Continuity mistake: When the antimatter explodes in the helicopter, the the shock-wave blasts off part of the roof inside St. Peter's Basilica, above the alter, obliterating everything below. However, in the scene where the Camerlengo self immolates himself at the altar close to the end of the movie, there is no evidence of the shock wave earlier, the candles are burning, oil lamps are lit and alter is intact. (01:54:10 - 02:07:40)
Continuity mistake: Galileo's Diagrama has a different title when Camerlengo Strauss gives it to Robert Langdon. In the Archives, it was titled Diagrama Veritatis. At the end of the film, it was titled Diagrama della Verita.
Continuity mistake: In the collider Dr. Vetra gains access to the antimatter storage area by resting her chin in the small metal "dish" that aligns her face with the optical scanner. When she removes her face there is a small blot of blood on the side of her chin from the scientist's eyeball that the assassin ripped out (to gain access earlier). However, when we see the metal dish there is a drop of blood on the side (that ends up on Vetra's face) AND a small puddle of blood in the chin rest that dripped from the avulsed eye. Despite Vetra resting her entire chin in the chinrest none of the blood from the puddle shows up on the front of her face.
Continuity mistake: When Landon and the Vatican Police arrive at the Piazza del Popolo at 7:59pm when looking for the first victim, the overhead shot shows shadows cast by their car and tourists in the area are at a very shallow angle (shadows 3 - 4 times the length of the height of objects casting them), indicating that it's late in the day. However, the shots from ground level show shadows cast at much steeper angles (only about 1/2 - 3/4 of the length of the object height), indicating that it's much closer to noon. (00:46:35)
Continuity mistake: When Robert is calling for help to save Cardinal Baggia from drowning, the first person who helps Robert is totally wet when he first jumps in the water, but a second after this, his hair is totally dry when he sees Langdon, then he dives in to help.
Continuity mistake: During one of the news reports outside St. Peter's Square, the news reporter's left hand moves from out in front of him to down to his side. (01:01:40)
Continuity mistake: When Langdon and the Swiss guard are out of oxygen and the guard slams a trolley against the glass, the amount of paper on the floor around it keeps changing between shots.
Continuity mistake: When the camera focuses on the French reporter standing on top of the van, he has his arm up, but in the next close-up it's down and resting by his lap.
Continuity mistake: When Ewan McGregor runs out to the helicopter with the antimatter, you can't see the landing gear even when there is a flash of light from someone's camera in the crowd. In the next shot you can see the landing gear is down.
Continuity mistake: When they are held up by tourists, while trying to get to the second church, there is a bus just behind them. Once the tourists move, the bus has gone.
Continuity mistake: When the Camerlengo parachutes onto the Vatican, the amount of blood on his nose changes from nothing to a lot between shots.
Continuity mistake: After Vittoria sees the little spot of blood on her chin she wipes it all off with her finger, but a moment later a good bit of the spot is still there. (00:08:30)
Continuity mistake: When the new threat is shown to Professor Langdon, the first time he asked it to be stopped, the threat says "We will brand your preferiti and sacrifi-" it end there. But when it was played again two minutes later, it repeated to "and sacrifice them to the altars of Science." (00:20:50 - 00:22:15)
Chosen answer: In the book, the location of the antimatter bomb is only revealed after the Camerlengo pretends to have a "vision from God" on the steps of the Vatican. By changing the symbol to one that actually provides a clue to the location, it allows Langdon to work out where the bomb is, to actually play some part in proceedings rather than passively stand by until the villain just takes everybody there as part of his plan. As for the Pope being the Camerlengo's biological father, this is a fairly late revelation in the book and requires a substantial amount of exposition, which would only serve to abruptly slow the film to a crawl during the climax. The Camerlengo's motives, his hatred for the church's indulgence of science, are strong enough to explain his actions without the additional detail of his parentage being necessary, thus it could be safely left out to keep the film's momentum going.
Tailkinker ★