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~It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine: III -- or How Roland Emmerich's Independence Day single-handedly saved the disaster movie~

Doomsday worst case scenario: Alien invasion force bent on our annihilation.

~

Roland Emmerich big career push came with a bold act of intellectual theft. 1994's Stargate might have cracked open the door and gotten his name out as a guy that could do big effects blockbusters but it was 1996's Independence Day that put him on the map as the master of the brainless popcorn blockbusters. In an age when the movie industry was steadily moving towards effects heavy projects that were more about the bottom line and the residuals tie-ins he was the right man at the right time. Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin claim that the idea for ID4 came to them while they were in Europe doing the promotion for Stargate. They reportedly holed themselves up in Mexico for a month hammering out a script and the rest as they say is history. Uh huh. How much peyote and bullshit does it take for two guys to rip off NBC's classic alien invasion miniseries V and call it their own?

~

To be fair, the only significant difference between V and ID4 was the budget and the amount of violence and destruction shown. Seriously, the only true shift was in scale and creativity. ID4 was bigger and the aliens meaner but the basic ideas and visuals were all there in one form or another in V. Famous landmarks got destroyed the world over as the giant saucers spread chaos for no discernable rhyme or reason. In true gung-ho silliness it's the American President that rallies the world on the 4th of July to driving back the evil aliens. This was retarded American jingoism on steroids posing as a badass sci-fi. It might have had great effects and made the career of many but as a film it is about as empty as it gets. Almost cartoonishly bad with dialogue and clichés pulled from the Hollywood's simpleton's box. It has aged badly and is only still considered a classic amongst republicans, rednecks and lovers of stuff blowing up. From this blockbuster onwards disaster movies return in full force.

Pedro Eggers

January 21, 2010

Fourth of July 4, Yo!

Independence Day has one of the best abbreviated titles in the history of cinema with "ID4", just in case you've forgotten that the fourth of July lands on some other date. It's just about as good as Leonard Part 6, but at least that had the benefit of being a joke. The best part of "ID4" is that it encapsulates the entire picture in just three little characters. Style over substance, hyperbole over reason, x-treme over anything resembling rational thought. The frightening thing is how well it works. Independence Day, sorry, ID4 is one of the most purely stoopid, brash, jingoistic pieces of celluloid garbage to ever grace the screen, yet, there's something to be said for such purity when it's thrown about with such abandon and without a whiff of irony. It's like looking into the mind of a madman.

Steven Wintle

{49 votes}

April 5, 2005

Independence Day Explodes with Action

This is one of my favourite films of all time. I enjoy almost any movie that has aliens and planes flying against one another and this is one of my favourites. The movie stars Will Smith as a pilot that has to go back to his base to fight against the aliens.

The movie has amazingly good special effects like the explosions and the destruction of the White House. The movie is a great action thriller with comedy that makes it so much better. I am always impressed by any movie with Will Smith and loved this one. He is one of the best actors who could have played the part. He plays it perfectly and I am hoping that he gets to be better and greater so movies with him will know his great talent.

Chet Soni

May 4, 2007

A Plain Old Fun Time for Americans and Canadians Alike

Ok, I am Canadian through and through, but I have to admit that I really truly enjoyed Independence Day starring Will Smith. It is so unbelievably entrenched with American patriotism, but I still thought that it was a great action flick. If I were to see it on television right now, I would probably watch it again, even though I have probably already seen it at least a handful of times. The movie revolves on the idea that the world is being invaded by alien life forms and we cannot defend ourselves. However, the Americans are able to rally a bunch of pilots who are able to find the weakness of the aliens and transmit this knowledge to the rest of the world. Tada, the world is saved. Seriously, it's a fun movie to watch. I would recommend it!

Reena Tabing

March 16, 2007

Awesome

Probably the best blockbuster of 1996. This is what I wanted to see in a movie (although a bit too much in the pro-American theme). An all star cast with the Aliens almost taking us over, but we come up with a plot to fight back and come up swinging! Excellent special effects. Pullen is a great President. Will Smith was believeable as a fighter Pilot. even the short cameo with Harry Connick was really good too. I'd rent it before those aliens come back in a sequel!

Ger Madden

{1 vote}

April 28, 2005

4th Of July Explodes in Fire Works

When this movie came out during the 4th of July festivities every person in North America bought a ticket to watch Independence Day. Independence Day stars Will Smith who is trying to save the world from Aliens who have just blown up the White House and who are up to no good. Independence Day is a very exciting movie to watch that has a lot of action that will wet your appetite. When Independence Day came out everybody from around the world was talking about how great this film was. Also check out the special effects that are top notch and nothing like you have ever seen before. This is an A quality movie and worth every penny.

Carmela Sicurella

{2 votes}

April 10, 2005

Exciting

Independance Day truly deserved to be hailed as one of the blockbusters of the

summer when it was released. It truly is an exciting film that keeps you on the

edge of your seat from the beginning to the end. It has an all-star cast, some

amazing effects, and some solid directing.

In this film, a large ship lands on top of New York City and everyone wonders what it is. Many people start going crazy and stand on a building making something fun out of the situation but Jeff Goldblum discovers that in a certain amount of time these aliens will

strike and destroy. Goldblum is right and as it reaches the end of the

countdown, the ship opens up and fires beams which literally destroy all of New

York City and Washington. Most people die from this as New York looks like hell

covered all in flames but there are a few survivors. Goldblum is brought to a

certain Area 51 where we discover that these aliens are at war with the humans

and it's up to Goldblum to discover a way to stop them.

This film is somewhat epic as it shows a war between the humans and these

aliens. It's visually stunning and it flows well. It truly is the typical summer

blockbuster as it's exciting from begining to end. A definity must-watch!

Patricia Stevenson

{1 vote}

April 10, 2005

ID4, The Americans had to win...

Independance day is pure American progandic trash. Yes the Special effects were good. Yes I like Will Smith. Yes I'd like the humans to win a war against the aliens considering I am one them (at least last time I checked). But the things that go wrong for a film such as this is the story. If this film had lots of fun characters (with the exception of the insane scientist Brent Spiner), and took itself not so seriously then maybe I would've enjoyed it. I would've shut off my brain and figure okay let's have the Americans save the world yet again. But nope, that didn't happen.

Yes America got destroyed but so did the rest of the world. Now According to this film it's the Americans who planned the world wide counterattack. In one scene when the British commanders was told the Americans were organising the retaliation the commander spouted, "It's about time." What as if the British are cowards in war and have no military experience?

Americans devised the way to defeat the aliens. Fine. That's acceptable. Except it was so inconceivable it made me laugh. .

A computer virus? obviously the aliens don't have Norton. And of course we can make a virus because we understand Alien Operating systems, programming languages and it's all compatible because we captured one ship that was off for the entire movie except when the aliens arrive. Wouldn't it be better to plug the ship full of a human disease or something like small pox? Like how the Americans killed the Indians? It worked once why not again?

I wish this movie was the perfect pop corn movie. I wish it was. I mean who doesn't like alien ships and stuff blowing up? But it all falls down as Americans are the best, Aliens are stupid, Viruses are the solution to everything.

Alexander Yu

{4 votes}

April 5, 2005

Let's not kid ourselves

When you rent or buy the DVD of blockbuster movie Independance Day, you do so because of its two primary qualities.

One, special effects. This movie is visually stunning, as it is a -now-classic mix of science-fiction and big budget action movies. In its category, one of the finest films ever done. The blow-up of the White House, those giant flying saucers, the final battle between good and evil, you name it.

Two, the comedy. Obviously, this movie was a good movie turned better by the humor that was put in this flick, and by the overall comedic talent of actors Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum. I must admit these two make one hell of a pair, and I hope I get the opportunity, one day, to see them work together again. Pretty funny stuff.

For the rest, expect nothing more than an american patriotic movie, made by americans who seem to have nothing better to do than to admire themselves in the own magnificence. If you can surpass this obstacle, you will find yourselves greatly entertained by this movie, already a classic in its genre and multi best-seller at that. Talk about the perfect popcorn movie. There you have it.

Sebastien Behnan

{7 votes}

February 5, 2005

Nothing surprising

Pure Hollywood factory line stuff. Nothing surprising. Good effects? So what!! They can do anything now - "Twister" is testament to that - so big special effects are losing their effectiveness. Good entertainment, but nothing more.

Jiang Hao

{2 votes}

April 5, 2005

A blockbuster of a film

This film is the one to watch if you like high explosive action movies. This film had everthing and the best part in the film was when they blew up the white house. Will Smith is great in this film who is fighting to save independence day and from the destruction of Americia. This film made a killing at the box office and for one thing why, this film was awesome.

Pete Amaro

{6 votes}

June 7, 2004

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