Revealing mistake: Hector's sword is secured to the underside, from hilt to point, entirely under the shield, perpendicular to the handle he always holds. While Achilles and Hector duel, Hector snaps Achilles' spear with his leg. At the start of the next shot, Hector holds the grip of his sword and pulls it from the shield, above and parallel to the handle, not from where it should have been, obviously deliberately done to ready the sword for the shot. (01:59:25)
Continuity mistake: After the Trojan rider finds the hidden Greek fleet, he is hit with three arrows in his torso. In the close-up there are two arrows above and one just below them, but in the wide shot the three arrows are aligned in a straight row. (02:18:35)
Revealing mistake: Throughout the movie, especially in the scenes which take place in the Troy encampment, no matter how many times Achilles gets dirty in battle and then cleans up, there is always a small smudge on his left upper arm. In the right light, you can make out the distinctive, small, circular scar of a small pox vaccination right where that dirt smudge is - it's really quite distracting. Until 1972 in the US this was a common vaccination given to children. (00:37:30)
Continuity mistake: In the middle of the film just after Hector has killed Menelaus, they run away, and on the far away shot, you can see they are some distance from Menelaus body, yet when it cuts to a close-up shot of them running they have barely passed the body. (01:14:25)
Revealing mistake: After they arrive on Troy’s shore, a particular Myrmidon is hit and falls overboard into the water. After a few shots another Myrmidon is hit with two arrows and he too promptly falls overboard into the water, and then loses his wig in the water (after the helmet). (00:39:55)
Continuity mistake: After Achilles stabs Hector with the spear, as Hector falls to his knees in the close-up, his greaves and shoes are entirely dusty/dirty - causing the dark sandals to be very light. However, as Achilles ties the rope around Hector's ankles in the close-up, Hector's greaves and sandals are now relatively clean and note the interesting pin-dot tread on the rubber soles of Hector's sandals. (02:01:20 - 02:02:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene near the start of the film where Achilles ship has just arrived on the sands of Troy, the ship gets fired upon by flaming arrows. The camera cuts to a shot aboard the ship where you can see a soldier jump over the side, his shield and spear on his right arm. Yet when he lands the shield and spear have switched to his left arm. (00:36:15)
Continuity mistake: When Hector says goodbye to Paris and kisses his forehead, the small decorative gold clasps and the very large clasp at the bottom of his hair are visible. Then when Hector says goodbye to Andromache and Scamandrius, the large clasp is a completely different one and the small clasps' positions differ. The clasps in Hector's, Paris', and others, hair change position in consecutive shots throughout the film. (01:55:00)
Audio problem: When Hector is giving his speech to the Trojans as they stand outside the gates in face of the oncoming Greeks, he gives his final line of the speech and there is a rousing cheer from the soldiers. However, none of the soldiers move in any way in the wide shot. (00:38:35)
Continuity mistake: When Helen is standing behind Hector before he goes out the gates to fight Achilles, she's very much on his left side (he turns and looks over his left shoulder at her.) But when he starts walking out and she's seen behind him, she's suddenly on his right. (01:56:30)
Factual error: The boy who is sent to retrieve Achilles, refers to Boagrius as the Thessalonian, speaking of those from Thessaly. Thessalonians are people from the Greek city of Thessalonika - which is settled about 1000 years AFTER the battle of Troy. People from Thessaly were/are called Thessalians. The term Thessalonian should never even have been known to the boy, much less used by him. (00:06:10)
Continuity mistake: Menelaus' head rotates between shots of him saying "May the gods keep the wolves in the hills and the women in our beds" when at Sparta.
Deliberate mistake: When Achilles reaches the bottom of the stairs of Apollo's temple a Trojan pulls on Achilles' spear so he elbows that Trojan in the face, then turns and slices another one. When Achilles turns around he is face to face with a particular Trojan, who has two decorative clasps in his long hair, then he slices him across his face and he falls. In the next shot he fights another couple of Trojans. The following shot is the exact same shot as the previous one with the Trojan, who has two decorative clasps in his hair, that he proceeds to slice across the face again. (00:42:55)
Continuity mistake: After Paris is given the sword of Troy, it cuts to Hector speaking to Andromache. In this wide shot the cloth draped small bed between the two large columns is turned at a slant. Yet when Hector leaves their room (before encountering Helen), the bed is now parallel to the short wall (which faces the sea). (01:00:20 - 01:01:30)
Continuity mistake: The wound that Achilles gives Boagrius changes position from when he receives it in the close-up, where it is lower on his shoulder, to the close-up and back shots just before he falls, where it is closer to his neck. (00:08:15)
Continuity mistake: When fighting Boagrius, Achilles tosses his shield with the attached spear, to the ground, the spear separates and lies beside the shield - which is face down, as Boagrius throws the second spear. However, when Achilles runs toward Boagrius their proximity differs, and when he stabs him the spear is gone and the shield is face up, but when Boagrius falls to his knees, the spear is back. (00:08:05)
Continuity mistake: When Priam sits on the throne, with Hector and Paris beside him, as Glaucus says, "If they want a war, we will give them a war..." the flames burn brightly in the two torches standing within the doorway behind the throne. However, when Priam asks, "Glaucus, you have fought with me for forty years, can we win this war?" there is NO flame in the torch on the right side of the doorway - visible behind Hector ONLY on widescreen DVD. Yet when Glaucus says, "...and we have Hector," the flame burns brightly once again. (This is not due to the flame flickering.) (00:56:50)
Continuity mistake: As the ship heads toward Troy's shores, Eudorus walks toward Achilles at the bow. There is a close-up of his feet as he passes many spears, helmets, swords, armor and shields lying on deck, and in the next shot many of the items on deck are either gone or positioned differently, and the shadows that are cast significantly change between shots, while Achilles and his Myrmidon are aboard their ship. (00:35:55)
Continuity mistake: Achilles runs up the stairs of Apollo's temple, kills some men, including one after he runs up the stone base of the gold statue. He then turns around, with the two blades in his hands, to be face to face with a Trojan whose helmet is all askew and Achilles pushes the tips of the blades into the center of the soldier's chest armor. At the start of the very next shot the man's helmet is perfectly straight, and Achilles' two blades are conspicuously not in the soldier's chest, both are clearly visible at the soldier's side, under his left arm (NOT in his chest), already bloody, with the dripping blood stain on the center of his armor where the blades should be. Then Achilles pulls the blades 'out of' the soldier accompanied by the dramatic sound effect. (00:43:20)
Continuity mistake: When Agamemnon says, "I always thought my brother's wife was a foolish woman," he is holding a whip in his hand that faces away from his right side. However, in the next shot the whip is closer to his chest, facing forward. Only visible on VHS and fullscreen DVD. (00:18:55)
Answer: He was warning the other soldiers that Achilles was coming.