Factual error: In the scene where Bond is watching the screen showing the bomb going through the pipeline, he asks for the distance the bomb has to travel and how fast it is going. Bond is told the bomb "is 106 miles from the terminal, going 70 mph." Bond says, "We've got 78 minutes." Wrong. At 70 mph (1.17 miles a minute) it would take about 91 minutes to cover that distance.
Factual error: After the explosion in the pipeline Christmas says: "the world's greatest terrorist running around with 6 kilos of plutonium." That tells us that each half of the plutonium ball weighs 6 kg. Seconds earlier she asks "Why leave this half" and pulls out the other half of the plutonium from her bag. She lifts it with the tip of her fingers as if the container weighs no more than a pound. You can definitely not lift 6 kg with such a casual hand movement, and no significant weight change is visible in the bag.
Revealing mistake: During the pursuit scene on the Thames, there is nobody in the boat during one shot, when it breaks the fence. (00:11:55)
Continuity mistake: When Bond and Christmas surface, after escaping the submarine, there are no bubbles at all around them, which is impossible since we've just seen the submarine explode, releasing loads of gas. (01:57:10)
Continuity mistake: When Bond is under attack at the caviar factory the first time a bridge is blown up he falls backwards twice (in two different shots).
Continuity mistake: When Valentin first falls into his Caviar it's very thick. In following shots the consistency changes to being much more watery. (01:30:35)
Continuity mistake: In the scene of the boat chase, Bond smashes the machine gun holder, and some parts fall on to the Cigar Girl. When the camera goes back to the girl there are no parts on her.
Revealing mistake: When James Bond is on the run from the helicopter in the caviar factory, he backs into a metal pipe, holding his Walther P99 just above his head. Yet, if you watch the pipe you can see that it is a prop, as the pipe wobbles when Bond backs into it.
Continuity mistake: After the oil pipe is blown up, almost killing Bond, there's a large crater, as expected, but the blast also somehow severed the smoldering trees as if done by a chainsaw.
Continuity mistake: In the first scene, when Bond has a gun to the Swiss banker's head, in the first shot Bond's got his gun pressed right up to the guy's neck. However, when it cuts, the gun is a couple of inches from the banker's face. (00:02:20)
Factual error: When Christmas and Bond are on the rigs in the pipeline and are supposedly moving at about 70mph their hair only move about a little bit and very little flapping of the clothes. 70mph is a significant blast, try opening a window on a motorway.
Continuity mistake: When M is imprisoned and is being spoken to by Robert Carlyle she is wearing a multi-coloured scarf which is draped over her left shoulder and down the left side of her body. When Carlyle leaves the room M turns around and walks towards the bed. The camera angle is reversed and she's not wearing the scarf. Later it is shown lying across the bed.
Revealing mistake: At the beginning when Bond jumps into the speed boat to chase after the assassin, he's not wearing a helmet. But when the speed boat hits the bigger one and rolls in the air, you can clearly see the driver with a helmet on.
Other mistake: The security monitor in Valentin's office shows a cinematic wide shot of the casino with the camera moving. It seems unlikely that a CCTV camera would be mounted to a crane to perform elegant moves like this. (00:43:55)
Factual error: When Valentin takes Bond and Christmas into the FSB's headquarters in Istanbul, he explains "This used to be the KGB's headquarters in Istanbul. Now we call it the FSB: Federal Security Bureau. Different name, same friendly service," or something to that effect. However, the important part that Valentin flubs is that "FSB" is the *Russian* acronym transliterated into the Roman alphabet. What it really stands for is Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti. If he'd said the name correctly in English, he would've said "Federal Security Service," the FSB's official English name and that appears on all of its translated literature. Had a character unfamiliar with the FSB (Mr. Bullion, Electra, Bond, Christmas, and possibly even Renard) made this same flub, it would've been understandable. However, Valentin knows the FSB so well that he can apparently just waltz into a foreign headquarters building with whoever he wants. If he knows them that well, he's flat out not going to make so simple a mistake.
Continuity mistake: Despite running and jumping for her life, traveling at over 70mph, tumbling head over heels, and several massive explosions (during the nuclear factory and pipeline sequences), Dr. Jones' hair remains pinned up in a French twist with nary a strand out of place. Uh-huh. This is particularly glaring considering near the end of the film, the impact of an explosion finally does knock her hair loose.
Revealing mistake: When James Bond attacks the man at the casino bar, you can see that there are two holes on the board before he stabs the tie, from previous takes.
Continuity mistake: In the opening scene in the bankers office, the henchman comes in and places the suitcase on the desk and opens it so Bond can check the cash inside. Minutes later when Bond makes his escape out the window, the suitcase is on the floor, locked - very convenient.
Factual error: In the opening boat chase scene, when Bond takes the Q-boat ashore at high speed and hurtles through city streets, we see that his hands are still steering the Q-boat, even though there's no external means of steering the boat on dry land. We get a good look at the Q-boat's keel a couple of times, and it has no wheels nor other steering mechanism aside from its jet-ski nozzle, which would be useless for steering on dry land. Its twin rocket thrusters, which are both firing in the street sequence, provide only forward thrust. But, remarkably, the Q-boat manages to change direction by as much as 90° without losing momentum on dry land.
Continuity mistake: In the opening scene, Bond's grip on the banker changes between shots. When seen from Bond's side, he holds him both by the tie and part of his jacket, but when seen from the banker's side he only holds the tie.
Answer: It's a variation on the "standard" James Bond theme.