Corrected entry: After it comes to light that Laura's leg is in a bad state, Sam and friends decide to risk going outside to the ship to find some first aid. A First Aid cabinet is visible during the scene where the library vending machine is smashed. Fair enough Sam and friends may not be aware of this being there, but there are two members of library staff who should know about this. No attempt to bring this to Sam's attention is made while he is creating his snow shoes.
Corrected entry: They need to get on board the ship for medical supplies, but there is a medical supply box in the cafeteria when they break open the vending machines.
Corrected entry: After the people leave the library, you never see the French lady that Laura saved. Then, at the end, she is asleep on the couch when Jack comes into the room.
Correction: Putting aside that in movies unseen doesn't mean not present, she is seen multiple times: when they first walk into the fireplace room; in the scene where the other characters discuss the Gutenberg bible; sleeping with her son the night Sam suspects Laura has a fever; then the next morning when Laura is diagnosed with blood poisoning; she's also smack dab in front of the fireplace when Sam bursts into the room with the chairs to make snowshoes; and finally when they're throwing more books into the fire when the storm's eye hits.
Corrected entry: When the ship sails into New York city, it is stopped in a matter of feet when the wreck of the city bus is trapped underneath the bulb stern. A ship with that size and speed would have enough momentum to move the city bus much further. However, in that case it wouldn't conveniently stop outside the library.
Correction: If you look closely at the hull of the ship, you can see that it is actually dragging on the street below it. That is what stops it. Not the bus. Also, several overhead shots in the movie show that the ship has also slammed into the building across the street from the library.
Corrected entry: In the scene where the tidal wave goes through New York and the wave is shown crashing over the Statue of Liberty, the Statue of Liberty is facing towards New York - it should be facing the opposite way.
Corrected entry: In the airplane scene, as the flight attendant is sitting down, we can see there is no first class section on the plane. (00:17:25)
Correction: Not every plane has first class.
Corrected entry: I'm pretty sure that the dog in the film is called 'Boomer'. This must be an Emmerich trademark as the dog in 'Independence Day' was also called Boomer.
Correction: The dog is called Buddha.
Corrected entry: A tornado is shown tearing apart a skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles. Most modern day skyscrapers can actually withstand even the most powerful tornadoes.
Correction: The point of the film is that the weather is out of control. The tornadoes are more powerful than any previously recorded.
Corrected entry: In the very last shot of the movie we see the Atlantic Ocean from the Space station. There is no ice on the surface all the way up to Northern Europe and Greenland. If the air got as cold as shown and for that long, at least the surface would have frozen.
Correction: The planet flash froze yes, but it obviously warmed back up considerably since people were able to go outside without instantly freezing to death. The oceans are salt water which has a much lower freezing temperature than pure water. If the surface of the Atlantic froze at the first cold snap, it undoubtedly thawed back out when the temperature raised back into the survivable range.
Correction: Water in motion has a much lower freezing point than stagnant water.
Corrected entry: There's a scene when the storm starts freezing the buildings in New York and windows break from the extreme freezing temperature. Later in the end of the film, when the helicopters come to look for survivors, some land on the buildings with all the windows intact.
Correction: There's different types of glass; glazed, safety, tempered, laminated among others. All have different characteristics for shattering and can withstand different environmental conditions.
Corrected entry: While working in Antarctica, Dennis Quaid and the other scientists have nothing to cover their faces with. It is so cold in Antarctica that if this were to happen, their faces would literally freeze to death. Real scientists will wear two face coverings and goggles to protect them from the wind and cold.
Correction: The pictures and documenteries I've seen from Antarctica show the people living\working there with only the hooded hat from their coats on.
Corrected entry: There are over thirty public libraries in Manhattan. How does Jack know which one to go to? Before his son went under water, he only says he is in the public library.
Correction: There are many *branches* in Manhattan, yes, but THE New York Public Library - the central, first built, best known, *biggest* one - is by far the most obvious place to look, especially given that, as you said, Jack's son said he was in "THE public library." Anyone would presume "THE public library" meant 42nd & 5th.
Corrected entry: In the library just before Sam goes for the medicine he breaks up a wooden chair to make some snow shoes. In the following scene when entering the ship from the snow these shoes are nowhere to be seen. (01:32:55)
Correction: There is an obvious time lapse between them walking with the shows on and them entering the ship - wouldn't it make sense that they would take off the snow shoes before going into the ship?
Corrected entry: New York is flooded with a tidal wave, yet just several hundred miles down the coast, Washington DC, which is not much above sea level, is not flooded at all, as the president is still in his office just before the major snow storm. A major tidal change of that size would equalize: water would flow to lower levels near DC.
Correction: There is a large chunk of Maryland and the entire state of Delaware located to the east of D.C. If a tidal wave came ashore, this land mass probably absorbed most of it. The narrow Chesapeake Bay may have flooded part of D.C., but not enough to do any real damage.
Corrected entry: The cell phone of the Japanese man knocked down during the hail storm reads Rogers at the bottom, which is a cell phone service provider in Canada, not Japan. That's some impressive coverage. (00:12:00)
Correction: The phone has the Rogers AT&T logo on it. This in itself is not a mistake because phones from Japan can be used in North America and vice versa. Only the SIM needs to be swapped out as cell phones are designed to run on multiple frequency and networks worldwide.
Corrected entry: Even though many buildings and even the American flag freeze completely solid in some scenes, this fails to happen to any of the main characters, despite the fact that some sleep outside in tents during a snowstorm without a jacket or hat.
Correction: Well, A) the people are moving with jackets and gear to keep warm. B) Things freeze when the super-cooled air comes down and the main characters were inside then.
Correction: During the big freeze, the main characters in the library kept the fire going and huddled in the general area of the fire to stay warm. Jack and Jason slept inside the Wendy's with the tent set up and the fires burning on the grill. It was only in the eye of the storm that they froze completely solid.
Corrected entry: The US Army loaned several UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters for the rescue scene at the end, prompting the Canadian authorities to reassure the people of Montreal that they weren't being invaded by America.
Correction: I live in Montreal and that never happened. We have a military base and a helicopter plant here and we constantly see military helicopters overhead.
Corrected entry: If New York City has lost power, the cell phone towers are inoperable. Therefore, cell phones will not work. This very problem happens all over the country when there is a power failure. There is not always another tower close enough to pick up your signal.
Correction: Most if not all cell phone towers have emergency generators. While they would not provide power indefinitely, depending on their fuel, they could keep the tower operational for anywhere from a couple of hours to a few days.
Corrected entry: When the helicopters land in Manhattan in the end, there should have been lots of snow flying around since it had been snowing for that last two days after the eye passed. (01:53:45)
Correction: The snow was frozen solid from the fast freeze.
Corrected entry: When the helicopters are flying over Scotland and through the eye of the storm, the temperature is cold enough to freeze fuel in the pipes and tanks. Yet the pilot takes a good five seconds to open the window, and then freezes. Logically, anything cold enough to freeze fuel should not have given him that long. Fuel has a much lower freezing point than the human body. Plus, fuel pipes, even though metal, are usually in an area hotter than the cabin, since the engines are running there, generating heat. Even with the added padding of a coat, a body just could NOT have taken longer than fuel to freeze. The pilot should not even have had time to reach for the window before freezing, let alone to open it and then wait a good five seconds to do so.
Correction: The fuel in the tanks did not freeze instantly. It took the entire length of the scene. Remember, they began having problem (presumably when the fuel began to crystalize) and continued to fly for several seconds before the engines stopped.
Correction: Character mistake not movie mistake. Moreover, they needed penicillin which is a controlled antibiotic. Not found in generic first aid kits.
William Bergquist