The Tomorrow War Updates: The latest release of Amazon Prime, Tomorrow War resembles the 1996 hit film Independence Day quite a lot, to a point where they name-dropped Will Smith and pronounced him dead in 2051.
The Tomorrow War is a post-apocalyptic film set in the war-torn world of 2051. The film stars Chris Prat as Dan Forester, a biology teacher and former Green Beret who is called upon to fight a war 30 years in the future. Now he has to travel to 2051, along with several civilians, and fight a war against alien monsters called the Whitespikes.
It has been noticed that the film has a similar premise as the 1996 hit film The Independence Day. On Independence Day, a ragtag group of survivors gathers to save the world, in the aftermath of a worldwide attack by an unknown extraterrestrial race. The Tomorrow War had a curious way of paying homage to the 1996 hit film by name-dropping the star of Independence Day, Will Smith.
The Tomorrow War pays an ode to The Independence Day, as soon as Dan Forester and his crew of recruits time travel to 2051 and land on a rooftop in Miami. The city has been destroyed in the war with the Whitespikes. As they look upon the destruction, a veteran soldier, Dorian quips, “Welcome to Miami.”
Charlie, a recruit who befriended Dan, replied, “I am just glad Will Smith isn’t alive to see this.” The line not only namedrop Will Smith, the star of the greatest alien invasion film of all time but also indicated that Will Smith is dead in the future.
The Tomorrow War: Will Smith
Dan and Charlie deduced that the people above 40 chosen to jump to the future, must be dead in the future to prevent a paradox. It would mean that either Will Smith was a drafter who died in the war or he died in the 30 years in between.
It is ironic how Will Smith being dead in The Tomorrow War echoes his death in The Independence Day: Resurgence. Will Smith refused to reprise his role in the sequel to The Independence Day. Therefore, his character was written off from the sequel and it was revealed that his character Steven Hiller died sometime in the 30 years between Independence Day and Resurgence. Smith’s fellow cast members from Independence Day like Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman reprised their roles in the sequel.
The Tomorrow War’s homage to Will Smith is actually very layered. Dorian’s quip “Welcome to Miami” also references Will Smith’s hit song from his 1997 album Big Willie Style. ‘Miami’ made it to Billboard Hot 100, finding a place at #17. The Tomorrow War shares a lot of similarities with Independence Day.
It was even released on the July 4th weekend- the same three days that the aliens attacked in Independence Day. It was only appropriate that they pay homage to Will Smith, the star of the greatest alien invasion film of all time.
