Continuity mistake: When Mad Dog is introduced, he delivers the line "Now Ricochet, he had his hands all over me girl!" In the first shot, he lifts both hands and points at Rick with both, but when it cuts, he's only pointing at him with his left hand, and then lifts his right hand up a second time.
Revealing mistake: When Rick catches himself in the neck with the fish-hook, if you look closely when Rick pulls on it, it's pretty obvious that it's a prosthetic. Not only is the skin around the hook a lighter shade than the rest of his neck, but the way it stretches and wrinkles is completely unrealistic, giving it away as a small sheet of latex.
Continuity mistake: When Yuan fights the Emperor, shortly after the Emperor realises she's mortal, she leaps towards him and twirls through the air. If you look close, her sword swaps hands between cuts when it connects with the Emperor's sword. First it's in her right hand, then her left hand, then it's back in her right hand. It looks like the left-hand shot was an alternate take of the shot right after, and they flipped it horizontally to create a "different camera angle" in editing, hence the hand-swap.
Continuity mistake: When Wilson meets Rick and Evie at the museum, pay attention when Rick delivers the line about giving them a heads up next time Wilson takes Alex on one of "his fieldtrips." In the first shot, Wilson's arms at down at his side. In the next shot, suddenly they are up and he's patting his chest while saying "Yes, of course." The shots are back-to-back, so there's no time for him to have lifted his arms between edits.
Continuity mistake: When Mad Dog is flying the O'Connell's and Lin in the plane, Mad Dog remarks that he can't guarantee they'll live, and it cuts to a close-up of Rick sarcastically saying "Great!" Watch Alex... he goes from facing his left to facing his right between edits.
Continuity mistake: When Lin is explaining what needs to happen at the club, pay attention when she says the lines "Once the diamond is placed at the top, it will point the way to Shangri-La. Yang still has the diamond..." There are a series of cuts throughout these lines, and Lin goes from facing forward towards Alex to facing sideways towards Rick between two of the edits.
Chosen answer: For one thing, just because two different years are shown does not mean that a full twelve months passed before they arrived in China. Also, travel to an undeveloped third-world country in the mid 20th century was not like it is today. There were no jet planes, much pre-planning and preparation would have to be done before departure, different modes of transportation would have to be arranged, and there would be many stops, delays, and transfers along the way. This could cumulatively take many months.
raywest ★