Men in Black

Men in Black (1997)

72 mistakes - chronological order

(10 votes)

Continuity mistake: When the Mexican alien is running away, the whole scene is all wrong: He runs for a long time and passes by many bushes and cacti, but when K takes out his gun, the alien is just 10 meters away. Plus, from the POV angle, he passes by the cactus to the left of the guard twice. (00:06:50)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the beginning, when K shoots Mikey, one of the cops gets covered with blue slime all over his face and hat. Watch the right side of the hat: The length of the slime differs between the front and back shots. It's more seen when the scene is about to end and the slime starts to fall down in the front shot, but stays still in the back one. (00:07:25)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When K shows the neutralizer at the border patrol guys, he holds it parallel to his face, but in the close-up it's next to where his shoulder meets the arm. (00:07:50)

Sacha

Other mistake: At the very beginning, when K disintegrates the alien Mikey, an MIB cover-up team arrives on the scene and approaches K at a distance of about ten meters (roughly 30 feet) ; whereupon K instructs them: "Give me a splay burn around the perimeter with holes at forty, sixty and eighty meters from right here! Thank you!" The team members disperse a scant few steps and use their flamethrowers and extinguishers on the cacti and undergrowth in the immediate area for five seconds. However, the distances K describes (forty, sixty, and eighty meters) would require the team laboriously dispersing hundreds of feet into the desert. But five seconds later, they're still only about 30 feet away from K when he says, "That's good! Thank you!" (00:07:55)

Charles Austin Miller

Other mistake: The first time the neuraliser is used it shows hours, weeks and years. But at the end of the film the lead character tells J to remember that it's "days, months, years." (00:08:06 - 01:24:52)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Perhaps there are different models of neuralyzers.

I don't think arguing "perhaps such-and-such" is necessarily strong enough of a reason to correct a mistake. Nothing in the movie indicates they are different models, so it's probably best to assume they're the same.

TedStixon

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene in the beginning where Will Smith chases the alien who jumps off the bridge onto the street. Will Smith jumps from the bridge onto a tour bus, then jumps on the back of a newspaper delivery van. In the passenger side of the van is a cameraman with his back towards the windshield in order to film down the side of the van as Will Smith jumps off the van. (00:10:20)

william burke

Men in Black mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the truck gets smashed at the start, the tree beside the truck is well alight, but when the man comes out of the house, it is only a little alight. (00:12:40)

Ssiscool

Men in Black mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Beatrice turns the sugar bowl over to dump the sugar into the glass, a barcode label and handwritten prop inventory number with the name 'Sony' can be seen on the bottom of the bowl. The film was made at Sony Pictures Studios. (00:15:15)

Men in Black mistake picture Video

Continuity mistake: The Bug pulls his new "Edgar Suit" skin back tight over his face and the wife faints. In the wide shot, he is still holding it back, but the head is completely normal. (00:15:30)

Movie Nut

Continuity mistake: After Kay neuralizes Jay the first time, Jay 'wakes' up in a restaurant and Kay hands Jay a card. He tells him to report to that location. The address can be seen written on the back on the bottom edge of the card. Jay flips the card over to read the address and it's still on the bottom edge of the card. When flipped, the address should now be on the top edge of the card. (00:22:00)

ChiChi

Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the film when "Edgar" kills the exterminator, the exterminator's truck has a small almost unnoticeable plastic roach decoration on top. Yet during the rest of the movie the roach is huge and it sticks up away from the vehicle. (00:22:30 - 00:33:20)

Men in Black mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Will Smith and the other recruits are taking their written tests, the white table first appears to be situated between the second and third men from the left. When Smith goes to the table to pull it across the room, it is much further to the right of the scene. (00:24:25 - 00:26:35)

Continuity mistake: The MIB applicants are all sitting in the testing room and Zed talks about how they are all the best of the best of the best like, "Rangers, Navy SEALs, NYPD". The only sailor sitting in the room is not a SEAL, he's EOD. You can tell because he is not wearing the Special Warfare badge on his uniform, he's wearing the badge for Explosive Ordnance Disposal. (00:24:35 - 00:27:30)

Continuity mistake: Throughout the whole movie it is summer. Green trees with leaves, green grass, etc. After the scene where Will Smith is deciding to become a Man in Black (summer), there is a shot of the Bug Mobile driven by Edgar where it is obviously winter. A wide shot of Manhattan with steam coming out of the tops of some of the buildings, and some trees without leaves in the background (winter). Then in the next scene and those following it is back to summer. (00:31:20)

Audio problem: When Jay goes to join MIB, he greets the security guard with "'sup pops?" without moving his lips. (00:33:40)

Continuity mistake: When the jeweller leaves his shop, the shop window clearly shows the reflection of the parked exterminator's van. Then you see the van being driven up the cross-street as the jeweller leaves in the taxi. Then Edgar/bug parks the van, goes to the shop, and you can see the same reflection in the jewellery shop window. (00:38:35)

Continuity mistake: When J and K first get in the car (the Ford POS),the windows keep switching from up to down. Interior shots Will Smith's window is up, exterior shots his window is down. (00:40:30)

Beatrice: I'll tell you something right now; I know Edgar and that wasn't Edgar. It's like something was wearing Edgar like a suit. An Edgar suit.

More quotes from Men in Black

Trivia: After reading the script with his wife, Barry Sonnenfeld (the director) turned to his wife and said "Tommy Lee Jones". She turned to him and said "Will Smith", and that is how they were cast. This is confirmed by Barry Sonnenfeld on the DVD commentary.

THGhost

More trivia for Men in Black

Question: When I watched both films in succession, I noticed the same person played both the man on desk at the morgue and Newton, the video store owner in the second film. Is there a reason for him being in both films?

Answer: The person in question is actor/comedian David Cross. In the first MIB film, Cross is listed in the credits as "Morgue Attendant," and he ends up glued to the morgue ceiling, presumably killed by The Bug. If he had survived, the Men in Black would have certainly neuralized him, anyway, and he would have no memory of the alien encounter or the Men in Black. In MIB 2, David Cross is listed as "Newton" (the video store nerd) who apparently recognizes K, because K had asked Newton to reserve a videotape for him at some time in the past. K made this video request before he ever met J, and then K neuralized himself after leaving a trail of clues leading to the video store. Newton remembers K, so Newton hasn't been neuralized in years. Therefore, Newton in MIB2 cannot be the same character as the Morgue Attendant in MIB.

Jazetopher

Answer: David Cross plays Newton in both movies. In the first he is attacked by the Bug but survives and something went wrong with his neuralyzing as in the sequel he knows small things about the men in black like how they appear and he recognises the neuralyzer from his previous encounter with it, which isn't a coincidence. It appears J's neuralyzing of Newton did work and we don't see him in the 3rd movie (probably because he is in jail for the murder of his mother).

lionhead

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