Visible crew/equipment: When Jack and Will duel, Jack says, "You need to find yourself a girl, mate," and he takes a mallet from above, Will ducks. In the next back shot of Will as he ducks, the back, left flap of his vest goes up. There is a battery power pack secured with black tape to the left side at the back of Orlando Bloom's pants' waistband. There are several shots during this scene when a small bulge under the back of his vest can be seen. (00:24:45)
Continuity mistake: Elizabeth takes the medallion out of the drawer, and in the first wide shot as she looks at it (*before* she wipes away the dust with her thumb), seen to her left in the corner, are a tapestry chair and small table with a candelabra, between the the french door draperies and the louver trim door. The table and candelabra are partially in front of the door's louver trim. However after Elizabeth takes the dress out of the box, behind Governor Swann (who stands in front of the french door draperies now), to his right we see the same tapestry chair, table and candelabra, but the table and candelabra are further away from the door's louver trim and much closer to the corner now. (00:05:15)
Continuity mistake: Jack cuts the ties of Elizabeth's corset and drops the knife down vertically, with the blade pointing up, right beside her head. In the wide shot, just as Norrington runs up, the knife is now horizontal. No one touched the knife. When he removes the corset, in Jack's shot, he hands it to Murtogg to hold and puts his hand down. In the next shot of Murtogg, Jack's hand is still on the corset. (00:16:35)
Continuity mistake: While rescuing young Will, as Norrington shouts, "Man overboard! Man the ropes. Fetch a hook," Governor Swann is leaning over the starboard rail near the rigging throughout these shots. However, as Norrington says, "Haul him aboard," in this one shot Governor Swann's body is then seen on deck rushing to the rail with other sailors, where he already was in the previous shots. Also, a moment later the ribbon on the sailor hat lying on the tarp changes position in a following shot. (00:02:25)
Continuity mistake: At the blacksmith shop, in the close-up, the palm of Mr. Brown's hand faces upright, when he drops the bottle. In the wide shot, the palm of his hand faces down. When Jack approaches him, the palm faces up again. Also in one shot, one end of Mr. Brown's red scarf is sticking out of his smock and in the next shot, both ends are out. (00:21:05)
Revealing mistake: When Jack is standing on the mast of the Jolly Mon, as he's 'sailing' closer to Port Royal, the Dauntless is seen in the distance, as are two very small row boats and the docks to the left. There are no other ships seen along the entire mountain cliffside, some of which is CG. In the next shot showing Dauntless from the dock, there are two other large ships near her, one being loaded with goods which should have been seen in the earlier wide shot. Given the proximity and dimension of Dauntless in the second shot, the other ships should have been seen in the earlier wide shot of the area. Both shots of Dauntless are CG, as is part of the cliffside. This is not because of camera angles. (00:08:55)
Continuity mistake: Aboard Interceptor, the boom slams into Will and takes him out over the water. In the close-up shot of Will hanging there, the rope lines that are between Will's arms on the boom are not in the close-up shot of the boom, before it hit Will. Just the line to his left, can be seen in the boom shot. (00:49:35)
Continuity mistake: In the blacksmith shop, Will grabs a sword out of the fire and fights Jack with a red-hot blade. Jack flings the end of his handcuff chain around Will's sword which IS still glowing red, grabs the blade, and yanks it out of Will's hand. The blade is no longer glowing red as it flies out of Will's hand and through the air. The blade could NOT have cooled that quickly. (00:24:25)
Revealing mistake: Will walks down the stairs, after the coach leaves and the cottage to the left of the Governor's mansion isn't seen at all. In this close-up, the Governor's mansion behind Will is only a facade built at Marineland. They only built the facade for the main house, not the two servants' cottages on both sides of the mansion. In the next wide shot, both cottages and the mansion seen, are miniatures used in a CG composite on the hill. Given the proximity of the (miniature) cottages at both sides of the house in the wide shot, the left cottage should've been seen in the close-up, but obviously couldn't because the cottages weren't built. Fuller view of the wide shot in deleted scenes. (00:08:45)
Continuity mistake: When Jack and Will are dueling in the blacksmith shop on the cart, Jack falls onto the ground. Then we get a close up of him shaking his face, watch the bone in his hair, it's bent. Then he stands up again and the bone is straight. (00:25:40)
Continuity mistake: After Will rescues Elizabeth and brings her aboard the Interceptor, in the first shot from behind Elizabeth, Anamaria isn't holding her hat and the pirate behind Mr. Cotton is holding the tail of the parrot to keep it still. In the next couple of shots from the side, Anamaria is holding her hat because it's so windy. Just before Mr. Gibbs says, "Keep to the code," the close-up on Anamaria shows her hands down again, with no wind. In the next wide shot, Anamaria is holding her hat again due to the wind. (01:16:00)
Continuity mistake: When Will and Jack are in the bar in Tortuga, Will stands with his back to the wall and on that wall is a shelf with a candle. The candle height changes and the candle drippings are very different in these shots too. Also, shots in the deleted scenes. (00:52:10)
Revealing mistake: When the gallows, in the Fort's courtyard, blows up, just before the huge explosion, four of the platform legs can be seen exploding in the same place, at the same time. A horse and rider pass by in the wide shot, another platform leg, the arm of the gallows and the actual platform explode in sync. Also, in the next close-up we see where the nearest leg of the platform has been cut to help facilitate the explosions impact. (00:31:25)
Continuity mistake: When young Elizabeth holds up the medallion, and she sees the Black Pearl, her fingers are positioned differently in the wide shot and in the close-up shot of the medallion. (00:04:40)
Continuity mistake: When Jack sprays Will with the soot from the sack and kicks away Will's sword, he drops down the sack of soot onto his hat sitting on the fireplace. In the next shot, from behind Will's back, the sack of soot is not on Jack's hat, but way behind it. (00:26:20)
Revealing mistake: Johnny Depp's and Orlando Bloom's stunt doubles, Tony Angelotti (Jack) and Mark Aaron Wagner (Will), not only fight each other's 'alter ego' as well as other pirates and soldiers, they also duel directly with each other in the blacksmith shop in many shots. They are also too obvious in the scenes on Isla de Muerta, and during the rescue of Jack from the gallows, as they run and fight the Marines. There are notable differences between the two Jacks and two Wills within all the shots, throughout the film. (00:24:45 - 02:07:00)
Continuity mistake: Will goes to the fort and pleads with Norrington to find and save Elizabeth. On the table are two distinct feather quills. They're in different positions in the wide shot and in the close-up when Will slams the axe down on the map. Also, in that wide shot, there is a small bottle in front of the quill holder, whereas in the close-up, the small bottle isn't there. (00:41:40)
Continuity mistake: When Elizabeth is hiding from the pirates in the closet, and the pirates first enter the room, you can see that the carpet is folded back (from her opening the door) quite a bit. When the pirates see the carpet pushed back and know where Elizabeth is hiding, just a small corner of the carpet is pushed back. (00:33:35)
Continuity mistake: During the pirate attack on Port Royal, Will opens the door of the blacksmith shop, just as Jacoby runs past chasing a woman, and to Will's right, three men run up the stairs into the alcove as Will takes out his axe to start after Jacoby. In the very next wide shot of Will and the alcove, those three men aren't seen at all, but as soon as Will lifts the axe over his head to throw, one of those men from the previous shot is seen running up some stairs, past a shop. (00:31:10)
Continuity mistake: Jack chases after the monkey on the broken mast leading across to the Black Pearl. When he gets there, Barbossa says, "Why thank you, Jack." Barbossa's left arm is up and he's holding the rope. In that first shot, much of his white sleeve is out. In the next shot of Barbossa, the white sleeve is mostly covered. Then in his next shot, much of the white sleeve is out again. (01:29:50)
Chosen answer: Because they'd have to find it. The gold may "call to them", but it obviously doesn't function as a millimetre perfect homing beacon or they'd never have missed the medallion years earlier when they attacked the ship carrying the young Will. Elizabeth drops it into the sea and they're going to have to spend what could be months trying to locate it - currents could take it well away from the dropping point. They've found the final missing piece; they're potentially just hours away from finally being cured. The last thing they want is to see it thrown into the sea.
Tailkinker ★
Well, if the crew was anxious to get the medallion then why did they act like they weren't interested in it before Elizabeth pretended to drop it?
Reverse psychology.
Ssiscool ★
What do you mean by reverse psychology?
By showing they are not interested in the medallion they are hoping Elizabeth will just drop it on the floor or chuck it to them as it's of no real value. However when she releases a bit of chain and the medallion drops, and the pirates lurch forward revealing that they really want the medallion and as such Elizabeth now has the upper hand in negotiations.
Ssiscool ★
I'm guessing Elizabeth wasn't fooled when the pirates showed disinterest in the medallion.
That's not called reverse psychology, which is used to encourage someone to change his or her mind. Doesn't work with a threat. They are feigning indifference to hide the importance of the object.
lionhead