When I was in the military, every year we were away on the July 4th, many of us would also yell "I could have been at a barbecue!"

"Penetrate them with your hand", and then the uncontrollable smirk lol

"Either we are alone in the universe or we are not, both are equally terrifying".

Bill Pullman gives genuinely one of the most inspirational speech moments ever. I would fight beside him with no question

I like how Davids laptop greats him “Good Morning Dave” take back to Hal from 2001 a space odyssey 🤣

42:56 Jeff Goldblum: “Must go faster!” Also, in Jurassic Park: “Must go faster!”

"Why wasn't I told about this place?" "Because you would have contaminated it!" Lmao I'm dead

20:40 "Is the president allowed to override this facility?" Absolutely. it's a military base and the president is the commander in chief of every bit of the U.S. military, even the secret bits.

Will Smith punching an alien while saying "welcome to earth" will forever be iconic!

The actor that played Jimmy, the pilot, was Harry Conick, Jr. He was a lot more famous for his music than his acting.

Hotshot pilot and NASA hopeful Hiller never actually *lands* anything except a helicopter, and he *stole* that.

The $300 an hr in the 90's for the therapist was a pop culture reference/joke. The therapist was Dr. Katz, who is a mediocre yet overpriced cartoon therapist who had many celebrity clients. It was a popular show in the early-ish/mid 90's.

It was real: they left a refractor that can be hit with a laser amdyou will get the light back, and if you, calculating the time it takes, will know that is from the moon :)

I think Bill Pulllmans speech is my all time favorite movie speech.

I really enjoyed the fact that you gave us the context of what Russell's character arc in the novelization and comics was. Great little bit of research.

"Who to call" is just the chain of command. Doesn't matter what the issue is, the people you call doesn't change. The briefing to the President would be easy too, just the facts. A massive object has been detected passing the moon and slowing down to enter orbit, it's this size and currently this far away moving at this speed, at which rate it will enter orbit in this many hours. And the person giving the briefing would have the same detached, calm demeanor as they would briefing the weather.

The president's speech is one of the best 👌 👍 😊

As regards Russell Casse: he gets to men as well. He's the flawed, unlikely hero with whom we can identify. When the missile jammed while armed, we all knew there was only one option left. As men, we like to hope that given those circumstances, we'd make Russell's choice. We're also terrified that we'd turn tail and run.

I also wanna say if a life is broken, dont quit on them. There is a hero in all of us. Russell showed us that.

As a person who has witnessed death first-hand, and experienced the loss of friends who were considered family I must say, the part where the president tells his daughter that "Mommy's sleeping" brings me to tears every single time I watch it...

"I’m a combat pilot, Will. I belong in the air."

No David going to DC was not pointless. He was going there to show them that there was a countdown embedded in our satellite systems leading to a coordinated global attack. Not to prove they were hostile.

Imagine seeing this movie in the theater when you were 15 years old. It blew my mind.

The scene in which Will Smith drags the unconscious alien across the desert was filmed on the salt flats near Great Salt Lake in Utah. Smith's line, "And what the hell is that *smell*?" was unscripted Great Salt Lake is home to tiny crustaceans called brine shrimp. When they die, the bodies sink to the bottom of the lake (which isn't very deep) and decompose. When the wind kicks up just right, the bottom mud is disturbed and the smell of millions of decaying brine shrimp can be very, very bad. Apparently, nobody warned Will.

Cousin Eddie saves the universe.

The extended edition of this movie makes it even better.

One of the best quotes i heard about this movie was, "we should beam Independence Day into space and say it was a true story, that way no aliens start shit" lol

Life will Find a Way is indeed a quote but also Must go Faster from the same movie also finds its way into this movie.

I love this movie it's 28 years old and still looks incredible lol 14:30 the white house explosion is an iconic shot 15:12 the audience in theaters cheered at that part for obvious reasons lol 18:00 the best welcome ever lol 19:29 that was mostly improv by Will and the smell he's asking about is actually coming from the dry lake bed they're on lol 32:48 one of the best speeches in cinema history 42:55 Jeff Goldblum and the Director were talking about his line from Jurassic Park "must go faster, must go faster, must go faster" and thought it would fit in well here so they added it in lol

Fun fact: "What the hell is that smell?" was not acting. This was filmed on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The flats are what was left after Lake Bonneville dried up 30,000 years ago. The only part that's still a lake is the Great Salt Lake, which is so salty nothing can live in it except Brine Shrimp. What he was smelling was 4 billion dead brine shrimp. When the wind is right, that smell washes over the city. It's woken me up twice.

Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee gave their lives to see that the Apollo program succeeded. When people suggest that the moon landing was fake, it' sort of bothers me. In 1969 the USSR used a series of satellites to track the Apollo capsule to the Moon and back. From 1969 -1977 the USSR had a lunar surface mapping program called (LUNOKHOD). They recorded, photographed, and mapped the entire surface of the Moon with a series of lunar rovers and orbiting satellites. Keep in mind, the United States was in a space race with the USSR. Had the USSR not found the actual Apollo landing site, the Russians would have gladly and gleefully exposed the United States with their photographs in 1969. In order to believe that the moon landing was faked that means ALL of the engineers and technicians at NASA and ALL of the engineers and technicians in the Russian Space program have covered it up for 54 years. It's difficult to keep a secret between two people let alone thousands of people.

19:37 Fun fact, that line was improvised, Will Smith was legit reacting to the smell of rotting shrimp in a nearby lake

"HELLO BOYS! I'M BAAAAAAAACK!"

One of the greatest summer blockbusters ever. Meant for a July 3rd release. But then it was pushed back to July 2nd for huge demand. A cast of this size well built for a film this size and the actors they casted were all enjoyable to watch. dir. Emmerich & writer. Devlin, who are producers under the imprint of CENTROPOLIS Entertainment had prior hits (Universal Soldier, Stargate) and this was their biggest one yet. The teaser trailer had everybody losing it. Especially with The White House getting torched. The speech by Bill Pullman as president Whitmore to the last line of defense is one of the great movie speeches ever. The merchandise was crazy. Toys, video games, prequel publications (novel and comic) etc. The cropduster's character was actually abducted in Independence Day #0 from Marvel Comics and the novel 'Ground Zero'. No.1 film of 1996 and Academy Award winner for Best Visual Effects. As for the 2016 sequel aka Resurgence........ You'll have to see that for yourself.

Okay, before watching those scenes, I wanna make a prediction: Lamby will love the explosions! Edit: Okay, so I think Lamby did love the explosions, that smile doesn't lie, but refrained from showing it clearly out of respect for the victims. P.S. I'm so glad you loved the film, Jax! And make sure to properly punish that tissue box! Also, nice joke at the end, heh.

The "Independence Day" speech by Bill Pullman was written as a placeholder, but Emmerich and Devlin forgot to work on it until Bill Pullman started rehearsing on set. His performance was so bombastic that the extras and crew were cheering, causing the speech to be left as it was.‬

I love your sheer joy whenever you correctly guess what a character is about to say.

Jax Military Reverend was played by Rance Howard, late father of Ron and Clint Howard, grandfather of Bryce and Paige Howard, daughters of Ron Howard.

@43:14 I used to count along in my head too. Drove me nuts. Then I realized that cutting between scenes in the movies are showing things happening concurrently, not consecutively, as a story device. I was older than I should have been when I had that realization.

I love it when Jeff Goldblum's character says "Must go faster" on the way out of the mothership, as it is a direct callback to when he was in the jeep being chased by a T Rex in Jurassic Park a few years earlier.

For those of us who saw this in theaters, we know the original line was "F*** my lawyer", which you should be able to tell was dubbed out in future versions.

"Penetrate em with your hand." Jax 2024

"That voice sounds familiar". That's Harry Connick Jr! You may have seen him in Hope Floats with Sandra Bullock, but most of the time he is a singer, mostly of standards like Michael Buble. He was also a judge on American Idol for a few seasons a decade ago.

Jeff goldblum, Bill Pullman, Will Smith, Margeret Colin, Judd Hirsch, Randy Quaid...1996...what a movie! what a nostalgic time!...❤❤ And to answer your question on How we would say to the President?..😂.. "Well, Mr.President, we are totally f**ked up!!" 😂

It's cool how you picked up on the signal's meaning immediately

On your comment about being alone or not: "“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying” ― Arthur C. Clarke

We can't even get our own operating systems to work together, yet David interfaces with an alien system and uploads a virus in minutes. Sure thing Hollywood. Now watch the sequel.

I always likend england and usa's relationship like england is a tough short older brother who can throw down, but he had a younger brother who grew into a 7ft tall 400 pound crusher lol so england is a wiser sibling who wait for his lil brother to make the move and go "oooh okay yanks here we got this now"

In the novelization the nuclear blast did in fact affect the ship and weakened their shields to 10%. The aliens didn't expect earth to have nuclear weapons and were readying a counterattack that never came.

I'll always remember watching this on Independence day when it released. When the president finished his speech the whole theater stood and cheered and applauded.

Fun fact: The US Government refused to assist with any of the military scenes, because the filmmakers insisted on using Area 51 as a mid-film backdrop. At that time (1996), Area 51 was still Top Secret and wouldn't be officially confirmed by the US Air Force until 1998, and in 2013 by the CIA. The base only started appearing on aircraft navigation in 2007, and later on civilian maps (Google Maps) around 2009(ish?).

You might want to do War of the Worlds soon, it makes a pretty good companion piece to this. It even makes a veiled reference to this movie early on when Tom Cruise's character tries to calm his daughter by saying it's like the 4th of July.

1:08 I must have seen this opening a hundred times, and only now do I realize that, judging by the shadow, the spaceship must be travelling with like 20 miles per hour.

I liked this movie, when it first came out I saw it twice in the cinema, the sense of scale they give the ships in the opening sequence really hits you on the big screen. The only other time they have had a massive ship on screen was Star Wars. Episode 4: A New Hope which inspired this opening scene, though extra credit for the audio with Neil Armstrong's words from the moon landing (which was very real). Yes, the military has protocols for everything. It's Defcon 5 = Peacetime Defcon 1 = We're F****D! "I live in Los Angeles." As the Dad says 'Nobody's perfect'. 😋 LOL! I love your jump scares. 🤣🤣 The daughters little "Is mommy sleeping now?" is the biggest gut wrencher in this movie. "Penetrate them with your hand." Kinky! The speech was damn good, I always like it when they get a good one in. What a lot of people don't realise is that this is basically a re-imaging of War of the World's with the computer virus substituting for actual viruses, I saw the 1960's version when I was a kid and I still love it. If you want another good action flick I'd recommend The Rock with Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage.

This movie established Big Willy as the king of the 4th of July Box Office. With movies like Independance Day, Hancock, Men in Black, Wild Wild West, Bad Boys II and I, Robot.

"You should be sorry, and your punishment is death." OMG savage 🤣🤣🤣

"Let's get some fog in here, I want your deaths to be super cinematic" I love your commentary so much🤣🤣

That look when you said that line.... you know which one, 😂😂 seems there's more to you than the cute, innocent looking/sounding reactor lol

Grew up watching it and love it and love the big speech at the end and the hello boys I'm back line

Loved your review. Independence Day is just a fun sci-fi movie that still stands up today.

"Because you would have decontaminated it" that was pretty funny.

The Constance Spano character never experiences a moment of remorse that she didn't take her ex's warning seriously and evacuate the cities. Strange.

@9:25 I think Dylan and Lamby would make an unstoppable duo. Dylan definitely knows how to shoot the aliens. But, let’s not forget Boomer. He’s a tough, loyal companion. 😁

Jax !! "Penetrate with your hand ?!" haha LOL What an inspired girl !! LOL

"You think they have any idea what about to happen to 'em?" "Not a chance in hell. Good night!"

Jax's tissue box putting up a fight makes me think the aliens got to it first

"Penetrate them with your hand" I know you liked saying that. 😂

"The people who built the pyramids have returned." Oh, that's the other Roland Emmerich movie (and one of my favorite shows of all time). ; )

100% the best presidential speech! I usual try to start this movie around 11pm on the 3rd, so I hit that speech at midnight

Fun fact: the soundtrack over 'kidnapped by aliens..' also over the 'uncomfortable silences' of 'Pulp Fiction'

32:17 I won't lie, every time I watch this scene, I keep thinking how hilarious it would have been if Connie had just reached over and yanked off David's wedding ring and thrown it away. I would be laughing to this day!

This is your funniest reaction yet. It's nice to see kitty have some claws in these videos. Also, you've never looked prettier. Great video! 😊

super great reaction! I watch this movie every 4th. this year with you.

We can prove we actually went to the moon. They left reflective panels on the moon that, when zeroed in with a high-powered laser, will reflect back to us.

Thank you for making this the Love, Actually of action movies in our minds, Jax. Happy 4th!

Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. That was probably the most genuine startle reaction Ive seen you do lol. Thank you for the fantastic reaction! Love the jewelry headpiece btw, dont know what it's called lol, looks great

Oh well Jax, if we get invaded by aliens I am confident that Lamby will protect us and retaliate 10 fold. 😆🤭

For the Lamby Points 21:40, 28:25 that's tiny Mae Whitman

Boomer has to be the chillest dog who ever walked the Earth. Nothing phased him.

RE: Aliens coming to earth. Yes, the US government does have several plans in case of alien contact. Also, if aliens ever did come here, we would likely be very very screwed. The technology required to cross the distances between stars is so far beyond anything we are capable of that it wouldn't even be a fight. It would be an extermination. We would simply be ants occupying their picnic table.

I saw this movie at the theater 4 times when it came out and it was a blast every time seeing this spectacle on the big screen

24:45 That was just the armor of the biomechanical suit. The icky part is the suit itself. Since it's biomechanical it's a hybrid of biologic and mechanical aspects making it like a second skin.

I love this film. its definitely in my top 3 favorite films. I just love watching peoples reactions to its because its always the same story. At first everyone thinks "hmm a movie about aliens invading on the 4th of July? theres no way this is good" and then everyone is watching the final scenes with tears in their eyes and singing its praises. Watching peoples reactions to this movie makes me more excited for the 4th of july than the actual holiday does lol.

I remember watching this in theaters with my parents back in the 90s when I was a kid and I got all 2 on dvd

To answer your question about Area 51: Area 51, actually called Groom Lake Air Force Research Facility was and still is a testing ground for various air technologies. The most commonly known of which is the invention of stealth aircraft. There are obviously other research projects there as well but with how famous it has become I'm sure most of those were relocated a long time ago.

In my opinion, I personally miss films like this. The STORY has EVERYTHING in an ACTION/ADVENTURE film (from comedy to tender and emotional moments). I was kept on edge my first time seeing this movie.

The 'we keep it static free' military guy, actor born on same day as I was.

This movie holds the world record for most miniatures used in a movie with almost everything from the alien ships to the White House to the cities being miniatures in the film. With the heavy use of CGI in films, it is widely believed that the record will never be broken.

You had me at “Love Actually” 😁

"The President didn't even have knowledge that this existed. Is he allowed to override the protocols of this facility." Every employee of the Executive Branch - which includes every member of the military - works for the President. Any authority that an Executive Branch employee has, including the authority to establish safety protocols at a research facility, they derive from the President. They are employed to exercise the President's authority at the President's direction, even if that authority and those directions are second, third or fourth hand. They have NO authority which the President does not grant to them. They work for him. He does not work for them. He is not subject to their authority. He can override any decision any Executive Branch employee makes at any time for any reason. The President overriding a decision by an Executive Branch employee may be a really bad idea as the President himself may not have the training, expertise or knowledge base to make the best decision on a given issue - which is why the President has advisors on such subjects which Presidents typically listen to. But the President does have the authority. The problem here is that lower-level employees working for the President - like the entire military command structure and the Secretary of Defense - *knew* what was at Area 51 and they all decided to withhold that information from the President. That isn't their call to make. It cannot be allowed to be their call to make. They were not elected to make that decision. The President was. As for the danger of contamination from opening up Area 51, that's pretty much irrelevant at this point. If the goal is to protect Earth from exposure to alien pathogens, containment protocols at the lab where you're studying the few aliens you have recovered over the years makes sense. But by the time the President gets to Area 51 billions of aliens are invading Earth across the entire globe. And they don't care about protecting the Earth from alien infection.

Jax's best line ever 29:38!!! The look on your face had me lol'ing

The first time I saw this was in the theater on july 4th, when it came out. Yes, it was as awesome as that sounds, but it was also kinda terrifying too. It almost felt like it was very real and happening outside in the real world. We walked outside, looking at the night sky, wondering if they were up there.

Your always so smiley I love it your reactions make my day I always look forward to them sorry I can't contribute to your patreon at the moment but soon :)

The movie Poltergeist has Heather O'Rourke saying "They're here!" in the same way that Russell says "I'm back" Only she was referring to ghosts, not aliens! And she was also bathed in the same kind of light (only from a TV set) as Russell was. Are you going to watch the sequel next year?

Anybody who believes it is fake wasn’t alive when it happened.

Guy at the office in Washington was probably taking the opportunity to get rid of some incriminating paperwork…

The presidents speech makes me wanna run through a wall everytime i hear it 😂 🇺🇸

Great reaction like always Jax, love this movie, And a fun-fact Will Smith saying "what the hell is that smell?! " was improvised because there was a dead brine shrimp that are in the salt flats themselves and he was tired of smelling it. Keep up the good work.

Don't forget that one of the most American films of all time was made by a German director.

Bunch of trivia on this movie: the Empire State Building was blown up by the same practical fx guy that blew up the Death Star, but the shot is geographically impossible as no street terminates at the ESB. The White House model that was blown up was originally built for the movie Nixon. And the reason why an early 90's Apple can talk to alien software was that in a scene cut from the movie, it was explained we got a lot of tech from the crashed alien ship, including Macs.