Independence Day

Independence Day, 1996
Independence Day [Blu-ray]



I think the only reason I haven't seen this movie is because Men in Black, another alien movie with Will Smith, came out the next year. It's kind of funny to me that I've seen Men in Black maybe forty times, and I've never seen Independence Day. I'm sure they're two completely different movies, and the only common threads being aliens and Will Smith. I am actually pretty excited to be watching this movie on Independence day; but I am really bummed out that I wasn't able to make it to the free screening hosted by The Enzian.

After having watched the movie:
(Possible spoilers below)

I actually really liked this movie a lot. There were a lot of elements that I didn't expect the movie to have that made for a fun surprise like the cast. The best surprise when it came to the cast was seeing Dr. Malcolm from Jurassic Park! I'm sorry but Jeff Goldblum will just always be his character from Jurassic Park to me. I also really liked the small reunion from Mrs. Doubtfire with Harvey Fierstein and Lisa Jakub.

Perhaps my favorite part of the movie was watching Will Smith fly a military plane through the Grand Canyon while being chased at super high speeds by one of the alien species "attack ship." I don't think that's the name the writer or any creative minds had in mind, but I like it and it works. Although I will admit that I was a little nervous just thinking about how the slightest wrong move could potentially kill Will Smith's character, and/or the alien as well as completely smash into the canyon slightly changing the look of it. Most of my nervous energy was for the face of the canyon. It's hard for me to see imagines of the country in ruins, so watching New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. in their final states was a little upsetting to me. Even though I love watching the mini-series on Discovery, it's hard for me to watch Life After People.

Final thoughts: I liked the movie. I'm just not sure if it was a cheap shot or genius to write about aliens that come to destroy our country on America's Independence Day, when automatically a large percentage of the population remembers just how great it is to be an American.

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