That actually might have helped. I can’t think of anything better to underscore the idea that this is not a movie to take seriously. 
Still, it could have been much better than it was. Emmerich was capable of it. Stargate wasn’t a whole lot better, but it hung together well enough to generate a respectable franchise of TV shows.
Early in the movie, when the Will Smith character was told that’d he’d never get into NASA if he marries a stripper it was clear that this was supposed to be an over-the-top romp.
Nobody has yet mentioned the thing that seems the most odd about the picture, and that’s that the characters don’t seem to give the destruction of all of the world’s largest cities and millions of people’s deaths a moments thought.
New York, LA, and Washington gone? Oh well. Houston blasted off the face of the earth? That’s the breaks.
That’s a very good way of describing the problems I have with Hollywood’s version of science fiction. I want a good book turned into a good movie, not just a shoot-em-up movie with laser pistols and starship chase scenes (and lots of shit blowing up, of course).
Thing is, what makes a good book doesn’t always make a good movie, and vice versa.
When talking about a movie like this, I think you need to identify whether you saw it first in the theater or on tv. I find this movie unwatchable on tv (no matter how big the screen), but on opening weekend with the theater full of kids,your mouth full of overpriced popcorn and your feet sticking to the floor, it worked just fine.
ID is on my list of favorite movies. It’s a fun movie with a plot that keeps moving and a satisfying (yes, obvious) conclusion. How can you not like Randy Quaid (THE RANDY QUAID, Chevy Chase’s good-for-nothin’ cousin-in-law from all those Vacation movies) salvaging some self-respect at the end! On top of that, the First Lady later became President in BSG! Was the plot contrived and too predictable? Yep, but it was pure escapism. I had the DVD already, but immediately got the Blu-ray version when it became available. It’s a movie I can watch again and again. (The only other one is Groundhog Day :p.) I’ll even admit that I like its trite, but stirring sound track.
This would be the reason that I can’t really hate ID, for all its faults.
^^ This ^^
This. Was. Awful. When I saw Commando and Machete, we were expecting cliches out the ass. The Randy Quaid character was a dipshit. Anyone like him would’ve been one of the first to go, probably thinking that the spaceship was really a new, fangled Nissan. Maybe they’ll cast his same character in a Navy SEAL film about being in the bin Laden killing team. JUST as plausible. :rolleyes:
I think the clincher as one of worst films ever goes to Bill Pullman as President. We don’t have presidents like him. CCIIW, but has there ever been a president who is willing to and able to jump in a cockpit and destroy something? Seriously. If Batman were president, he’d still be escorted down to the safety bunker whether he liked it or not.
So you’re not too jolted, it’s still not as bad as Mars Attacks! or nearly as bad as Forrest Gump. 
I thought about this one myself but I figured that that the mothership wasn’t enabling the smaller ships shields, they were perfectly capable of working independantly, the code was just to send the message for all the ships to drop their shields at the same time. Blowing up the mothership was the equivalent of taking out NORAD for America, they could still fight without it but would be noticably weakened. And its suggested that when Smith and Goldblums characters enter the mothership the aliens are preparing to launch a ground invasion.
I’m a science-fiction fan myself and as much as it would be nice to see a more weighty science-fiction story on the big screen I’d argue that Independence Day is perfectly entitled to cast itself as a science-fiction story. Personally I get more tired of attempting to explain to people that science-fiction does not equal Star Trek, of which I’m not a fan. And what annoys me even more is that film-makers have a tendency to treat science-fiction as a cross-over with the horror genre, note the recent movie Sunshine that had potential as a straight sci-fi film before descending into weird symbolism and shock-scenes.
Not really sure what the characters could really say, they were mostly just trying to stay alive and trying to find a means to fight back, Bill Pullmans character does berate the head-scientist at one point for taking events too lightly.
God, Sunshine was terrible. What a fucking horrible bait-and-switch.
True enough. I just wish someone somewhere would make a better call on that then they currently are. I believe a good science fiction movie can make (almost) as much money as a spectacular (but weak on story) science fiction movie.
I was going to use the word ‘cliche’ but ‘caricature’ is exactly to the point.
There are so many bad points, but, the two that get me are 1. The President rolling up his sleeves, there’s life in me yet nonsense and 2. the Alien with the devil face…puh-leeze!
I thought it was built up as a ‘good’ kind of action flick, and I was given a mindless event. Had I been prepared for it as such, I might not be bearing such resentment against them.
Best wishes,
hh
I didn’t know there was a lot of hate for the movie. I think it’s a very enjoyable movie.
There’s a lot of hate for everything. I love the movie, myself. It’s great, cheesy fun!
For me, it’s a one star popcorn film, I’m not trying to compare it to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or The Godfather. It’s not fluffy goodness, it’s like trying to eat a bag of kernels. My favourite popcorn films are Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, X2 and possibly Serenity. I’m really surprised anyone would put Independence Day in the same bracket. Let’s Independence Day up a couple of these films a little, and see what happens.
Star Wars: Forget that Jedi nonsense, Obi Wan Kenobi is the 438th and last president of the old republic, and can trace his line back all the way back to George Washington.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: After the Nazis open the ark, a battle erupts between the angels and the stormtroopers. Initially the angels are on top, but the stormtroopers fight back with an MG42, sub-machine guns and hand grenades, killing several. Belloq prepares an explosive device, intending to throw it into the ark to kill God. Suddenly, a squad of US rangers appears on the scene. They kill the MG42 crew, free Indy and Marion, and join the battle in earnest. Indy shoots Major Toht, who topples into the open ark. Marion punches out Belloq. With the battle won, Indy and Azrael solemnly exchange salutes. As he is led away, Belloq promises Indy that he hasn’t seen the last of him.
I’m venting here, which is mildly cathartic, but I don’t think I’m being unfair. It’s the combination of clumsy storytelling, shallow characters I don’t give a damn about and “rah USA!” attitude I found particularly annoying. A good popcorn film is an immersive experience, you are taken for a ride and don’t want to get off until the end.
Well, it would no more silly than many things that actually happened in the film.
Yeah!
This. I’d add that the things I enjoy in movies do not translate well to film, which is why I decline to watch movies based on books I love.
Is there anything in particular you’d like to see filmed?
IMHO they didn’t need nukes once the shields were down – too much collateral damage – but I didn’t understand the use of tiny air-to-air missiles. A big load of 2,000-pound bombs dropped from altitude would have worked fine. Or a wave of Tomahawk or Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
But then the President would have been relegated to saying, “Fire”, instead of flying around shooting down EVELLL aliens.