The Independence Day story combined tropes from beloved invasion films that came before but combined them with 90s action sensibilities.
Independence Day, the 1996 sci-fi disaster film from director Roland Emmerich (Stargate, The Day After Tomorrow), touted Fourth of July weekend fun as the film also took place around our national Independence Day but with, you know, an alien invasion.
The movie would go on to usher in the age of more big-scale action disaster movies and was 1996’s highest-grossing film.
Goldblum essentially playing himself as a charismatic engineer and Smith being the bad ass hero with always something to say.