7. The Cheesy Script
The script for Independence Day is typically full of the type of cheesy one-liners that most blockbusters thrive on, usually from Will Smith's cocky fighter pilot ("Welcome to Earth," "I could have been at a barbecue"), but it is easily Bill Pullman's troop-rallying "Independence Day" speech ahead of the final attack that really steals the show. The speech is wonderfully jingoistic and patriotic (and Emmerich has so much faith in the words he resists adding an intrusive musical swell beneath them to sell the emotion of the scene, beyond a relatively slight build), and it is a powerfully affecting moment in the film. See for yourselves... http://youtu.be/l31UUl5SyXk If I could bottle up and sell that feeling I still get every time I hear Pullman, I'd be a rich man.