Tag Archives: Independence Day

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Happy Fourth of July, Folks.

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Have fun and be safe.

Photo credit: Reba Spike, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

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Throwback Thursday: “Independence Day” (1996)!

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“Independence Day” was THE move that everyone was talking about in the summer of 1996.  It was the year’s highest-grossing film and it dominated the box office for three weeks straight.  It was an event.  It was a lot like “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” (1991) or “Jurassic Park” (1993) before it — it was a sci-fi spectacle with special effects that were so groundbreaking at the time that it was a topic for conversation at parties.  Did you see it?  Did you see it?  (The internet wasn’t quite a thing yet in 1996 for the average person; not a single person I knew chatted about movies online.)

I think it’s held up really well after 23 years, and this movie still has a dedicated fanbase.  Even it special effects are still decent by modern standards.  Sure, it feels a little corny.  But the climactic aerial dogfight at the end still looks great and it really works for me.

 

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“A Republic, if you can keep it.”

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Happy Independence Day, all!  Enjoy any celebrations you might attend, and please be safe.

The quote above is attributed to Benjamin Franklin.  Upon exiting the Constitutional Convention in 1787, he was asked by a bystander what form of government the delegates had created:

“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”

“A Republic, if you can keep it.”

His reply was documented by Dr. James McHenry, the delegate from Maryland.

The imperative implied in Franklin’s words is the same as what Thomas Jefferson expressed when he warned us that “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

 

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Photo credit: By U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos (120504-M-IX426-237) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

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A tiny review of “Independence Day: Resurgence” (2016).

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They had 20 years to develop a sequel for “Independence Day: Resurgence” (2016) — 20 years after the original “Independence Day” exploded into theaters, defining the 1990’s summer blockbuster.  You figure that’d be enough time to come up with a really cool script.

Maybe there was one — maybe they had a really great screenplay that was thrown out for some reason at the very last minute. (Political correctness?  Copyright issues?  Internal studio politics?)  Then this by-the-numbers, live-action “G.I. Joe” cartoon was hastily thrust in front of the cameras.  What we’ve got here is really just a lot of common tropes strung together by a thin story, performed by cliche stock characters.  The charm, surprises, humor and impact of the (admittedly silly) original film are entirely absent here.

Don’t get me wrong.  “Independence Day: Resurgence” isn’t quite as bad as some other reviewers might make it seem.  There’s some fun to be had, especially if the kid in you still gets a kick out of gooey aliens.  (The ending sequence was enjoyable.)

It’s just disappointing because it’s quite average.  I’d give it a 6 out of 10, and I’d caution you to wait until you pay a dollar for it at Redbox.

Postscript: given what the movie reveals as their goal, why don’t the aliens just nuke us from orbit?  Ellen Ripley is smarter than an entire alien race.