Troy (2004) - 212 mistakes

Visible crew/equipment: As Achilles' ship nears the Trojan shores, Agamemnon snidely asks, "What's the fool doing? He's going to take the beach of Troy with fifty men?" At the start of the next shot, as the camera begins to pan down, on the far right, just beside a person's (who is dressed in blue) head is a metal bullhorn (ie. used to give instructions to cast/crew, and which definitely doesn't belong in this time period).

Revealing: During their fight in front of Troy's wall, Ajax shoves his weapon into Hector's face, causing Hector to fall back. In the next shot looking up, as Hector hits the ground, part of the wall is amusingly gone! There is even a bit of the crew's scaffold, visible behind the edge of the 'stone'. This particular piece of wall was never built as part of the actual set, so when it appears onscreen it is always CG, though in this shot the composite people did not complete it and at this precise angle it should be there. When the bodies are being collected (at the end of this battle), there is a good view of the wall intact.

Revealing: When the spear handle is protruding from Hector's shoulder, the area of the armor around the circular wound is clearly visible and it is in perfect condition. There is no tear in the armor whatsoever, around the wood, which would have been necessary to allow the wide spear tip to penetrate the armor and actually enter Hector's body as it did.

Continuity: When Achilles is hit with the fourth arrow in the close-up, he now has two arrows in his torso (the first in his ankle, the second he pulled out). Yet in the next wide shot of Briseis, as she runs toward Paris yelling, "Paris! Don't!" there is only ONE arrow in Achilles' chest, but when Paris hits him with the fifth arrow, no doubt the missing arrow is back again!

Visible crew/equipment: After Achilles, Odysseus and the rest exit the 'Trojan' horse, Odysseus signals the soldier at the top of the city's wall. When this soldier waves the torch in the wide shot, crane equipment leans over the interior wall, above the huge doors!! It is obviously gone in the next wide shot of the wall, as the soldier continues to wave the torch. (Only visible on widescreen version.)

Continuity: While Ajax and Hector fight, Hector head butts Ajax, and three shots later in a wide shot, half of the hammer end of his unusual spear actually breaks and falls to the ground behind him to his left. But lo and behold, in the next close-up the bloody hammer end (bloodier than the previous shot) of his spear is whole and intact!

Visible crew/equipment: As the Trojans let loose their arrows on the Myrmidons, there is a close-up of a fiery arrow in a man's thigh. Two shots later, in a close-up of a Myrmidon stuntguy when he slams onto the sand, he clutches in his right hand a wired remote with a white trigger button, presumably to set off the little dramatic sand explosions as he lands.

Continuity: While Menelaus and Paris duel, Menelaus punches Paris in the face (the first time) and as he spins around spitting blood, the red bruise on Paris' right cheek is perfectly visible, yet in the very next close-up his face is quite pristine - the bruise and blood are actually gone!! But of course in the next close-up Paris' cheek bruise is back with blood on his chin as well, and in the following shots the amount of blood goes back and forth.

Revealing: When Hector and Paris return to Troy with Helen, in the last wide shot as they ride in the chariot the camera pans toward the palace, high up in the distance over particular buildings. Later, just after Odysseus sets fire to the pyre with Achilles' body, when Odysseus' voiceover says, "...I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat," the entire palace is actually GONE in this shot, though it should be visible over the very same buildings as the earlier shot, since the angle of the camera is similar. Composite people simply neglected to add the palace in this pyre shot.

Visible crew/equipment: As the 'Trojan' horse is being pulled into the city of Troy, in the cable-cam shot, just after the camera passes over the last of the riders on horseback, it passes a wood structure on the left, beside the large columns. Inside is a man in a black tee shirt, standing beside another man who holds an HT (handie-talkie - a two-way radio) up to his mouth with his right hand, as he points with his left hand. Then when the cable-cam spins around, they and a white tee shirt guy are visible down below. As a side note, there are some in the crowd that make eye contact with the camera and follow it as it passes (the cable-cam is not the POV of anyone - it sails over people's heads in the opposite direction than the 'Trojan' horse is being brought). Before it nears the wood structure, a woman on the ground below raises both her arms to wave and smile directly at the camera as it passes over.

Visible crew/equipment: After the Trojans let loose their arrows on the Myrmidons who have just reached their shores, there is a close-up of a Myrmidon stuntguy as he slams onto the sand, beside the ship. At the start of this shot a crew member (who is stooping) is visible on deck, at the bow of the ship. (Use slo-mo if necessary.)

Continuity: When the Trojan rider finds the Greek fleet that are hidden below, in the wide shots this rider has very long curly black hair and his helmet has its decorative hair formed into a thin long twist as it hangs down from the top of the helmet. However, in the close-ups of the rider, he has very short brown hair and all the helmet's decorative hair hangs down thick and loose!!

Revealing: During the duel between Menelaus and Paris, the blade tip on Menelaus' sword actually breaks! It is perfectly visible when he and Paris slam their two swords together, at the start of the same shot just before Menelaus grabs hold of Paris' shield and pushes him away. Of course it's nice and pointy in the following shots!

Continuity: Achilles walks on the left side of the large grassy area when he is hit with the third and fourth arrows in the close-ups and since the statue to the left and back edge of the grass are visible, the dead soldier's position is apparent. Then after a facial close-up of stationary Achilles, in the next wide shot Achilles is now on the right side of the grassy area.

Continuity: Priam walks toward the edge of the balcony to see fire ravaging his city. In the shot prior to that one, Troy's center square (with the temple of Poseidon) is shown and behind the two large columns, the left and right tall doors at the top of the stairs are engulfed in flames, the center door is not. When Briseis runs from the galloping horse, in the very next shot of the square with the 'Trojan' horse, only the left door at the top of the stairs is engulfed in flames and the right and center doors are both perfectly intact, then of course as Agamemnon shouts, "Burn Troy!" the left and right are completely engulfed again.

Revealing: When Ajax slams the hammer end of his spear into a man, he has his shield at his back. The top arrow in the shield is bent at a 90° angle and as Ajax moves the top (plastic) arrow droops down and the bottom arrow actually flops around. While still in the same location, when he sticks his spear into the sand and pulls the arrow out of his thigh, the arrows on his shield are gone.

Continuity: After Agamemnon's death, the first soldier that Achilles kills when rescuing Briseis, lies on the grassy area directly in front of the large center statue. The dead soldier repeatedly changes position. For example, when Briseis runs and shouts, "Paris! Don't!" the body is about 3-4 feet away from the edge, yet when Achilles drops to his knees, the body is right at the edge. In the last aerial shot of Achilles' body, the dead soldier is actually gone from the front of the statue.

Visible crew/equipment: When Achilles and the Myrmidons are being hit with the Trojan's fiery arrows on the beach, there is a close-up of Achilles falling onto his knees on the sand. Three shots later, there is a particularly enjoyable close-up of a Myrmidon extra being hit by a fiery arrow in the chest, as his helmet with the long curly black wig falls off his head, to reveal his short light brown hair underneath.

Visible crew/equipment: As Hector and Achilles duel, Achilles slices Hector's spear with his shield. Two shots later, just as Hector throws the remaining spear to the ground, the large distinctive shadow of equipment, which leans or stands beside the wall, is visible on the gate behind Hector.

Factual error: When the Trojans flee inside the walls at the arrival of the Greeks, you can see some llamas. Llamas were only known in Latin America and not in ancient Troy.

Revealing: When Paris hits Achilles with the fifth arrow, as Achilles raises his right arm, the two round yellow stickers on both sides of his armor beside the studs, near the arm holes, are perfectly visible in this and the following two extreme close-ups. They are used to mark the bottom edge of the shot. Obviously they are gone in the previous and following shots.

Visible crew/equipment: After Paris says goodbye to Helen, Odysseus leads the Greek soldiers up the stairs. As Odysseus reaches the second set of stairs, he swings his sword at a Trojan in the close-up, to his left a soldier swings a bulb shaped weapon on a Trojan's head and blood flies out, but before he makes that swing the large 'blood sac' attached to the weapon is actually visible.

Factual error: More than once the sun is seen rising over the sea. But the sun rises in the east and the sea around Troy is in the north and west, not in the east.

Continuity: When Paris finds Briseis with Achilles, Paris lets loose his first arrow, with four left in the quiver, then when he runs up the step he pulls his second and there are three left. He then releases the third and fourth arrows, which should leave him only one in his quiver, for his final shot. Just after Briseis shouts, "Paris! Don't!" before he lets loose his fifth arrow, there are still three arrows actually visible behind him. However when he runs down the stairs his quiver is empty. Perhaps some Legolas elf magic is at work here.

Revealing: When Paris and Hector ride back into Troy with Helen (in the chariot), Paris's cloak is held on the armor with blue laces complete with little plastic ends. Similar laces, in various colors, on others' cloaks are also visible in the film. Plastic was not invented until the 20th century.

Revealing: As the vast army of Greeks approach the shores of Troy, there is a close-up of Eudorus' legs as he makes his way to Achilles at the bow of the ship. As he walks, the very thick rubber soles with lovely intricate modern treads are perfectly visible on his old fashioned sandals with each step that he takes. Countless times the treads are actually identical on different character's sandal's soles!

Continuity: After Hector stabs Ajax blood dribbles from Ajax's mouth and lands on the sand. However, once Ajax breaks the spear in his stomach and continues fighting, this area has no blood on it.

Continuity: When Priam sees the city on fire, in the shot facing his back, he walks to the edge of the balcony. In the next close-up facing him, the large statue (the seated statue opposite the throne) and a particular white statue are a certain distance behind him. In earlier shots, including when Priam and Hector stand on the balcony, the distance between the balcony and the seated statue at the opposite end of the room is far greater. The statues are deliberately much closer, for the close-up on Priam's devastated expression.

Continuity: Just before Hector fights Achilles, he hugs his wife, and son. The boy is rather big in his wife's arms. A moment later, we see a wider shot of the family looking on, and the wife hands the boy to someone to hold for her. The bundle we see in her hands is very tiny compared to the baby she'd just had in the previous scene.

Visible crew/equipment: While Hector and Achilles duel, there is a wide shot just before Hector breaks Achilles' spear. At the start of this shot, as Achilles begins to thrust the spear towards Hector, an equipment shadow (an upside down V) is visible on the ground behind Hector's feet. (The equipment that casts this shadow is seen on DVD 2, it glides above the camera on a suspended wire.)

Continuity: When Paris and Menelaus duel, the distance between them and each of the two armies changes drastically in different consecutive shots, even when there is minimal movement by the two men. For example, when Menelaus takes Paris' shield away and Paris trips forward in two consecutive shots.

Continuity: In the opening scene, just after Achilles has arrived, he begins to walk off from Agamemnon, and as the shot faces Agamemnon talking to the gentleman beside him with the white hair and beard, this man's position differs between shots.

Continuity: After Ajax's death, when Agamemnon shouts, "Forward!" as they charge, Agamemnon's two horses have very distinctive white markings on their faces. Then when Agamemnon and Odysseus (on the same chariot) retreat, after the cheering of Trojan royalty, in the close-up as Odysseus shouts, "Back to the ships!" the white markings are entirely different, and now both horses are actually wearing blinkers on their bridles to cover their eyes.

Revealing: Just before Priam and Hector speak about Paris and Helen, the camera pans the exterior of the palace at the start of the shot. Later, when the camera pans up after Achilles dies, the same structures are visible, yet part of the stone buildings (beyond the statues that stand beside the grass) and a piece of the wall around the palace, are completely different. (This has nothing to do with camera angles.)

Revealing: When Boagrius throws the first spear at Achilles, it hits Achilles' distinctive shaped shield. In the shot facing the back of the shield, their proximity differs, and the spear penetrates the shield in a completely different area than shown in the next shot, facing the front of the shield.

Revealing: After Hector pulls his sword from his shield, Achilles spins around and pulls his own from the underside of his shield. The sword is unsecured above his hand, not where it should have been, below his left hand on the handle of the shield, which was obviously done deliberately to ready the sword for the shot.

Continuity: After Achilles kills Hector, Achilles reaches for the plain rope end of the rope at the back of the chariot, which he ties to the chariot bar. When Achilles rides away while looking up in the close-up, in the next shot as the body is being dragged, the knot's excess rope now has a wide black tip at the end.

Revealing: Throughout the entire film, when soldiers are stabbing others it is blatantly obvious in numerous shots that the swords' blades or spear tips don't come anywhere near the armor or skin of the stabbing victim, and the 'victim' usually has either a delayed reaction to their wounds or react before the weapons ever 'touch' them!!

Revealing: Achilles is hit with the final arrow that Paris lets loose, and he drops down to his knees. As he kneels on the grass his left ankle and foot are perfectly visible and the arrow in his ankle/foot is unequivocally gone! (Visible on VHS.)

Continuity: In the first shot that pans Ajax's ship, as he walks towards the bow, Ajax's weapon leans on the rail at the prow and to HIS left there is a green shield, blanket and other items lying on deck, as well as the seated men rowing. The first seat is empty, on the second seat sits a dark-haired man and a bald man sits on the fourth seat. However, when he yells, "Row you lazy whores..." in the close-up, he yanks a man sitting in the first seat that was previously empty, the man on the second seat has gone grey (from stress?) and the (bald) man on the fourth seat has grown a full head of hair!! Ajax's weapon, the green shield and the other items are gone too.

Continuity: Just after Briseis leaves with Paris, Achilles falls over and dies on the grass in a close-up. The position of Achilles and also the arrows on the grass differ between this shot and the following aerial shot. To be precise regarding Achilles, in the close-up: 1. He is much farther from the stone, behind his head, that surrounds the grass, than in the aerial shot, where it is quite close to the stone. 2. His left arm is outstretched upwards towards the stone, and his hand is near the stone behind him, whereas in the aerial shot his left arm is downwardly outstretched. 3. His left knee (the leg with the arrow) is bent more (even visible as he falls over on the grass) than in the aerial shot, where that leg is straighter.

Revealing: After the Greeks break into the palace throne room, there is a close-up and consecutive wide shot of a particular white statue being pulled down with two ropes, then smashes apart on the floor and water. However, in the next shot of Priam, he turns around and as the camera pans out, the very same statue is being pulled down yet again, albeit with very noticeable differences in this take of the same shot. (Each of the unique statues in the throne room is visible in earlier shots.)

Revealing: When Boagrius falls after Achilles stabs him, in the close-up the two squares (gauze for a boo-boo perhaps?) taped to his knees are clearly visible, when he hits the ground and his legs go up!

Deliberate "mistake": During the Trojan attack on the Greeks at the beach, before Hector and "Achilles" have at it, there are two separate close-ups of Hector's sword slicing across a man's face, who promptly spins around and spews blood. This particular man is enjoyed twice in two takes of the same shot, just before and after Odysseus' close-ups. Then as if that's not enough, a few shots later this spewing man is actually seen a third time, but this time from another angle!!

Continuity: After Briseis kills Agamemnon, Achilles slices the first soldier's neck and as the man falls back it is apparent that his helmet (and wig) falls off (a bit more noticeable on VHS). However, in the following shots it's quite an accomplishment that this soldier has his helmet on, as he lies dead on the grass.

Visible crew/equipment: In Sparta, when Paris enters Helen's room he stands behind her, as she sits in front of a stone wall and they are alone. When he puts his hands on her shoulders and then pulls her hair back, the reflections of crew members are visible in the circular medallions of his upper arms' armor, first on his right then on his left (use slo-mo if necessary). As a matter of fact, there are other instances throughout the film that set lights, etc., are reflected on the men's armor.

Revealing: When Priam and Hector speak about Paris and Helen, there is a shot from behind them where the city below is clearly visible, as they stand on the balcony. Later, when Priam sees the devastating fires he stands on the same balcony (the statues are visible behind him in the close-up), and the city's buildings, etc., are entirely different than the earlier shot!

Continuity: When Odysseus and the Greeks reach the gates to the palace, before Glaucus shouts, "Soldiers of Troy, you men are warriors..." the long horizontal wood that is secured across the doors is visible. When the Greeks break through it is an entirely different piece of wood that splits.

Revealing: When the Trojans and Greeks first clash, after Menelaus' death, soldiers wearing kneepads are visible as they fight in the melee.

Visible crew/equipment: When Achilles mounts his horse, the boy hands him his helmet and then his shield. After he says, "The Thessalonian you're fighting..." at the start of the close-up when the boy has his hands up as gives him the shield, the grey mic is visible right under the neckline of his outfit.

Continuity: When Achilles goes to see his mother, Thetis, as they speak the position of her long hair differs repeatedly, e.g., behind her shoulder then in front, depending on the camera angle.

Continuity: After Hector is speared, when Achilles thrusts forward with the sword, the tip of the blade makes contact on Hector's torso, under the large center medallion of the armor. However in Hector's close-up the blade is above the center medallion.

Continuity: While holding Briseis, Agamemnon says, "A Trojan priestess scrubbing my floors," the collar of his armor fits snugly round his neck. Yet when he continues, "And at night," the collar is pulled a good bit away from his neck, to expose plenty of fake skin for the stabbing shot.

Visible crew/equipment: When the horse gallops down the corridor in the first shot, just after Achilles shouts for Briseis, equipment with a green light on top is visible, as it rolls in and out of shot on the left side of the screen, in front of the horse.

Continuity: As Troy burns, there is an overhead shot of Achilles walking along the side of the building. In the shot immediately prior to this one, of soldiers running to the right of the screen, the large legs of the white statue stand and the broken body lies on the ground. Many shots later, after Achilles starts to shout for Briseis, that same statue is just being pulled down, as the legs remain in place. Once again, many shots later, as Agamemnon shouts, "Burn it! Burn it all!" the same statue is being pulled down yet again in the distance.

Continuity: When Hector stabs Menelaus, in the close-up the tip of the blade protrudes at his back a few inches to the right of the second circular design, under the shoulder flap. However, when Hector pulls the blade out, the tip of the blade is directly in the center of the circular decorative design.

Revealing: When Boagrius throws the first spear in the shot facing Achilles, Boagrius leans in to throw it and then stands straight just when the (CG) spear nearly reaches Achilles, who still has his shield at his side. In the next shot facing Boagrius the (CG) spear is still near Boagrius, who stands straight, and Achilles raises his shield for the incoming spear. This spear casts a (CG) shadow as it heads toward Achilles and when the ('real') spear tip penetrates Achilles' shield, there are other (CG) spear shadows on the ground heading toward Achilles - but NO spears!

Continuity: After Hector, Paris and Helen arrive home, when Hector hugs Priam and Andromache, there are at least six small gold clasps at the back of Hector's hair, yet when Hector kisses Briseis, the large one differs and all the small clasps are gone.

Continuity: When Achilles arrives on the battle field in Thessaly, after being summoned by the boy, at the start of the shot as he rides passed the large army of soldiers, the cliff with its distinctive rock face is to his left. When he faces off with Boagrius, the area of cliff that was far in the distance in the opening shot is now substantially closer in these shots.

Visible crew/equipment: While Troy burns, after Paris says goodbye to Helen, Odysseus runs up the stairs toward the palace gate. When he and the Greeks reach the second set of stairs, at the very start of the shot equipment is visible at the bottom stair (use slo-motion if necessary).

Revealing: When Priam kisses Hector's face as the body lies on the pyre, the right side of Hector's face is visible and among the wounds that it sustained while being dragged, the cut under his right eye, which he had while still alive, is conspicuously missing. When the body is viewed from his left, as the flames flicker, the cut above the corner of his left eyebrow, which he also had while still alive, has gone astray as well!

Continuity: While in Phtia after Odysseus says, "My wife will feel much better...I'll feel much better," Achilles takes the sword out of Patroclus' hand and then pats him on the bottom with his own sword. As he does this in the shot from behind Achilles, the ground area in front of the bushes is sword free. However, as Odysseus says, "A thousand ships," there is a sword lying on the ground in front of the bush. This is either a continuity error or simply the lack of sound of a sword being thrown to the ground, since it's likely to be Patroclus' sword that Achilles threw.

Continuity: When Hector stops Helen from leaving during the night, her cheeks and the area around her eyes are both very red, and her eyes are tearful with tears down her cheeks. In the shot from behind her, when she briefly turns round her cheeks are not red or wet and though her eyes are teary, they are not as teary and red as the shots facing her.

Continuity: After Menelaus is killed, when Ajax kills some Trojans and Hector notices him, the pattern of the blood on the front and back of Ajax's shield changes in consecutive shots, such as being clean in an area where it was bloody in a previous shot.

Continuity: When Achilles first starts fighting on the beach of Troy he is holding his shield with his left hand. Later in the fight he switches to his sword and is able to swing his shield onto his back because of a leather strap around his neck and shoulder. There was no strap around his neck or on his shield when he was fighting earlier.

Continuity: In the scene near the beginning, where Achilles is standing at the palace where the golden statue is, he throws a spear into one of Hector's men. When the shot goes to him, you can see that he has his left arm stretched out; you can see his hand. Yet when Hector rides on, the soldier on the floor now has his arm beside him and not outstretched.

Revealing: When Ajax first arrives on Troy's shores an arrow penetrates his right thigh. The darker skinned latex material surrounding his thigh is perfectly distinguishable from his own light skin in the wide shots. Then after he breaks off part of the arrow, the rest which remains in his thigh disappears in consecutive shots.

Revealing: The long distinctive scar on Glaucus' left cheek drastically changes severity, shape, length, etc., in all of his close-ups.

Revealing: When the body of Achilles lies on the pyre in the close-up, although the fake body has a similar appearance to the real Achilles, some things are different, such as the body does not have the distinctive circular scar on the left upper arm as Achilles did.

Revealing: Odysseus normally has wavy/curly hair that reaches the base of his neck, yet just before Hector cuts Patroclus' throat, when Odysseus' helmet slips forward as he fights and the white cap is visible, his hair is very short and straight in back. It's also apparent earlier, when he visits Achilles in Phtia.

Continuity: After the Greeks climb out of the 'Trojan' horse, some run to the front gate. There is a long rope hanging on the left side of the gate, the base of the left stone pillar that holds the flame is aligned with the edge of the huge gate's door frame and the pillar stands perfectly upright. However, as the camera pans to the left, when the soldiers start to run up the stairs on the left, the rope is gone, the actual tall stone pillar with flame is moved at least two feet and it now stands very crookedly. (This has nothing to do with camera angles.)

Continuity: The cuts on Hector's face change and the one over Hector's left eyebrow actually changes direction, as well as other characteristics in many shots. When he shows his wife the tunnel, the top of the cut points towards the left side of his face, but when he stands at the gate and glances back at Helen, the top of the cut points up towards his right.

Visible crew/equipment: When Hector is on his knees, at the start of the first shot as Achilles leans forward to plunge the sword into Hector, there are shadows on Achilles' skirt, knee, etc., that are not caused by either Achilles or Hector, but are obviously cast by crew and equipment.

Continuity: When Menelaus bursts into Helen's room, as he confronts the handmaiden about her whereabouts, Menelaus' hair curl is in front of his shoulder when the shot faces the woman, but not when the shot faces Menelaus. The same thing happens with Paris when he is with Helen, with Glaucus when he says goodbye to Hector, when Hector speaks with Lysander at the armory and so forth. Throughout the film all the men's hair in front and back - its position, neat or not, curls or not, etc., noticeably changes between shots.

Continuity: Achilles stabs Hector in the chest in their climactic battle. Hector, dying, falls to his knees and falls onto his right side with his arm underneath him. Achilles goes to his chariot and returns with a rope. Hector now has his right arm stretched out with his head lying on it.

Factual error: When King Priam is showing Paris the Sword of Troy we get a close-up view of the blade and it looks suspiciously like steel or polished iron, as do a lot of the weapons which we see in this film. However, at the time of the Trojan War, civilization was still very much rooted in the Bronze Age and iron weapons would not have been available. Iron weapons were first used by the Philistines around 1100 BC, some years after the Trojan War, and it was still another several hundred years before this technology was ever used.

Visible crew/equipment: When the Greeks start to burn Troy, at one point in a close-up a pretty Trojan stuntwoman falls from a landing to the ground and her knee pads are visible as she falls.

Continuity: When Glaucus, Paris and other Trojans stand at the ready, the Greeks break through the palace gates, stream into the room and begin to fight. However, after Paris runs up the stairs, pulls and releases the arrow to hit the soldier's neck, in this shot Glaucus and the Trojans stand on the opposite side facing the Greeks, they have not yet even begun to fight.

Continuity: Hector's sword slice,s Achilles's armor but the one shot shows the hit much higher up near the right shoulder than when we see a close up view and the cut is down by his ribs.

Revealing: When the soldiers' bodies are being collected in front of Troy's gate, after the battle, the pattern of the real stone wall (the set) on the left of the gate and all the soldiers that stand atop this wall, delightfully repeats, over and over, on the CG stone wall farther to the left.

Continuity: When Hector grabs the sword from the ground, prior to stabbing Ajax, the blade is covered in blood. But when the blade tip touches Ajax's armor, before it pierces him, the amount of blood on the blade is significantly decreased.

Continuity: During Achilles and Hector's duel, in the wide shot Hector uses his shield to shove Achilles' spear tip down to the ground, beside his right foot while his left foot is way behind him. However, in the next close-up as the spear tip is still on the ground right behind Hector's left foot, his right foot comes forward to snap Achilles' spear.

Revealing: After the Greeks break through the palace gates, Paris releases the first arrow into a soldier. As he begins to turn around, the bent dark arrow unbends at his neck at the start of the shot, before it becomes the straight lighter arrow.

Revealing: The scars and scratches on Boagrius' face and body change significantly and some scratches disappear, between his first few close-ups and then when Achilles moves toward him. For instance, the scars on his chest are less severe in the close-ups when Achilles heads toward him.

Revealing: At the start of the shot facing Patroclus (dressed as Achilles), as Hector's blade is up against his throat, then slices it, the ridged bottom of the fake latex throat that Garrett Hedland (Patroclus) wears is visible, when he arches his head back.

Continuity: When Priam, Paris, Glaucus, et al, arrive at the beach to see the Greek's 'Trojan' horse, the men who lie dead all over the sand change position. Particularly, in the first shot as it pans towards the horse, the two dead men in red lie on the sand in front of Priam a good distance away from the horse. In the next two close-ups of these men (the same two bodies), their positions are completely different. Then in the next wide shot, those two bodies are much closer to the huge 'Trojan' horse now.

Continuity: After the Trojan rider finds the hidden Greek fleet, he is hit with three arrows in his torso. In the close-up there are two arrows above and one just below them, but in the wide shot the three arrows are aligned in a straight row.

Revealing: When Achilles slices Hector's spear the two wood ends are jagged and the broken spear end that Hector later carries shows a jagged end on the wood. However when Achilles stabs Hector, as the spear protrudes from Hector's shoulder the wood end is perfectly even.

Continuity: After Menelaus dies, during the Greek charge Hector spots Ajax doing his thing and the rolled white tourniquet around Ajax's leg wounds is clearly visible. When Hector rides toward Ajax, he promptly knocks Hector off his horse and the tourniquet is once again visible, only now it's wider and tied differently, and changes again within the following shots.

Continuity: In Sparta, when Paris enters Helen's room, she faces him and says, "You shouldn't be here," When she turns around to face the wall, now there are short curls at her forehead and the hair curls at the sides of her face are now curlier and neater. Then when she is standing in front of Paris with her hands at her sides, in the two shots facing her, her hair goes from the front of her shoulders to behind, and the cute curl at her forehead is gone. This type of thing occurs throughout the film in consecutive shots.

Continuity: A boy is sent to get Achilles, to battle what he later says is, "The biggest man I've ever seen." In the shot facing Achilles, as the boy tries to wake him, Achilles firmly grabs hold of the boy's right arm. However in the next shot facing the boy, Achilles has him by the neck to pull him closer.

Visible crew/equipment: In the shot of Hector as he lies dying, there are shadows on his chest plate that are not his own, nor do they belong to Achilles - must be the camera.

Factual error: Probably the most common mistake in all the ancient warfare movies like Troy. The thick leather armour that soldiers wear is almost impossible to pierce with such crudely sharpened swords but they always seem to pierce the armour with effortless ease.

Revealing: Most of the Greek and Trojan armor, in their own respective ways, look more manufactured so they are perfect clones of one another. Real armor from that time would have had lots of imperfections and signs of being individually created and hand-crafted.

Continuity: At the start of the first battle when we see Achilles' soldiers penetrate the sands of Troy, Achilles throws a spear through a guys head. But if you look closely at the previous shot, the soldier's body is side-on, obviously so he can shoot the arrow, yet when it cuts to the spear going through the head, the soldier is completely facing Achilles.

Continuity: When Briseis runs to Paris and shouts, "Paris! Don't!" in the wide shot, Achilles limps near the dead soldier on the grass. When Achilles is hit with the final arrow he drops to his knees and behind him an arrow lies on the ground (it is the 2nd arrow that hit him, which he pulled out and threw), opposite the dead soldier, which was much farther back in the previous wideshot of the grass.

Revealing: Just as Achilles is hit with the fourth arrow in the close-up, on the left side of the screen, beside the statue, something suddenly appears in the shot and then disappears.

Continuity: After Agamemnon's death, Achilles kills the two soldiers to rescue Briseis and in the close-up as he starts to lift her, the soldier's helmet lies near his head by the steps and the sword's grip at his fingertips. In the following shots the body, sword and helmet all change positions, the helmet moves at least a foot and the sword moves a few feet.

Continuity: In the middle of the film just after Hector has killed Menelaus, they run away, and on the far away shot, you can see they are some distance from Menelaus body, yet when it cuts to a close-up shot of them running they have barely passed the body.

Continuity: While still in Sparta, when Helen stands up after Paris rubs her neck, the strap of her dress on her right shoulder is closer to her neck when she removes the dress, than in the previous shot.

Continuity: After Paris is given the sword of Troy, it cuts to Hector speaking to Andromache. In this wide shot the cloth draped small bed between the two large columns is turned at a slant. Yet when Hector leaves their room (before encountering Helen), the bed is now parallel to the short wall (which faces the sea).

Audio problem: After the Trojans start to fire arrows at the ship, the second Myrmidon who falls overboard into the water, screams loudly as he falls, though his mouth is clenched shut. It is the type of yell that cannot be made with a closed mouth.

Revealing: After they arrive on Troy’s shore, a particular Myrmidon is hit and falls overboard into the water. After a few shots another Myrmidon is hit with two arrows and he too promptly falls overboard into the water, and then loses his wig in the water (after the helmet).

Revealing: Hector's sword is secured to the underside, from hilt to point, entirely under the shield, perpendicular to the handle he always holds. While Achilles and Hector duel, Hector snaps Achilles' spear with his leg. At the start of the next shot, Hector holds the grip of his sword and pulls it from the shield, above and parallel to the handle, not from where it should have been, obviously deliberately done to ready the sword for the shot.

Continuity: Achilles runs up the stairs of Apollo's temple, kills some men, including one after he runs up the stone base of the gold statue. He then turns around, with the two blades in his hands, to be face to face with a Trojan whose helmet is all askew and Achilles pushes the tips of the blades into the center of the soldier's chest armor. At the start of the very next shot the man's helmet is perfectly straight, and Achilles' two blades are conspicuously not in the soldier's chest, both are clearly visible at the soldier's side, under his left arm (NOT in his chest), already bloody, with the dripping blood stain on the center of his armor where the blades should be. Then Achilles pulls the blades 'out of' the soldier accompanied by the dramatic sound effect.

Continuity: As Helen says, "They're coming for me. The wind is bringing them closer..." she leans on the large pillar, even as Paris walks over she stands beside it when they embrace. In the following wide shot, as Paris lets go of her, they are not standing in the same location as the previous close-ups.

Continuity: In the shots where Paris is walking towards Menelaus to fight, as the camera angles show each man's perspective, each man has his shadow to his own right hand side, even though they are opposite each other.

Revealing: Throughout the movie, especially in the scenes which take place in the Troy encampment, no matter how many times Achilles gets dirty in battle and then cleans up, there is always a small smudge on his left upper arm. In the right light, you can make out the distinctive, small, circular scar of a small pox vaccination right where that dirt smudge is - it's really quite distracting. Until 1972 in the US this was a common vaccination given to children.

Revealing: Paris' arrows have identical black plastic nocks at the end of each shaftment.

Continuity: When Hector says goodbye to Paris and kisses his forehead, the small decorative gold clasps and the very large clasp at the bottom of his hair are visible. Then when Hector says goodbye to Andromache and Scamandrius, the large clasp is a completely different one and the small clasps' positions differ. The clasps in Hector's, Paris', and others, hair change position in consecutive shots throughout the film.

Continuity: Menelaus' head rotates between shots of him saying "May the gods keep the wolves in the hills and the women in our beds" when at Sparta.

Continuity: When Agamemnon says, "I always thought my brother's wife was a foolish woman," he is holding a whip in his hand that faces away from his right side. However, in the next shot the whip is closer to his chest, facing forward. Only visible on VHS and fullscreen DVD.

Continuity: When Priam sits on the throne, with Hector and Paris beside him, as Glaucus says, "If they want a war, we will give them a war..." the flames burn brightly in the two torches standing within the doorway behind the throne. However, when Priam asks, "Glaucus, you have fought with me for forty years, can we win this war?" there is NO flame in the torch on the right side of the doorway - visible behind Hector ONLY on widescreen DVD. Yet when Glaucus says, "...and we have Hector," the flame burns brightly once again. (This is not due to the flame flickering.)

Continuity: After Achilles stabs Hector with the spear, as Hector falls to his knees in the close-up, his greaves and shoes are entirely dusty/dirty - causing the dark sandals to be very light. However, as Achilles ties the rope around Hector's ankles in the close-up, Hector's greaves and sandals are now relatively clean and note the interesting pin-dot tread on the rubber soles of Hector's sandals.

Continuity: As the Greeks start emerging from the 'Trojan' horse, two small staircases in the distance, to the right, is seen here and in the close-up of Achilles just as he reaches the ground. Later, after a close-up of the large white statue falling towards the camera, two shots later the 'Trojan' horse stands in the foreground and right behind the running Trojans and Greeks are those two small staircases. However in this shot the 'Trojan horse is much, much closer to that side of the temple square.

Revealing: As Hector holds his son, the first warning gong is rung. In the next shot, when Hector hands the baby to Andromache, its small shiny bald head is quite a giveaway that it's really a doll in this shot (not visible on widescreen DVD). Later, Andromache holds her son, Scamandrius, when she finds Helen and Paris, as Troy burns. Aside from the fact that the door hits the back of the baby's head, he now has a bald shiny head, whereas he had hair in previous shots, so it's quite obvious in this shot that the baby is a doll once again!

Audio problem: When the Myrmidons arrive on Troy’s shore, as the Trojans let loose fiery arrows Eudorus shouts to the men, “……Forward!”, but his mouth clearly says something entirely different.

Continuity: When Priam goes to Achilles to beg for Hector's body, he removes his hood as he steps into the tent. In all of the following shots the hood lies multiple ways upon his shoulder.

Revealing: Many of the spear tips and swords bend like rubber, some at almost a 90° angle and are fine in the following shots! Such as when Achilles' spear tip bends as it makes contact with Hector's shield, once when Achilles does his leap into the air at the start of the duel and then just after slicing Hector's spear with his shield. (Although weapons were made of bronze in those days, and were likely to bend, the fact that the weapons in the film bend to such a degree and then right themselves is impossible.)

Revealing: When Agamemnon and the Greeks charge at the Trojans after Menelaus is killed, in the close-ups during the melee, quite a few of the spears actually wobble in the soldiers' hands, like for example, when the Apollonians throw their spears.

Revealing: After Achilles and the Myrmidons arrive on shore, the Trojans let loose a barrage of fiery arrows, and when one lands in the thigh of a man still aboard the ship, the fake leg skin around the protruding arrow is quite obvious.

Factual error: The boy who is sent to retrieve Achilles, refers to Boagrius as the Thessalonian, speaking of those from Thessaly. Thessalonians are people from the Greek city of Thessalonika - which is settled about 1000 years AFTER the battle of Troy. People from Thessaly were/are called Thessalians. The term Thessalonian should never even have been known to the boy, much less used by him.

Continuity: As the ship heads toward Troy's shores, Eudorus walks toward Achilles at the bow. There is a close-up of his feet as he passes many spears, helmets, swords, armor and shields lying on deck, and in the next shot many of the items on deck are either gone or positioned differently, and the shadows that are cast significantly change between shots, while Achilles and his Myrmidon are aboard their ship.

Audio problem: When Agamemnon and the Greeks are retreating, Odysseus shouts, "Back to the ships!" in a close-up while he rides with Agamemnon on his chariot, but his mouth is not in sync with the words; nor is Agamemnon's when he shouts the same in the previous wideshot (not his close-up).

Continuity: Close to the end of the film when we see Priam in Achilles' tent talking to him, in one shot you see Achilles looking down at his feet or away from him, in the following shot, he is looking directly at Priam.

Continuity: In the scene near the start of the film where Achilles ship has just arrived on the sands of Troy, the ship gets fired upon by flaming arrows. The camera cuts to a shot aboard the ship where you can see a soldier jump over the side, his shield and spear on his right arm. Yet when he lands the shield and spear have switched to his left arm.

Continuity: Paris drops his sword, and it falls flat on the ground. Then after Menelaus dies, the position of Paris' sword on the ground changes from when he's running to get it, where the blade points more towards the Trojan army (ie. roughly horizontally in his path), to when he finally grabs hold of it, where the sword leans up a bit on its side and the blade points distinctly towards the Greeks (ie. directly away from him).

Continuity: In Thessaly, as the two armies face each other, the large branches all over the center battle ground change or disappear entirely, depending on the angle of the shot (note the cliffs on one side and the trees on the other side).

Continuity: The wound that Achilles gives Boagrius changes position from when he receives it in the close-up, where it is lower on his shoulder, to the close-up and back shots just before he falls, where it is closer to his neck.

Continuity: When Andromache finds Helen and Paris while Troy burns, the position of the blanket (first uncovered then completely covered) over the baby and the ties of her cloak differ noticeably between shots.

Continuity: When Achilles spears Hector the blood on the spear handle differs in the consecutive shots as he stands, drops down to his knees, then falls over and when Achilles walks over with the rope.

Continuity: When Hector comes through the gate and confronts Achilles, the area around the two chariot wheels is clear. In subsequent shots large clumps of dirt and grass are in front and back of the two chariot wheels, which changes significantly throughout the rest of the scene, as well as the position of the wheel spokes.

Continuity: In the morning, while Achilles watches Briseis sleep, her arm extends way over the edge of the bed in the wide shots facing her, yet in the shots facing the doorway her position differs and even her hand doesn't reach the edge of the bed.

Deliberate "mistake": When Achilles reaches the bottom of the stairs of Apollo's temple a Trojan pulls on Achilles' spear so he elbows that Trojan in the face, then turns and slices another one. When Achilles turns around he is face to face with a particular Trojan, who has two decorative clasps in his long hair, then he slices him across his face and he falls. In the next shot he fights another couple of Trojans. The following shot is the exact same shot as the previous one with the Trojan, who has two decorative clasps in his hair, that he proceeds to slice across the face again.

Continuity: As Achilles and Patroclus sword play in Phtia, at the bottom of a particular area with stairs, in the first shot after the first close-up of the horses' hooves, there are large clumps of greenery at the corners of these individual stairs. However, when Odysseus speaks with them and says, "My wife will feel much better if she knows you're by my side..." now some of the clumps of greenery are gone from the stairs, and there is a water 'canteen' on the third step, which Achilles drinks from. There are a number of significant differences among surrounding shrubbery and small rocks, including from the opening aerial shot, and the sun's shadow changes drastically during this entire scene.

Continuity: Aboard the ship going back to Troy, when Paris walks over to Hector he places his hands on the rail of the ship, and the collar on Paris' left side hangs off his shoulder, yet in the next close-up it's properly on by his neck.

Revealing: The characteristics of the severe scars on Ajax's forehead, cheek and shoulders differ significantly in his close-ups.

Continuity: In the opening shot when the camera pans in, as the ship sails back to Troy with Hector and Paris, the position of the sail and rigging differs significantly from the subsequent shot aboard the ship as Paris walks over to Hector.

Continuity: When Menelaus goes to see Agamemnon, as he walks toward his brother in the shot facing Agamemnon people stand aside and bow. In the next shot facing Menelaus some people appear or disappear from where they stood in the previous shot. The shadows differ as well.

Deliberate "mistake": Stable gates never open inwards. In two scenes after Achilles leaves the solder alive during the ravage of Troy, they do. This is probably because it is visually effective when soldiers kick gates from the outside to open them. Stable gates in all cultures open outwards so that in case of fire the animals can't block them.

Revealing: When Briseis sticks the knife in Agamemnon's neck, you can plainly see silver fillings in his teeth when his head is back.

Audio problem: When Hector is giving his speech to the Trojans as they stand outside the gates in face of the oncoming Greeks, he gives his final line of the speech and there is a rousing cheer from the soldiers. However, none of the soldiers move in any way in the wide shot.

Revealing: In many extreme close-ups, the large white reflector screens are clearly reflected in the eyes of the actors and actresses.

Continuity: When King Priam, Hector and the elder people are arguing about what to do about the Greeks, in the front view Hector is standing in the center of the edge of the pool of water, but when Priam stands up the shot changes to a back view and he is standing near the corner instead.

Other: During the first shot of the 1000 ships, oarsmen can be seen rowing, but their oars are not disturbing the water. Yet as they approach the beach, the shot is from the same distance and now splashes can be seen.

Continuity: When Ajax walks to the bow of his ship, the men in front of him are standing spread apart. However, in the next shot when he pushes the two men apart, they are very close together.

Visible crew/equipment: Having just killed Boagrius, Achilles walks toward the Thessalian soldiers as his name is being shouted by the Greeks behind him. In this wide shot facing the soldiers, there is a center mark evenly spaced between two precisely positioned diagonal marks on the ground, in front of the soldiers. Achilles first walks toward the right mark to shout the question, two shots later he walks to the left mark to shout again and two shots later Triopas walks to the right mark and holds out his scepter at the center mark. (Visible on VHS.)

Continuity: When fighting Boagrius, Achilles tosses his shield with the attached spear, to the ground, the spear separates and lies beside the shield - which is face down, as Boagrius throws the second spear. However, when Achilles runs toward Boagrius their proximity differs, and when he stabs him the spear is gone and the shield is face up, but when Boagrius falls to his knees, the spear is back!

Continuity: After Agamemnon dies, Achilles helps Briseis up and his greave wrapped right leg (which is visible) is upright against her, as he says, "Come with me," and then is hit with the first arrow. In the close-up of Briseis, as she shouts, "No!" just as Paris prepares to fire the second arrow, Achilles' right leg with its greave and straps are once again perfectly visible beside Briseis, but the way the right greave and straps are wrapped are entirely different.

Visible crew/equipment: Paris releases the first arrow, after the Greek's break through the palace gate, and when the Greek soldier turns around, a piece of equipment is visible on the floor, as the Trojans move forward in this shot, (similar to the equipment at the stairs in the earlier shot).

Continuity: When Achilles ties Hector's feet with the rope, the excess rope at the knot and the length of the rope between the chariot and Hector's feet changes while Hector's body is dragged by the chariot. In the first wide shot, as Achilles begins to drag him, its length is twice as long than in the following close-up.

Continuity: When Paris pulls the first arrow from his quiver and releases it into Achilles' heel, the shaft's wood color is very light (whitish). However, in the close-up of the arrow in his heel, the arrow shaft is dark wood (brownish), then in all of the following shots (including when he dies) the wood is very light again.

Continuity: Throughout the film, when Achilles wears the hair ribbon, or not, his hair position, its twist and/or ribbon position changes significantly in consecutive shots.

Continuity: As Briseis stabs Agamemnon in the neck, a particular part of his neck is visible in the first shot once the blade is in, just before he grabs her wrist. In the shot facing Briseis, the turned handle in her hand is further back on Agamemnon's neck than it should be to make the clean, straight, vertical wound below his ear. When she pulls the blade out, the wound is also positioned in the area that was visibly clear of the blade in the first shot.

Audio problem: While Troy burns, when the horse gallops down the corridor, as Briseis runs she shouts, "Paris!" and though her mouth continues to shout what looks like "Andromache!" no sound is heard.

Revealing: Just after Achilles slices Hector's spear, Achilles spins his shield then positions himself behind it. In the next shot facing Achilles, as he starts to walk toward Hector, he does not hold the usual handle on the underside of his shield, instead he holds a small solid handle (used for spinning shield) which is beside the normal handle. Also notice the hilt of the sword is the wrong direction near his elbow, whereas in the following shot when he holds the normal shield handle, the hilt of the sword is properly positioned!

Other: While the Trojan warning gongs ring, in the shot of the citizens when they run past the guards to return to the safety within the walls, there is something stuck to the left side of the camera (it looks like a long piece of hair), which flickers on the screen as the camera continues to pan in closer.

Continuity: The quantity of blood on Patroclus' neck, when Hector removes his helmet, changes between the shots.

Deliberate "mistake": During the battle scenes at the gates of Troy, the bodies that lie on the ground are rubber or something similar; people trample over them and they bounce.

Continuity: From the time Achilles stands outside the temple of Apollo, after he sticks one of his swords into the man's head, just before he speaks with Eudorus, through the moment he allows Hector to leave the temple grounds, the blood on the front and shoulders of his armour changes.

Continuity: When Hector tries to stop Helen from running away at night, her hair keeps changing; one can see in her "back" shots, sometimes her hair is completely down, and other times her hair has two twists in it. It keeps changing throughout the scene. Also, in the same scene, the front of her hair is sometimes a little frizzy and curly, and sometimes it is smooth and straight.

Continuity: When Paris shoots the arrow at Achilles, it passes through the other side of his heel but when he is dying, it is barely stuck on one side.

Continuity: When Paris kisses Helen goodbye before she goes down the tunnel at the end, from behind him his head's tilted to his right, but as the angle changes and they break apart, it's now tilted to his left.

Continuity: At the very beginning of the film when the two leaders of both armies get off their horses, in one shot, the leader with the grey hair can be seen behind the horses walking up, yet when the camera cuts to another shot, from the other leader's perspective, he is now in front of the horses.

Revealing: When Menelaus slices Paris' leg the wound stops bleeding immediately after that shot.

Continuity: When Menelaus travels to his brother, Agamemnon, their positions differ when they speak and embrace, e.g., in the shots facing Menelaus two of his brother's fingers are on the cloak at his shoulder, yet in the shots facing Agamemnon his entire left hand lies on Menelaus' cloak.

Continuity: When the Trojans attack the Greeks on the beach with burning balls of twine (or some similar material) at dawn, Hector is seen watching the carnage. He then starts to beat on his shield with his spear and his two generals begin to walk up to him from the rear. The shot cuts to Odysseus for about two seconds and then back to Hector. The two generals then again begin to walk up to him also beating their shields.

Continuity: During the opening scene, when Agamemnon is talking to the leader of the other army, after Agamemnon shouts for Achilles his head/body position differs between shots.

Continuity: When Hector says goodbye to Andromache, before his duel with Achilles, in the shots facing Hector as they embrace his face is pressed onto Andromache's shoulder, but in the shots facing Andromache his face is higher up, beside her head.

Other: There is a thin vertical line from the top of the screen to the bottom, that moves as the camera moves, just after the Trojans enter Apollo's temple when the Greeks run out of hiding to ambush the Trojans. It also appears in the first exterior shot, when Hector shows Andromache the secret escape route.

Revealing: When Agamemnon finds Briseis kneeling, while Troy burns, he pulls her up by her hair. As she lifts her left arm up, the beige undergarment she wears is visible under her arm. From the moment we see Briseis kneeling, throughout this entire scene, the set lighting and shadows change quite dramatically in consecutive shots.

Continuity: After Odysseus, Achilles and the other Greeks climb out of the 'Trojan' horse, Odysseus and others head for the front gate. In the first wide shot of the front gate there are Trojan guards asleep on both sides. In the following close-up of these guards, their positions and the positions of things around them differ most significantly, like for example the fire pit at the feet of the guards on the right moves at least five feet, and then when the Greeks kill them the fire pit moves again.

Continuity: When Menelaus and Paris duel, in some shots there is a thick black chinstrap attached to Menelaus' helmet, which is perfectly visible at his ears, cheeks and under his chin, as the flaps of his helmet move about, yet in the rest of the shots the chinstrap is gone. (It is not a shadow.)

Continuity: After Priam kisses and welcomes Helen to Troy, they all walk inside. In the next wide shot, when Andromache (Hector's wife) steps forward to greet Hector, there is nobody to her left in front of the large column. However, in the next close-up there are two people who stand beside her, directly in front of that column.

Deliberate "mistake": Looking from the left side of the wooden horse at the temple which is being plundered and burnt, a soldier is stabbing a citizen in white robes in the middle of the steps. A second soldier chases another citizen in white past him on the right. Then moments later the same shot is seen from the right side of the wooden horse. Obviously, two cameras filming the same scene.

Revealing: When Hector and Achilles stand outside the gates of Troy, they each remove their helmets. As Hector lifts his from the bottom it actually bends, like rubber, in his left hand, though the entire helmet is one solid piece of metal - there is no other material attached.

Revealing: The dawn after the Trojans have retaliated against the Greeks with their fiery assault on the beach, a light filter was used to make a midday shoot appear as though the sun had not fully risen yet. This is evidenced by two things. First, the shadows are not as "deep" as they would be at that time of day. All the details that shouldn't be visible at dawn are perfectly defined, it's just not bright. Second, the fires that still burn should be radiating a bright orange glow. Instead, they are just as dimmed as the rest of the light.

Continuity: When Briseis is about to kill Achilles he turns her over and his hand slids down to the edge of her dress and then up her leg to her shoulder. However in the next shot his hand is only at her waist and slids up to her shoulder again.

Continuity: When Achilles pulls the second arrow out of his chest (the first one is in his heel), there is a thick double stream of blood that runs down his armor from the hole. When he is hit with the third arrow the stream is thinner and when hit with the fourth, the stream of blood is a single very thin line.

Continuity: When the Greeks begin their rampage within the walls of Troy, a Trojan is flipped over a roof and lands on a thatched roof under him. The top thatch differs between the first close-up and second wide shot.

Revealing: When Hector and Paris return to Troy with Helen, in the first shot they pass through the gate and head down the long path through the city. Then later, when the soldiers head for the armory and when Hector walks through the gate for the face off with Achilles, the path is substantially different. The statue and actual buildings' positions, the curve of the road, etc., are completely different. (This has nothing to do with camera angle.)

Continuity: In Phtia, Achilles throws the spear into the tree beside Odysseus as he rides near. When Odysseus removes the spear from the tree, the area of tree around the spear tip is different.

Continuity: When Briseis stabs Agamemnon in his neck, in the shot facing the king he grabs her bare wrist, but in the next shot facing Briseis, Agamemnon grips her arm over her blue sleeve. Then after a brief shot of Achilles, Agamemnon grips her bare wrist again.

Audio problem: After Achilles says, "No Greek will attack Troy for twelve days," Priam sees Briseis and his lips move but nothing is heard, then when we hear him say, "Briseis?" his mouth does not move.

Revealing: After Menelaus is killed the two armies clash. In the second close-up of the men fighting, when a Trojan slams a large club-like weapon into a Greek's face, the club end bends when blood spurts everywhere.

Continuity: On the beach of Troy, the exterior of Achilles' tent is seen in quite a few shots. In the nighttime exterior shot of the tent, just before Briseis asks, "Am I still your captive?" all the rope wound around the tent, the hides, etc., are all entirely different. Then the next time the tent is seen it looks like it did in the previous shots.

Deliberate "mistake": Numerous times throughout the film, when the men draw their swords from the cloth/wood/leather lined underside of their shields, which is plainly visible in many shots, the loud metallic rasping sound is dramatically heard. It is even heard in many other instances, such as when Hector removes the blade from Patroclus' neck or when Achilles takes the sword out of the sand, after Eudorus tells him of Patroclus' death.

Continuity: On the Trojan beach, when the shields of Achilles and the Myrmidons are united in front of them, some of the arrows protruding from the shields disappear and reappear in consecutive shots.

Revealing: When Hector and his men are fighting the Greek army outside Troy's walls in the second battle, blood spurts up from the bodies lying on the ground, after "Apollonians! Now!" is shouted. It's very obvious that the blood does not come directly from the bodies.

Continuity: When Hector walks outside and speaks with Achilles at Apollo's temple, the large seated statue is behind them and its shoulders are a particular height and distance from the roof behind it. Later, when Achilles walks past that statue to raise his sword in victory to the Greeks on the beach below, the proximity and height between Achilles (who walks along the roof) and the statue, plus some of its characteristics differ greatly, e.g., there are two top stones behind the shoulder in the close-up, yet three in the wideshot. The differences are more apparent on VHS or fullscreen DVD.

Continuity: When Thetis says, "Like the ones I used to make you when you were a boy. Remember?" she puts her hand in the water to pick up the sea shell and the bottom of her right sleeve gets soaked in the close-up. However, in the next shot as she turns to face Achilles, that sleeve is dry. Her clothing material darkens greatly when wet, note the bottom of her clothing as she stands in the water when Achilles first walks over. (More noticeable on VHS.)

Continuity: When Eudorus tells Achilles about Patroclus' death, Achilles slaps him so he falls to the ground and gets sand over half of his face. Most of the sand is still there when Achilles puts his foot on Eudorus' neck, but when the foot is removed, there is hardly any sand left on his face.

Revealing: When the Greek's rampage Troy, a Trojan falls through a thatched roof. In the next shot a light haired Trojan male is thrown on top of a black haired male, and are attacked while they lie atop a stone landing. Then at the start of the following close-up, a lone light haired female falls to the ground from that very same stone landing, which is followed by a repeat performance in close-up, by the light haired male of the previous shot, with some differences in this take.

Revealing: In Achilles' tent, while Achilles tells Briseis that she is his guest and not his captive, the distinctive tan lines of the actress' bikini top are clearly visible as Achilles holds her.

Continuity: When Helen sutures Paris' leg wound, as he lies on the bed, the collar on his shirt fits round his neck properly, yet in the next close-up it hangs down off his shoulder, though he does not move.

Continuity: In Phtia, as Achilles and Patroclus sword play, their positions as the duel with the wooden swords in relation to each other, and/or where they stand, change between shots.

Continuity: When Helen is standing behind Hector before he goes out the gates to fight Achilles, she's very much on his left side (he turns and looks over his left shoulder at her.) But when he starts walking out and she's seen behind him, she's suddenly on his right.

Continuity: When the Greeks climb out of the 'Trojan' horse, the palm leaves lie differently on the ground around the 'Trojan' horse, in consecutive shots.

Continuity: While Achilles stands on Apollo's temple stairs and then when Hector climbs them, the position of the bodies lying on the stairs differs between shots. (This does NOT refer to when Achilles walks out the back of the temple, where there are no bodies. Note that the temple's front and back have different types of statues, stairs...)

Revealing: When Achilles stabs Hector, you can actually see the sword vanish from Achilles hands just before the shot switches to the side view of the killing.

Continuity: The position of the three ropes that hang on the horse's head vary, between when it is first seen on the beach, when it is pulled into the city, and when it is finally placed outside Poseidon's temple. Because they are wrapped around its head, there's no way that they'd be able to move.

Continuity: When Ajax fights the Trojans and then Hector, after the death of Menelaus, their positions and the positions of people standing and lying around them, change back and forth in many consecutive shots. During the Hector and Patroclus duel, the Hector and Achilles duel, and the other battles, the positions of duelers, soldiers - as onlookers, fighting or lying on the ground, change drastically between shots throughout the film.

Continuity: After Achilles rescues Briseis from the men that were going to brand her, he brings her to his tent. The blood on her face differs in the wide shots, semi close-ups and close-ups, before she touches her face with the wash rag.

Continuity: When Achilles and his Myrmidons line up on the beach and then bring their shields together, things located on the beach, surrounding them, ie large and small rock formations/boulders, wood, carts, etc., differ greatly from the previous and following shots. The way they form the tight group differs between shots as well.

Revealing: When Achilles is dying and saying farewell to Briseis, when the camera is facing Achilles, you can see the netting on Briseis's wig underneath her "hair".

Continuity: When the priestess, Briseis, is standing on the beach about to return to Troy with King Priam, some of her hair is strewn across her chest. But in the next shot, it's suddenly all in place. Then a few shots later it's back across her chest again. Again later, before Briseis stabs Agamemnon, her hair is messy in the shot facing her, but in the next shot it's neat again.

Continuity: When Paris puts the necklace around Helen's neck, Helen's hair over his hand changes between shots.

Continuity: When Achilles pulls the sword out of Hector, the ground area is visible as he falls to the side, directly onto patchy dry grass. Yet when Achilles goes to tie the rope around his ankles, Hector now lies entirely on dirt.

Factual error: At least one riding pad includes a pair of visible stirrups - not invented until sometime in the fourth century A.D.

Audio problem: As Troy is burning, Andromache finds Helen and Paris, and says, "We must go!" then Helen says, "Paris! Paris!" but their lips do not match those particular words.

Continuity: When the Greeks are finally charging towards Troy during the night, in one shot as they run outside the city walls their shadows are cast to their right, but in the wide shot it's cast directly in front of them.

Audio problem: Before the first battle between Trojans and Greeks, we see an overhead shot of the Greek warriors walking over the hill to Troy. We hear the sounds of their shouting, clanking armor, and the heavy rhythmic sounds of organised marching upon sand, but none of the warriors are walking in formation.