I started to find it a bit annoying, the way there was supposed to be some potent history between them that kept getting alluded to, but was never revealed. Like much of this film, it just wasn't interesting enough to sustain any sense of mystery or suspense.
Did I miss something? Or is the "pleasure" of the explanation yet to come in the third film?
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
Based on what I deduced, they played a game of chicken in their jets that went wrong and almost killed Dylan. That's why they did it a second time and were successful.
shareAh, thanks for that. I guess that was why the moonbase commander was so down on him as well?
Another subplot that flubbed the payoff, I guess.
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
Read the prequel novel INDEPENDENCE DAY:CRUCIBLE to get the full backstory. Also, if you read the official movie novelization it goes into more detail.
shareYou missed something.
The two were in training together, and Jake and Dylan were pushing hard during a canyon flight, and they were both coming up on a narrow part of the canyon, when Jake forced himself into the lead position and it forced Dylan to eject in order to survive.
This was shown in the film, when Jake is on his bed watching video of the incident.
That said, the whole tension between them was completely unnecessary and ate a bunch of the runtime that would have been better spent on other things... like making the overall story better.
Yeah, no I didn't miss it, I just thought it was more of their rivalry, not necessarily "the thing that started it all". If that's what it was, it was pretty lame -- the canyon was narrow, it could only be one of them who went through first, so were we really supposed to believe that the big bad fearless Dylan had gone from Jake's best friend to a childish sook just because it was Jake who got there before him?
It's something Emmerich does in all his flicks -- and in many ways I'm a fan of his, but I still recognise he's truly crap scriptwriter -- and that's to manufacture really cornball attempts at conflict between characters, and then never pay them off in a satisfying way. Same in this one, I reckon.
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.