{"id":901,"date":"2016-06-24T15:36:35","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T20:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/chrisicisms\/?p=901"},"modified":"2016-06-24T15:36:35","modified_gmt":"2016-06-24T20:36:35","slug":"no-independence-day-was-not-your-generations-star-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chrisicisms\/2016\/06\/24\/no-independence-day-was-not-your-generations-star-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"No, ‘Independence Day’ was not your generation’s ‘Star Wars’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So, there\u2019s not a review here for this week\u2019s big release, \u201cIndependence Day: Resurgence.\u201d In an odd move for a summer blockbuster, Fox declined to screen the film for critics (although they did apparently invite some to see it opening day<\/a>). Usually, a lack of pre-release screenings indicates a bomb, but oddly enough the reviews from those who\u00a0have<\/em> seen it have been more lukewarm<\/a> than hostile. Like I said, an odd move.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll eventually get around to seeing it, but probably not until next weekend at the very earliest (it\u2019s perhaps more fitting to see an \u201cIndependence Day\u201d movie on Independence Day weekend anyway). I\u2019m not in a hurry. I\u2019ve never believed that \u201cIndependence Day\u201d (or, ID4, as we called it in my day) needed a sequel. I never needed know what happened to the characters played by Will Smith, Bill Pullman or Jeff Goldblum after the film (and those characters were so thinly drawn anyway that I have always just referred to them as Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum). And none of the trailers convinced me that this was going to be a must-see event.<\/p>\n

\u201cID4\u201d was a\u00a0huge<\/em> hit in 1996. I was just about to enter my senior year of high school when it was released, and I\u2019m sure I saw it two or three times in the theater; when we eventually purchased it, I nearly wore the VHS out. For a movie that featured the destruction of half the world, it was bright and funny. It was proof that Will Smith could take the charisma that had fueled his rap and TV careers and translate it to the big screen. And it was a testament to the power of marketing\u00a0\u2014 the moment that Super Bowl ad played, millions of tickets were guaranteed (I remember seeing a similar trailers, and the audience erupted in applause).<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/1ZvsxNJsF1k<\/a>\n

But there really hasn\u2019t been much of a lasting impact to \u201cIndependence Day,\u201d unless you consider the way that it challenged every single blockbuster to up the ante on world destruction. It took 20 years to make a sequel. There\u2019s been no television series, no cartoon and, aside from some follow-up novels, no real effort to extend its place in pop culture. Before the sequel was announced, it looked like the film\u2019s legacy would be as the quintessential \u201990s blockbuster, a fun but disposable product of its time. And because \u201cIndependence Day\u201d was less a sci-fi epic than a disaster movie with aliens, it didn\u2019t really set up a followup. Continuing the story would probably be like trying to reignite the Towering Inferno or tipping Poseidon back over (oops<\/a>). Which, by the way, is perfectly fine. Not everything needs a sequel, and sometimes a fun film is just a fun film.<\/p>\n

To some people, though, it\u2019s something more. Earlier today, Dave Chen\u00a0\u2014 co-host of \u201cThe \/Filmcast\u201d<\/a> and director of the documentary \u201c The Primary Instinct<\/a>\u201c\u2014 tweeted the following, which included an email from one of his podcast listeners (warning for the sensitive: language\u2026oh, and minor spoilers, I guess):<\/p>\n

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Lots of anger for RESURGENCE in this email. l\u2019d say I agree, but that would imply the film got a reaction out of me. pic.twitter.com\/F9e3Z9jl74<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 David Chen (@davechensky) June 24, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Like I said, I haven\u2019t seen \u201cIndependence Day: Resurgence,\u201d so I don\u2019t know whether the e-mailer\u2019s\u00a0rage\u00a0is justified. But there\u2019s a line in there that made me do a double-take.<\/p>\n
For someone born in 1985 that never got to experience the first Star Wars trilogy in theaters, Independence Day WAS my Star Wars.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Now granted, the e-mailer doesn\u2019t come right out and call \u201cIndependence Day\u201d the \u201cStar Wars\u201d of his generation; he says it was\u00a0his<\/em> \u201cStar Wars.\u201d And maybe it was. I don\u2019t know his experience in the theater; maybe it changed his life in the same way that \u201cStar Wars\u201d changed other people\u2019s and opened his eyes to what cinema was capable of. Maybe it was the movie that made him fall in love with movies. It\u2019s entirely possible; I have a belief that every movie is\u00a0someone\u2019s<\/em> favorite movie. Heck, I learned one of my most important lessons about film criticism from \u201cHotel for Dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n
But this email isn\u2019t the first person I\u2019ve heard make the \u201cIndependence Day\u201d\/\u201dStar Wars\u201d comparison. And as someone only slightly older than the people\u00a0making those claims, I have only one reaction.<\/p>\n
No, \u201cIndependence Day\u201d is not your generation\u2019s \u201cStar Wars.\u201d And if it is, your generation got the shaft.<\/p>\n
Like I said, \u201cIndependence Day\u201d is a fun movie. I enjoyed it the last time I watched it (it has been several years, most likely more than a decade). But let\u2019s not mistake it for great. It\u2019s over-long. It\u2019s cheesy. Its computer virus resolution is one of the flat-out dumbest ways that a movie has ever destroyed a threat. As a way to kill a few hours on a hot summer night, it was perfectly serviceable. As the defining film of a generation? You can do a lot better.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a high watermark in effects the way \u201cStar Wars\u201d was; in fact, part of the charm of \u201cIndependence Day\u201d was that its major scenes of destruction used models along with CG, something that was refreshing in the early days when really bad CG looked really bad. But even if it\u00a0were<\/em> renowned for its effects, nothing in it topped what \u201cJurassic Park\u201d did just three years earlier. And \u201cJurassic Park,\u201d which holds up extremely well nearly 25 years later, had characters we loved, sustained moments of tension and stuck with you after the credits rolled; there\u2019s a reason why people lined up for \u201cJurassic World,\u201d even after two wretched sequels. And if you were a bit too young when \u201cJurassic Park\u201d came out, \u201cThe Matrix\u201d was just three years after \u201cIndependence Day.\u201d And that truly was that generation\u2019s \u201cStar Wars.\u201d It had revolutionary visual effects, created a world that audiences immersed themselves in, and changed what we wanted from our sci-fi movies. It had a bigger impact than the actual \u201cStar Wars\u201d movie that came out that very same year! And I\u2019d also note that for some people, the 1997 \u201cStar Wars\u201d trilogy re-release was their generation\u2019s \u201cStar Wars\u201d; for me, it was the first time I saw all the movies \u2014 and in the theater, no less.<\/p>\n
Honestly, as much as I enjoy \u201cIndependence Day,\u201d that film is eclipsed in pretty much every possible classification for that decade. Best disaster movie? Sorry, that\u2019s \u201cTitanic.\u201d Best sci-fi? The aforementioned \u201cThe Matrix.\u201d Best destruction of New York? I might have to hand that to \u201cArmageddon.\u201d Best alien invasion movie? Have you seen \u201cMars Attacks\u201d? Best Will Smith film? Nope, that\u2019s \u201cMen in Black.\u201d The only possible list it might top is best Judd Hirsch movie of the 1990s, and that\u2019s because I\u2019m not counting his cameo in \u201cMan on the Moon.\u201d The\u00a0\u201990s weren\u2019t exactly a watershed decade in cinema, but come on; don\u2019t sell your generation short.<\/p>\n
Where \u201cIndependence Day\u201d\u00a0was<\/em> akin to being the \u201cStar Wars\u201d of the 1990s is in the way it changed blockbuster culture. It turned the summer season into a marketing machine, selling films on moments instead of stories. Few people probably remember that \u201cIndependence Day\u201d also features a subplot about Randy Quaid as a crop duster or a trip to Area 51; what they remember is that it\u2019s the movie where aliens blew the White House up. It changed the trailer game, giving great power to Super Bowl weekend. It raised the bar on destroying world landmarks on screen \u2014\u00a0to top it, Michael Bay had to show people falling from the Chrysler Building in \u201cArmagedon\u201d and then Roland Emmerich just had to up and destroy the whole thing in \u201c2012.\u201d But I don\u2019t even want to give it that much credit here; Hollywood was heading that way already. And, like \u201cStar Wars,\u201d \u201cIndependence Day\u201d gets flack for everything it caused while, in the end, it\u2019s actually not a bad movie.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not great. It\u2019s not special. It\u2019s just a fun blockbuster that you loved as a teenager. Many films had a much bigger impact on that generation. Claim those films.<\/p>\n
Listen, I\u2019ve written a lot more about this than I should have. I didn\u2019t intend to write more than 1,000 words about \u201cIndependence Day.\u201d And it\u2019s a silly argument to get in, a weird way to fill some space.\u00a0But Fox, this is what happens when you don\u2019t let us see and write about your movies, I guess.<\/p>\n
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Chris Williams<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n