INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996)
Updated: Jul 8, 2023
Celebrating 25 Years of the Sci-Fi Summer Blockbuster
Grade: A
**Spoiler Alert!!**
In the summer of 1996, director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin delivered Independence Day, a slam-bang science fiction actioner that injected the classic “Humans vs. Aliens” formula with state-of-the-art special effects and thinly developed yet endearing main characters. The film was a major box-office smash. Seen today, twenty-five years after its premiere, the movie has lost none of its excitement or goofy, mindless fun. It remains a must-watch.
Independence Day takes place over three days beginning July 2, when a massive and mysterious alien mothership enters Earth’s orbit and dispatches dozens of 15-mile-wide ships over major cities. Soon the ships fire destructive beams of energy that lay waste to the cities, and several survivors converge at Area 51 in Nevada, where U.S. President Thomas Whitmore (James Pullman) learns that the aliens plan to wipe out humanity and steal Earth’s natural resources. With the ships protected by energy shields, things look hopeless until a computer expert named David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) comes up with a novel idea: infect the ships with a computer virus to disable the shields. After communicating the plan around the world, President Whitmore delivers a rousing speech to fighter pilots on Independence Day morning and prepares to lead them into battle while Levinson and Air Force pilot Steven Hiller (Will Smith) take off in a captured alien craft to deploy the virus into the mothership itself.
Independence Day is one of those movies where even the obvious flaws can work in its favor. The idea of advanced alien technology being affected by a virus from Earth computers is undeniably ludicrous (it is kind of explained in a deleted scene that Levinson was able to hook up his computer to the alien signal, but in the final cut it remains a mystery), as is the U.S. president flying into battle after the Vice President has been killed. But these faults lend a kind of humorous feel to the movie; the intelligent parts of our minds are getting a good laugh while the parts that just want to be entertained are getting the ride of their life.
But this is by no means a “so bad it’s good” movie, not by a long shot. Independence Day is extremely well-made, from its technical aspects to the construction of its story. The buildup to the reveal of the spaceships and their subsequent attacks is classic in its structure. There are news reports of firey objects in the sky, large infrared images, a plane that gets destroyed while investigating the phenomena, and ominous shadows falling over landscapes. When their emerge from their reentry cloud cover, the awe and terror that onlookers feel spills over to the audience, thanks in large part to the iconic musical score by David Arnold, which perfectly conveys their size and menace. The sight of the ship’s hulls opening to fire their weapon is both beautiful and horrifying, even somewhat hypnotic.
The cinematography provides a plethora of images that are beautiful and powerful, including Hiller dragging an unconscious alien through the salt flats of Utah, a ship settling over the Manhattan skyline and, of course, the iconic shot of another ship blasting the White House. The Oscar-winning special effects hold up pretty well, pary because most of the ships were portrayed with models instead of CGI. Some of the shots that are computer-generated look obvious, but not so much as to distract the viewer from the action.
And what exhilarating action it is! Emmerich and his crew fill the latter half of movie with intense dogfights and chases between Air Force planes and alien fighter craft in the sky and through canyons. Several key scenes look like they come directly from Star Wars, from a race to take out an energy weapon before it destroys the good guys’ home base (while simultaneously taking down the whole ship in the process) to a group of ships chasing another through the vast interior of an enemy vessel. Despite the obvious similarities, the action is so well-constructed and entertaining that it is easy to overlook them or even laugh at them, like the above-mentioned story problems.
A common complaint is that the characters are poorly developed. While it is true that most of the main players are given only the bare minimum, and some have even less than that (a drunken crop duster and his family do little more than exist through most of the movie), the actors who portray them give great performances. Plus, they supply the movie with such funny and entertaining lines as, “Let’s kick the tires and light the fires, Big Daddy,” “Now that’s what I call a ‘close encounter,’” and “Hello, boys! I’m BAAAAACK!!!” The performances and dialogue make the characters entertaining to watch, regardless of their lack of depth.
Despite the cheesy nature of its story, Independence Day never feels like a sendup of classic 1950s B-movies that also feature humans fighting aliens. But it was never really meant to be taken seriously, either. It was simply intended to be a fun piece of popcorn entertainment, and it succeeds admirably with its incredible action, funny dialogue, and great special effects. Independence Day more than earned its success at the box office, and it remains a great flick for people who just want to have a good time watching movies.
Director: Roland Emmerich
Producer: Dean Devlin
Screenplay: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich
Cast: Will Smith (Capt. Steven Hiller), Bill Pullman (Pres. Thomas Whitmore), Jeff Goldblum (David Levinson), Mary McDonnell (First Lady Marilyn Whitmore), Judd Hirsch (Julius Levinson), Robert Loggia (General William Grey, USMC), Randy Quaid (Russell Casse), Margaret Colin (Constance Spano), Vivica A. Fox (Jasmine Dubrow), James Rebhorn (Albert Nimzicki), Harvey Fierstein (Marty Gilbert), Adam Baldwin (Maj. Mitchell), Brent Spiner (Dr. Brackish Okun)
Rated: PG-13 (for sci-fi destruction and violence)
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