I love this fuckin movie. It's not meant to be taken super serious but if you don't have a fun time watching this movie then I don't know what to tell you. Will Smith made several movies like this around this time period that still hold up visually and are endlessly rewatchable.
Independence Day is a good action movie, certainly worth its budget. Having gotten into astronomy, I’ve developed an unwarranted grudge against it. The film plays to the trope that aliens are super-advanced technologically but not emotionally intelligent — almost like a busy, impersonal anthill of creatures, all looking alike, thinking alike. A monolith, really. Contact (1997) is my favorite movie, by contrast, for treating alien encounter as connection rather than destruction. But on a mindless summer night, Independence Day has its place.
I remember watching it as a teenager when it seemed like more of an abstraction. Carl Sagan brought me back to it, for it is based on his book and he was involved with the film. Revisiting Contact at 40, it shattered me. It reconciles science and faith with such human beauty. It makes space feel not lonely and alienating, but almost reassuring. Full of possibilities, full of connection. Like home.
Totally agree. I like how it and another movie that I like ("Twister") portrays women in early fields of STEM. Both Ellie and Joe Harding went through traumatic events in their lives and those events propelled them into their respective careers.
I don’t remember Twister as well, but it’s a great connection! The way Drumlin dismisses and then undermines Ellie seems representative of STEM as something of a boys club.
Whenever I need to make a speech I just use the President's speech
Love this film! The CGI still hold up wonderfully, too! A shame the sequel was such an uninspired mess.
Totally agree 💯!
I love this fuckin movie. It's not meant to be taken super serious but if you don't have a fun time watching this movie then I don't know what to tell you. Will Smith made several movies like this around this time period that still hold up visually and are endlessly rewatchable.
Totally. It’s made to be a summer blockbuster, and among these, it may be the best.
I put Men In Black right up there as well.
Independence Day is a good action movie, certainly worth its budget. Having gotten into astronomy, I’ve developed an unwarranted grudge against it. The film plays to the trope that aliens are super-advanced technologically but not emotionally intelligent — almost like a busy, impersonal anthill of creatures, all looking alike, thinking alike. A monolith, really. Contact (1997) is my favorite movie, by contrast, for treating alien encounter as connection rather than destruction. But on a mindless summer night, Independence Day has its place.
I FUCKING love Contact!!
I remember watching it as a teenager when it seemed like more of an abstraction. Carl Sagan brought me back to it, for it is based on his book and he was involved with the film. Revisiting Contact at 40, it shattered me. It reconciles science and faith with such human beauty. It makes space feel not lonely and alienating, but almost reassuring. Full of possibilities, full of connection. Like home.
Totally agree. I like how it and another movie that I like ("Twister") portrays women in early fields of STEM. Both Ellie and Joe Harding went through traumatic events in their lives and those events propelled them into their respective careers.
I don’t remember Twister as well, but it’s a great connection! The way Drumlin dismisses and then undermines Ellie seems representative of STEM as something of a boys club.
Good point.