Continuity mistake: The guard sitting on the back of the train has sweat covering the front of his shirt. In the next shot, the sweat is gone.
Directed by: Breck Eisner
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, William H. Macy, Penélope Cruz, Steve Zahn, Delroy Lindo, Rainn Wilson, Lambert Wilson, Jude Akuwudike, Christopher Bello, Mark Aspinall, Rakie Ayola
Continuity mistake: The guard sitting on the back of the train has sweat covering the front of his shirt. In the next shot, the sweat is gone.
Factual error: At a stop on the Niger River, before they arrived in Mali, Dirk tells Dr. Rojas of "the angel wing clam" and calls them "Petricola Pholadiformis" and says that "this river is the only place on the earth they are found." Three problems: First, Petricola Pholadiformis are actually called "False angel wing" and are found many places in the world in fresh water (but seldom in the Niger River). Second, what's known as the "Angel wing" shell (no "false" in its name) has "Cyrtopleura Costata" as its scientific name. Cyrtopleura Costata ("Angel wing") is found in salt water. Third, Dirk also said they "glow in the dark"; some varieties of Cyrtopleura Costata shells will glow if exposed to ultraviolet light but none glow from their own internal source. Petricola Pholadiformis shells don't glow at all.
Al Giordino: I am so tired of being shot at.
Trivia: During the opening pan shot of Dirk's stateroom, the article on the wall with the pic of the Titanic is a subtle reference to the Dirk Pitt adventure "Raise the Titanic", which was made into a movie in 1980, 6 years before the real Titanic was found.
Answer: So they will not discover the poisonining that is going on.