Independence Daysaster (2013)
a review by Evan Landon
In 1996, Roland Emmerich directed a semi-incredible screenplay (with the help of producer Dean Devlin) that took America and the world by storm. After working together on the motion picture Stargate, the two co-wrote the entire film on the back of a napkin and sold it to 20th Century Fox to behold the magnum opus we all know as Independence Day. I'm just kidding, they did not write it on a napkin, or maybe they did, I don't know. I could probably fit.
Thusly, in 2013, the Syfy Channel released the Canadian science fiction mockbuster, Independence Daysaster. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “Why would Canada make a movie about an American holiday?” or “Why is anyone in their right minds reviewing this movie?” or “What the fuck is a daysaster?” All of these questions probably have answers, so I will try my bestest to answer them.
As the film's inspiration did over a decade before, Independence Daysaster boasts an all-star ensemble with such industry heavyweights as Supergirl's Andrea Brooks, Stargate: Atlantis & SG-1's Garwin Sanford, Final Destination 3 and The Ring Two's Ryan Merriman, and most notably That Thing You Do's Tom Everett Scott as the President of the United States. Bet you never thought you would ever see that statement in print, yet here we are. However, dude does get a President Whitmore-esque speech like Bill Pullman had in Independence Day to which is maybe worth the run time itself, even though it is to an off-screen military character that maybe has one or two lines total. Just watch that, if you can even find it.
Despite the human factor, which Merriman portrays Scott's fireman brother who saves the day, we never get any funky-looking alien CGI monsters, so I fault it for that more than anything else. The alien craft come off like fidget-spinners that have a difficult time against a green screen in the Canadian wilderness (also known as “Moose Ridge”), but maybe the most egregious atrocity has to be the hacker girl's bangs. I probably could have looked up her name, but my time here on Earth is limited.
The overall budget was around $1.8 million, so to any of you hopeful filmmakers out there think that is not enough to make a film, low and behold this incredible waste of time and money. It was released on DVD after it's Syfy channel debut. No gore, no story, and lame ass special effects will not make this watchable unless you have it on in the background.
You do get some metaphysical questions later on, such as “Why am I writing about this?” or “What am I doing with my life?” They did get an IMDb credit though, so that is a lot more than most of us have. Got me, man.
0.5 Out Of 5