AFC Classic: ID4: Independence Day

Seems like it’s the Fourth of July this time every year, so what better time than now to gaze back into the past and check out one of my classic reviews of the Fourth of Julysiest movie there ever was: Independence Day!

What better way to celebrate Independence Day than kicking some alien invader ass and then eating some BBQ while you watch the remains of the ships crash down from the sky. Mmmm, mmmm. Tasty!

Will Smith is just the person I would trust to beat up some aliens, too. I just don’t think the aliens know how to deal with his kind of humor and skills combined. He is the Fresh Prince, afterall. No one can compete with that and no one can gloat like him either. I love the scene after he has taken down the alien mini-ship and he’s walking towards it talkin’ all kinds of trash. Classic.

Independence Day is one of those classic movies that will always play on July 4 and it will always be good. The action is good once it finally gets started. You have to wait forever for it to get started though, so don’t hold your breath. At least there’s Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, and Bill Pullman all ready to provide some comic relief, although most of Bill Pullman’s comedy comes in the form of inadvertently humorous delivery of the phrase “My God”. So sit back and enjoy the holiday with some good old fashioned alien action and some BBQ.

Time until Will Smith shows his pretty little face: ~ 22 minutes

Time until real action starts: ~ 47 minutes. I think this wins the award for longest time until action. Man! It takes awhile.

Big Bad Baddies: ALIENS!!!

Best Line: Oh come on! Do you even have to ask! “Welcome to Urf!” Will Smith just delivered it magnificently.

Best Kill: An alien has killed a lot of people trying to cut him open but is contained within a room. The alien makes one fatal mistake, he makes the President fall to his knees in pain. So, Adam Baldwin (a.k.a. Jayne from Serenity) takes out his gun and blows the alien away. He and a few other guys unleash a can of All American whoop ass on the alien. Then, just to make sure the alien is dead, Baldwin pumps three more bullets into the aliens head.

Best Explosion: You know a lot of movies have a scene where the White House explodes but nothing can top the one in Independence Day! The alien ship lasers the White House and it gets decimated. It is such a gorgeous explosion. Yeah, yeah, it’s tragic, but very awesome. Then the explosion continues to take out the whole city and cover your whole screen.

Action Rating: 3 Welcome to Urf’s, out of 5.

Illustration by Alex of Rocket Llama Headquarters.

This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!