Independence Day

A month ago, I rewatched a foreign-language indie on the 20th anniversary of it release. This time, I rewatched this summer blockbuster on the 30th anniversary of its release. Both were memorable first-time watching experiences. Unlike the former though, I saw ID4 when it was somewhat of a new release. I didn’t see it in theaters; I watched on home video with my family later that year.

That movie dominated 1996 in financial and cultural impact. It proved to be the highest-grossing movie of that year, by far. Mission: Impossible, Twister, The Rock, and Space Jam were all hits, but none of them came to mind until I looked them up. Listening to my friend talk about it that summer became a core memory for me. It became a bonafide time-capsule artifact of 1996 and of the mid 90s in general.

The movie is corny as popcorn flicks tend to (or even should) be, but it’s still entertaining. Despite my weariness, I don’t regret watching it on the 250th actual Independence Day. Will Smith has never been cooler on-screen; ID4 is the middle of his trifecta of 90s blockbusters. Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman lead a group of full memorable supporting actors. The special effects are still impressive, and the combat scenes are still exciting.

Now more than ever, I wish that a game studio would make a large-scale, PVE aerial combat game. If it has the meta-roleplaying of Helldivers, it’d be perfect. There’s a game for the original PlayStation, but 20th Century Fox could revisit this world. They could make a prequel/interquel like the Alien: Isolation games. It’s an untapped market for a property that people still like (ignoring the sequel, which I haven’t seen).