Independence Day (Special Edition - Movie Review)

In honor of the 250th anniversary of America's independence, Luke and Jackson review "Independence Day", co-written by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin and directed by Roland Emmerich.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Keep my planet's name out your mouth. Thank you, Will Smith. And thank you, America. Welcome back, everyone, to the Motion Picture Podcast. My name's Luke, and I'm here today with my friend Jackson. And today, in honor of the 250-year anniversary of our independence, America's independence, we'll be reviewing the one and only Independence Day. So, Jackson, Independence Day was actually written and produced by Dean Devlin and directed by Roland Emrich. And it was actually released in July of 1996. I think it might have been actually July 4th or maybe July 2nd, whichever was probably a Thursday. Um, but fun fact for you, it became the highest grossing movie of the year, earning over a hundred, no, eight hundred and seventeen million worldwide. And I bet you couldn't tell it, or maybe depending on what your reaction's gonna be, it actually won an Academy Award for best visual effects. Wow. That's that's very shocking. Proceed. But like I was saying, stars Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, and Bill Pullman. You know, Bill Pullman, which I doubt you know now, actually played the president. But for the audience, um essentially the premise of the movie, if you haven't seen it, and there will be spoilers after this moment, if you haven't seen it, of course, um, essentially some scientists or maybe um some students who work for, I believe a professor or something like that, um discover either a signal in the atmosphere or some sort of radar detection of a large spacecraft coming inbound to the earth, moving slowly from the moon, um, actually turns out to be one large, massive spacecraft. And the this spacecraft actually releases into multiple spacecrafts, and this is all on July 2nd, of course, given the movie's name. And so it actually features a variety of characters, and throughout the movie, you follow them anywhere from Jeff Goldblum, who essentially plays uh an MIT, probably postdoctorate grad, Will Smith, who's I think in the Marine uh Air Force. I don't know what you call the Marine Air Force, um, and then um Bill Pullman, who plays the president of the United States. So throughout the movie, they all come together after um the aliens, you know, descend onto the earth, actually destroy some cities, and we'll get into that. Um, and then they all meet in the middle throughout two hours later, essentially, in you know, uh one final epic battle scene uh showcasing America's true power, a little bit of the world's, but mostly America. I'll get your opinion on that later, Jackson. Um, but to start this episode, want to get your initial reaction because you haven't seen it before, right? This was my first time.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yeah, so I went into this movie actually not having read any description. I just knew that it was called Independence Day, and I saw there was a UFO on the poster, didn't know anything about it other than that. So I was pretty surprised whenever the aliens descend upon the earth and actually start obliterating cities. Yeah, I thought it was extremely dark, and I was watching it with my wife, and we were really caught off guard. It like kills an entire group of people on a skyscraper. Yeah, it really shocked me. I did not know it was gonna be that violent. You you didn't? No. Were you more scared, or did you laugh at all? I was I was pretty, I wouldn't say scared, I think it was more thrilling than anything, and then obviously the CGI was pretty goofy while they were running away. The cars were flying on them, people were screaming, the one guy that talks like this gets crushed. I don't know his name, I need to find him. I don't know. He was pretty funny though. He's like, I was I better call my mother. Yeah, he was he was definitely the comic relief for the first part. So I thought the movie did a really good job of building up these characters and kind of getting to know them before everything hits the fan. And then that happened, and then it was kind of the rest of the movie was them trying to figure out how to respond and failing a few times. So I'd say I was not expecting how this film ended up going, and I was actually very caught off guard by the violence and the amount of deaths in the first 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_04 4:40

Yeah, it's actually surprising because it's kind of that classic 90s almost feel-good movie. And I'll ask you about this later about the score and how the the movie feels and the themes, and you know, there's more some family values, but there's also some pieces like just destruction and death, and almost a little comical. Yeah. Um, what what did you think about the plot overall and maybe the length?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Yeah, I thought the plot overall was really interesting. It kept me entertained the whole movie, and I was actually starting to get nervous for the main characters as we went out through the move as we went through the movie. I thought they did a really good job of making us care about them and empathize with them. And you were really rooting for the humans, maybe minus Uncle the uh national lampoon guy. Yeah, uh cousin Eddie. Yeah, cousin Eddie. Um, he was pretty goofy.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

Yeah, uh, I don't know his name, but he's in essentially Christmas Vacation, Christmas Vacation 2, or it's Eddie's and that's I don't know what it's actually called, and then of course Independence Day. Yeah. He plays the uh essentially alcoholic uh crop.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

That got abducted by aliens and was sexually assaulted by aliens. That was his whole character. Yeah, it's his shtick. Yeah. What was your other question?

SPEAKER_04 6:02

Yeah, essentially, you know, how do you feel? And you mentioned some of the characters and how you cared about the characters. Did it seem like they develop some of the interpersonal relationships of characters in meaningful ways? And maybe take, for example, uh David, who's played by Jeff Goldblum, him and his dad, and do you think his dad drives him forward, or do you think characters are more surface level in this movie?

SPEAKER_01 6:28

That's a good question. I thought the interpersonal relationships were actually pretty quality compared to movies we have nowadays. I'm interested to hear your take. I didn't think uh it detracted from the movie at all, honestly. I thought his dad it kind of gave him something to work towards in the end. Uh his relationship with his father.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

And then obviously Will Smith has his relationship with his wife, and then the president has his relationship with his wife.

SPEAKER_04 7:03

Yeah. I think I think one thing that stood out to me was everybody kind of had something to lose throughout the process, and it did, you know, keep you on the edge of your seat a little more, or it did make you um, I think in my mind it it kept me watching because there was something to lose and something for them to fight for, however, a little hokey at times it did seem. And a little interesting how the relationships played out. You know, I thought there was a lot of interesting details about how um, you know, Jeff's Jeff Goldblum, David, his dad, and uh maybe his either uh divorced wife or separated wife brought out, you know, pieces of his history and past in very minute ways and very I don't I don't think they were obvious, but they were subtle components that brought out his character and maybe his history and you know how he thinks. And I don't think, you know, a lot of movies today bring out those characters. I think they try to be very, very expositional and that you know, this kind of walk to fine line in those sense or in that sense. Yeah, I'd agree with that. Taking it back to I know you mentioned the visual effects. Can you believe that it actually won an Academy Award for best visual effects? Do you happen to know what it was up against? Let's check.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

No, I can't. I will say the clouds looked pretty bad when the UFOs were first arriving, and then the explosions were pretty dated. There were some other effects that looked pretty bad. The aliens themselves actually looked pretty good, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_04 8:43

Yeah, I I'd agree. I think and one thing I actually read was you know, it was a combination of I think maybe CGI, of course, but practical effects. It seemed like a mix between have you seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you know, the big golden cloud? Yeah, it seemed like a mix of that plus Star Wars, yeah, because I think they used um miniature, essentially miniature uh models, and I think part of those ships were like miniature models, similar to the Star Wars um ships going through space. Um, and then also I think there might have been some practical. I I feel like one of those cars falling was at least a real car. Yeah. I'd like to believe so.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

The one that killed that guy.

SPEAKER_04 9:31

Yeah, I forget what his name was. I think one thing that was funny, and it reminded me of Spy Kids in 3D. You know, the uh when in the beginning and throughout the thing where it's like introducing the it's like July 2nd and July 3rd, it has the letters that break apart and fly at you. Oh yeah. It's like that classic 90s.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Yeah, man. The lettering was really bad in this movie whenever it was introducing locations and counting down the July 4th, it was so bad. It was very 90s.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

And it it had like when it was introducing a location, it had like the blue lettering that went across the screen, like in every military movie. Yeah, you know, specific to the characters, do you feel? And I know we talked about the interpersonal characters, do you feel like the casting choices were good for the time?

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Yeah, I didn't think anything of them. Um, the only call out I have was Bill Pullman was an interesting choice to play the president. I thought so too. He it took me a while to get used to him, and I did get used to him, but he has such a calm demeanor and easy-going nature to him, seemingly, that it was kind of hard for me to imagine him as a presidential figure who's typically on top of their game, super sharp-witted and very cordial and inviting. I didn't really feel that from him, and they did say his approval rating was below 40%, which is so bad. He must have been a pretty bad president. But you could tell, like, based off his personality, he probably lived up to that approval rating. I don't know what you thought.

SPEAKER_04 11:17

Yeah, I I couldn't tell if they wrote him like that or if he was acting like that. He just seemed very restrained and very uptight. I don't know if it was Bill Pullman actually doing that, or if it was, you know, the way they intended the character. I feel like he came out of his shell later in the movie, of course, within his speech, and we'll talk about that later, hopefully. Um, but yeah, it was almost like he was trying to like bear through it through the start of the movie, and it was really awkward.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Yeah, it was really weird, it was a strange performance. And then Jeff Goldblum was an interesting choice, but I bought it, it was fine.

SPEAKER_04 11:56

Yeah, one one thing I thought about what Jeff Goldblum plays Jeff Goldblum in every single movie he's in, but it felt like he expanded outside of that character in the end, at least in his interaction with Will Smith. Yeah, it was a little interesting. He showed more emotion towards the end, yeah, and like a little more excitement. Yeah, it didn't care just it's like every move well, maybe I'm just thinking of Jurassic Park, but he like is you know this super philosophical. I think in this he's talking about recycling and saving the earth, but in Jurassic Park he talks about you know what we should and shouldn't do with science. Have you seen the fly?

SPEAKER_01 12:35

No, it is so nasty, but he's the star in it. He turns into a fly. Really? Yeah, Jeff Goldblum fly. Yeah, Jeff Goldblum fly. It's really gross. That's crazy. Does he talk as a fly? Like no, he I mean maybe eventually I haven't seen it in a while, but he disgustingly becomes a fly. Like he gets the little fly hairs and wings sprout out of his back. Really? Yeah, it's really nasty. Oh, so it's like over time he becomes a fly.

SPEAKER_04 13:08

Yeah, it's all all at once. Yeah, he should have become a fly in this movie. Yeah. Does it seem like throughout the movie, and I know it's you know one of those movies where it has multiple protagonists, but does it seem overly convenient the way all of these characters come together at once? It's like they're all spread across the US, and of course it's a movie. Yeah, does it seem overly convenient?

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Yeah, it I will say the movie kind of lost me whenever they all go to area 51. Yeah. I was like, of course they're going to Area 51. So yeah, I I would say it was very overly convenient that they all met up there. I I would also say it's very convenient that the president escaped 10 seconds before the White House got obliterated. Yeah. That was that was crazy. He was flying in Air Force One with the um fire behind him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:03

Which I think have you seen 2012? Mm-mm. So 2012, so I think this director, Roland Emmerich, has created, you know, a variety of movies, like in this world destruction type scenario. I think he's done like day after tomorrow, 2012. Dude's so pessimistic. Yeah, but he there's a scene in that where they're flying this like I think it's like a Russian baron or something, his like this billionaire plane out of this big fireball. And it it I think it's like the same exact scene, and he just borrowed it from his other movie. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Good for him.

SPEAKER_04 14:42

I think one of the funniest things is throughout the scenes, the people they just like turn and they look in terror, but they just they capitalize on that throughout the movie, is you know, these people like running away and then looking back, and you see the light shine over your face.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Oh, I have a question for you. What'd you think about the dog scene in the tunnel? That was ridiculous. I was thinking about that. Yeah, that was insane. I love dogs, and I was gonna be sad if that dog died, but that was comical. Yeah, I thought the fire was gonna take him out the mid jump. That was wild. What was crazy?

SPEAKER_04 15:21

Like it destroyed the light around them, like the hallway light, but it didn't do anything to them.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Yeah, boom, no, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

What was crazy when they left that tunnel, that it was like everything was collapsed around them, and they came out of like a collapsed pile of rubble, like they didn't explain where they came from. Yeah, and nobody everybody else is dead or gone, and they just come out of this.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Again, I was shocked at the visceral nature of everyone dying. I mean, that was wild to watch. He literally wiped out New York, LA, and DC, like just snap of the finger.

SPEAKER_04 16:03

I think the funniest thing it was when they were when the aliens had gone over the cities and the countdown happened and they destroyed everything. The funniest thing, I was talking to my wife about this, was it just went to an extreme of how much or how many explosions the movie included in this, and it was like explosion after explosion. It just like kept going city by city, yeah. And it kept throwing cars like CGI cars and some practical effects cars, but it'd be like the the sound of a horn going off into the distance, and one had like a fire truck, but it was just like explosion, explosion. Yeah, that was nuts. It's a little overboard.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Yeah, I appreciate they went all in on it though. Yeah, they could have done. I mean, it's a movie about aliens, so it's pretty awesome. They just went for it. Yeah, it is a movie about America.

SPEAKER_04 16:57

It is no holding back. Speaking of America, do you think that there should be more movies about the Fourth of July? Or do you think there should be a new category? I mean, we have Christmas movies, like independence movies, yeah. Like the Patriot, the Patriots in Independence movies. That's a great movie. It is.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

I don't know. That's a funny. I mean, if there's a story to tell, sure. I don't I think it's always gonna be the same story. Yeah, I mean, round up the family and watch us beat the hell out of some British people. Yeah. I mean, I could watch though those movies for ages, but I mean, if someone wants to make another Fourth of July movie, I think it'd be welcome.

SPEAKER_04 17:38

Yeah, I think I like period pieces though, yeah, about the independent you don't like the modern no, the modern alien adaptation of Independence Day.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Could you consider Sausage Party a Fourth of July movie? Because it's centered around hot dogs. I I don't think so. I think it'd be I think that's a stretch. Okay. I'm pretty sure that one's set around 4th of July. That one's like diehard being a Christmas movie. This is not an endorsement for Sausage Party, by the way. That movie sucks. I just want to say that. Jackson had to make that clear.

SPEAKER_04 18:15

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think Die Hard may be more of a Christmas movie than that is a Fourth of July movie. That's fair. I've actually never seen Die Hard. Oh, really? Yeah. Well, that'll be our Christmas movie then. Yeah, we should do that for Christmas. All four of them. Or five, maybe. Oh I don't know. There's five? I I think there might be at least three. Is Bruce Willis in all of them? I don't know. I need to watch them. Well, speaking of America in the Fourth of July, do you feel like, you know, I think part of the theme of this movie was to bring the world together? Do you feel like this movie successfully made it seem like the world's independence, or was it still America?

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Nah, the rest of the world didn't matter in this movie. They were sidelined. I mean, America even left led the charge to defeat them. They let everyone know how to defeat them, which in all honesty wouldn't have taken much brain power, honestly. You just fly a jet into the laser, yeah, and then it obliterates the UFO.

SPEAKER_04 19:22

As cousin Eddie would do.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Yeah, yeah. That's what I that scene was so goofy looking when he was flying the jet up into the spaceship. Yeah, the slow motion where it just wouldn't go.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

You just had to watch it for at least like 20 seconds as you get going into the laser beam. That was pretty funny. You know, along the lines of the independence, kind of going back to Bill Pullman's character, the president. What did you think of the president's speech?

SPEAKER_01 19:49

You know, it wasn't terrible. Well, it wasn't great. Yeah. I honestly, it's very forgettable. I watched this movie a couple nights ago. I remember feeling a sense of, oh yeah, this is awesome. Go go kick some bud out there, but you know, it didn't like uh bring me to tears or anything. Really? What would you think about it?

SPEAKER_04 20:13

Maybe it's just me. I think I get chills every time I listen to it. Maybe I just have a patriotic bone. Maybe so.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Or you just hate aliens.

SPEAKER_04 20:22

Yeah. Alien scum. I hate E.T.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

E.T.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

E.T. go home. What did you think about those aliens? I guess what would you rank them in terms of aliens? I know we talked about Spielberg's aliens in disclosure day. How would you rank them against them?

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Uh probably lower. I didn't really I I appreciated the effort for these aliens, but they weren't my favorite, to be honest. I feel like these were probably heavily uh inspired by the James Cameron alien. Yeah, that's fair. Because I think this movie came out after that. So honestly, I'd probably rank the disclosure day aliens higher than this, but I didn't hate the design. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:09

I I felt like they I felt like it got pretty realistic with those aliens. I mean, they had like the biomechanical suits, and it was a little more realistic than the Spielberg aliens, of course. Um, but yeah, in between a Spielberg and uh a James Cameron alien. Yeah, for sure. Didn't it seem weird? I I felt like it was really weird that all the aliens were at alien desks in the big mothership. They all had their like alien computers. Like they didn't really it was a little creative, but they didn't really like make it more like it was a different society. They all like grouped up like humans did.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

I mean, this is an American movie. They had to do corporate America for the aliens, you know, it's American DNA through and through. Had to make it realistic, had to make it realistic. I mean, what else would aliens be doing other than desk jobs?

SPEAKER_04 22:03

Desk job administrative work. Setting up Teams meetings. Alien Teams meetings. Send me the zoom link. Yeah. Do you think this movie is rewatchable?

SPEAKER_01 22:15

I'd say so. Every 4th of July? I I'd watch it every 4th of July. I I think you mentioned earlier and I completely ignored it. You asked me about how I felt about the runtime. It was so long. Yeah. Unbelievably long. Like way too long. It should have been it should have been trimmed. Someone in post should have just cut that thing in half because cut half the explosions. I feel like it ended like three different times. And we were just watching it and watching it, and it just would not end. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

It and it's not like there's that many plot points, but I think every plot point and every scene is dragged out for some reason.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Yeah. They they definitely dragged out every scene that they could. It was way too long.

SPEAKER_04 23:09

And I think they were trying to explore every character, like even some of the side characters, like the general, like just trying to explore so many characters at once. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

It didn't have a ton of focus at one point, and then it went back to kind of the invasion stuff. Yeah. But it was very long. I but I would watch it once every year. I wouldn't watch it twice in a year. What about you? I think so.

SPEAKER_04 23:35

Maybe, maybe every other year. That's fair. I didn't realize how long it was until this. I think I've always been able to watch it through. I think I actually had to split it up this time because of how long it was. I was watching it pretty late, too. Um, but it was actually a lot longer than I remember. And there are some slow parts of it.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

Yeah. Like when the wife dies.

SPEAKER_04 23:57

Yeah. Like an up. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

You think they would have done more for the first lady?

SPEAKER_04 24:04

Yeah. They just kind of let her die. They kind of built it up there, like, oh, she's saved. And then the president like had to go through all of that.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Yeah, what was the point of keeping her around only to find out she A has to find out she was saved by a stripper. Yeah. And then B has to die in her husband's arms. The look on her face when she found out that she's like, What do you do? She's like, Oh, dancer.

SPEAKER_04 24:26

She's like, Oh, ballet. That was cursed. Yeah. That was that was an interesting character choice. Yeah.

unknown 24:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

I wonder what the rationale behind that one was. Yeah, that one seemed a little just a little unnecessary. Like it didn't really, like, like I said, they were trying to explore every character, it seemed like, but they like went probably too deep a little bit. Yeah. It was like it added nothing to the whole story, her being in that occupation.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Yeah, it was pretty out of left field. What'd you think about the engagement ring? The engagement. Oh, it was very 90s. I was like the dolphins. Yeah. Dude, that thing was so ugly. Yeah. That was one of the ugliest rings I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

Yeah, I was taken back how excited she was. I guess she was excited about getting married. Yeah. But do you remember Will Smith's? I think it was his wingman. Did he sorry, I shouldn't laugh.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Why just proceed?

SPEAKER_04 25:33

Oh, I was gonna ask you what you thought of him.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

Oh, okay. I don't know. He was very annoying.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

I'm not gonna say he got what he deserved, because that's not fair to say, and that's not very nice, but I wasn't disappointed when I didn't have to Yeah, what was his name? Sam. Yeah, when I didn't have to watch his character anymore. I was not disappointed. Yeah, he took up too much, too much of the screen. Yeah, his presence was very felt, and he took away from Will Smith a lot like his screen time.

SPEAKER_04 26:06

Yeah, Will Smith is already kind of a big presence, but to take Will Smith's screen time as impressive.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Will Smith didn't Will Smith didn't have much of a reaction.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

Like whenever his wingman got obliterated, yeah, Will Smith just kind of grimaced and then it was never mentioned again. It was very odd. So it was like, oh, whatever. Yeah. And then he dragged that alien through the desert.

SPEAKER_04 26:34

Yeah. I actually heard that, you know, when he's getting upset about him smelling bad or whatever, the alien smelling bad. I think there was whatever they put together, concoction they put together to make that alien, apparently it actually smelled bad, so that was a genuine.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_04 26:52

I mean, it would smell bad, probably. Yeah, I don't know what it'd smell like. Speaking of Will Smith, this is probably my final question. One of my final questions. I know, given the recent controversy about Will Smith, how do you feel like this ranked in Will Smith's movies? Probably not sci-fi movies, but actually, he's had actually a really good filmography in sci-fi.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

Yeah, that's a good question. Maybe in the upper tier. Really? I mean, I don't know, man. He's in men in black.

SPEAKER_04 27:26

Yeah, right. He's an iRobot. Yeah. I am legend.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Men in black's not a good comparison. I don't, I don't know. I mean, he's not like one of our generational talents, in my opinion. Yeah. I'd probably say like upper middle, maybe. Okay. Because I will say, as goofy as he was, I think he did a really good job of playing a soldier and the content he was given. Yeah, yeah. I think they agree. They wrote that character in a way that would have been hard for someone like me to pull off.

SPEAKER_04 28:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

That has a very calm demeanor.

SPEAKER_04 28:06

Yeah, he's he's very uh larger than life.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Yeah. He's very extroverted. Yeah. And so. I thought he did a good job with what he was given.

SPEAKER_04 28:16

I thought he did a great job. Yeah. I mean, I think when they put him in characters, I don't think he does a great job when they give him characters that are supposed to be a little less outgoing. And I do think Pursuit of Happiness was really good though. I think he was less happy. That's one of his best performances. So maybe I take that back. Would you think about him in Suicide Squad? I think that was, you know, a blip in time. I think Suicide Squad was a blip in time.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah, because they made the same movie four years later. Suicide Squad too. I think it's called the Suicide Squad. And the original is called Suicide Squad.

SPEAKER_04 28:57

I don't think I made it for the through the first one.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Yeah. The first one actually won an Oscar. Oh really? For what? Makeup? Really?

SPEAKER_04 29:06

Costumes. It's like Independence Day. Isn't that ridiculous?

SPEAKER_02 29:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:10

Well, Jackson, you know, final question. What would you rate this movie?

SPEAKER_01 29:16

I'd probably rate this movie a three out of five.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Three out of five.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

And I went back and forth between three and a half and three. Yeah. But because I did really enjoy it, I did think it was too long. I thought it was pretty campy. Yeah. Whenever you lean into it and expect that. I mean, it's an alien movie for crying out loud, so you can't take it too seriously. But overall, my main complaint is how long it is. I thought things were way too dragged out. I thought some of the scenes were super unnecessary. So probably a three out of five. What about you?

SPEAKER_04 29:54

I'd say three and a half or four. Okay. And I I agree it was probably way too long. I do think it it had something from the 90s that a lot of movies don't have, and it how it explores a lot of the interpersonal relationships, but also I think a lot of the family values. I know that's kind of campy in a lot of ways. Um, but I think it tried to do a lot of things at once, and I think a lot of those things it did very successfully, um, but maybe tried too much in too many different areas. But I feel like it more succeeded than it failed in those things. And you know, I felt like it really hyped me up for 4th of July.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Awesome. How'd you feel about watching Disclosure Day and then watching Independence Day?

SPEAKER_04 30:40

You know, for however hokey Independence Day is, I think I'd watch Independence Day over and over before I'd watch Disclosure Day again.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Very fair. They do share a very similar name convention.

SPEAKER_04 30:54

Yeah. You think they stole it? It could be a nod towards it. Disclosure day being a nod.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:01

I think uh Independence Day was actually a nod. Because of Will Smith's quoting E.T. Yeah, E.T. and then Close Encounters. Yeah. That's pretty funny. Well, there you have it. That's our review on Independence Day special edition for the 4th of July, the 250 year anniversary. Thank you, everyone. We'll see you next time.