Continuity mistake: In the scene where the ship is being confronted by the Chinese MiGs and is attacked by the stealth boat an alarm sounds on the ship and all the sailors in the mess hall leave and go to their battle stations. A few shots later when the drill hits the ship and water rushes in it shows three or four sailors in the mess hall getting hit by the rushing water.
Continuity mistake: There is a shot from behind a video camera, showing a wire or cable coming out of the back of the video camera, however, in all subsequent shots the wire/cable is not present. (00:00:50)
Continuity mistake: Bond takes a watch from Wai Lin's computer-weapons room. The watch is shown to be an Omega Seamaster, the exact same model worn by Bond earlier in the film, but with a few improvements made by Wai Lin's organization, according to her. This model of watch is equipped with a helium escape valve, a knob located on the perimeter of the case at the 10:00 O'clock postion. The close-up of the watch shows this. Later, Bond removes a small remote-controlled detonator from the watch which has the helium escape valve control knob attached to it. The close-up insert shot shows that the knob is no longer attached to the watch at the 10:00 O'clock position, and the close-up shot of the rigged grenade-in-a-jar bomb shows the control knob as a part of the detonator. When Bond and Stamper have their final show-down at the end of the film, there are many shots showing Bond's watch and the helium escape valve control knob is inexplicably back in place on his watch.
Continuity mistake: When Bond parks the BMW, the tyres are turned slightly to one side. When the bad guys come to break into it, they're perfectly aligned with the body of the car.
Continuity mistake: When Wai Lin handcuffs Bond to the water pipe (after the motorbike chase) she has a red shirt on over a white vest. When she turns to walk away the red shirt has disappeared.
Continuity mistake: James and M are travelling in the motorcade. The privacy barrier is lowered to reveal that Moneypenny is in the front-passenger seat. The shot changes to an exterior shot of the limousine. You can clearly see the privacy divider rising during this shot. The shot returns to the interior of the limousine for more dialog. Then the shot returns to Moneypenny for her to say that James will have to decide how much "Pumping" is required. Once again you can see the privacy divider rise. (00:26:59)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where James is trying to escape from Carver's headquarters, a black guy holds him over the newspapers being printed. In one shot the back part of his tie (that hides behind the larger front part usually) is hanging by his ears, it cuts to a shot of the black guy and when it cuts back, the back part of the tie has risen back to its proper place against his chest.
Continuity mistake: In the car park, when Bond activates the car-camera the phone screen shows the car next to Bond and the black and yellow column, but not Bond, despite him being in sight.
Continuity mistake: When Bond finishes testing the remote car he and Q stand close together in the front angles. In the wide angle from behind they stand half a meter away from each other. This swaps back and forth.
Continuity mistake: When Bond is about to fire at the car park metal door there's no-one next to it. A shot later two guards can be seen in front of the door, running away.
Continuity mistake: Before the remote BMW comes to a stop Q's hands are on his back. A shot later they are by his side.
Continuity mistake: When Bond and Wai dive into the fountain to hide from the helicopter, clothes and pots appear/disappear randomly between shots.
Continuity mistake: At the car park, Bond disappears in all the wide shots of the car but reappears in the close-ups. This was due because the stunt driver was seated in the back seat.
Continuity mistake: In the shower scene, when the handcuffs are placed around the pipe, we hear them ratchet closed, but when Wai-Lin walks away, the handcuffs are actually fully open, around the pipe, and not closed. Then they're closed and James Bond has to pull the pipe from the wall to release himself from it. (01:25:12)
Continuity mistake: When Carver has Bond and Wai Lin in his new building after capture, he is writing their obituaries as he narrates it. The camera zooms slowly closer to Bond and Lin before cutting to a close up of Lin. Suddenly, her mouth is shut when it was partly open before, and her hair is in a slightly different position. (01:13:34)
Continuity mistake: The scene where Carver is writing the newspaper headline, he changes it from "British sailors killed" to "British sailors murdered." The camera then cuts to a close up of his face, and reflected in his glasses we see the other page (with the headline in different languages). The top text box changes so it has two rows of text. However, when the camera cuts back as Stamper calls in, there is mysteriously only one line of text again.
Continuity mistake: Bond is led into the soundproof room and the one guard closes the door. Bond is then hit, and we see the door close again. (00:36:10)
Continuity mistake: When Bond is in bed with the translator just after the title sequence, the position of the sheet of her back changes between shots. Note the gap between James' hand and the sheet. (00:21:40)
Continuity mistake: Bond is fighting henchmen up on a moving platform at the newspaper. During the fight with the first guy, in several shots the platform isn't moving, then it is, then it isn't.
Continuity mistake: After Bond is done "meeting" with Paris, she puts her dress back on, including two straps for her shoulders. They disappear in the next shot, and never reappear.
Answer: It's getting dark by this point - Bond and Wai Lin are dressed in black in a dark coloured boat. Anyone looking out of the window would be looking down towards them - they wouldn't be able to pick them out against the sea.
Tailkinker ★