Continuity mistake: Elizabeth holds the medallion chain over the edge of the railing. In the first shot she says, "I'll drop it," the chain dangles down with the excess chain over her fingers. In the front close-up of her arm, only the bottom chain is dangling. In the back close-up of her hand, with Barbossa in the background, the medallion and chain dangle shorter now, with the excess chain over her fingers. This takes place before she says, "There's no point in me keeping it." (00:38:50)
Continuity mistake: Will goes to the fort the morning after the pirate rampage in Port Royal. Will says, "We have to hunt them down. We must save her," and his shirt collar is very crooked. Governor Swann says, "If you have any information concerning..." and in this shot Will's collar and vest are straight. In the following shots the shirt collar is crooked again. (00:41:20)
Continuity mistake: As Will is telling Gov. Swann and the Commodore that Elizabeth has been taken, his right sleeve is folded up broadly to just below his elbow. After Will slams the axe into the map, which should have, if anything, brought the sleeve down, the sleeve is higher and more tightly rolled. (00:41:20 - 00:42:05)
Continuity mistake: Will goes to the fort and pleads with Norrington to find and save Elizabeth. On the table are two distinct feather quills. They're in different positions in the wide shot and in the close-up when Will slams the axe down on the map. Also, in that wide shot, there is a small bottle in front of the quill holder, whereas in the close-up, the small bottle isn't there. (00:41:40)
Continuity mistake: Will runs down the stairs towards Jack's jail cell. At the bottom of the steps there is a desk and chair. When he first comes down, the chair is pushed into the corner of the desk. As Will says, "These are half pin barrel hinges," behind him, the chair is now pulled out. Will then uses that chair to balance the bench for "the right leverage to lift the door free." (00:42:25)
Continuity mistake: Will runs down the stairs at the prison and says, "You! Sparrow!" and Jack responds, "Aye." In the following shots Jack's hair with red ties and the white shirt string, both on his left side, change position, arrangement, or even existence in the wide shots, and close-ups while the two talk. Earlier, after Jack saves drowning Elizabeth, the position of the red scarf around his head differs between shots - note the beads over his eyes. As a matter of fact, the positions of his red scarf ends, strings of beads, bone, etc., in Jack's hair, ALL change in consecutive shots many times throughout the film, from the moment he is first seen on the Jolly Mon, to the moment he makes his dramatic exit. (00:42:25)
Continuity mistake: In the morning, when Will is with Jack at the prison, Will has scratches on his right cheekbone and jawbone and the left side of his forehead. However, after they commandeer the Interceptor, all of Will's scratches are barely even noticeable, but it is STILL the same day. (00:42:30 - 00:52:15)
Continuity mistake: When Jack and Will are under the bridge, and Jack says, "We're going to commandeer that ship. Nautical term," his right cheek is clean. When he turns to ask Will "One question about your business..." there is a broad black smudge running from his right cheek to the right side of his nose. As he turns around after Will's answer and says, "No worries..." his right cheek is again clean, without ever having touched his face. (00:44:35)
Continuity mistake: When Jack and Will are walking under water carrying the boat over their heads, Will steps into a wooden trap with a buoy line attached. The trap is made of wood sticks and in each of these shots the style of the wood sticks is different. In the first shot, Will's foot goes through the top, and is at one side of the rectangle trap and the buoy line is at the other side of the trap. In the next shot, Will looks down into the water at the wooden trap, his foot is in the center of a square wooden trap and the buoy line isn't seen in this shot. In the next wide shot, he's dragging the trap as he's walking under water, and his foot is at the same side as the attached buoy line, which is seen in this shot, on a rectangle trap. The trap is then tied to Dauntless' rudder, and again this trap is styled differently than the trap in the previous shots. This has nothing to do with the angle of the camera. (00:45:25)
Continuity mistake: As Jack and Will are walking under water, holding the boat over their heads, in the interior shot, when the camera pans into the water, Will's right sleeve is covering his right arm, but in the wide shot, Will's right sleeve is rolled up to his elbow. (00:45:25)
Continuity mistake: Interceptor is side by side with Dauntless, in order to capture Jack and Will. Norrington boards Dauntless with three other men following him and in that close-up ON deck, Norrington says, "Search every cabin, every hull, down to the bilges." Yet, in the next shot, Norrington and those three men are actually seen just climbing up the gangplank to Dauntless. (00:46:55)
Continuity mistake: Aboard Interceptor, Will cuts the lines leading to Dauntless with his axe and Interceptor pulls away. As they pull away, the first gangplank falls, knocks into the swivel cannon on the rail of Interceptor, forcing it to now point up. Jack and Will are busy stealing Interceptor. When Jack yells out, "Thank you, Commodore!" the cannon is turned straight around again. The first shot was part of the mishap during filming, as noted in another mistake. (00:47:05)
Continuity mistake: As the Interceptor sails away from the Dauntless, Norrington, aboard Dauntless, is standing in front of the wheel looking out towards the Interceptor. In the next shots, the Dauntless is colliding with the boat and in the background the Interceptor can be seen going in the opposite direction. Then back on Dauntless, Norrington is still looking towards the Interceptor in the same direction as before, however wrong that is, and acknowledges the comment, "That's got to be the best pirate I've ever seen." (00:47:45)
Continuity mistake: When Jack and Will commandeer the HMS Dauntless, the HMS Interceptor sails out with all her square sails completely square on (i.e perpendicular to the ships direction of travel) with the wind behind her. We then see the Dauntless sailing out of control in the other direction with her sails in the same position, the winds have switched 180 degrees. (00:47:55)
Continuity mistake: When Will is hanging from the mast while Jack is talking to him, the clouds in the background behind Jack changes more than normal during the shots. (00:48:00)
Continuity mistake: Will has a small tear in his shirt at the right shoulder. Sometimes it's bigger, sometimes it's smaller, and the shape changes throughout the movie. (00:48:30 - 01:22:50)
Continuity mistake: Aboard Interceptor, Will says, "I'm not a simpleton Jack," Jack is near the wheel and tightening the line at the belaying pin on the rail. There's also a line going through a wood cleat on the rail next to the belaying pin. When Jack causes the boom to slam into Will, the rail is seen and the entire belaying pin with its line is missing, as well as the line in the cleat. Belaying pins are permanent and these are not flipped shots. (This is the wood belaying pin that snapped off, hitting Depp in the knee during the mishap, when filming Interceptor's escape.) (00:48:40)
Continuity mistake: Aboard Interceptor, the boom slams into Will and takes him out over the water. In the close-up shot of Will hanging there, the rope lines that are between Will's arms on the boom are not in the close-up shot of the boom, before it hit Will. Just the line to his left, can be seen in the boom shot. (00:49:35)
Continuity mistake: As the boom slams into Will, there's no pile of rope lying at the stern, only one line. In the next shot, Jack reaches down to pick up Will's sword and now there's a pile of rope lying on deck. When Jack swings the boom back and Will drops on deck, there's no pile of rope on deck again. This doesn't refer to the rigging lines attached to the boom. (00:49:35)
Continuity mistake: Aboard Interceptor, Will points his sword at Jack, and Jack swings the boom that slams into Will. In the side wide shot as the boom comes toward Will, when we see Will's hands as he grasps the boom, he is not holding the sword, nor do we see it drop or see it on the deck; however, we do hear it hit the deck. In the next shot, Jack picks up Will's sword near the line and rail, where it didn't exist in the previous shot. (00:49:35)
Chosen answer: Because they'd have to find it. The gold may "call to them", but it obviously doesn't function as a millimetre perfect homing beacon or they'd never have missed the medallion years earlier when they attacked the ship carrying the young Will. Elizabeth drops it into the sea and they're going to have to spend what could be months trying to locate it - currents could take it well away from the dropping point. They've found the final missing piece; they're potentially just hours away from finally being cured. The last thing they want is to see it thrown into the sea.
Tailkinker ★
Well, if the crew was anxious to get the medallion then why did they act like they weren't interested in it before Elizabeth pretended to drop it?
Reverse psychology.
Ssiscool ★
What do you mean by reverse psychology?
By showing they are not interested in the medallion they are hoping Elizabeth will just drop it on the floor or chuck it to them as it's of no real value. However when she releases a bit of chain and the medallion drops, and the pirates lurch forward revealing that they really want the medallion and as such Elizabeth now has the upper hand in negotiations.
Ssiscool ★
I'm guessing Elizabeth wasn't fooled when the pirates showed disinterest in the medallion.
That's not called reverse psychology, which is used to encourage someone to change his or her mind. Doesn't work with a threat. They are feigning indifference to hide the importance of the object.
lionhead
They didn't want to give her an advantage over them. Pretending to not care about the coin would make Elizabeth think that the coin is worthless and cannot use it to barter a deal.