Revealing: In the scene where Vivica Fox, her son and her dog are trying to escape by jumping out of a cab and running, she turns and looks toward the explosion. You can see that she is carrying a very big, very stuffed mannequin.

Revealing: When Will Smith and the other jets are flying into the ship and are firing their missiles there is a cloud in the background that doesn't move. You can tell it's a background set piece.

Continuity: When Steve is leaving to go to el Toro, Jasmine comes outside to talk to Steve. In the background there is a couple packing up. A lady comes out from the house with a suitcase, goes toward a car and a man goes toward the house, and they pass each other. The next time they show a close up of Jasmine, the couple are passing each other again, for a split second.

Continuity: When the alien aircraft at the beginning of the film first breach the skies over New York, when the camera cuts to peoples reactions, in all shots behind them the sky is filled with clouds, and when it cuts to the alien aircraft, the sky is blue.

Continuity: At the beginning of the film when we see Bill Pullman being briefed by his members of staff, if you notice, there is a man ( looks like a general ) with grey hair sitting on the edge of the couch, yet when the two army soldiers come in, if you look closely, the man on the couch is now in the middle, then the shot goes to a wider angle and he is back on the edge again.

Continuity: Close to the beginning of the film when we see Bill Pullman in the White House, someone turns on the tv, and if you notice in this shot, there is a chair next to the tv and an ornament, but when the camera angle cuts to an overhead shot, the chair has moved itself to a few feet away.

Continuity: In the middle of the film when we see the President inside the command station, just after they hit the alien aircraft with a nuclear weapon, he turns to his side and says " call the other planes back ", in the following shot he is completely facing the guy he's talking to.

Continuity: At the beginning of the film when we see the Casse kids in the caravan, one of them is messing with the tv, in one shot we can see his hand on the bottom knob, in the next shot its on the top knob.

Continuity: At the SETI institute, there is a black guy on the phone in many shots, yet in one particular shot he is on the phone, but two seconds later he has jumped into a seat next to the woman and is typing. That's some pretty fast moving.

Continuity: Given the direction that the spaceship is traveling as it passes over the Mall in Washington, D.C., the White House should be completely in shadow by the time the Capitol is covered. This is not the case. Also, the shadow should spread over the White House from the left to the right, but instead it goes from the front to the back.

Continuity: When Will Smith begins his attack with the rest of his crew from El Toro, when we see the room where the general and the President are, a man says "missiles have been fired", it shows on their screen a countdown of "metres to target". It does a countdown of 5000 to 4000 twice, and 4000 to 3000 twice. Also, when we next see the countdown before the missiles hit the shield, the last number is 49m, then the following shot of this number it says 107m.

Continuity: When we see the Casse kids watching TV and the guy drives up to the caravan, one of the eldest kids comes out. In this shot he leaves his hand on the door frame, in the following shot it's by his side, then back on the door frame.

Continuity: When Jeff Goldblum is outside of the White House and he calls Conny, she walks over to the window with her phone by her right ear, then she swaps it to her left when she's looking out the window, but in a shot of her looking out the window, it is back by her right ear.

Factual error: When the nuclear bomb is released in Houston, the shot shows an interstate sign with South Houston as the control city. The only interstate running south of Houston is I-45, and Galveston is the control city on all it's signs.

Continuity: In the scene close to the beginning of the film when Steven Hiller is talking to his friend in the locker room, the ring accidentally falls out the locker, and they both look behind them, yet in the following shot they are facing forwards.

Continuity: When the alien aircraft starts to cover all the cities and countries - the one that settles over New York, there is a taxi cab driver that stops to look, and in slo-mo the jeep behind actually hits it twice. Also, there is a big yellow bus in the background when we first see the taxi, but when the driver gets out the bus has vanished.

Continuity: In the scene with Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum in the cockpit of the alien ship, watch Will Smith's hand as he holds the cigar up. His fingers are together from one camera angle, but they are separated from another.

Other: In the scene when the alien spacecraft arrives at New York City, notice the shadow of the alien ship moving up the World Trade Center building, yet the sun is still shining on the water in front of the buildings.

Continuity: Close to the beginning of the film when we see the Casse kids leaving the trailer park, and the dad rushes up and says " you read my mind ", the shot of the caravan we can see a map or something, and in the following shot its vanished.

Continuity: In the middle of the film when the President is in area 51 looking at the alien aircraft, there is a shot from the back and you can see that the General is not standing really close to the doctor, in the following shot from the front he is standing side by side the doctor.