Independence Day Made Us All Better Americans

Even if you aren't American

I’ll never stop being mad at Independence Day: Resurgence. Of all movies to make a terribly sequel to… why defile Independence Day, the greatest of all 90s action movies?

If you’ve never seen it, don’t. Just rewatch the original. And I’ll tell you why.

Like many people, the first Independence Day was an emotional experience for me. I was 14 and saw the movie twice n the theaters; the first time in opening weekend in San Antonio, the second at the theater in Tinker Air Force base. Both times, the audience was made of military families and veterans, which made it all the better.

There was laughter, there were tears, there was raucous cheering at several points. The cheers were so loud, in fact, that my father's non-American friend actually asked him if the audience understood that the movie was not real. But here's the thing—in a way, Independence Day was real to us. It was real not just because of the awesome special effects or the tightly written plot, but because of the characters. So …