Corrected entry: When Rico is whipped, the guy with the whip is shown about 15 feet in the background. The lashes leave huge 18-inch stripes on Rico's back, implying that the whip is about 17 feet long. But the maximum effective striking length of a whip is only 12 feet, at most.
Corrected entry: After Johnny kills lieutenant Rasczak by shooting him, his body suddenly disappears after the tanker bug reveals itself.
Correction: The body is there, right before the Tanker bug comes up you see his body lying there. Later you can't see it anymore as it's too low or has been dragged under the sand by the bugs.
Corrected entry: The Federation is in conflict with the Bugs and mention is made early on that they throw asteroids our way. Yet, an asteroid manages to "sneak up" on Buenos Aires. One would think that they would be on the look out for such things. We have even see them destroy one. Yet, B.A. gets zero warning. An asteroid could sneak through if it were accelerated to near light speed. But in that case an asteroid equivalent to the mass of the asteroids we are shown would pretty much vaporize the Earth. (E-MC2).
Correction: It's possible that the Bugs either got lucky or refined their targeting and managed to get an asteroid in close, or it's possible that the military let one through as a false flag operation to incite people (like Rico) to join the military.
Correction: Given that it would be impossible for it to actually have come from Klendathu, it's implied that the government did it themselves to gin up support for the war against the bugs.
Correction: The media coverage at the start of the film is from 1 year in the future, after the events of the film. Just as the scene in the school starts, "1 Year Earlier" is shown, so the asteroid that hits B.A is the first, that Earth was not prepared for.
Correction: Even assuming the measured distances are correct, the fact is, 20' whips are sold and are routinely shown to be effective.
Bishop73