We’re saying happy 250th birthday to America this July 4th by rewatching Roland Emmerich’s 1996 alien invasion disaster movie, Independence Day. Evacuate the White House, fire up the jets, and grab your Apple PowerBook 5300, we’re going to take this mothership down.

Molly and Chloe venture into the exclusion zone and scope out the multiple plotlines starring Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman as they defend the world from extraterrestrial attack. We discuss why Emmerich stuck to his guns in casting Smith, what makes the visual effects hold up (for the most part) and whether modern blockbusters are as good as the classics.

Plus we give the movie’s best moments some military honours, target its most 90s details, and make some recommendations for exceptional extraterrestrial movies and disaster flicks.

The quote at the start is from Todd McCarthy’s 1996 review in Variety.

The quote from the visual effects supervisor comes from The Hollywood Reporter’s retrospective. To see photos of how the filmmakers created the lit-up clouds around the spaceships, check this piece on Before & Afters.

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Check out the other films we recommended on Letterboxd

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