23rd Jan 2005
Continuity mistake: While Ajax and Hector fight, Hector head butts Ajax, and three shots later in a wide shot, half of the hammer end of his unusual spear actually breaks and falls to the ground behind him to his left. But lo and behold, in the next close-up the bloody hammer end (bloodier than the previous shot) of his spear is whole and intact. (01:20:00)
23rd Jan 2005
Revealing mistake: When Agamemnon and the Greeks charge at the Trojans after Menelaus is killed, in the close-ups during the melee, quite a few of the spears actually wobble in the soldiers' hands, like for example, when the Apollonians throw their spears. (01:18:20)
23rd Jan 2005
Revealing mistake: When Ajax slams the hammer end of his spear into a man, he has his shield at his back. The top arrow in the shield is bent at a 90° angle and as Ajax moves the top (plastic) arrow droops down and the bottom arrow actually flops around. While still in the same location, when he sticks his spear into the sand and pulls the arrow out of his thigh, the arrows on his shield are gone. (00:42:20)
23rd Jan 2005
Visible crew/equipment: When Achilles and the Myrmidons are being hit with the Trojan's fiery arrows on the beach, there is a close-up of Achilles falling onto his knees on the sand. Three shots later, there is a particularly enjoyable close-up of a Myrmidon extra being hit by a fiery arrow in the chest, as his helmet with the long curly black wig falls off his head, to reveal his short light brown hair underneath. (00:40:15)
23rd Jan 2005
Visible crew/equipment: As the Trojans let loose their arrows on the Myrmidons, there is a close-up of a fiery arrow in a man's thigh. Two shots later, in a close-up of a Myrmidon stuntguy when he slams onto the sand, he clutches in his right hand a wired remote with a white trigger button, presumably to set off the little dramatic sand explosions as he lands. (00:39:50)
23rd Jan 2005
Revealing mistake: As the vast army of Greeks approach the shores of Troy, there is a close-up of Eudorus' legs as he makes his way to Achilles at the bow of the ship. As he walks, the very thick rubber soles with lovely, intricate, modern treads are perfectly visible on his old fashioned sandals with each step that he takes. Countless times the treads are actually identical on different character's sandal's soles. (00:35:55)
23rd Jan 2005
Deliberate mistake: Numerous times throughout the film, when the men draw their swords from the cloth/wood/leather lined underside of their shields, which is plainly visible in many shots, the loud metallic rasping sound is dramatically heard. It is even heard in many other instances, such as when Hector removes the blade from Patroclus' neck or when Achilles takes the sword out of the sand, after Eudorus tells him of Patroclus' death. (01:47:00)
23rd Jan 2005
Visible crew/equipment: When Achilles mounts his horse, the boy hands him his helmet and then his shield. After he says, "The Thessalonian you're fighting..." at the start of the close-up when the boy has his hands up as he gives him the shield, the grey mic is visible right under the neckline of his outfit. (00:06:25)
23rd Jan 2005
Revealing mistake: In many extreme close-ups, the large white reflector screens are clearly reflected in the eyes of the actors and actresses. (00:40:20 - 01:11:10)
23rd Jan 2005
Continuity mistake: When Achilles and his Myrmidons line up on the beach and then bring their shields together, things located on the beach, surrounding them, ie large and small rock formations/boulders, wood, carts, etc., differ greatly from the previous and following shots. The way they form the tight group differs between shots as well. (00:40:25)
23rd Jan 2005
Continuity mistake: On the Trojan beach, when the shields of Achilles and the Myrmidons are united in front of them, some of the arrows protruding from the shields disappear and reappear in consecutive shots. (00:40:25)
23rd Jan 2005
Revealing mistake: After Achilles and the Myrmidons arrive on shore, the Trojans let loose a barrage of fiery arrows, and when one lands in the thigh of a man still aboard the ship, the fake leg skin around the protruding arrow is quite obvious. (00:39:45)
23rd Jan 2005
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)
23rd Jan 2005
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)
23rd Jan 2005
Continuity mistake: While Achilles stands on Apollo's temple stairs and then when Hector climbs them, the position of the bodies lying on the stairs differs between shots. (This does NOT refer to when Achilles walks out the back of the temple, where there are no bodies. Note that the temple's front and back have different types of statues, stairs...) (00:44:00)
23rd Jan 2005
Continuity mistake: While Menelaus and Paris duel, Menelaus punches Paris in the face (the first time) and as he spins around spitting blood, the red bruise on Paris' right cheek is perfectly visible, yet in the very next close-up his face is quite pristine - the bruise and blood are actually gone. But of course in the next close-up Paris' cheek bruise is back with blood on his chin as well, and in the following shots the amount of blood goes back and forth. (01:14:35)
23rd Jan 2005
Continuity mistake: In Sparta, when Paris enters Helen's room, she faces him and says, "You shouldn't be here," When she turns around to face the wall, now there are short curls at her forehead and the hair curls at the sides of her face are now curlier and neater. Then when she is standing in front of Paris with her hands at her sides, in the two shots facing her, her hair goes from the front of her shoulders to behind, and the cute curl at her forehead is gone. This type of thing occurs throughout the film in consecutive shots. (00:11:40)
23rd Jan 2005
Continuity mistake: While in Phtia after Odysseus says, "My wife will feel much better...I'll feel much better," Achilles takes the sword out of Patroclus' hand and then pats him on the bottom with his own sword. As he does this in the shot from behind Achilles, the ground area in front of the bushes is sword free. However, as Odysseus says, "A thousand ships," there is a sword lying on the ground in front of the bush. This is either a continuity error or simply the lack of sound of a sword being thrown to the ground, since it's likely to be Patroclus' sword that Achilles threw. (00:23:30)
23rd Jan 2005
Continuity mistake: As Achilles and Patroclus sword play in Phtia, at the bottom of a particular area with stairs, in the first shot after the first close-up of the horses' hooves, there are large clumps of greenery at the corners of these individual stairs. However, when Odysseus speaks with them and says, "My wife will feel much better if she knows you're by my side..." now some of the clumps of greenery are gone from the stairs, and there is a water 'canteen' on the third step, which Achilles drinks from. There are a number of significant differences among surrounding shrubbery and small rocks, including from the opening aerial shot, and the sun's shadow changes drastically during this entire scene. (00:21:35 - 00:23:25)
23rd Jan 2005
Other mistake: While the Trojan warning gongs ring, in the shot of the citizens when they run past the guards to return to the safety within the walls, there is something stuck to the left side of the camera (it looks like a long piece of hair), which flickers on the screen as the camera continues to pan in closer. (00:35:30)
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.