Independence Day vs. Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim: Uprising has recently come out in theatres, but the original is basically the same story as Roland Emmerich's 1996 sci-fi blockbuster Independence Day. Let me tell you why.


Aliens (Harvesters, Kaiju) have invaded Earth, destroying some of the planet's major landmarks (the Harvesters position themselves over various major cities and military bases; the Kaiju cut a path of destruction through Earth, destroying countless cities). To fight the aliens, humanity unites to take back the planet (international leaders order individual counterattacks; humanity builds massive robotic machines called Jaegers to combat the Kaiju). As humanity begins to lose the fight (half the world's cities are destroyed, the First Lady is killed, and nuclear missiles are ineffective against the Harvesters; the Kaiju increase in power, their attacks more frequent, and the Jaegers are being destroyed faster than they are being built), a determined human leader (President Thomas J. Whitmore; Marshal Stacker Pentecost) leads a military campaign to deliver a nuclear bomb to the aliens' home turf (Harvester Mothership; the Breach), a participant in which is a retired pilot (Capt. Steven Hiller; Raleigh Becket) who watched his partner (Capt. Jimmy Wilder; Yancy Becket) die in a battle with the aliens (the Harvesters shoot down Wilder's plane while he and Hiller are attacking the mothership; a wounded Kaiju throws Yancy out of the cockpit of his and Raleigh's Jaeger). Meanwhile, an eccentric scientist (Dr. Brackish Okun; Dr. Newton Geiszler) links his mind to an alien (at Area 51, a Harvester captured by Hiller regains consciousness and telepathically invades Okun's mind and uses his vocal chords to communicate with Whitmore; Geiszler meets with black market dealer Hannibal Chau in order to obtain a Kaiju brain and "drift" with it in order to learn about the Kaiju's origins), revealing through visions that the aliens plan to wipe out humanity and reap Earth of its natural resources (the Harvesters travel from planet to planet, exterminating all indigenous life and harvesting the planet; Geiszler discovers that the Kaiju are actually bioweapons created by alien colonists living in another dimension, intent on wiping out humanity). At the climax, the man in charge gives a speech to a crowd of humanity ("Today we celebrate out Independence Day!"; "Today we are cancelling the apocalypse!") before attacking the aliens' home base, using a refurbished craft (a Harvester fighter ship that crashed in Roswell in 1947; Gipsy Danger) to deliver the nuke. During the battle, pilots (Russell Casse; Pentecost and Chuck Hansen) sacrifice themselves to destroy the aliens (Russell has one missile left, but the firing mechanism jams, causing him to fly his plane kamikaze-style into the Harvesters' directed-energy weapons port, destroying the saucer in an explosion; overwhelmed by the Kaiju, Pentecost and Chuck detonate the bomb, depending on Gipsy Danger's nuclear reactor to seal the Breach), and the two main characters escape from the aliens' territory just as it explodes (Hiller and technological expert David Levinson fly out of the mothership just as it explodes; Becket overloads Gipsy Danger's reactor and ejects himself and his co-pilot, Mako Mori, to safety). In the end, humanity celebrates their victory over the alien threat (Hiller and Levinson return to Area 51 unharmed and reunite with their families, and everyone watches the wreckage burn up, resembling a fireworks display as it enters Earth's atmosphere; Raleigh and Mori embrace as rescue helicopters arrive).



It's the same story!













Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Lion King (1994) vs. The Jungle Book (2016)

Top 10 Film Villains Who Had a Valid Point

Toy Story 2 vs. Finding Dory