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Changes: Independence Day vs. War of the Worlds Part 1

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(alien snarling again)
  
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'''NChick (VO): '''Less so.
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'''NChick (VO): '''Less so.{{NChscripts}}
 
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Revision as of 10:20, 26 April 2015

Independence Day vs. War of the Worlds Part 1

Independence Day vs. War of the Worlds Pt. 1

Released
April 10th 2014
Running time
18:08
Previous review
The Day After Tomorrow
Next review
Independence Day vs. War of the Worlds Part 2

NChick: Alien invasion movies.

(cut to clips from Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Attack The Block)

NChick: They just never go away!

(Clips from Signs and Skyline)

(Clips from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Independence Day, The Host and Skyline)

NChick (VO): Low budget, high budget, success, epic-est of failures, you name it, this is a premise that does not look to ever be going away.

NChick: Why is that? Well, as a concept, 'alien' is a super-broad one.Aliens have a wider emboidment of our hopes, our fears, our self-defined relationship to the other than any other paranormal, magical, sci-fi concept. In short, aliens have a lot of versatility just as a basic premise.

(clips from Signs and Independence Day)

NChick (VO): But big-budget Hollywood invasion movies, less so.

NChick: Because they have to have a happy ending. It's in the rules.

(Clips from War of the Worlds, Battleship, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)

NChick (VO): And really huge giant big-budget blockbuster alien invasion movies, there are really only a few of those. Most recently, you have Battleship and the Transformers franchise, though I'm not sure how the alien part figures into the appeal of Transformers. They're about as un-alien as anthropomorphic car-men are gonna get.

Mudflap: Look at this motherf- *CLONK*

NChick: No, no, I am more interested in the honest to God, they're here to exterminate us, boom and bombast, straight up invasion narrative and to do that....

(clips from Independence Day and War of the Worlds)

NChick (VO): ...we are going to compare the seminal alien invasion movie of the 1990s and the seminal alien invasion movie of the....

NChick: ...aughts....two....two-thous.... Seriously, guys, it's been, like, 5 years since that decade ended, we need to agree on a name for it.

(intercutting clips of ID4 and WOTW)

NChick (VO): Two movies that, despite the basic premise being nigh-identical, are incredibly different takes on the same experience. One bombastic and full of optimism, the other dour, gritty and full of painful honesty about human nature, one generally remembered fondly, the other less so.

NChick: But before we get into the content of the movies themselves, let's examine the.....everything that went into making these movies the way they is. Why is they the way they is? And more importantly....

(Clip of tripod rising from ground in WOTW)

NChick (VO): Why is War of the Worlds, which is in so many ways a masterpiece of modern filmmaking and by most metrics - 

NChick: Key word, 'most' - a superior film, remembered less fondly than Independence Day? I've thought us up some reasons. Let us list them.

Title Card: 1. War of the Worlds had a really hard act to follow. (called 'Independence Day')

NChick: War of the Worlds is, in many ways, a response to Independence Day.

(intercutting clips of WOTW and ID4)

NChick (VO): Part of that may be because Spielberg was thinking of remaking War of the Worlds when Independence Day came along and it became the ultimate alien invasion movie.

NChick: So there are elements that respond to Independence Day in War of the Worlds.

(pilots' briefing in ID4)

NChick (VO): This....

Steven Hiller: I'm just a little anxious to get up there and whup E.T.'s ass, that's all.

NChick (VO): Evolves into this...

(Robbie and Ray arguing at roadside as army rolls by)

Robbie: And we get BACK at them! We get- We get BACK at THEM!

(Emerging into the destroyed city in ID4)

NChick (VO): This....

Dylan: What happened, Mommy?

NChick (VO): Evolves into this...

(Rachel screaming as Ray tries to focus on driving)

Rachel: TAKE ME TO MOM!

Ray: OK, that's where we're going right now! Rachel, be-

(Casse rolls up in his RV)

NChick (VO): This....

Russell Casse: Need a lift, soldier?

NChick (VO): Evolves into this...

(desperate man ripping apart windshield with bloodied hands

NChick: And this, my favorite subtle dig....

(Ray and Rachel watching lightning storm)

Ray: Isn't this fun? It's like the fourth of July!

Rachel: No, it's not....

Ray: O say, can- (they retreat indoors after a violent strike sets off car alarms)

NChick (VO): Your movie's not scary, MY movie is scary, fuck you, Roland Emmerich.

NChick: The most obvious refutation is the tone...

(Ray's breakdown in the diner)

NChick (VO): Which makes Schindler's List look bright and cheerful.

(Intercutting clips of ID4 and WOTW) 

NChick (VO): As with all of Roland's movies, the fall of civilization brings people together. In War of the Worlds, the fall of civilization turns people into self-serving animals.

NChick: But at the same time, while refuting certain elements, War of the Worlds certainly borrows a lot from Independence Day as well.

(missiles exploding against flying saucer's shield and grenade exploding against tripod's shield)

NChick (VO): For instance, there's this....

(skyscraper being obliterated and tripod unleashing Heat Ray)

NChick (VO): This...

(Bacteria in opening of WOTW)

NChick (VO): Both rely on a contrived virus of some sort to save humanity...

NChick: And is that an ex-wife I spy? 

Mary Ann: You think?

NChick: But to me, the most egregious thing is this.

(WOTW alien appears snarling)

NChick (VO): Really, Spielberg? Really?

(side by side comparison of ID4 and WOTW aliens)

NChick (VO): COME ON!

NChick: Before I start digging on the alien design, I want to talk about the tripods.

(montage of tripod scenes)

NChick (VO): I. Fucking. Love. The tripods. God damn, there is nothing about the tripods that I don't love. There is not one second of screentime with tripod on it that I don't adore. Hell, I'd watch an entire movie of tripods! Tripods massacring people, suckin' out the blood, burning the innocent, new and innovative ways of- OH FUCK YES TRIPODS.

NChick: Seriously, the tripods are so beautiful and genius and gorgeous, I don't understand why they aren't an iconic...you know, thing, on the level of Giger's Alien or the Terminator or E.T.. The tripods. Are. Awesome. The aliens what drive them...

(alien snarling again)

NChick (VO): Less so.

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