Independence Day

Released 1996
Stars Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, Randy Quaid
Directed by Roland Emmerich

To be fair, I never should have had to watch this piece of shit. One night my wife surprised me with a rental, and you should have seen my face when I found out it was Independence Day. She's always surprising me with sweet little things, and she thought she'd get this for me because it had explosions and action. I was dumbfounded. I thought maybe she had picked up a carton of cigarettes and a hand gun for me too. At any rate, we stuck this stinker in the VCR and were amazed by how horrible it was. I expected bad, but I didn't expect one of the worst movies ever made.

The only reason anyone would want to watch this P.O.S. is for the action, but there's less than a half-hour of action in its 2 1/2 hours. What's worse is the little bit of special effects they do have are lame, lame, lame. They look like Battlestar Galactica. Also, this movie is a perfect candidate for Mystery Science Theater 3000, because none of its science is correct, and it works harder than any other movie I've seen to represent every stereotype and minority group you can think of. It's the Politically Correct parade versus the B-movie aliens. I have to admit there was one part that I liked, though, and that was the aliens' computer system. For some reason aliens from some far off galaxy use Unix! Wow, I never woulda thunk it. --Bill Alward

Plot Summary: On July 2nd, communications systems worldwide are sent into chaos by a strange atmospheric interference. It is soon learned that a number of enormous objects are on a collision course with Earth. At first thought to be meteors, they are later revealed to be gigantic spacecraft, piloted by a mysterious alien species. On July 3rd, the aliens all but obliterate New York, Los Angeles, Washington, and the rest of the world's major cities. The survivors set out in convoys towards Area 51, where it is rumored the military has a captured alien spacecraft of their own. The survivors devise a plan to fight back against the enslaving aliens, and July 4th becomes the day humanity will fight for its freedom. July 4th is their Independence Day... --Gustaf Molin

Here are some goofs from the IMDB:

• Factual errors: Early in the film we learn that the alien mother ship has a mass one-quarter that of the Moon and has "settled into a stationary orbit." If this means a geostationary orbit, then the tidal force due to the mother ship would be over 180 times that of the Moon (since tides vary as m/r^3). Almost all coastal cities would see major changes in the sea level one way or the other, enough to command general attention even before the the city-sized spaceships took up their places.
• Factual errors: In the opening shots, the Earth is shown in the background of the alien mother ship. The rotation of the Earth is plainly visible, at about 2 or 3 degrees per second, giving an Earth day of about 2 or 3 minutes.
• Factual errors: The commemorative plaques left on the moon by the Apollo astronauts were attached to the front leg of the Lunar Module's Descent Stage; neither was placed on a pile of moon rocks.
• Factual errors: It is impossible for the moon and the earth to be illuminated simultaneously as shown in the opening scene.
• Errors in geography: The shadows cast by the alien ship over the various Washington DC locations indicate the ship is approaching from different directions.
• Factual errors: Major Mitchell and others wear new style Air Force uniforms with their nametags, a combination which is not permitted.
• Errors in geography: The Empire State Building is shown in line with the center of a main street. It isn't.
• Factual errors: The map of Russia shown in "Sky news" (in Russian), shows the city of St. Petersburg as Petrograd, a name used only from 1914 until 1924 (when it became Leningrad; the original name St. Petersburg was restored in 1991).
• Factual errors: On the map of Russia shown in "Sky news" (in Russian), the city Novosibirsk is spelled incorrectly (in Russian).
• Miscellaneous: The pieces on the chessboard are arranged in a completely unrealistic manner.
• Continuity: Supposedly set in July, a weather map in the "USA Today" paper shows a mid-winter thermograph.
• Factual errors: A firestorm of that size in a tunnel would consume all of the oxygen, asphyxiating any person not burnt to death.
• Continuity: The Stealth bomber after firing the nuclear missile at one of the alien ships banks to its left, but on the satellite map is seen to be turning to the right.
• Continuity: The title of the countdown clock window on Levinson's PowerBook changes from "Remain Time" to "Time Remaining."
• Continuity: The landscape supposedly surrounding El Toro shows a desert. El Toro Marine Base is located in a hilly section of Orange County.
• Factual errors: The collar devices worn by the Commander of the USS Georgia are the size used on the Garrison Cap, not on the collar. Collar Devices are much smaller.
• Factual errors: US Space Command is headquartered at NORAD, is an Air Force posting, and is run by the commander of NORAD.
• Factual errors: Live missiles are painted white, not black.
• Factual errors: There are no F-16s in the British RAF.
• Factual errors: Many pilots of supersonic aircraft are shown executing high-speed turns while not wearing flight suits. This would result in them blacking out and losing control.
• Continuity: The 30 second escape scene lasts nearly 90 seconds.
• Factual errors: The message purporting to be Morse code was gibberish. Additionally, the Morse code keys used to send the message were so far out of adjustment as to be nearly unusable.
• Errors in geography: When the Americans are sending Morse code, they send it to a location which is subtitled as the "Iraqi Desert," yet there are mountains visible in the background mountains. An earlier scene subtitled "Northern Desert, Iraq" also shows mountains. There are no mountain ranges near deserts in Iraq.
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Although it is extremely (!) unlikely that an entire alien invasion force utilizing unknown, advanced technology could be crippled by a hastily-written virus transferred from a laptop, it is not "strictly impossible." Levinson and Hiller managed to do this, so in the reality created by this film, it was "possible" and indeed did occur. Given the film's nature as an updated "War of the Worlds" (in which alien invaders were stopped only by a biological virus), the use of a computer virus to halt the invasion was perhaps mandated. Regardless, many viewers point out that this modern big-budget science fiction film handled such a critical plot element with much less care than it did other, less important technical issues.
• Factual errors: The plane the President flies in the assault on the alien craft is called Eagle 1. Any plane the president flies in is called Air Force One.
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Many incorrect details regarding military equipment, personnel, and bases were allegedly left in the film intentionally in order to prevent revealing sensitive information to the general public.
• Factual errors: Air Force One takes off from Dulles Airport just as the blast wave hits the airport. Air Force One is actually stationed at Andrews AFB.
• Continuity: The two helicopters would not have made it to Dulles in time for Air Force One to take off, based on the clock on Levinson's computer.
• Errors in geography: It would be highly unlikely Hiller's fighter made it from California to the Grand Canyon given how much gas was being burned based on his fuel display, especially since quite a bit of fuel was burned during the Battle of Los Angeles
• Errors in geography: Area 51 is shown to be located near Death Valley on a command center map. The director reported that he intentionally included this mistake in order to meet the government-imposed requirement that the film not reveal any real details or truths surrounding the base.
• Plot holes: The scene when Russell Casse flies into the beam to destroy the alien ship is in direct conflict to other scenes where when the beam shot out it immediately destroyed things
• Continuity: The President's plane has four missiles. It fires five, however: two to test the aliens' shields, one at the large spacecraft, one at an enemy fighter and one at the city buster laser.
• Crew or equipment visible: When Levinson is kicking stuff around in Area 51, one of the trash cans is marked "ART DEPT" on the bottom. Area 51 would not seem to have an art dept.
• Factual errors: The United States flag placed on the moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin is no longer standing. It was knocked over by Armstrong's and Aldrin's take off in the Lunar Module.
• Revealing mistakes: At SETI in New Mexico, after the guy discovers the alien signal, when everyone is crowded in the room. The woman at the keyboard is not typing anything, her fingers are just moving over the keys.
• Plot holes: If one alien pilot was able to use mind-control to incapacitate President Whitmore and to kill Dr. Okun, why wasn't the alien commander able to do the same to David Levinson and Steve Hiller when he discovered them in the small spacecraft?
• Anachronisms: Characters keep mentioning that the spaceship crashed in the 1950s and we recovered it 40 years ago. The alleged crash-landing of a UFO in Roswell, NM actually occurred in 1947 (though, of course, this could have been a second, more secret, crash, but that's not the implication).
• Plot holes: The Area 51 lab is protected by a door requiring coded entry, a thick steel vault also requiring coded entry, and is 24 floors beneath a mountain. However, no one thought to make the observation windows bullet-proof.
• Revealing mistakes: As Air Force One taxis down the runway, its front wheel briefly lifts above the surface and comes back down, revealing that the jet is actually a model being pulled by a string.
• Anachronisms: At the time of the film's release, the Marine Corps no longer operated out of El Toro and had moved their air wing to Miramar, CA.
• Crew or equipment visible: After the president's entourage fires at the alien through the glass, wires can be seen pulling the creature by its shoulders.
• Factual errors: Before takeoff, Capt. Hiller calls Jimmy "soldier," a reference to someone in the Army. Marines never use this term when addressing each other. Calling a Marine a soldier is considered insulting.
• Plot holes: When the First Lady is at the hotel and on her cell phone you can see bright sunlight pouring into the lobby through the windows. This would be impossible with the giant spaceship hovering above, blocking the sun.
• Factual errors: The military or government would not refer to the installation as Area 51. The original base was known as "Groom Lake Air Facility," before being taken over by the Department of Defense several years ago. The site, guarded by those in the Air Force on special duty, is actually top secret and is referred to by another name within the DoD. Our government would not call it by a secret name that the public already knew. On an old- fashioned military flight map, numbered grid squares were called "quadrants" or "areas" and Groom Lake was located within "Area 51," spawning its nickname.
• Factual errors: It is impossible for an F-18 to maneuver through the Grand Canyon, even when going at its minimum speed.
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The Marine General declines to blow up the mothership with a nuclear missile for fear of "turning one dangerous falling object into many." At the end of the film, this is exactly how the mothership is destroyed, and the film ends as the debris falls to Earth. However, at this point, the people in charge are safely under a mountain, and presumably are too happy to have destroyed the aliens to worry about a few common people getting beaned by space debris, even though the effects of so much mass falling would be catastrophic.
• Continuity: Various mistakes regarding the correct time of day: The sun is rising in Washington DC after a scene in which it is shown rising in New Mexico. Then, it's said to be 2:45 a.m. in LA, which would make it 3:45 in NM, after the sun has risen there. Also, in the final celebration, it's broad daylight in Las Vegas, sunrise or sunset in Egypt, and at least partially light in Australia, all at the same time.
• Miscellaneous: The Secretary of Defense (unheard and on the other line) is able to explain to the President that aliens are coming on a large mothership and other details in just three seconds over the phone.
• Revealing mistakes: When the ship is first seen lumbering above the White House, we see people (probably unaware that they're being filmed) not reacting at all to the ship. (This cannot be seen on the wide-screen version)
• Errors in geography: The unique bright white deserts shown just outside of Area 51 in the movie are in fact the Bonneville Salt Flats - which are in Utah, not Nevada, where Area 51 is supposed to be located in the film.
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Late in the movie the mother ship seems to be only a few hundred miles above ground; presumably the aliens had used the geostationary position only temporarily, before their attack. Also, such a descent would increase the already gigantic tidal forces by a further factor of perhaps 200, probably causing disastrous earthquakes. However, it could be that the particular places we see in the movie did not happen to the ones suffering these quakes, and by this time the invasion itself would be the only thing on anyone's mind anywhere else.