20 Movies So Good You Ignore Huge Plot Holes

13. Independence Day - The Computer Virus

Independence Day is the Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster done right. While corny and somewhat thin in terms of its plot, Independence Day is also a deceptively intelligent movie that mixes its amazing special effects with a well-drawn cast of characters and a thrilling, suspenseful, and, at times, scary story of humanity triumphing against the worst odds imaginable.

In other words, it's not as silly as you might remember, although there is one cold, hard truth that remains: the way they defeat the aliens is preposterous. Scientist David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) plans to infect the alien mothership with a computer virus in order to weaken its defences, and somehow this plan actually works.

A human-engineered computer virus would hardly make a dent in alien hardware, and also, how did they even upload it? It's not like the mothership would've had a USB port. 

Then again, when you've got all those insane city destruction set-pieces, sky-high stakes, Will Smith being a charisma king, Jeff Goldblum being the coolest scientist around, and Bill Pullman playing one of cinema's best US Presidents and beautifully delivering the mother of all patriotic, "Go get 'em" speeches, mundanities such as the mechanics of computer viruses quickly seem irrelevant.