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    Independence Day 1996, Final Encounter Air Battle Scene, Director: Roland Emmerich

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    2. JabbaThePrincess on

      Quaid’s fucking broad delivery fully punctured whatever slight drama or tension there was in this scene.

    3. riegspsych325 on

      more autoplaying movie clips than usual lately, ID4 came up in yesterday’s Mrs. Doubtfire thread

    4. Sinatra94 on

      *0.2 seconds after losing your only remaining parent*

      “Hey be happy, I know he was your dad and all, but how about a smile?”

    5. Skippy8898 on

      One of the few movies I’ve seen in the theater twice. First with my co-workers and then my parents wanted to see it.

    6. mjknlr on

      I recently learned the explosion caused by Randy Quaid’s plane is the Empire State Building explosion asset from earlier in the film reused, but upside-down. Look closely and you’ll see it.

    7. Emperor_Zar on

      Star Fox 64 has a Battle in it that is basically just this scene. And it is awesome.

    8. dweezil37 on

      The explosion of the alien laser is the Empire State building being blown up in the beginning of the movie being reused. Brilliant.

    9. Manicplea on

      Honestly still looks pretty good to me. They captured the sense of scale well. Sometimes in movies when they zoom out on megastructures they may be appropriately scaled technically but just don’t feel imposingly large. The ship in this movie FEELS big… the lumbering movement, the distance=haze effect, the tiny lights/windows blowing up in sequence. I haven’t seen the movie since the late 90’s but it really still looks good to me (although I acknowledge some jank in the effects but the overall feel, flow and look is excellent).

    10. FrankDukakis on

      Fun fact: the initial explosion is just the Empire State Building explosion turned upside down. 

    11. Dave_Eddie on

      One of the last big blockbusters to make full use of miniatures before CGI fully took over. Really let’s the film age well.

    12. rredmond on

      Adam Baldwin’s Major character was really great in this scene. He allowed himself a quite couple seconds to celebrate, then (as a true leader would) remembered to address the son. I don’t care if folks think it’s cheesy, it’s a great scene!

    13. azad_ninja on

      original version had Randy Quaid flying his crop dusting biplane instead of the f-16 which makes more sens,e but looked stupid

    15. handawanda on

      Of course they never discuss the inevitable awful environmental fallout caused by detonating dozens of these massive alien spacecrafts all over the world — similar to the Noghri’s homeworld in Star Wars, or the theories about the “Endor Holocaust”

    16. StrangeSemiticLatin2 on

      I love Emmerich and I’ll fight everyone who doesn’t*. Even when I don’t like his films, I love him. Just look at that above, no one does that sort of dumb, big spectacle as good as he does.

      *Or create an arrogant mayor character out of them in a giant iguana movie.

    17. bandicoot_crash on

      It’s movies like Independence Day and the OG Star Wars trilogy that made aerial dogfighting combat seem so cool. Don’t see very many of these kinds of action scenes in recent films outside of Top Gun Maverick, which is my favourite movies since the Pandemic changed the film industry.

    18. UrguthaForka on

      Always wondered why they never tried any heavier ordnance after they brought the shields down. Air to air sidewinders and AMRAM missiles don’t pack much of a punch (they don’t need to, fighter aircraft are sort of fragile). Surface to air missiles, or Hellfire or Maverick air to ground missiles, or B-2’s bombing the ships from above seems like they would cause a lot more damage.

    19. inspectorPK on

      This soundtrack still kicks ass. I love blasting the music that plays during the presidents speech on the 4th of July.

    20. munkee_dont on

      Scene is ruined by Quaid and the director. Pick a final line, Either use the “Up yours” or use the “i’m Back” using both was stupid.

    21. topherthepest on

      My biggest regret in life is that I never saw this movie in theaters. Im hoping somewhere we get a 30th anniversary for this so I can remedy that failure.

    22. m48a5_patton on

      I saw this movie in theaters opening weekend, it was an amazing experience! My jaw almost hit the floor when the alien craft started appearing over NYC

    23. Restless_spirit88 on

      This film’s special effects was a terrific combination of digital and model work.

    24. Legitimate_Finding62 on

      The musical score in this scene, and throughout the film, is so good.

    25. run-on_sentience on

      The high pitched sound the ship makes right as the weapon charges up and explodes when Randy Quaid hits it is actually an audio clip of James Brown.

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