Independence Day is Really Kinda the Best Movie Ever

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It's a fun action/sci fi movie, sometimes it's fun to just turn your brain off and enjoy. I liked it a lot, and whenever it's on TV I watch it.
 
Chichikov said:
I can accept giant alien ships blasting earth with lasers, I can accept Jeff Goldblum hacking their mothership with his apple laptop, I can even accept Will Smith flying a UFO once he figure out that he need to inverse the Y axis.
But Bill Poulman as the president?
That's pushing it.

seriously though, it's a horrible film.


I'm not sure what's bro out means, but I'm pretty sure I didn't do it before, after or during that speech.
Maybe you need to REALLY be into bastardizing Dylan Thomas to enjoy it.
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Chichikov hates on cheesy, campy blockbuster, news at 11.
 
I was so incredibly hyped for this movie when it first came out in theaters. I was literally shivering with excitement. Afterwards it was pretty good but Jurassic Park lived up to the "summer movie event" hype moreso.

Ah to be 13 again :(
 
Laughing Banana said:
Too "American" for my taste.

And too many LOL moments such as the computer virus, the completely unimaginative alien design, the slow mo dog escape scene (thousands of people die but awwwwww for a dog we will use a slow mo shot! awwww).

It is really a movie of LOLs.
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Probly my favorite movie. Yeah its cheesy as hell now, but at its release it was unbelievably awesome. I still watch it once or twice a year.
 
I love ID4, Most of the model stuff still holds up, and it still is entertaining. (The LA destruction isn't that good however).
 
You know, they actually attempted to explain the computer virus part. It's in a deleted scene.

http://www.cracked.com/article_18720_7-famous-movie-flaws-that-were-explained-in-deleted-scenes.html

But in the seven minutes of cut scenes included in the extended release Independence Day DVD, Goldblum is actually shown tinkering with his PowerBook inside the recovered craft from the Roswell crash site, mumbling something about how the spaceship was running off the same programming language he was able to decipher before (when he first uncovered their invasion plans and all that).

So, he presumably worked from there and was able to code some disruptive program and translate it into their language or whatever. It's still flimsy as hell, but it at least proves the filmmakers were aware of and willing to address the problem, thus defusing a decade and a half of pent-up nerd-rage.
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Boogie said:
Chichikov hates on cheesy, campy blockbuster, news at 11.
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Independence Day is campy now?

Also, do I need to post the list of dumb action movies I love again?
I know you've seen it before.

p.s.
Fuck me, it's so easy to be a movie snob these days.
Back in the days, you had to suffer through black and white Swedish family drama and talk about framing, scene construction and script cadence.
Now, all you need to do is not like Roland Emmerich.

Laughing Banana said:
Too "American" for my taste.

And too many LOL moments such as the computer virus, the completely unimaginative alien design, the slow mo dog escape scene (thousands of people die but awwwwww for a dog we will use a slow mo shot! awwww).

It is really a movie of LOLs.
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It's hyper American.
As it's often the case when foreign filmmakers try to appeal to American taste and sensibilities.
See also: The Patriot.
Actually scratch that.
Don't see also.

p.s.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, it can provide fresh perspective, and if the director is talented he can work it for his advantage.
 
Joe Shlabotnik said:
That's like saying you like chocolate except for the cocoa flavor. The movie is called Independence Day. If it wasn't absurdly jingoistic I would have asked for my money back.
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Huh, why the fuck hadn't that even occured to me before?

Still, I watched it with "alien invasion" in mind.
 
Clydefrog said:
If you watch Independence Day backwards, it’s about a fighter pilot who helps aliens put the world back together and then becomes president.
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This is the most brilliant comment I've seen on Gaf in a long time. THANK YOU.
 
icarus-daedelus said:
Why would you kid? Starship Troopers is Really Kinda the Best Movie Ever.
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Internet high-five!

icarus-daedelus said:
Or at the very least better than ID4 (god I hate that acronym) in just about every conceivable way.
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Don't back-paddle.
Starship Troopers is a straight up bona fide awesome film.
 
Starship Trooper is the best movie evar.

"Do you want to know more?"

edit: Okay glad to see everybody is agreed with me. I say we should start a campaign to vote it into the top 10 movies of all time in IMDB.
 
If you remove the thin layer of horrific violence you realize that Starship Troopers is one of the greatest allegorical movies out there. Most of the allusions flew over my head until the ending when
the guy from "How I met your mother" listens to the brain alien and says, "It's afraid." and everyone starts cheering. You shouldn't cheer over that!
I realized after I saw that that all those little scenes in the movie was just screaming at me "war has no good or bad side." I've seen Independence Day as well and I didn't really like it that much. It looks too much like a junk movie.
 
icarus-daedelus said:
Can someone explain why Independence Day is shortened to fucking ID4, though? Idiotic marketing thing? It's mystifying.
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If I recall correctly, its website was id4.com (don't ask me why I remember this, but I also remember how the site looked).
Not sure who's the chicken and who's the egg though.
 
Independence Day has a special place in my heart. I will never say no to watching it. It's just one of those good time movies that I grew up with.

Never change, ID4, never change.
 
Chichikov said:
It's hyper American.
As it's often the case when foreign filmmakers try to appeal to American taste and sensibilities.
See also: The Patriot.
Actually scratch that.
Don't see also.

p.s.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, it can provide fresh perspective, and if the director is talented he can work it for his advantage.
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Yea but it just comes off as the director trying way too hard. Its even got some Judaism undertone in it too, which I'm guessing its cause the director is German.

It's a fun movie though but I hate when some things feel so forced in movies. Basically all of Roland's movies have the same style to them. Guess he thinks that's the only way he can still make movies.
 
I don't think I've seen it since it was in theaters, but I was at Target earlier and they had it on DVD for $4.75 so I thought, "Eh, fuck it." Curious that this thread popped up! Gonna watch it when I get home tonight.

Also, somehow I completely forgot Will Smith was in it. Literally the only thing I remember is the alien talking through one of the scientists, and blowing up the White House.
 
Alfarif said:
Who else really loves this flick?
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Here. I love a lot of 90´s movies. Movies back then give off a feeling as if the film makers had a lot more fun. No pretentious pseudo-philosophical elements, at least not as the heart of the whole movie.

Independence Day really is a perfect example for movies of its era. Aliens attack earth, lots of destruction, cool characters try to come up with a plan, the President himself does a kick-ass speech and Will Smith punches a creepy alien unconscious. Silly parts, when you think about it? Sure. But that hardly matters of what you´re watching is just so enjoyable.
 
Clearly crap and clearly good at the same time. I don't mind it for some cheesy fun, but I can't take any of it at all seriously.
 
Chichikov said:
Fuck me, it's so easy to be a movie snob these days.
Back in the days, you had to suffer through black and white Swedish family drama and talk about framing, scene construction and script cadence.
Now, all you need to do is not like Roland Emmerich.
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I just wanted to say that if we had signatures, and I was forced at gunpoint to use them myself, this would be mine.

As for the movie, I really think 9 was the perfect age to catch this in theaters. Even the very next year, I had trouble watching it on DVD.
 
I thought District 9 was a good "documentary" alien invasion film as someone else said.

Battlefield: LA was actually a nice action-invasion movie that wasn't silly or comedic.
 
black_13 said:
Yea but it just comes off as the director trying way too hard.
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Trying way too hard is a Roland Emmerich's signature style.

icarus-daedelus said:
Would you like to know more?
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It's also amazingly profetic.
It's hard to imagine sometimes this movie was made before 9/11.

Sure, they got "lucky" on some things, they were going for pearl harbor (well, most likely the idiot writer did, but I can't remember much of that shit book other that even the plot was nothing like the film) and they got some world trade center vibes out of it.

But the depiction of the politics, and especially the media is downright uncanny at times.
Embedded journalism anyone?
Again, this was 1997.
 
Poimandres said:
Excellent username, but the South Park reference is over my head.

Really though, it's possible to strike a good balance between crowd pleasing action and convincing drama. Jurassic Park, Terminator 2... these are superior 90's blockbusters. Independence Day was lame.
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Its the most recent episode. Basically Stan turns very cynical, can't find enjoyment out of anything, and sees everything as shit.

I was just giving you a light-hearted jab because clearly you were a more jaded 11-year-old than I was. The movie blew me away when I saw it in theaters (Its obviously really cheesy now).
 
I like the part where they take a Mac up to the space ship, connect to their wifi and upload a virus that destroys the fleet's defenses. In a movie full of aliens, space ships and exploding monuments, that was probably the hardest to buy into for me.
 
Plinko said:
I may get to do the graduation speech at the school I teach at next year. I vowed to my students that whenever I did the graduation speech I would modify this speech and implement it into the commencement service.
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Please....PLEASE....if you do, record it. I need to hear this. My soul may smile.


icarus-daedelus said:
This...this actually kind of makes sense.
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Did you just realize this?! O_O


Albino_Samurai said:
Fixed.
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AVclub said:
I like the part where they take a Mac up to the space ship, connect to their wifi and upload a virus that destroys the fleet's defenses. In a movie full of aliens, space ships and exploding monuments, that was probably the hardest to buy into for me.
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That's an excellent example of how shitty and lazy the script is.

There's a reason why that scene bother most people much more than the whole aliens with super lasers thing.
You see, when you invent a new fantastical entity, you get carte blanche to do whatever the fuck you want with them.
The audience does not know aliens, lasers or deflectors shield in real life, so you get to define the rules.
And as long as those rules are reasonable and are not broken, most moviegoers would be okay with that.

But you must take care when dealing with things people are actually familiar with.
So even though hacking the aliens with an Apple is no more impossible than Will Smith flying a UFO, the breaking of the more familiar rule of nature bother us much more.

And the crazy thing is how unnecessary this whole thing was.
Just make Jeff Goldblum build an anti alien chaos telepod or whatever.
 
commish said:
Movie is awesome. Some of you take movies way, WAY too seriously.
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This. It's supposed to be stupid fun and it is. Why would I care exactly what laptop and computer and if the virus was programmed in the alien language and blah blah blah? The fat lady sang god dammit and smiles we're had by all.

Also, while I love me some Starship Troopers, it will never compare to the awesomeness of Independence Day!
 
The dog jump is totally the greatest and best part of this and most other movies. The amount of humor they are able to load into that slow-motion fake-ass composite flame background with the slow-mo dog in a movie that is actually not an out-and-out parody is amazing.

They even have the part with her yelling first for the dog.

MAAAAAX!!!

BA-ROOOOOO LEAP FWNZZZZZ KTHTHTHPFFFFF
 
I personally love it, but that may just be because I'm a girl and I have a huge thing for all three main actors. Both Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman circa 1996 were hot as hell to me, and Will Smith is still freaking sexy.
 
Ænima said:
Its the most recent episode. Basically Stan turns very cynical, can't find enjoyment out of anything, and sees everything as shit.

I was just giving you a light-hearted jab because clearly you were a more jaded 11-year-old than I was. The movie blew me away when I saw it in theaters (Its obviously really cheesy now).
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I think it's because I was "emotionally invested" being a huge alien nutter and my hype levels were over 9000 after the first teaser.
 
You all say "cheesy" like it's a bad thing...

...mmm... cheese. The loveliest of popcorn flicks.

The uncut movie has some good little tidbits in it.

Kitsunebaby said:
I personally love it, but that may just be because I'm a girl and I have a huge thing for all three main actors. Both Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman circa 1996 were hot as hell to me, and Will Smith is still freaking sexy.
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Truth.

I also love how heavily the film is referenced in Starfox 64- that tickled me to no end as a kid.
 
What's really amazing is that this movie is loosely based on The War of the Worlds.

Think about that a moment.

As for Starship Troopers, just realize this about the movie: Paul Verhoeven intentionally made the movie as an adaptation of the book, and an intentional criticism of the 'ideal militaristic society' the book depicts. It's fascist and ultraviolent for a reason! The movie is meant to be a bitter and ironic rejection of everything the book stands for!
 
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