Character mistake: Fitch, who professes qualifications in biology, genetics and biochemistry, says that they made Sil female because she's a natural predator and so she'd be more docile. In almost every species of predator on earth the females are the hunters, aggressors and killers. The males may be socially dominant but they are the 'docile' ones. There are exceptions but Fitch speaks as if female and docile are the same thing - and they definitely are not.
Suggested correction: This entry is so wrong, I don't quite know where to begin. The idea that all species, without exception, have the females as the aggressors and the males as docile is absolutely one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read. It is not backed up by fact in the slightest. They also did use human DNA; they added the sample of alien DNA to it to create Sil.
The posting states that there are exceptions to the rule and specifically states "almost every species." The mistake is not that a female must be "docile". It is that a scientist professing qualifications in biology, genetics, and biochemistry would make such a stupid statement, believing it to be invariably true.
Suggested correction: They never said Sil was a natural predator when they created her. She was half human and half alien and it was their belief that human females are more docile (i.e. more motherly, more gentle, more empathetic, and less aggressive than human males). Although the reply to "more docile and controllable" was "you guys don't get out much", meaning that girls aren't that docile and controllable.
Revealing mistake: When Sil fakes her death, the breaker box explodes before the car hits it.
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where she drives the car (with the kidnapped woman in it) down the hill towards the breaker/electrical box, when she hops out at the very last second you can clearly see a person dressed all in black sitting in the driver's seat driving the car down the hill.
Visible crew/equipment: When Robbie takes Sil home, a reflection of a boom mic can be seen on the glass door behind him.
Visible crew/equipment: When the alien is driving off with the guy from the club in his BMW, you can see the entire crew reflected in the passenger side door as it drives by.
Other mistake: In the beginning of the film when you're introduced to the younger, humanoid Sil in the laboratory, an extreme close-up of her eyes and face clearly reveals the young actor's contact lenses.
Factual error: At the end when the oil in the cavern is burning there is no sign of smoke. With a fire as large as it appears to be, everyone in there should be choking to death, yet they don't even seem the least bit bothered. Forest Whitaker should have also been roasting over the flames, yet he is unscathed.
Other mistake: When Sil jumps through the hotel room wall, Pres fires two shots from his Glock and then gets in the elevator. In the elevator he drops the magazine and his Glock has the slide locked back showing the magazine is empty. The man is an acknowledged expert in special ops (Indeed, the fact that he changes magazines in the elevator demonstrates his preparedness. He wants to face Sil with every bullet he can, he doesn't want to be even two short.) He is going up against an extremely dangerous extraterrestrial life form that has already killed several people. There is absolutely no way he would be carrying a weapon that was not fully loaded.
Revealing mistake: When the team is at the motel and seeing the tape of Sil on it, when the motel clerk tells them where she went, Michael Madsen can be seen smirking, obviously breaking character.
Other mistake: At the end, during the final showdown, Laura falls into the oil and it is deep enough for her to need to swim in it, but she is completely clean afterwards. Even her jeans are spotless in the next scene when they reenter the sewers and the camera is zoomed out, showing her legs.
Factual error: When Sil grabs Dan's ankle whilst he is hanging over the oil pit, she climbs completely out of the oil, she should be entirely aflame at this point as she is coated in oil and had to pull herself through the burning surface. Dan's leg would also catch fire from this and should be severely burned, not to mention the fact that he was just hanging over a fire.
Continuity mistake: The BMW that Sil takes after killing the guy she picks up at the club is damaged on the driver front fender when we see her wake up in it at the beach parking lot. However prior to that the car is undamaged when they leave the club and when it turns into the driveway. We never see how the car became damaged. (00:41:00 - 00:48:00)
Suggested correction: She was shown to be watching him in order to learn to drive, it can be assumed that she just scraped the car trying to drive.
Character mistake: Xavier is exiting an elevator and turning down a corridor to meet the other agents before bursting in on Sil and the murdered Alfred. When Sil flees it is revealed she murdered the maid to gain access to Alfred's room. To everyone's surprise the maids' dead body is positioned right outside the elevator. Surely Xavier would have seen the dead maid when he came up?
Other mistake: It's impossible for Sil to wear the conductor's clothes. She's tall and slim around maybe 5'9" while the conductor looks to be 5'5"or so and a little chubby.
Suggested correction: It's not "impossible" in the slightest. Both women were roughly the same height. Natasha Henstridge is about 5'10" and Esther Williams was usually listed around 5'9" or 5'10" before she passed away. And the weight difference also makes sense, as the clothes look baggy and ill-fitting on Sil. (Ex. The jacket is very loose and hanging around her shoulders and arms, and the shirt isn't nearly as form-fitting as it was on the conductor.) It's pretty much perfectly portrayed in the film.
