Continuity mistake: Either the first shot has a gratuitous view of the fort or the composite people neglected to add the fort in the second shot. Norrington says, "...this is the day that Capt. Jack Sparrow almost escaped. Take him away." The night shot that follows, shows the bridge archway, and beyond it the pier, Interceptor, the fort and its parapet. After Will breaks Jack out of prison, they approach the same archway and beyond it is the pier and Interceptor, but in this shot we don't see the fort and its parapet, nor the line that Jack slid down the day before. The camera angle is exactly the same. (00:27:15 - 00:44:30)
Continuity mistake: When Jack holds the chain to Elizabeth's neck, and subsequently swings about, there are about ten links between the wrist shackles. When he tosses the links over the rope, before he slides down, there are at least fifteen attached links. Then at the blacksmith shop, when Jack sits at the anvil, there are eight links, and after he breaks it there are three links dangling from the right shackle and seven dangling from the left, totaling ten. (00:19:50)
Continuity mistake: When Will delivers the sword to Governor Swann, watch the clock on the wall. While Will is waiting, the time is 09:45am. When Gov. Swann enters the room, the time is 09:40am. (00:07:10)
Continuity mistake: Aboard the Pearl, in the close-up of Elizabeth hiding the dinner knife in the napkin, the base of the decorative embossed silver knife handle (area of bolster, where the blade meets the handle) is flat all the way around. However, oddly enough, when she stabs Barbossa moments later, in the close-up of the knife protruding from Barbossa's chest there are two wide ridges circling the base - obviously a different knife. (00:57:45)
Continuity mistake: When Jack sails toward Port Royal, he passes the skeletal remains of hanged pirates, to whom he pays a respectful bow. First, there are two wideshots of the skeletons, then in the close-up they are actually wearing more clothing, particularly the strapping middle guy, whose head position differs, and his straw hat is larger as well. (00:09:15)
Continuity mistake: When Barbossa takes the sword out of his own chest, he then stabs Jack with that sword, and he stabs Jack right under the strap and buckle. As Jack walks backwards, into the moonlight, the skeletal Jack appears and now he has the sword over the strap and buckle, in his chest. The length of the sword between the guard and his chest differs greatly, as does the amount of sword that protrudes from his back. (01:55:15)
Continuity mistake: When Jack jumps down from the mast yard arm on the Jolly Mon to bail water, in the far wide shot, the mast pennant lies still, yet blows wildly in the previous shots and the bottom left of the sail is caught up on line from the rigging, but in the following shots, it's not. Also, in the wide shot he starts to walk to the middle of the boat, and he puts his arms out as he's starting to pass to the right of the mast. In the next close-up of Jack, he's passing the mast on the other side. (00:09:10)
Continuity mistake: When Elizabeth walks the Black Pearl's gangplank, we see that it is long and out of swords' reach. When it is Jack's turn to jump, the crew is up on him (with swords) because Jack is at the start of the plank. Barbossa then throws the gun into the water. Then, when Jack takes off after it, his dive is taken from the end of the plank without having moved there.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning, when young Elizabeth is holding the medallion and spots the Black Pearl, we can see part of the medallion's back. It's an Aztec design, not a skull. At Elizabeth's blood ritual, when the medallion is dropped into the chest and spins over itself, both sides of the medallion are the same Aztec skull. (00:04:40 - 01:12:20)
Continuity mistake: As Will holds the sword above his head to block Grapple's grapnel, the cloth (the same one he wears around his neck when his sleeve is pulled down) that is tied around his right wrist is visible. He is soon rendered unconscious by a pirate's candlestick. When he wakes he puts his right hand to his aching head and the cloth's knot is visible. The cloth is wrapped completely differently in the two shots, though he never had the chance to change it. (00:34:50)
Continuity mistake: Just after Jack pulls the red hot blade out of Will's hand, Will does a somersault and in the close-up he grabs hold of another sword and swiftly points it up. In the following wide shot Will is just grabbing the sword again. (00:24:25)
Continuity mistake: When Jack first confronts Will at the blacksmith shop, seen behind Jack, hanging on the stone wall near the fireplace are iron masks and other paraphernalia. Later, when Jack sprays the soot at Will, the iron masks and paraphernalia are arranged differently on the wall. (00:23:00 - 00:26:15)
Continuity mistake: While standing near the Aztec chest, Will says, "He didn't waste it," and in this shot there are two buttons closed on his vest, over the belt buckle. Yet, in the close-up of Will's hand dropping the two pieces of gold, there is only one button closed on his vest, over the buckle. (02:01:10)
Continuity mistake: A bit after Jack says, "You need to find yourself a girl mate," Jack tosses a mallet at Will. As Will ducks, in this shot the hose on both legs are rolled down to his ankles. Yet just after Jack says, "Or perhaps the reason you practice 3 hours a day...You're not a eunuch are you?" Will's hose are obviously pulled up properly. Orlando Bloom wore the hose rolled down during much of the shoot, when it was supposedly not visible onscreen. (This is ONLY visible on the video version.)
Continuity mistake: Will walks through the crowd at the hanging and stands in front of the scaffolding looking at Jack, as the official reads the list of Jack's crimes. The rope wound around the beam is wound differently here than in the close-up shots. The rope that leads up to the noose is in front of the beam. In the next semi close-up of Jack, when he smiles at the hangman, the rope that leads to the noose is now on the opposite side of the beam. (02:04:50)
Continuity mistake: Just before Captain Jack Sparrow threatens Elizabeth Swann, watch her medallion. In one shot the medallion is over her dress, but in the next one, it is under it again without anyone having touched it. In the following shot, when Jack puts the chain around her neck, it is out again. (00:18:30)
Continuity mistake: Aboard the Pearl, after Elizabeth begins to eat the turkey leg, in the shot facing Barbossa as he pours her wine, there is a hunk of bread with a bite taken out of it on Elizabeth's plate which wasn't in the previous shots. Problem is that it's not until three shots later that Elizabeth actually takes bread from the platter and bites into it, before dropping it. (This is ONLY visible on VHS.)
Continuity mistake: Will goes to the fort the morning after the pirate rampage in Port Royal. Will says, "We have to hunt them down. We must save her," and his shirt collar is very crooked. Governor Swann says, "If you have any information concerning..." and in this shot Will's collar and vest are straight. In the following shots the shirt collar is crooked again. (00:41:20)
Continuity mistake: At Isla de Muerta, when Will's hands are bound, Jack tosses Will the sword. In the two shots facing Will, first as he catches it then as he pushes the bald pirate, Will's hose are rolled down, whereas in the previous and following shots his hose are on properly. Orlando Bloom preferred to have the hose down during much of the shoot, when it was supposedly not visible onscreen. (This is ONLY visible on VHS.)
Continuity mistake: Will's facial hair darkens quite a bit in the time it takes him to walk from Elizabeth's house to his blacksmith shop. (The sword scene in the Governor's mansion was the first scene that was filmed with Orlando. His facial hair was not fully grown in because he had just arrived on set. On commentary.) (00:07:05 - 00:22:05)
Answer: The curse needs the blood of everybody who took a coin from the chest. All the other pirates have already contributed so, as the movie opens, the only blood needed is Will's, substituting for his father. During the finale of the movie, Jack takes a coin from the chest, adding himself to the curse, so his blood is now required as well as Will's.
Tailkinker ★
But I didn't see any blood on the coins, and none of the pirates cut themselves, even before Will became part of the mix.
Yes, the other pirates did cut themselves before Will came into it, off-screen. The lack of blood on the coins can simply be explained as most of it dripping to the bottom of the chest, it being washed away by storms blown into the cave, or by the fact that they didn't drop that much blood on it in the first place.
When they had Elizabeth they believed she was Bill Turner's daughter, but they all thought the curse had failed, none of them had cut themselves so it makes zero sense.
They had been collecting back the coins for years. During that time they repaid their own blood. All they needed was the last coin and the blood of Bill Turner to break the spell.
lionhead