Independence Day
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"America wants to freedom and saves the day"
— Rolland Emmerich
Independence Day (also known as ID4) is a 1996 American science fiction, action film directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich. The film focuses on disparate groups of people who converge in the Nevada desert in the aftermath of a worldwide attack by an extraterrestrial race of unknown origin.
Plot
On July 2nd, communications systems worldwide are sent into chaos by a strange atmospheric interference. It is soon learned by the military that a number of enormous objects are on a collision course with Earth. At first, thought to be meteors, they are later revealed to be gigantic spacecraft, piloted by a mysterious alien species. After attempts to communicate with the aliens go nowhere, David Levinson, an ex-scientist turned cable technician, discovers that the aliens are going to attack major points around the globe in less than a day. On July 3rd, the aliens all but obliterate New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, as well as Paris, London, Houston, and Moscow. The survivors set out in convoys towards Area 51, a strange government testing ground where it is rumored the military has a captured alien spacecraft of their own. The survivors devise a plan to fight back against the enslaving aliens, and July 4th becomes the day humanity will fight for its freedom.
Why It's Independent
- The idea of a film about the very huge alien attack shortly before Independence Day in the United States and having a war against the aliens for the celebration of Independence Day is very original.
- The story is very straightforward, providing solid blockbuster entertainment purely because of the spectacle it provides, and the movie really knows not to take itself too seriously.
- The sight of the giant blue laser tearing apart lower Manhattan made jaws drop and while it's unlikely to do the same to today's overstimulated audiences, it's still an incredible visual.
- Amazing soundtrack performed by David Arnold, with several tunes which match the epic, exciting, dramatic, or suspenseful moments throughout the movie in an effective manner.
- Good acting performances, especially from Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, and Margaret Colin.
- It has pretty suspenseful and dramatic moments, such as the scene where several important American cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C., are eventually destroyed by a huge alien ship's lasers. Another example is the scene where an alien wakes up inside the base and threatens the humans there to kill all of them if he is not released.
- Some memorable characters such as Marine F/A-18 pilot Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith), David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), and pilot Russell Casse (Randy Quaid) who also has nice character development since he is a broken man who ends up sacrificing himself for the greater good.
- This is one of the few times that Roland Emmerich, does actually has decent directing skills.
- Various visual effects are pretty good for the time, such as the designs for the aliens and the City Destroyers (even though they're boring looking).
- The movie had good lines that are still famous today:
- "HELLO BOYS! I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!"
- "Did I promise you fireworks?"
- "Welcome to Earth! Now that's what I call a close encounter!"
- "I have GOT to get me one of these!"
- "AND WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SMELL!!!!????" (This was not scripted)
- Fantastic cinematography by Karl Walter Lindenlaub.
- Good casting choices, the movie has a large ensemble cast of good actors, such as Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Randy Quaid, Vivica Fox, and Harry Connick Jr. in a small role.
- Amazing action sequences with the sky-battle scenes probably being the highlights. The F/A-18 assault on the City Destroyer in Los Angeles, the battle at Area 51, and the protagonists infiltrating the alien mothership with a captured alien vessel are some examples.
- The movie ends perfectly on a high note. Captain Steven Hiller and David Levinson land on the desert after they destroyed the aliens' mothership and Independence Day is celebrated while many burning pieces of the mothership fall through the sky, simulating a swarm of falling stars which serves as a background for the celebrations.
Bad Qualities
- The film can be very predictable with the story being pretty thin a lot of time times.
- The visual effects, while impressive for the time, haven't aged well since a lot of it is dated 90's CGI, especially with the City Destroyers.
- The City Destroyers' name is not only lazy, but the design of them is also pretty boring since it's a basic flat disc-like the shape of UFOs.
- The characters have some pretty dumb moments.
- Tiffany ignores Jasmine's warnings of getting out of Los Angeles and instead heads directly to the gathering on the US Bank Tower's roof, right under the City Destroyer along with the others.
- Albert Nimzicki is a complicated example. He is the Secretary of Defense and an entire fleet of alien spaceships shows up and float ominously over the world's major cities. As the former head of the CIA, he becomes privy to the fact that Area 51 has indeed been housing a crashed flying saucer and alien corpses and been studying them and their tech for decades. Does he choose to immediately inform the President about everything the research had discovered in order to better inform his decision-making? While he makes (in retrospect) bad choices, his working assumption that launching nuclear weapons will defeat the invaders remain untested for long, and it isn't exactly unreasonable (at least before the first counterstrike with fighter planes fails) that it could work. If nuclear weapons would've worked, there would be no need to reveal Area 51. The Novelization is more of a straight example of this - his plan is to make the President look far weaker for political reasons...while the human race is being annihilated.
- Everyone involved in deciding that air-to-air missiles should be deployed as the main attack against miles-across ships. Even if the alien ships hadn't been shielded they would have been useless, as demonstrated in the finale when the shields are down. Possibly justified as that's all they had; it's hard enough to mount a massive counterstrike with depleted manpower, doubly so if the base that's launching the fighters is mainly for aircraft testing, not a dedicated airbase.
- Unfortunately, the film is overbearingly nationalistic to the United States, which can turn away many non-Americans.
Reception
The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and audiences alike with many of the reviews (even at the time) calling it "okay" at best. Many criticized the film's plot and characters in favor of its special effects, and Non-Americans criticized the film in how nationalistic it is in its tone. It holds a 68% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 6.41/10 and a critic consensus that states, "The plot is thin and so is character development, but as a thrilling, spectacle-filled summer movie, Independence Day delivers." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 59 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews" while the film has a 7/10 rating on IMDb.
Videos
External Links
Independence Day at the Internet Movie Database
Independence Day on Rotten Tomatoes
Independence Day on Metacritic
Independence Day on Letterboxd