Independence Day

Other mistake: When Connie is waiting for the President the first morning she is reading USA Today. On the back there is a weather map and it is blue and green, the colours for cold in USA Today. It was a hot July day! (00:06:15)

Other mistake: When they're shooting the nuclear-bomb at the space craft for the first time (when it fails due to the shield on the alien space craft), you see that the airplane shooting the missile is breaking off to the left just after it's fired the missile. On the radar a few seconds later you see the airplane breaking off to the right. As if the radar displayed a mirrored view.

W8_4Sleep

Other mistake: In the scene immediately after Jasmine, her son, and their dog escape the fireball in the utility closet, they emerge from the wreckage to find everything destroyed. But in the background there are two palm trees still standing, with leaves and branches still intact. Isn't it logical that a huge fireball such as that would at the very least burn the leaves off the tree?

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

Other mistake: When the President and the others arrive at Area 51, the sliding glass door to the laboratory that the staff member opens with his key and numerical key code opens before he finishes entering the code.

Other mistake: At the end, when Steven and David's ship is released from the clamp in the mothership and are leaving, Steven never puts on his seat belt. Surely from all the twists and turns, not to mention the little nuclear explosion, he would have been tossed around just a little. (02:10:30)

Other mistake: When we see the Russian picture of the map where the UFOs are going in their country, the Cyrillic for Petrograd is incorrect as there is a Western lower case "r" in the city's name. The small "r" is close in appearance to the Cyrillic "g" which has a straight line (east to west)at the top of the letter instead of the curved line that we associate with our lower case "r".

Other mistake: When the US Military is deploying a nuclear bomb against the alien attacker over Houston, you see them fire the nuke and then the B-2 breaks left, but on the screen you can see the B-2 breaking right.

Other mistake: When Jasmine is trying to kick open the door in the tunnel, the second 'N' in maintenance is backwards.

Other mistake: When David asks Major Mitchell if he can shoot the soda can, Major Mitchell has to ask a nearby sergeant for his sidearm, despite already having one on him when he shot the alien earlier.

jbrbbt

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

Suggested correction: He probably shot his own gun empty or nearly empty, so he removed the magazine. They fired at least 10 shots at the alien, and he planted another 3 in it up close.

lionhead

Independence Day mistake picture

Continuity mistake: David calls Connie at the White House and she walks toward the divided pane windows, then pulls one curtain to the side. In the exterior shot facing her, the pane's white grille is between the two sides of the curtain, but in the next interior shot looking out, there's only clear glass, though we should see the grille, just as we see both sides of the curtain with her hand holding the right side. Then, in the next exterior shot facing her, it's back to the original with the visible white grille. (00:38:25)

Super Grover

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Trivia: According to the Director's commentary, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation did not want the film to be released under the title "Independence Day" to avoid legal complications (specifics weren't disclosed as to what the problems might be, but it's also why the abbreviation "ID4" was used). Roland Emmerich (director/writer) and Dean Devlin (writer) needed to justify the title, so they added the rousing bit right at the end of President Whitmore's speech at the hangar when he ends with, "The 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday...today we celebrate our Independence Day!"

Super Grover

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Question: It's been shown in the film the the aliens are technologically more advanced than us. Then, how come, with all their technology, they were unable to defend themselves from something as simple as a computer virus?

Socks1000

Answer: Remember that the aliens had to interface with our satellite computer code first...David simply "reverse engineered" the code to create the virus. When it was uploaded, they didn't have enough time to combat it.

Answer: It was also a bit of a tribute to "War of the Worlds", in which the alien invaders with much more advanced technology ultimately succumbed to ordinary terrestrial pathogens in the original novel by H. G. Wells as well as its many screen adaptations.

zendaddy621

Chosen answer: Its supposed to be an exercise in demonstrating how the aliens underestimated their opponent, but in reality it's merely a convenient plot device.

GalahadFairlight

Answer: I was wondering the same thing. Since the Harvesters had our satellites meant they could eavesdrop on every single conversation. David and other people in the facility probably put up a firewall on the computers and cameras, so that the aliens couldn't see or hear what they were planning on doing.

Answer: Maybe there were no viruses in the planet where these aliens came from so they didn't have any countermeasures against them.

Answer: They could defend against it, hence why they bring the nuke. The virus drops the shields, and the nuke destroys The Mother Ship. David even says that the shields will be down for a few minutes.

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