Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Factual error: During Jack's sliding down the rope scene, it is very noticeable that each one of the English soldiers fire their weapons more than once, which is impossible for that time, knowing that repetition weapons weren't invented until the mid 1800s. (00:20:00)

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Suggested correction: The first repeating firearm was invented in 1718.

I think you are talking about the Puckle gun from 1718, which was a crewed gun, not a rifle. The earliest repeating rifle is from 1630, with more variants made till the era the movie takes place in (early 18th century). However, these had all what you call single-action triggers (manual repeating), meaning they need a large lever to reload after firing. The guns in the movie obviously don't have such a lever. What the poster probably meant by repetition weapons is double-action trigger rifles.

lionhead

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Suggested correction: Actually, the only chest in Raiders of the Lost Ark (the one that contains the Ark) is totally different from the Aztec chest.

Big Game

Plot hole: In the shot where two of the pirates find Jack Sparrow in the prison, you see the moon shine out over Port Royal and the pirate's hand around Jack's neck is skeletal. While this is happening we know that Elizabeth is being led onto the Black Pearl by two pirates. If the pirate in the prison turns skeletal, why don't the pirates with Elizabeth turn skeletal? It's clear that they don't as Elizabeth only discovers the curse later on aboard the Black Pearl.

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Suggested correction: This can be explained that on the route from Elizabeth's house to the ship there is a lot of fog, smoke from fires and gunpowder explosions, so the moon doesn't get through. The moon only get through once they are underway again and the fog is cleared. The prison is much further and higher than the town and so the moon does get through (only sometimes) there.

lionhead

You're very much mistaken. In later scene pirates turn skeletal when marching underwater, at the bottom of the ocean. Moon is easily able to get through water and this smoke isn't thick enough to block the moon.

How does water compare to fog? Of course the moonlight comes through the water, its transparent. Fog isn't transparent. You can go technical and question how much the moonlight is reflected away before the effect wears off, but obviously the effect wears off when there is no direct moonlight hitting them, as is the case with fog and smoke.

lionhead

Plot hole: Elizabeth goes to drop the medallion over the side of the Pearl. Barbossa and the crew gasp and take a step forward revealing they want/need the medallion thus giving Elizabeth the upper hand in the negotiations. Why not let the medallion drop into the water below the Pearl and simply "take a walk" to get the medallion off the ocean floor? The crew can walk under water as shown later in the film so this shouldn't be an issue. (00:38:15)

Ssiscool

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Suggested correction: Why not "simply take a walk" to retrieve that medallion? They have spent many years trying to find this bit of precious gold. If it's dropped, the underwater currents will most certainly carry it away, and if they walk underwater their feet will kick up the seabed making it even more difficult to locate. These cursed pirates have finally found their last missing piece, which would once and for all end their miserable curse, so they will not risk it being dropped into the sea.

Super Grover

How then, does it work with regard to what Pintel says in the Swan mansion, "The gold calls to us." Would they not be able to use this ability if the medallion is dropped overboard?

Ssiscool

Suggested correction: They only got startled from the idea, not realizing yet they could reclaim it easily, they are so close after all. Barbossa is not pleading to her, and they were hardly negotiating, Elizabeth was even only demanding they leave, nothing yet about the gold. All the scene does is give the dialogue needed for them to think her name is Turner, so they would keep her onboard and not just the gold. It's not an important part of the plot that they let her think she has the upper hand, if at all.

lionhead

Factual error: The scriptwriters revealed that they placed the story in a thirty-year environment set loosely between 1720 and 1750. Port Royal was destroyed by an earthquake on 7 June 1692, which had an accompanying tsunami. An initial attempt at rebuilding was again destroyed in 1703 by fire. Subsequent rebuilding was hampered by several hurricanes in the first half of the 18th century. I don't remember if the movie was set in a big, undestroyed Port Royal. However there was also set a huge fortress in Port Royal, which is definitely a factual error.

Goekhan

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Suggested correction: This is also not the real world. It's set in an alternate reality which doesn't have to exactly match our reality.

LorgSkyegon

Although the film series falls into the fantasy genre, it is set in a real period and place in history. Fictional events taking place in a historical setting is not the same as an "alternate reality." The anachronistic use of a real city as an important locale in the story is not artistic license, it is a historical error.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Either the first shot has a gratuitous view of the fort or the composite people neglected to add the fort in the second shot. Norrington says, "...this is the day that Capt. Jack Sparrow almost escaped. Take him away." The night shot that follows, shows the bridge archway, and beyond it the pier, Interceptor, the fort and its parapet. After Will breaks Jack out of prison, they approach the same archway and beyond it is the pier and Interceptor, but in this shot we don't see the fort and its parapet, nor the line that Jack slid down the day before. The camera angle is exactly the same. (00:27:15 - 00:44:30)

Super Grover

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Question: After Elizabeth is brought to the Pearl, she threatens to drop the medallion overboard. Barbossa feigns disinterest but when Elizabeth pretends to drop it, the pirates gasp in panic. Why? So she drops it, big deal. They can't drown, the gold "calls to them" so what does it matter if she were to drop it?

Jacordx

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.

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