# How would you change the movie "Independence Day" from what it is to a good movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 4, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177 "2012-07-04T03:09:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/1 "2012-07-04T03:09:04Z")
I love post-apocalyptic movies; I love movies that show earth-shattering events happening, and what happens during and after these events. I wanted to love “Independence Day,” but it is just so fricking clichéd and hackneyed that I can hardly watch it (even though I do, every couple of years or so). I think I keep hoping that it will be better than I remember every time I watch it. So, keeping the premise the same (vastly overpowering alien invasion strikes the earth unexpectedly), what would you change to make it a better movie? ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/2 "2012-07-04T03:15:43Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I love post-apocalyptic movies; I love movies that show earth-shattering events happening, and what happens during and after these events. I wanted to love “Independence Day,” but it is just so fricking clichéd and hackneyed that I can hardly watch it (even though I do, every couple of years or so). I think I keep hoping that it will be better than I remember every time I watch it. > > So, keeping the premise the same (vastly overpowering alien invasion strikes the earth unexpectedly), what would you change to make it a better movie? Take out will Smith and them using a Mac to do anything was completely unrealistic! ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/3 "2012-07-04T03:21:31Z")
The movie is perfect, aside from the… Oh never mind, it’s perfect. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/4 "2012-07-04T03:25:06Z")
_Independence Day_, like _Die Hard_, is the absolute best of its breed. Alien-invasion action/adventures don’t get much better. Of course, it’s an inherently ridiculous genre, so the pinnacle of its achievement will necessarily be inherently ridiculous. And ID4 is that. And that’s OK, because it’s more fun than a pig in shit. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/5 "2012-07-04T03:26:43Z")
Needed more [stripper scenes](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_s5vfRP-dx3E/SOGvhqvApvI/AAAAAAAAO8M/KGTMbfRfIME/s400/Vivica_A_Fox_Independence_Day_1.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/6 "2012-07-04T03:42:01Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I wanted to love “Independence Day,” but it is just so fricking clichéd and hackneyed that I can hardly watch it (even though I do, every couple of years or so). I think this sentence illustrates quite nicely the fact that nothing about this movie needs to be changed. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/7 "2012-07-04T03:54:56Z")
It is the greatest of the cliched hackneyed alien attack popcorn genre. why mess with perfection? ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/8 "2012-07-04T03:59:20Z")
Kill Boomer the dog. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/9 "2012-07-04T03:59:55Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I wanted to love “Independence Day,” but it is just so fricking clichéd and hackneyed that I can hardly watch it (even though I do, every couple of years or so). Are you kidding? This movie wallows in cliches with the delight of a dog wriggling itself all over a dead fish. It marinates itself in cliches the way Bobby Flay soaks a strip steak in a bowl of fruity wine. Independence Day puts the lotion on its cliches, or else it gets the hose again. For this reason it is one of the perfectest movies of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/10 "2012-07-04T04:03:03Z")
Just don’t get rid of Randy Quaid. By the end of the movie I’m laughing so hard I’m crying. ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/11 "2012-07-04T04:14:12Z")
Two hour loop of: 1. Will Smith and the alien after their dogfight 2. The White House blowing up 3. Bill Pullman’s speech 4. Random Jeff Goldblum verbal tics ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/12 "2012-07-04T04:40:11Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > _Independence Day_, like _Die Hard_, is the absolute best of its breed. Alien-invasion action/adventures don’t get much better. > > Of course, it’s an inherently ridiculous genre, so the pinnacle of its achievement will necessarily be inherently ridiculous. And ID4 is that. And that’s OK, because it’s more fun than a pig in shit. Agree. This is like asking how would one chnge “Die Hard” to make it a more believable movie. If you want believable, you’re barking up the wrong tree **Cat Whisperer** What’s next? Do you want to color in the first 30 minutes of The Wizzard of Oz? Heritic!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/13 "2012-07-04T04:57:27Z")
I’d insert the deleted scene where they actually explained the whole Mac thing. Its still unbelievable, but less so when the scene tells you that much of modern technology was taken from the Roswell ship. And actual nudity in the stripping scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/14 "2012-07-04T05:25:54Z")
I love this movie. But maybe it’s because I first saw it at a drive in and got a huge laugh at the scene where the drive in gets destroyed by remarking to my friends “How postmodern.” I felt really goddam witty. Anyway like people above I think this movie is perfect in its being exactly what it is. _Dumb and Dumber_ has the same quality. If you don’t ask anything more than it has to give it is a perfectly delightful, engaging, fun movie that will steal away a couple hours of your life on a Sunday afternoon. Really what more do you want? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/15 "2012-07-04T05:41:34Z")
I use the word “hokey” to describe Independence Day. I wouldn’t use that word to describe any Die Hard movies. Maybe just semantics. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/16 "2012-07-04T06:18:10Z")
Come on. “Yippee ki-yay, motherfucker” is pretty damn hokey. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/17 "2012-07-04T06:25:05Z")
Change the name of Will Smith’s character. C’mon. Whoever heard of a black dude named “Steve”? Other than that, it’s an awesome movie and I wouldn’t change a thing. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/18 "2012-07-04T06:40:40Z")
I don’t know if it could be bettered; it’s everything I dislike in movies and I love it. Maybe more Bill Murray as it’s been scientifically proven that adding Bill Murray makes a film 10% better. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/19 "2012-07-04T06:42:50Z")
Find out bad country music kills the aliens. Andy have the aliens chase people saying “We come in peace!” while shooting at them. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177/20 "2012-07-04T06:54:53Z")
Yeah, I was gonna say: 1. Remove disc from _Independence Day_ DVD case, and throw it away. 2. Insert _Mars Attacks!_ disc. 3. Ack! Ack! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-change-the-movie-independence-day-from-what-it-is-to-a-good-movie/627177.md?page=2)