filmed at Darling Point, Wynnum, Australia) even though the movie is set in the USA.
Continuity mistake: At the start of the movie Dylan Walsh cuts himself shaving and patches it with a piece of tissue, on the side of his jaw. Moments later as he's walking through the house the cut has moved to the corner of his mouth. (00:01:40 - 00:03:35)
Continuity mistake: Somewhere during the car chase scene, one of the rear lights of the delivery van breaks. After that it magically fixes itself in some shots.
Factual error: During one of Blomkvist's flashbacks to his childhood with his babysitter (about 40 years ago), he is wearing Lightning McQueen shoes.
Other mistake: When Anton is swinging below the bridge to rescue Tony from his hanging, he bumps into him. At that moment, Heath Ledger opens his eyes, breaking character for a split second.
Continuity mistake: Liam loads a stretcher in a van. The interior is a Chevrolet. The outside view is a Ford with a bubble window and drives away. Then the next scene shows the gas gauge on a Chevy dashboard. But the worst is at the gas station. While he was filling the van you can see the "express" tag on the door, which is Chevrolet with no bubble window. In the next frame you see the side of the van. Definitely a Ford and the bubble window is back.
Plot hole: At the beginning there is an audio recording of Thomas talking to the police. He explicitly says 'They killed her! They Killed my sister, my mom!' or something to that effect and that Thomas was arrested for the rape and murder of his sister and he killed himself in custody. At the end, his sister is killed and the little epilogue says that the sister's body was found in her brother's arms and when their mother found out about the 'death of her children' she killed herself. That doesn't make sense logically. Thomas was alive when his mother was dead, according to the clip at the beginning.
Audio problem: DVD version. In the scene where Lisbeth is about to be buried alive, she gets shot three times by her father as she tries to run away. The sound effect of the gunfire includes the tinkling of a spent cartridge hitting the ground (clearly heard in the rear right). However, the father's gun is seen to be a revolver, which does not eject spent casings when fired - the spent casings stay in the cylinder. (01:50:30)