INDEPENDENCE DAY
Added 2021-07-06 19:48:23 +0000 UTCI caught maybe the last hour of it on July 4th, as one does. Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but this time around I found Will Smith to be really annoying and trying way too hard to be charismatic. When I was younger he was always the stand-out. But I dunno...re-watching it this last time, it felt forced. Now Jeff Goldblum on the other hand....give that man an Oscar for that role. XD His eccentric energy is hilarious. Say what you will about Roland Emmerich, but Independence Day remains a fairly coherent staple despite how overstuffed it is.
Comments
Yeah it's silly as hell, but it works. It's cohesive. Makes total sense to me why it is his most successful film.
Deepfocuslens
2021-07-07 18:17:53 +0000 UTCIndependence Day still works really well, even with the cheeseball elements that didn’t seem as corny when I was younger. Emmerich is actually one of my favorite sort of hacky action directors. I find Day After Tomorrow, 2012, White House Down and Midway all very dumb and emotionally manipulative but very watchable and engaging if you just go with it
Jim Barnes
2021-07-07 07:25:21 +0000 UTCOh, I agree completely that he’s charismatic. And I totally understand watching him onscreen why he’s a star. He has that quality. And I very much understand why you find him so annoying In Independence Day. In that film, he doesn’t give a performance. He gives one-liners. I suppose the point I wanted to make is that the reason I don’t much care for him—at least, in his early acting career—is because he was coming from a market-driven mindset rather than an artistic one. He’s admitted as much in interviews. To some extent, I’m sure he still thinks that way. That’s why you found him to be trying too hard to be appealing in the movie. He was playing to the audience rather than playing a character. Too eager to please, which is death for any performer. This went on for a number of years. It really wasn’t until The Pursuit of Happyness that he began to take risks (aside from Ali), moving away from his persona. And I’ll give him credit for that, though I still consider him an actor of lesser abilities than his contemporaries. The other thing I’ll give him credit for is that he’s embraced getting older better than most stars, certainly more so than Tom Cruise. There’s a weariness and gravitas to his Deadshot in Suicide Squad that looks good on him. He’s come a long way from his wisecracking pilot.
Bennett Oliver
2021-07-07 02:48:11 +0000 UTCWe gotta stop showing any praise to Hollywood and all these pedo satanic elites. The Schtick is done! Screw their careers!
Tony Moro
2021-07-07 00:49:58 +0000 UTC*Smith
Tony Moro
2021-07-07 00:47:49 +0000 UTCWill Snith is another Hollywood pedophile. Also a shitty actor.
Tony Moro
2021-07-07 00:47:39 +0000 UTCOh I have absolutely gotten jiggy with it. I still have my Will Smith Greatest Hits CD from like 1999.
Deepfocuslens
2021-07-06 23:41:02 +0000 UTCYeah agreed. He found a good balance of charm and annoyance with Fresh Prince.
Deepfocuslens
2021-07-06 23:40:19 +0000 UTCI mean, he's not untalented obviously. He's a performer and he has charisma. But to me it gets tiring. I'm not a fan of this particular type of personality. A bit too strong, too self-absorbed, that sort of thing. But he has proven himself in certain films, like what you've mentioned here
Deepfocuslens
2021-07-06 23:39:39 +0000 UTCWill Smith is one of my least favorite movie stars. There aren’t many dimensions to him compared to Tom Hanks or Denzel Washington or even Tom Cruise. And out of all his movie star contemporaries, he’s probably the least skilled actor. But despite that, he’s gotten better over time. In the early days of his stardom, beginning with ID4, his presence and aura as a star was there, but his limits were especially apparent—all calculated attitude and wisecracks. He had pretty much brought over his Fresh Prince persona to the big screen. For a while that worked for him, up until Wild Wild West. After that POS, he learned that his shtick could only take him so far. In the next decade, he tamped down his persona and fine tuned it, giving himself more authority and gravitas with each movie and less snark. That, combined with his growing confidence as an actor—especially after Ali— made him better on screen. Whatever you think of the movie, Hancock was a step up for him. He gave himself over to the character rather than worry about what the audience would want. And he was one of the better elements of Suicide Squad, even if he couldn’t elevate the film beyond the mess that it was. So basically, I still find him limited in what he can do, but he’s improved. I’m curious to know what he does next. He might surprise me.
Bennett Oliver
2021-07-06 23:23:16 +0000 UTCTrust me. It's cringe here in America too.
Wolfman Brandon
2021-07-06 22:43:58 +0000 UTCI HAAAAAAATE this movie! It came out when I was ten. Sure, as a kid, I enjoyed it and saw it quite a few times. As an adult, this and the sequels are two of my most despised films I've ever seen. Emmerich is a TRASH "filmmaker".
Tony Moro
2021-07-06 22:26:29 +0000 UTCI rewatched The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air a couple of years back and I found Smith really charismatic in it, despite the annoying character he plays. Independence Day was the first Smith movie I saw and, while I liked it back in the day, the last time I watched it I had a hard time finding any redeeming qualities at all beyond "aliens, cool!" and possibly the build-up to the attack. I don't see the same charisma in Smith there at all. And that predident speech, when I was a kid I thought it was great, but watching it now it's just a huge pile of cringe. Maybe being American helps, you're more used to presidents giving that kind of speech over there than I am in Sweden, I don't know.... I'm also of the opinion that Emmerich is just horrible, there is absolutely nothing there for me, with 2012 at the absolute bottom as possibly the worst movie I ever saw.
Kristian Vessman
2021-07-06 21:01:09 +0000 UTCThe "checkmate" speech is one of the cheesiest scenes ever but Goldblum does sell it. Ever since I saw Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney, I never went back to this one for 4th of July. George Cohen had more self awareness than Emmerich's entire filmography.
Wolfman Brandon
2021-07-06 20:44:09 +0000 UTCAre you saying you couldn't get jiggy with it? I can't think of many roles where Will Smith isn't like that. Hancock maybe? I think I prefer loud Will Smith.
Jesse Albert Garcia
2021-07-06 20:13:09 +0000 UTCI remember liking Smith and Goldblum playing off each other. All and all, the movie itself was probably more enjoyable to watch as a kid.
Ronet Jankovski
2021-07-06 20:08:39 +0000 UTCnever liked smith lol
Dan Tedesco
2021-07-06 20:03:48 +0000 UTC
