Revealing mistake: During the scene in which Rasputin is resurrected, at one point, Ilsa wipes some snow off a wall then checks her book to see if she can match a symbol. When she opens the book, some snow lands inside of it... and it is incredibly obvious that the snow is fake. It looks like pieces of torn up paper.
Character mistake: Tom Manning criticises Hellboy for using a lighter, (correctly) telling him to use a wooden match instead. But he then lights a match and immediately puts it to the cigar, instead of waiting for the sulphur to burn off and using a pure wood-fuelled flame to light it. He's not as well informed as he thinks.
Answer: The internal machinery that powers him is clockwork. It needs to be wound like a watch every so often. He releases most of the tension when he fakes his death.
BaconIsMyBFF