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Independence Day (1996)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
6/04, 6/25
6/25:
Intelligence in Independence Day is absolutely zero.
From the get-go, I thought the aliens were technologically superior to mankind. It just wiped out 85% of
the United States' armed forces. So, what were the aliens doing for the next two days? Nothing. They just
let themselves be taken down. Yeah, right.
How about the unbelievable deus ex machina of having an alien spaceship stowed away in New Mexico for
five decades? And it's the key that finally defeats the aliens? And the aliens have invented Apple computers,
too, and they're installed on all of their spaceships? Sure, sure, sure...
I wonder how exactly Jeff Goldblum's character was able to link the connection between his laptop and the
mothership's operating system. Oh, oh, oh...anybody is able to tell the difference between a Studebaker and a
modern Corvette. Now, the same analogy can be applied to the captured spaceship from fifty years ago when it
showed up in outer space.
Everybody keeps saying the flying saucers over the cities are fifteen miles in diameter, but I never saw them
that large. They are more like one mile wide. If it's really fifteen, the fighter planes can't do much of damage,
right? It'll take tons of missiles. And remember 85% of the armed forces had been wiped out already. By the way,
the alien fighter planes, and there were many dozens, what happened to them at the end? On the other hand, the
stuff about performing an autopsy on the captured alien is a stupid waste of time. They already have three in the
liquid-filled containers; what more new details can there be?
Anyway, the movie seems high quality for the most part, but some of the performances are awful from time to time,
most especially from Will Smith, Harry Connick, Jr., and Randy Quaid. Bill Pullman acts more like a used car
salesman than President of the United States. The lines many say are cheesy.
The special effects may have looked great in 1996, but today, they're quite bad, setting up some unbelievable
situations such as Vivica A. Fox, the black boy, and the dog being able to escape the fireball by opening a
locked door inside the tunnel and to endure the heat for a while. A big disappointment is that only a few
buildings were blown up on July 2nd when there should be more. Of course, the filmmakers weren't going to have
the flying saucers right above the cities before they got blown up and fell down directly.
Another infuriating part is how the film is too U.S.-centric. It never feels epic for a minute. Here they have a
worldwide global impact, but the focus is rather on a few groups of people, about twenty in all, that
miraculously get together in one place. Traffic isn't even a factor, especially when driving from New York
City to Washington, D.C., in less than six hours with all the chaos going on (that will never, ever happen,
believe me).
All in all, Independence Day proves Roland Emmerich is a moron director.