Spoilers & for a good reason… kinda

confession time… ive never seen the entirety of this film. Ive seen from the point where Jeff & Will arrive at the Alien space ship. I remember seeing that as a kid & obviously when the White House blows up as thats iconic. But yea i had never seen the rest of it at all. So i know what the outcome was, but have never got around to seeing it. But ive brought Disney Plus again to binge all of Marvel TV so its time to watch this & see if it still holds up. Lots of 90s film dont anymore.

WHY HAVE I ONLY JUST SEEN THIS FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY WHY WHY!!!!!! OMG!!!!
Basically it holds up & its good & some of its a bit cringe but some of the stuff they use is very much still what people use today. I mean its corny & everything but yea this is a good film.

Star of the film is Bill Pullman (sorry Jeff we will get to you in a min). What a president. Hes not Palmer or Kirkman but he had to deal with Aliens, failing popularity, huge death, his wife dying & then fighting the aliens too (yeah i know big hero corny move but still). But at no point was i worried he was going to fuck up, he was doing all he could. He told people when to fuck off at the right time & his speech about it being everyone independence day is bloody brilliant. Its not quite my name is Maximus, but he nails it & when he stands there & says it, i did think yeah id go into battle for him. Thats the kinda confidence i want in a leader. Brilliant Bill.

Now for Jeff, whos just being Jeff & is just adorable & i love him. The fact he goes to get his dad & is busy trying to sort it all out, its wonderful. Hes properly good & hes so cool & he saves some lives in the early stages of the film & then saves the world a the end. the Opps comment brilliant. Hes an amazing back seat driver to that alien ship.

Will Smiths good, but i dont think he deserves top Billing on the film. I know it was the 90s & Will was the biggest hot property in media at the time, but the other 2 deserved it more. I mean the fact we dont meet him until theres a fuck ton of aliens popping up, & then theres bits where hes not there for a while. Hes crucial dont get me wrong he needed to go to space after getting rejected by Nasa but still. His partners character development & her survival story was more interesting than his.

Films still do the please dont do that & then the person goes & does it & dies to this day so that was coming a mile off. Also what did they think that the aliens were going to come & party to rave music with them…

I know they had to take out the land marks & destroy the statue of liberty, its a 90s action film of course they are going to do that. However when it hits the white house, that is so iconic. Its wonderful. & then the way in which the weapon just destroys everything in those cities, its so cleverly done & looks so cool, & it takes a while from when Jeff says theres a countdown for it to actually happen so you are tense until that point. Its brilliant. The panic & the madness of it all. The cars flipping the building just crumbling (which unfortunately we do know this is how they all fall now) its properly sitting there going wow. They nailed it then so much that 20 years later those tricks are being used still (just in a bit more HD). ITs really good.

The dog survives it all. & the service cupboard in the tunnel is the only thing that doesnt shatter in LA.

Taking the Alien through the desert is bloody cool, when hes got no help or back up. I mean when they did destroy his air force base, they didnt actually hit any planes or building & then later on when his partner gets there its all gone, a lot happened off screen didnt it.

Area 51 was a nice touch (this posts now probably been picked up by the FBI for me typing about it so high guys its just a film review nothing classified here to worry about). I do like that the president does turn up tho & go right fuck the protocol let me the fuck in. I mean the alien conversation was a bit weird with the telepathy, but other than that, that is always how ive kinda imagined all of area 51 to look like.

The odd guy who said hed been taken by aliens years ago is a sub plot we dont see enough of, o as much as his sacrifice at the end is crucial to kill them all, it could have been a bit more gut wrenching than it was, thats why his kid rushes in isnt it. Its more heart breaking watching Bill say goodbye to his wife & have to tell his little girl mummys asleep now. That hurt that really hurt, that kid had been so brave too.

The wedding nice too, &the fact that Jeff & his wife sit there as witnesses is lovely. was expecting the dog to turn up with the rings.

The race to get out of the alien ship is one of those that you know there going to make it but you still feel yourself edging off your seat slightly going come on guys fly fly fly. I like the wave at those aliens too. Also how did they get lose they were docked right???

So i am very happy i have now seen this film. I really am. ITs bloody good & i laughed & felt tense & wanted to cheer them to victory. Its a bloody good film & i actually cant wait to watch it again in full at some pointing the future & go ooooh i get that part now.