Another Independence Day

We have had a house full of young people for the last couple of days, which I like very much. Joel is a friend of Ally and Cat. They met him in Colombia last summer but he comes from Switzerland. He has spent the past year studying Computing at Exeter University and is spending his spring break touring Ireland and Scotland. He is such a nice young man and a polite and appreciative house guest. Ally has been showing him around Glasgow for the last few days and he is the first person to sleep in our new sofa bed! Then last night Davie and Chanel arrived; they are going to be taking care of Tom cat and Grandma over the next week while we are in Lochinver. So there were six of us for dinner. I made roast beef with my signature dish of gratin dauphinois and we all had a lively chat. Ally and Joel then went into Glasgow to meet friends, and Davie, Chanel, James and I decided to watch "Independence Day 2" the twenty years later sequel to the excellent original. There was something about "Independence Day" that really captured the public imagination; although there have been many alien invasion films, this one was well written, big budget with great special effects, and well acted by big name actors with a nice touch of humour. Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith were both particularly good and so was Bill Pullman as the earnest and handsome President of the USA. It was a real feel good film. Only a few years later the dreadful scenes on television of people running through the streets of New York on 9/11 were eerily similar to scenes from the film.
And so to the sequel. Well, the filmmakers had done their best and they had wheeled out as many of the previous cast as possible, and it was certainly watchable. However, inevitably it lacked the impact of the first film, and was too much of a tribute to the original to stand up by itself. My favourite character was Bill Pullman, the now dishevelled and mentally unstable ex-President. After staggering about like an old man with a walking stick for most of the film, he suddenly pulled himself together, shaved off his grey beard, threw away his stick, and started flying an aeroplane to fight the aliens! He even made another stirring speech - but like the rest of the film it just wasn't as good as last time.