Did You Know?

In the first "RAF" F-16 scene, the tail number on the airframe in the background, WS690, was actually assigned to a Canberra B Mk 2 bomber in the late 40s/early 50s. Current UK Military serials begin with the letter "Z". Current tail numbers are painted in 12" high white characters on the rear fuselage, not the tail fin. The national markings are also incorrect, if the RAF had operated the F-16 the aircraft would have carried low visibility (pink and light blue) tactical roundels and tail cockades together with squadron markings on the fin and either side of the fuselage roundels.
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The scientist's mouth never opens when he orders to "open the launch tunnel".
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When Marty (Harvey Fierstein) honks his car horn while trying to escape, the "honk honk" does not match the image of his hand pressing the horn.
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When President Whitmore is being updated on the situation with the alien craft, which has broken off into "three dozen other pieces". After the Secretary of Defense asks "Where are they heading?" the man responds "They should be entering our atmosphere within the next 25 minutes," but his mouth is out of sync.
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When David shows up at his father's house before they leave NYC his father answers the door holding a shotgun. But when he points the shotgun at David it makes the sound of a pump action shotgun, while he is clearly holding a double-barreled non pumping shotgun.
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At the beginning of the battle over Area 51, President Whitmore fires his first missile, which is destroyed by the alien ships shield. As he begins to fire the second, his instrument panel shows he has fired one, and has three left. But when it cuts to the outside his fighter jet, all 4 missiles are still intact. Also the missile fired the second time, is in the spot where the first missile was fired from.
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General Grey refers to a single AWACS as an "AWAC". The "s" does not make it plural the s stands for System (Airborne Warning And Control System).
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When Marines Hiller & Wilder are getting ready to go up the first time, Hiller calls Wilder "soldier." Marines are not supposed to be called "soldier," especially by other Marines. Soldiers are Army.
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When Levinson mentions Area 51 aboard Air Force One, the president tells him that it does not exist, and is surprised when he is told that it does. In another scene, Hiller mentions the base to a mobile home driver who says that it isn't on the map. In reality, Area 51 is not a "secret" base and can be seen on maps and in public satellite images.
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Farmer Lucas complains to Miguel Casse that his crop is failing because Russell Casse has not dusted his crop. He has a handful of wilted vegetation to prove his case. Dusting is typically for pests, wilting vegetation is typically from lack of water so that would not be Russell Casse's fault for not dusting but rather Lucas' fault for not watering.
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When David and Marty are discussing David's discovery that the signal is a countdown to attack, a news reporter in the background states that ships "have just arrived over the capitals of India, England, and Germany." A few seconds later, the TV graphic David points out shows a ship over Bombay, erroneously referred to as India's capital (which is really New Delhi). Germany's capital is listed as Germany rather than Berlin.
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The address on the letter Steve receives from NASA reads "El Toro, CA 50055" The 50055 ZIP code is actually for Collins, Iowa. The appropriate ZIP Code for El Toro Base (prior to its closing in 1999) is 92609.
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The policeman on the horse turns it around twice.
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Levinson Sr.'s cigar during the chess game.
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The position of Abraham Lincoln's head on the table when President Whitmore is looking out the window of the Oval Office.
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The clouds in the sky disappear suddenly when Hiller is dragging the alien.
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The Commanding Officer of the Black Knight Squadron is shown wearing Lieutenant Colonel oak leaf clusters during the initial brief, later during the attack of the base he is wearing Captain's Bars.
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During the scene in Area 51 where Levinson argues with Connie, the shelves in the fridge door are empty at times, full at others.
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In the second sequence of the film, a man is sitting on a counter and continues a conversation on the phone. He is then off-screen for a second or two, and when he returns to view, he is suddenly off the phone and in a chair.
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The alien destroyer that hovers over New York City positions itself so that its center (which holds the city-destroying weapon) is fixed above the Empire State Building. However, in some wider shots of the city and the ship, you can clearly see that the center of the ship is not above the Empire State Building, as it's supposed to be.
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When we first see the giant dock at the core of the mothership it is surrounded by flying transport ships. A second later all the ships are gone.
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The height of the fireball changes between shots.
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During the L.A. office building explosion a car can be seen hitting a traffic light twice.
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Right before Hiller and Levinson take the alien ship to the mother ship, hugs are exchanged between Hiller and Jasmine. Her right arm is above Hiller's shoulder and alternates to around his waist in subsequent shots.
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During the scene before the US counter-attack, the planes on the ground are F-14's, with the wings swept all the way back. However, the planes taking off and in the air are F-18s, which do not utilize a swept wing design.
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The interior of Russell's F-18 cockpit is depicted in two separate fashions when seen from his point of view. At times, his HUD is decorated with a photo of his three children. At others, the HUD is seen accompanied by a matchbook.
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The roads are relatively empty in an overhead helicopter shot of downtown Los Angeles, showing no signs of the hectic bumper-to-bumper traffic indicated by the same roads when seen from street-level.
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When Julius and David pull up beside the White House gate, David places the device on the Plymouth's hood to triangulate Connie's position inside. The device's position on the car's hood differs between the close-up and wide shot - note the car door.
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When Jasmine sees the approaching fireball she grabs Dylan from the car and begins to run. In the shot from behind, there are double-yellow lines on the road at her feet reaching into the distance, but in the shot facing her the lines have vanished, though she did not change lanes.
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On earth, when Hiller tries to fly the alien fighter the first time, he pushes the stick forward and the ship flies backward into the back stop. This teaches him that pulling back on the stick moves the ship forward and pushing it forward moves the ship back. When the fighter is docked on the alien mother ship, Hiller pulls the stick back to back away from the dock. As he should have learned by now, he needed to move the stick forward to move the fighter backwards.
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Just after Hiller parachutes to safety, we can see he's landed not far from the edge of a crevice. But when walking towards the downed alien ship, in the background the crevice is gone. (Widescreen version)
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When Lt Col. Watson is giving Earth pilots the first pre-combat briefing he is wearing Lt Col. insignia. However, when the ground assault by Alien fighters begins, he is wearing Captain's insignia.
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When Levinson opens his laptop to watch the last few second count down, it can clearly be seen that clock goes down to about 1 second and 30 milliseconds, but during a close-up in the next shot, the time time has jumped up to over 2 seconds.
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Initially while at Area 51, the President is initially wearing a white shirt with blue stripes, spaced widely apart. As the Area 51 scenes unfold, he is subsequently in a gray shirt with closely-spaced stripes.
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In the beginning of the film a satellite goes to inspect the sound coming from the moon and the result is a fiery crash as the two connect. Later on in the movie any foreign object approaching an alien ship activates a green force-field. The satellite causes no green.
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In the scene where Hiller (Will Smith)is saying goodbye to his Wife in the front garden, there is strong sunlight behind her when we see her face. In the reverses (Hiller's face), there is no strong sunlight.
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Near the beginning, when Whitmore is in bed talking to his wife on the phone, he never indicates to her that he is handing the phone to their daughter, yet Mrs. Whitmore is fully aware that this exchange has happened, even though neither of the sentences "Mommy?" and "Here's your mother." are uttered near the phone's microphone. She even knows exactly when she can start talking, without her daughter greeting her.
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As the Alien Destroyer is approaching Area 51, the entire attack wing launch their missiles. There are multiple impacts in the area of the 'sail' at the front of the Destroyer. The scene then cuts to Area 51 staff getting people underground for safety. In the background the Destroyer can be seen in the distance. It is completely undamaged, despite the dogfight going on in front of it.
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When Levinson is kicking stuff around in Area 51, one of the trash cans is marked "ART DEPT" on the bottom. Area 51 would not seem to have an art dept. Suggestions that ART is a military acronym or abbreviation are amusing, but don't stand as mitigation.
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When David rings Connie for the second time when he's in D.C. as she walks towards the window, a man is clearly visible crawling along the ground (he is wearing a white t-shirt).
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At the Area 51 lab, when President Whitmore is down on the ground in pain, in the shot from inside the lab facing the lab's outer hall, the alien costume only reaches just above the crewmember's waist - the costume straps attached to his pants are visible, as well as his arm.
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Hands can twice be seen moving the tentacles of the alien in the Area 51 lab as it crossed right to left in front of the camera to attack a scientist trying to escape.
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The Empire State Building is incorrectly shown to be in line with the center of a main street.
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The US Bank Tower's position with the Mellon Bank and the Citigroup Center is incorrect.
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When Washington, D.C. is attacked, the space craft is positioned over the White House as it fires its destructive beam. During the following scenes of destruction, we see the explosion destroy the U.S. Capitol Building from the East Front. If the beam had been centered over the White House and spread outward, it would have hit the U.S. Capitol Building from the West Front first.
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MCAS El Toro is shown in the movie in the middle of the desert. MCAS El Toro, which has since been closed, was in Orange County, sandwiched between two very busy freeways (I5 and the 405) and surrounded by sprawling suburban cities of Irvine and Laguna Hills. Before it closed in 1999, it was possible to see F18s landing while driving down those freeways.
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In the opening shots, the Earth is shown in the background of the alien mother ship. The rotation of the Earth is plainly visible, at about 2 or 3 degrees per second, giving an Earth day of about 2 or 3 minutes.
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Air Force One takes off from Dulles Airport just as the blast wave hits the airport. Air Force One is actually stationed at Andrews AFB. Dulles is also 25 miles west of Washington DC, and it is impossible anyway for the blast to have reached that far that fast after detonation over the White House.
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When the ship floats over New York, it goes over the Empire State building, and the needle of the building is within yards from the ship. At that time, the World Trade Center was, in reality, much higher up, yet somehow the taller buildings are not damaged from colliding with the ship. Also to note in a later scene when they show the invasion ending at dawn, one of the towers is still standing and intact.
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When the ships enter Earth's atmosphere, one ship is seen entering above the Casse's trailer park in Southern California, even though the only ship in Southern California is the one headed towards Los Angeles. Furthermore, the very next shot is of the Los Angeles ship flying over its destination. There is no explanation as to what ship flew over the Casses; rather, the entire scene was likely meant for dramatic effect.
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The RAF do not operate F-16s and also the RAF's aircraft would not have the old style red white and blue roundel and symbols, they would instead have a smaller red and blue roundel and also appear in a desert camouflage.
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As the Alien Destroyers enter the Earth's atmosphere, one scene cuts to a surfaced submarine in the Persian Gulf. It identifies the submarine as an SSBN in the Persian Gulf. This is an indicator of a Ballistic Missile Submarine. 1) SSBN's do not cruise on the surface in hostile waters, they are only on the surface when entering, tied up or leaving a friendly base. They submerge and disappear. 2) SSBN's operate in the safety of the deep. The Persian Gulf is not deep enough for an SSBN to safely operate.
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Various mistakes regarding the correct time of day: The sun is rising in Washington DC after a scene in which it is shown rising in New Mexico. Then, it's said to be 2:45 a.m. in LA, which would make it 3:45 in NM, after the sun has risen there. Also, in the final celebration, it's broad daylight in Las Vegas, sunrise or sunset in Egypt, and at least partially light in Australia, all at the same time.
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The collar devices worn by the Commander of the USS Georgia are the size used on the Garrison Cap, not on the collar. Collar devices are much smaller.
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The United States flag placed on the moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin is no longer standing. It was knocked over by Armstrong's and Aldrin's take off in the Lunar Module. Furthermore, if the flag was still standing, it would be all-white and not depicting the red, white and blue colors, since there is no atmosphere on the Moon, the Sun would've easily burnt off the colors.
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When Russell is sitting in the fighter jet he pushes a button and you hear "missile launch." It is impossible to launch missiles while a fighter is on the ground due to the Weight On Wheels Interlock. It is possible to disable this function in some jets, but this is a highly unusual procedure, and the Marines/Navy would almost definitely not do this.
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About 5 minutes into the movie, an Air Force Master Sergeant is shown with 6 stripes all down. In 1991 the MSGT rank changed to 5 down, 1 up, and the old design had essentially been phased out by 1995.
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The F-18s in the film have no mirrors in the top arch of their canopies. Real F-18s have three mirrors.
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Major Mitchell is wearing the name tag which is worn on the Air Force short sleeve or long sleeve Blues shirt on his Dress Coat. This style name tag was worn on the Air Force's previous style Dress Coat, however, in 1996, no name tag was worn on the style of Dress Coat, which Major Mitchell is seen wearing.
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While being briefed about the nuclear weapon fitted onto the repaired alien spacecraft, Captain Hiller remarks that mechanism used to launch the device is "Just like the AMRAAM launch pad on a stealth". At the time the only known stealth aircraft in operation were the F-117A 'Nighthawk' Stealth Fighter (actually a light attack aircraft) and the B-2A 'Spirit' Stealth Bomber (a large strategic bomber). AMRAAM stands for 'Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile' and would never be outfitted on either the F-117 or the B-2 as neither aircraft was designed to carry air-to-air weapons or engage in aerial combat. Also, neither aircraft is equipped with the intercept radar that would normally be necessary to operate these missiles (such a radar would generate significant radar emissions and greatly diminish their stealthiness).
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While flying on Air Force One, a female Air Force Officer walks by the camera, she has the missiler functional badge on. First a missiler unless doing a special duty would never be on Air Force One, and secondly the Missile functional badge is worn on the pocket, NOT above the flap of the pocket like pilot wings and other functional badges.
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On a flash shot from the air down on the Washington Monument. On a sunny day just before the 4th of July, the ring of 50 American flags would have been raised at the monument. They are not there.
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The scene with the U.S.S. Georgia takes place in the Persian Gulf. The captain lifts a phone and says to "get Atlantic Command on the line." The Persian Gulf falls into the theater of Central Command, not the Atlantic.
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When the B2 launches the Nuke missile, it can be seen immediately banking left however, in the situation room where the radar is being monitored, you can see that on the screen it immediately banks right.
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When the mother ship flies over the moon, Earth is seen in the background and it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere: the South Pole in full daylight. Independence Day is set in July so the North Pole would be in full daylight.
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When the First Lady calls the President from Los Angeles at the beginning of the movie, she tells him it's 2:45 a.m., which would make it 5:45 a.m. in Washington, DC. When their daughter wakes up and turns on the TV, "The McLaughlin Group" is on. This show doesn't come on in the Washington, DC area until 11:00 a.m., and only on Sunday mornings - which also means they couldn't have seen "The Late Show with David Letterman" the night before (it's only on Monday-Friday nights).
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The Roswell Crash Wreckage was taken to Wright Patterson Airforce Base, not Area 51, however, as any military historian and possibly almost all the UFO people know, the debris' trail is lost after Wright Patterson. This is, in fact, the very reason Area 51 became a hotbed of UFO conspiracies, many conspiracy theorists stating that, since it was so secluded, it was the most likely place where it ended up.
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David's phone book program displays non-existent street addresses in Washington, D.C. (see trivia entry). This is within artistic license for a fanciful movie.
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Dr. Okun tells everyone that the aliens do not have vocal cords, yet the creatures seem to squeal and grunt during other parts of the film. However, these aliens are analogous to insects, which do not have vocal cords but have other noise-making organs.
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When Steve Hiller first meets the President at Area 51, they shake hands; Since Hiller is a Marine and uncovered he does not salute regardless of who he is meeting.
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The President mentions to his wife that she will be evacuated by helicopter from Los Angeles to Nellis AFB. There are at least two bases closer (March Air Reserve Base and Vandenburg AFB). As time was of the essence, why fly her somewhere farther away?
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During the alien bombing raid on El Toro Marine base, not a single jet is destroyed or even hit by alien fire.
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At SETI in New Mexico, after the guy discovers the alien signal, the woman at the keyboard is not typing anything; her fingers are just moving over the keys.
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When the ship is first seen lumbering above the White House, we see people (probably unaware that they're being filmed) not reacting at all to the ship. (This cannot be seen on the wide-screen version)
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The same group of pilots surrounding Russell in a 1971 photograph are later seen as another group of pilots, having not aged a bit in 25 years, entering Area 51 with the President during the film's finale (the same extras were used in both instances).
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As they run for their lives from the fiery destruction, a group of child extras can be seen laughing and smiling.
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Several of the shots of the underside of the spaceship arriving at Area 51 and about to deploy its main weapon are actually shots of the spaceship closing its main weapon and departing after destroying New York run in reverse. You can see the tops of the destroyed skyscrapers along the bottom of the screen.
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In the crash of Hillard's F/A-18, notice that the radome, canopy and cockpit are completely intact. Nice effect, but in reality, they would have been disintegrated since these components would have impacted first. Additionally, since he ejected, the canopy would not still be attached.
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During the initial attack, a man in the office is watching the blast wave approaching. His hair is blown by the wind - yet the windows are still intact and remain so until the blast wave arrives.
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Supposedly set in July, a weather map in the "USA Today" paper shows a mid-winter thermograph.
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At both El Toro and Area 51, the "Restricted Area" signs are placed on the inside of the fence, facing inwards into the base.
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As Air Force One is taking off from Washington, D.C., the runway marker lights are still functional, despite the control tower (and everything else behind Air Force One) being obliterated by the aliens' weapon.
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Jasmine's older-model television is not connected to a cable and has a VHF dial turned to channel 3, yet is somehow showing the "channel 51" news. A similar goof occurs later when the marines in the locker room watch the "channel 11" news on a similar TV.
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Hiller's uniform Epaulets edges are not tucked under the collar as Military 35/10 regulations require.
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The scenes when Jasmine leaves the tunnel after the first alien attack and the one where she helps saving people with the truck - which is supposedly happening in a different part of the city - were both shot at the same location, as is obvious from the derelict building with the distinct vertical structures that can be seen in the background of both scenes.
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Actors "marks" to stand on, are visible at these points through the movie: - A Secret Service agent, when President Whitmore is on the phone telling his wife he wants her to leave LA - Steven Hiller, about to leave for El Toro, walking up to his red car, where Dylan plays and Jasmine joins him - Jasmine at the club, walking to the mirror in the dressing room - Dr. Isaacs, behind Dr. Okun walking up to greet President Whitmore - Dr. Okun when he leads President Whitmore, General Grey, David, and others to see "the big tamale" - 3 people just before Dr. Okun unlocks the vault, and again right after he opens it and explains alien telepathy - Nimzicki, when the President walks up to "the big tamale" Dr. Okun rushes up the ramp to explain his excitement - General Grey, when the alien is terrorizing the President's mind - Julius and Connie, when David is talking about viruses and Major Mitchell first shoots at the Coke can (not in other shots in the same scene) - President Whitmore right before he angrily fires Nimzicki.
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In the scene where Levinson is briefing the president (and others) on the plan to plant the virus, he references satellite photos of the mother shop, however the photos on the board where he plants his hand are Polaroids. Even without this reference, instant pictures of the mother ship seem highly implausible.
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In numerous shots of the F-18's battling the alien ships, the aircraft are maneuvering yet the control surfaces do not move or move inappropriately.
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