Gladiator (2000) - 178 mistakes

Continuity: After Juba has thrown the sword to Maximus, Maximus tries to gather the gladiators by shouting "Single column, single column," then it cuts to him charging on his horse while holding his sword arm out. When it cuts from behind him he is holding his sword arm in front of him instead.

Continuity: During the fight with the gladiators in the chariots, Maximus jumps on a horse and chops off a gladiator's head. Now you can clearly see the blood on the blade. But when the fight is over before he salutes the crowd, you can see the blade is clean.

Factual error: Watch in the "Battle of Carthage" when Maximus rides past a chariot and whacks a female gladiator riding on it in the face with his sword. She lifts her head back up. Apart from the fact it should have smashed her face in it also should of killed her.

Continuity: During the battle of Carthage there is a scene where Juba jumps on to the back of a moving chariot. When it cuts the chariot is suddenly standing still, Juba is standing on the ground while his mates are grabbing the gladiator on the chariot.

Revealing: As the last man is killed during the Battle of Carthage, you can see that he actually doesn't get stabbed. The sword hits the ground beside him.

Continuity: At the end of the first battle in the Colosseum, Maximus puts his sword up to the crowd. There is blood at the tip of the sword, but in the following shot, it has vanished.

Continuity: During the enactment of the Battle of Zama, Maximus rides his horse around a bend with his sword in his left hand. When we cut to close up, it's back in his right. Looking at the left-handed shot in freeze-frame, you can see the frame has been flipped, left-to-right (check the armor). This was probably for continuity reasons. Similarly, Maximus jumps on the horse and his shoulder protector is clearly on his injured left shoulder. However, a few frames later, the protector is on his right shoulder, then it moves yet again back the correct spot, the left shoulder.

Continuity: When the gladiators have won inside the coliseum for their first battle, Commodus goes to see Maximus in the arena. In the previous shot, Maximus gets off of a white horse, yet in the following shot, the white horse is at the bottom of the screen with Maximus and the other gladiators some distance away.

Revealing: In the "Battle of Cartage" when the first of the chariots is turned over, right after Maximus is saying "Hold, hold...down low, down low," there is a series of shots to the crowd, there is a bearded man celebrating with both arms, and deep to his right (left on the screen) there's another man, wearing some kind of clothes with stripes black and white. Behind him, there is an old man who appears very briefly, and he's wearing glasses.

Revealing: After the first battle in the Colosseum (The Battle of Carthage), Commodus decides to meet "The Spaniard" in the arena. When Quintus (the head of the Praetorian Guard) is telling the slaves to drop their weapons, we can see one of the spectators hiding a plastic bottle of water (right upper corner of the screen).

Continuity: At the end of the first battle inside the Colosseum, Commodus goes out to see Maximus, yet when he first enters the arena's floor, the distance from him to Maximus changes three times during shots. For example, when he first goes through the gate, it cuts to Maximus, then back to Commodus and he is just coming out the gate again, yet in the previous shot he came out the gate.

Continuity: During the first gladiator fight in the Colosseum, Maximus picks up the arrow from the ground. His hand is covered in blood, but in the second camera shot, no blood at all, and then in the third shot, you can see the blood again.

Continuity: After the Gladiators are victorious at the Battle of Carthage, Maximus reveals his identity to Commodus. The time seems to change from sunset to high noon a number of times. The crowd shots are at noon, the close ups are clearly made with the sun on one side of their faces.

Factual error: In the arena, Maximus tells Commodus and the Roman spectators that he is "general of the Felix legions." The problem is, there was just one Felix legion, namely Legio IV Flavia Felix.

Revealing: When the chariot crashes in to the gladiators, we can see the shield in which the chariot crashes in to. It's not shaped like the other shields which are shaped in a perfect bow. This shield is rectangular shaped most likely to balance better on what ever is supporting it when the chariot runs over it making the chariot tip over.

Visible crew/equipment: In addition to the gas cylinder mistake, you can also see the handbutton the rider of the chariot uses to cause the explosion attached to the chariot as he drops it.

Audio problem: When Commodus is talking with Lucilla before the Battle of Carthage as he is saying "I could announce the dissolution of the senate...". It cuts from behind him and he says "...are the people ready?", however his lips don't synch up with what he says.

Factual error: During a meal in the gladiatorial school, Juba is shown eating with a metal spoon. Slave-gladiators almost certainly only ate with their fingers, wooden spoons, or wads of bread to sop up their food. They never would have access to metal spoons that could be sharpened and used to attack the guards keeping watch over them.

Audio problem: When Maximus is eating with Juba and Haken, just before he fights Tigris of Gaul, listen to the background noise very closely as the men talk. There's lots of chatter and stray noises, but amid the sounds you can hear someone yelling urgently: "Warren, Warren... Warren, ...radio." This may be the sounds of a crew member telling another regarding a radio.

Continuity: When Maximus, Juba and the other slave are eating at a table, the big slave pretends he's choking. Juba has his hand on the spoon, yet when it cuts to the next shot, his hand is no longer there.