Continuity mistake: When M arrives to see Mallory, a bag is placed on the ground near her seat. It is still there just as she stands up and grabs her coat. In the next shot, the bag is gone and she walks out without it.
Continuity mistake: In the scene in the National Gallery early on in the film where Bond meets Q, there is a line of bench seats they're sitting on. From behind, Bond's coat tail is barely covering the gap between two of the benches. From the front, though, his coat tail is further back, covering the gap almost entirely. (00:37:05)
Continuity mistake: When Bond is stalking Patrice before he kills the mark, 007 is not wearing gloves. Later, when he is seen holding Patrice before his fall, he is wearing black gloves.
Continuity mistake: Bond and Silva are in a train with a number beginning in 96 and ending in 69 (96269, 96469, etc). However, near the end of this scene, the carriages have now become 96424 and 96224.
Continuity mistake: When Silva is first seen in the London Underground station, he walks down a flight of stairs. On the left side of the stairs, there are two men. In the next shot, it is now only one, an entirely different man. (01:28:00)
Continuity mistake: When Silva is about to slide down the escalator, Bond runs past the same blonde woman twice between shots. (01:31:40)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Bond is chasing Silva in the Underground, he leaps over the emergency buttons and slides down the escalator panel. Initially you can see the emergency buttons at the bottom of the escalator, which would have broken his slide, however, these "disappear" as Bond slides smoothly off the panel at the bottom. (01:31:50)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where M (Judi Dench) is been driven back to the MI6 building, her car is stopped on a bridge and you see two cars stopping behind M's vehicle while she is still inside. She then gets out of the vehicle to speak to a police officer who requested that the car stop, and now two different vehicles are behind. (00:20:15)
Continuity mistake: While talking with Severine in the casino bar, Bond gets his martini in a frozen glass. He picks it up, the camera's point of view changes, and the glass is instantly completely unfrozen. (00:57:15)
Continuity mistake: In the courtroom shoot out scene, Bond shoots two fire extinguishers to use as a smokescreen. If you watch Eve as he steps out, she lowers her weapon dramatically at the last second. When the camera cuts to her immediately after, her gun is raised again. (01:37:45)
Continuity mistake: When Bond is drinking Macallan in M's apartment he set the bottle down with the label facing away from us. Next shot has the bottle facing towards us. Final shot and the bottle is back in its original position, with the label away from us again. (00:24:55)
Continuity mistake: As Bond chases Patrice over the rooftops of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul at the start of the film, in the close ups of Daniel Craig his tie can be seen noticeably flapping over his shoulder (as you would expect). But in the long shots with the stuntman it doesn't move about at all, presumably having been fixed in place for safety. (00:04:40)
Continuity mistake: When Bond drives his motorbike into the bridge, the scene changes to Bond landing on the train, the bike magically landing on its wheels upright, then when the scene changes again, the bike has disappeared, yet the bike should be seen rolling out of control. (00:06:25)
Continuity mistake: When Bond confronts the assassin and lets him fall to his death from the building in Shanghai, he then looks over to the opposite window where Severine is standing in the smashed window hole, her hair blowing in the breeze. When it cuts to the closeup of her leaving you can see the light reflected in the window glass that has magically reappeared. (00:48:00)
Continuity mistake: When Silva gets out of the helicopter at Skyfall, the sky is approaching dark (7 o'clock to 8 o'clock sky). After throwing the grenades in the house and Silva says "Everyone listen to me! Don't you dare touch her, she's mine!" about 50 seconds later, it is suddenly pitch black (11 o'clock to midnight sky). (01:55:25 - 01:56:15)
Continuity mistake: When Bond has begun searching the train for the villain, a blonde passenger's face is clearly shown on the right hand side of the screen. About a minute later, the same extra is waiting to board the same train at the next station. (01:34:10 - 01:35:27)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where the assassin is about to go up in the elevator the 3rd button down on the right has been pressed and is lit. As the elevator closes the button is no longer lit. (00:43:10)
Continuity mistake: When Silva and Bond jump onto the sides of the escalators, there is a sign at the top. Whilst they are sliding down the escalator, the sign at the top is no longer there. (01:31:45)
Continuity mistake: Just after Bond has lost track of Silva in the London Underground station, the scene cuts to M's parliament meeting. At this time, the time on M's watch reads 3:00. Yet when Bond catches up with Silva in the basement of the London Underground station, the time on Bond's watch reads 4:55. Far too long to have passed given the events seen and distances travelled. (01:32:45 - 01:33:45)
Continuity mistake: When Silva places the glass of whiskey on the girl's head, the liquid is full to the brim in some shots, or a finger below in others. (01:15:15)
Answer: Because Bond is fighting to the death with a man who's trying to throw him off a train. He can't exactly step out of the way.
Brian Katcher