“Am I the only one that still refers to Independence Day as ID-4? Where did that name even start? Marketing? Maybe it stayed with me because I still can hear my dad referring to the film as such when he bought us tickets (prime example of a typical father/daughter activity for us). I have a distinct recollection that we went for his bday, except I can’t believe that we waited until late September. Maybe we did. Movies stuck around a lot longer back then.
I usually try to make an effort to watch this around the 4th. I intended to blog it last year, until I had a last minute inspiration to instead do Team America: World Police. With the upcoming sequel upon us, it was time for a revisit.
I’m generally of mixed feelings about the sequel. I’m always gonna be skeptical of such a distanced installment, and they’ve had mixed results in the past. The fact that this is one of the greatest blockbusters of all time also splits my opinion. On the one hand, it could be just as awesome. On the other, there are very low odds of living up to that. Oh and my mom is in town when it’s out, so I’m not sure how likely I’ll be to get her to go. Ultimately, she will if I want to, especially if I play the dad-took-me-to-the-first-one card. We’ll see.
But we’re talking about Insurgence later. Right now, it’s the original thing. For the most part, barring some technological advancements since, it still holds up. We’d never seen action sequences like that before. The characters have depth and we care about them. It’s fast paced and suspenseful. And there’s no denying that Bill Pullman/President Whitmore’s speech is one of the greatest motivational speeches or scenes in an action movie or powerful monologues of all time. I may have occassionally YouTubed that clip to watch on a whim, because it’s just that good.
Y’know, if the new one is even half as good, then it should at least be a fun and exciting afternoon at the movies, whenever I am able to get to it”