Revealing mistake: During the action sequence on the labyrinthine docks on the Caspian Sea, one of the choppers with the rotating blades saws Bond's BMW in half. A cutaway shot reveals Bond nearby, murmuring, "Q's not gonna like this." The next shot is in back of Bond, seeing the newly split BMW fall apart, but Pierce Brosnan has been replaced with a dummy. This is most obvious during the over-the shoulder shot of the BMW falling apart, where Bond's gun is now held in front of him. Also, when the car splits in two, the dummy shakes a bit.
Factual error: When the pipeline explodes it is clear during the explosion that it is mostly fire coming from the pipeline. There is no spray of earth or other debris. But afterwards Bond and Christmas are walking through a huge crater. Where (and when) did the earth get displaced, if it was not thrown up in the actual explosion?
Jacob La CourRevealing mistake: In the boat chase, Bond decides to dive below the barrier. It is very close to him, but takes about 5 seconds to dive. He would have hit it in about 2 seconds.
Continuity mistake: In Zuckovsky's casino, the barman is not visible in one shot when James Bond is disarming the guard.
Dr WilsonContinuity mistake: We see Pierce Brosnan taking off his jacket, but the colour of his shirt changes between shots from a blue colour to a lighter shade, then back again. (01:46:00)
Revealing mistake: In Kazakhstan, when Bond jumps through the closing door, you can see without slow-motion that it's a stuntman. (01:04:45)
Dr WilsonContinuity mistake: At the end of the pursuit scene, the boat of the "cigar" girl stops on the bank of the Thames in front of the Millenium Dome. But it's completely in the water in one shot when Bond's boat passes over it, and it seems to be moored. (00:12:55)
Dr WilsonContinuity mistake: When Q shows the boat to Bond, it looks much more damaged than at the end of the pursuit scene, when it landed relatively gently in water. (00:20:35)
Dr WilsonContinuity mistake: When Bond gets his X-ray glasses for the first time, he puts them on and looks down at R. In the next shot, his head is up again.
Continuity mistake: When Bond puts on the x-ray specs while talking to "R", he glances downwards just after saying "improved specs?" The angle then changes to show R, and Bond's now looking straight ahead at him. (00:21:20)
Jon Sandys
Continuity mistake: When they're looking at the computer model of Renard's head (just after the doctor says "medulla oblongata"), count the pings. The first two times we hear one, a slight pause, then 3 close together, with corresponding green pointers on the image, then a higher pitched one on the green box. However, the third time (after "than any normal man") there's no initial ping with pause, just the 3 close together. Then just as we're expecting the higher one we cut to a shot of M, and we hear another middle beep before the final one. The sequence starts again, we cut back to the model in the middle of it, and we get an extra beep again, plus see that the beeps are now completely out of sync with bits of the model being illuminated. (00:25:50)
Jon Sandys
Plot hole: When Bond takes the short cut in the Q boat it jumps over a brick wall that leads to the end of the water where the London canoe club is based, meaning that the canoeists only have approx 50m of water to canoe in unless they scrape the canoes bottom away by going over the wall. Not much of a club, even for London!
Continuity mistake: When they're loading the submarine, and Renard is being kissed, from behind his lips are pushed forward, but when we see his face he's trying to pull back.
Chosen answer: We see them in the movie when Bond first arrives to meet Electra - they're used for cutting trees in a straight line. Google "helicopter tree trimmer" to see dozens of examples.
Jon Sandys