Continuity mistake: When their old associate is first giving Rick and Evie the Eye of Shangri-La, watch closely when Rick says "Just out of curiosity, what is the mission?" After he delivers this line, there's an edit, and his facial expression completely changes instantly between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Alex and Wilson are exploring the tomb, Alex tries to run back to their dead associates, and Wilson grabs him. Right as Wilson says his last "Alex!" pay attention. In the first shot, his hand is around Alex's neck, but in the second, it's suddenly not. Additionally, Alex goes from facing forward to facing Wilson instantly between the same edit.
Audio problem: When the Emperor is about to show Juan the execution of General Ming, there's a wide shot, and he says the line "Come, I want to show you something." If you look closely though, his mouth is closed the entire line.
Continuity mistake: During the prologue, when the Emperor tells Yuan to rise, he lifts his left hand in a friendly manner. It then cuts to a shot from behind, and his arm is instantly down at his side.
Audio problem: During the final scene, when Mad Dog says "Evening girls! You're looking well!" and "Ooo! It's a fine night to be me!" his mouth isn't moving. They almost get away with it because his face is partially obscured for the first line, but you can still see that he isn't actually speaking.
Revealing mistake: When the Emperor attacks the village in the beginning after the assassination attempt, watch closely. During the fourth shot, a soldier hits a villager over the head with something and there's an audible sound... but you can see plain as day that the soldier was nowhere close to actually hitting the villager. He stops a good 3-4" away from actually hitting his head.
Continuity mistake: When Rick is trying to stab the Emperor with the dagger, in most shots, he's only using his right hand. However, if you pay attention, it's clear a few times that he's also using his left hand. You never see him directly holding the dagger with both hands. But you can briefly see his left arm bent and reached over near his right in such a way that he's holding the dagger with both hands beneath frame in two shots. It seems they tried to cut around him using both hands for some reason.
Continuity mistake: When the armies are charging at each other at the start during the final battle, there's a weird error. In the very wide shots, it appears the terracotta army are marching at a deliberate pace in perfect formation, but when it cuts to any closer shots, they appear to be chaotically running with no formation. It's most noticeable after Rick says "Welcome to the 20th century!" and the army goes form marching in unison to chaotically running and back several times over the course of 30 seconds.
Continuity mistake: When Rick and Alex are going through the guns at the mountain temple, Alex grabs the first gun and puts it in his left hand. When it cuts to the next shot, suddenly he's holding it in his right hand. The cut is instant, so there's no time for it to have switched hands between edits.
Continuity mistake: When Alex, Rick and Evie arrive at the museum, Alex asks his mom if she'd want to stick around and help him open the Emperor's coffin. Pay attention to the strap on Evie's purse. It changes position on her arm repeatedly between shots. For example, in one shot it's right around her wrist next to her hand, but in the next shot, it's suddenly way down her arm next to her elbow. The strap changes position between cuts at least three times throughout the scene.
Continuity mistake: When the evil general is addressing his soldiers near the beginning, pay attention to his second-in-command. (The woman.) Repeatedly throughout the scene, the distance between her and the general seems to change instantly between edits. Sometimes she's practically right next to him, sometimes she's about 5 feet away, etc. She also instantly turns from facing forward at the soldiers to facing sideways at the general between edits at one point near the end of the scene.
Continuity mistake: During the museum scene, when the evil general says "Once this touches him, the emperor will rise!" Watch Rick. In the first shot, he is turning his whole body to look at the general, but when it cuts to the wide shot, suddenly his body is facing away and only his head is turned.
Deliberate mistake: When Alex and Lin are secretly watching Rick and Evie being forced to open the Emperor's coffin at the museum, they are speaking to each other at normal volume. However, given how close they are to the bad-guys, there's absolutely, positively no way they wouldn't be heard. (Obviously it was done this way so that the audience could hear their dialogue, but it's still a mistake).
Continuity mistake: During the final battle, when Rick delivers the line "I really hate mummies!" and Evie responds with "Seems the feeling's mutual!" pay attention. In the first shot, Evie is about five feet behind Rick and is facing away from him, but when it cuts, she's suddenly standing right next to him (literally shoulder-to-shoulder), and is facing the same direction as he is.
Deliberate mistake: There's a very strange editing error in the final fight between Rick and the Emperor. After the scene cuts to Alex waking up, it cuts back to the fight. The Emperor hits Rick with a right hook, and when the camera cuts to Rick reacting, his head understandably flops to the right. But then the Emperor hits Rick with another Right hook... and when the camera cuts to Rick's reaction, his head flops to the left, in complete defiance of physics.
Revealing mistake: When the evil general is kicked into the gears and crushed, the second camera angle gives away the fact that the gears are actually nowhere near touching at all, and thus, the general is not actually being crushed. Obviously they wouldn't actually be touching because they wouldn't want to hurt the actor... but they could have picked a better camera angle that didn't give it away.
Deliberate mistake: When the Dragon Emperor is controlling the elemental orbs in the final battle, Alex shoots them, surprising the Emperor, who turns and looks at him. Except if you pay attention, there's absolutely no way Alex would have been able to shoot the orbs from the angle he's at. He's standing directly behind the Emperor, so he would have had to have shot through him to hit the orbs. And you can see plain as day that the Emperor is not hit by any bullets. It's a cool visual, but it makes no sense.
Continuity mistake: This mistake is somewhat abstract and subtle, so it can be hard to catch. When the Yeti arrive, at a few random points throughout the scene, the "density" of the falling snow changes instantly between cuts. Ex. When Evie helps Lin execute a spin-kick, in one shot there's a ton of snow in the air, but after a quick cut, there's suddenly significantly less snow in the air. It's clear that the fake snow wasn't necessarily being dropped at a 100% consistent rate from take to take during filming.
Revealing mistake: When the Yeti arrive, the second soldier that is attacked is picked up and thrown into a doorway. When he lands, you can very briefly see the snow for a few feet on either side of him "pop up" in the wide shot, revealing he landed on a pad. The camera cuts to a different, closer angle after about 5 or 6 frames, so it can be hard to catch the first time, but if you know where to look, it's very obvious. (Slow motion can help, but is not required).
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.
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 ★