History Awesome / IndependenceDay

* A major shout-out to the Royal Air Force, the Luftwaffe, the Armée de l'air, the IDF, the JASDF, the VVS, the [=KLu=], the RSAF, the PLAAF, the [=FiAF=], the RCAF, and every other air force who managed to hold their ground against the attackers and take down the city destroyers.

-->'''President Whitmore:''' Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution...but from annihilation. We're fighting for our right to live - to exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice: ''We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!'' We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our [[TitleDrop Independence Day]]!

** And a major shout-out to the Royal Air Force, the Luftwaffe, the Armée de l'air, the IDF, the JASDF, the VVS, the [=KLu=], the RSAF, the PLAAF, the [=FiAF=], the RCAF, and every other air force who managed to hold their ground against the attackers and take down the city destroyers.

** And a major shout-out to the Royal Air Force, the Luftwaffe, the Armée de l'air, the IDF, the JASDF, the VVS, the [=KLu=], the SRAF, the PLAAF, and every other air force who managed to hold their ground against the attackers and take down the city destroyers.

** And a major shout-out to the RAF, the Luftwaffe, the Armée de l'air, the IDF, the JASDF, the VVS, the [=KLu=], the SRAF, the PLAAF, and every other air force who managed to hold their ground against the attackers and take down the city destroyers.

** And a major shout-out to the RAF, the Luftwaffe, the Armée de l'air, the IDF, the JASDF, the VVS, the [=KLu=], and every other air force who managed to hold their ground against the attackers and take down the city destroyers.

** And a major shout-out to the RAF, the Luftwaffe, the Armée de l'air, the IDF, the JASDF, the VVS, the KLu, and every other air force who managed to hold their ground against the attackers and take down the city destroyers.

* The aliens in this movie are badass. They show up out of nowhere, set up their pieces, and utterly demolish every major city they can find with methodical precision. They [[ImplacableMan stand undeterred behind shields]], and they only talk to PunyHumans via ''other'' PunyHumans to tell them they're going to die. They're very satisfying bad guys for all those reasons and more.

** And then Major Mitchell walks up to the alien, all intent and calm, looks it square in the eye, and then delivers the final killing shot. The expression on Major Mitchell's face...

* The aliens in this movie are badass. They show up out of nowhere, set up their pieces, and utterly demolish every major city they can find with methodical precision. They [[ImplacableMan stand undeterred behind shields]], and they only talk to PunyHumans via ''other'' PunyHumans to tell them they're going to die. They're very satisfying bad guys for all those reasons and more.

* Russell's crowning moment after realizing that his final missile has jammed, says good bye to his children before flying into the alien ship's primary weapon, gleefully screaming "Hello boys! I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!!" And the aliens promptly learn they fucked with the wrong race.

* [[spoiler:"Awesome" is still the best word that can describe the scene where people are trying to [[OutrunTheFireball outrun the ginormous fireballs]] created by the alien ships. The audience in theaters were screaming for the people to escape. When the sequence ended with the screen's abrupt switch to black immediately followed by the date showing up with the imposing doom sound, the audience in a number of theaters cheered, a true complement in how the film had gripped them to the edge of their seats.]]
* Let's just face it. this alien invasion movie was, is & still a CrowningMomentofAwesome for Creator/RolandEmmerich, the actors, and the film itself; not to mention ''every'' TV channel aired it mostly every month. ''ESPECIALLY'' the Visual Effects, '''HOLY freakin' SHIT!'''

-->'''Major Mitchell:''' No, sir! ''(He and several others pull out their guns and start blowing the shit out of the lab window and the alien behind it)''

* Finally being able to hit the aliens. A moment summed up nicely in one line: Payback's a bitch!

*** Even more awesome if you imagine that it's [[Series/{{Chuck}} John Casey]] shooting the alien dead. Or [[{{Firefly}} Jayne Cobb]]. Or [[Franchise/MassEffect Kal'Reegar]]. Let's just say that Adam Baldwin has been gloriously type-cast as a gun-toting badass.

* The gigantic fireballs that appear in the sky when the city destroyers are entering Earth's atmosphere.
* The alien mothership. It's 1/4 the size of the moon, looks like a half-Death Star with a pair of fangs hanging from the bottom, and houses God knows how many aliens and what kinds of technology inside. Not to mention, it can deploy probably ''hundreds'' of those city destroyers from its underbelly.

* The gigantic fireballs that appear in the sky when the city destroyers are entering Earth's atmosphere.

** That entire sequence where they launch their attack; the two decide they aren't getting out of this alive, and light up the cigars before setting off the virus and the nuke one after another, standing up to smile and wave at the aliens for good measure. The kicker is that the alien had no idea what was going on when it saw them. The confused and shocked reaction to the Jolly Roger virus appearing on the screens just sells the whole moment,

* The gigantic fireballs that appear in the sky when the city destroyers are entering Earth's atmosphere.
* Let us all pause [[FridgeLogic to consider]] the fact that a massive alien invasion, the virtual destruction of the US armed forces, and annihilation of most of the major civilian population centers has not had an appreciable affect on the Postal Service delivering Hiller's mail... [[UnstoppableMailman at a military base that]] [[{{Area51}} doesn't even exist.]]

* Let's just face it. this alien invasion movie was, is & still a CrowningMomentofAwesome for RolandEmmerich, the actors, and the film itself; not to mention ''every'' TV channel aired it mostly every month. ''ESPECIALLY'' the Visual Effects, '''HOLY freakin' SHIT!'''

* The gigantic fireballs that appear in the sky when the city destroyers are entering Earth's atmosphere.

** The White House Destruction ''is'' the movie's trope! Literally.

* Let's just face it, this alien invasion movie was, is & still a CrowningMomentofAwesome for RolandEmmerich, the actors, and the film itself; not to mention ''every'' TV channel aired it mostly every month. ''ESPECIALLY'' the Visual Effects, '''HOLY freakin' SHIT!'''

** The part when the