When it comes to the 4th of July, we typically
think of fireworks, patriotic decorations and occasionally we also think of
Will Smith kicking the crap out of aliens. Yes, 1996’s “Independence Day”
was a smash hit, the second highest grossing movie worldwide behind “Jurassic
Park”, and it has sense become a staple for summer blockbusters to draw
inspiration from. It also began a yearly tradition of having a new Will Smith blockbuster
premiering in July, which was something I always looked forward to back when I was a kid.
Will Smith was one of my absolute favorite actors I grew up with, and sense he
isn’t quite as active as he used to be, I wanted to look back at the Sci-Fi hit
that launched his career. Over the years, “Independence Day” has
developed a love it or hate it relationship with viewers, and for me, while I’m
not a die-hard fan, I’ve always looked back on it as a Sci-Fi classic in its own
right. So, let’s see how much of it has held up over the years, as well as the
impact it made back in the mid 90’s.
The plot is a very
strait forward global invasion, with a fleet of giant flying saucers launching
multiple attacks in major cities. As the invasion ensues, we follow various
survivors across the United States, including the calm, yet deeply concerned
president who’s overseeing the military operations. A tech-expert cable guy who
gains access to the alien’s frequency signals. A goofy crop duster who’s sworn
for years that he’s once been abducted by aliens. Then finally, we have Will
Smith as a tough as nails Marine piolet. I really like that there isn’t a definitive
main character, just a collected group, all stereotypes, but memorable, and
mostly likable.
The multiple groups eventually converge at area 51 in the
Nevada desert, where they organize a counter strike against the invading army.
Thus, a full on battle for the fate of the entire world takes shape on
Independence Day. In essence, this film is like a throwback to the classic
alien invasion movies from the 1950’s. In fact, the film seems to take direct
influence from the 1956 movie “Earth vs the Flying Saucers”, but it
thankfully isn’t a direct remake either. This film also takes lots of
inspiration from H. G. Well’s “War of
the Worlds”, right down to a metaphorical virus being man kinds salvation. The
one difference between this film, and all the alien invasion movies that came
before is that “Independence Day” was the first to be presented on a
great big, grand, and destructive scale. This was the first time the concept of
an alien invasion felt like a huge event, and the larger than life visuals
sustain the feelings of both excitement and dread when seeing these massive
ships emerge from the sky.
Looking back, the
effects have aged very well, and truthfully, I think they look better than most
disaster movies we see today. This was back at a time when movies would combine
the new CGI technology with practical models, sets and even practical explosions.
The big show stealer is when the alien ships launch their attacks on Washington,
LA and New York, and it’s still a colossal feast for the eyes all these years
later, especially when acknowledging the practicality of the sets on display.
The scene with the white house getting blown up is in its own right a classic
movie moment, as well as an effective marketing tool that was all over the
posters and trailers for this film. While the image of historical land marks in
ruins has been done before in films like “Planet
of the Apes”, this was the film that influenced countless other summer
blockbusters to feature wide spread city destruction, and famous land marks
getting disfigured. Naturally this film won the Oscar for best special effects,
and also got a nomination for best sound design. Putting aside the spectacle,
my absolute favorite aspect of this first attack, and even the film in general
is the buildup, as the aliens don’t attack the second they arrive. The ships
initially remained in orbit for several hours, and it’s great to see the
different reactions on display from the people below. We see the cool and
collected military attempt to establish communications, as well as keep people
safe. We have the masses fleeing in terror at the sight of these giant ships,
and we have the select radicals who are ecstatic to welcome the new visitors. My
favorite visual of the whole movie are the massive shadows casted by the ships
over all the towns and buildings below. All this, along with the pacing helps
put the audience in a mind-set of a real-life event that’s slowly unfolding.
However, once our heroes discover the alien’s hostile intents, it leads to a
riveting sequence of them trying to escape before all the bombings even
commence. The scene in which the character David looks at his monitor and
chillingly declares that “Times Up” has always stood out as an effective
moment. It’s largely thanks to all this setup that the destructive spectacle
makes an impact on us viewers.
The action also comes in the perfect variety and gradually
builds over the present day course of the film. First we’re introduced to the
giant flying saucers, and then we see them attack the cities. Next, we’re
introduced to the smaller attack ships that engages military piolets in the
air, as well as attack nearby bases. Then we’re finally introduced to the
aliens themselves, and then we see them attacking the survivors. At last we get
the big battle of Independence Day, which is a combination of everything that
we’ve seen before. It’s an absolutely perfect templet for a summer action movie
that completely avoids repetition. One of my favorite action scenes is when the
marines have their first engagement with the fleet of smaller attack ships,
because the reveal of the alien shields raise the stakes, plays with our
expectations and illustrates just how outmatched the humans are. The following
dog fight between Will Smith and the alien piolet in the canyon always made for
an entertaining highlight. Perhaps my favorite Will Smith moment of all time is
when he knocks out the alien by punching it in the face, and then following it
up with “Welcome to Earth”.
One of the more
effective and freighting scenes is when the president attempts to talk to the
alien in the medical room, where all hopes for peace are shattered when the
creature says strait out … we want you humans to “DIE”. The whole scene was
shot like a horror movie, and probably features one of my all-time favorite
jump-scares when the doctors initially cut open the aliens space suit. This
dose lead me to one of my issues with the film, and that’s the aliens
themselves. While their ships and fleets always posed a threat, I found the
creatures themselves to be very generic, both in design and conception. The
good news is that the film wisely focuses more on the saucers rather than
encounters with the aliens themselves, because they always came off to me as
just stock, boring aliens.
Let’s finally talk
about the characters, as the film thankfully never over steps its bounds in
trying to make them interesting. While all these characters are likewise stock
survivor characters, the cast is exceptionally talented in making them all
stand out, and the movie gives us just enough of a reason to care for them
without distracting us from the overall fun factor of the movie.
Will Smith
naturally steals the show with his trade mark cool factor, but this was also the
first time he proved himself a capable action star with both an electrifying
screen presence, as well as funny charm that was all his own. This film of
course was another bright spot in Jeff Goldblum’s career, as he played the
witty, goofy tech-guy who ultimately saves the day. It’s hard to explain, but
Jeff Goldblum has always had this natural screen appeal playing characters of
this sort, and I couldn’t imagine this film feeling the same without his
presence. One of my favorite aspects of this movie is that it keeps the
President as a main character, as opposed to a side player that just needs
protection. It was just really cool to watch him get involved, and Bill Pullman
really shines in the role.
His big Independence Day speech at the end, while overly
patriotic, over sentimental and honestly quite clichéd, is still a rousing
speech that delivers an honest and heartfelt message that anyone can get
behind. Whenever I think of an epic, clichéd battle speech, this is the one that
always comes to mind first. The only character that just felt like added fodder
to me was the crop duster played by Randy Quaid. While the performance once
again is memorable, I just never cared about him or his family, and just got
irritated whenever the film would cut back to them on their travels. Even the
smaller supporting roles are memorable, like Brent Spiner, fresh off of “Star
Trek: The Next Generation”, playing the quirky scientist. We also have the
beautiful Vivica A. Fox playing Will Smiths wife Jasmine, and it’s great to see
the young Mae Whitman as the Presidents doubter before she became a star in the
world of voice acting, among other things.
The last thing to talk about is the climactic battle of
Independence Day, and personally, I’ve always looked back on this as one of the
most memorable final battles in science fiction cinema. When the alien mother
ship orbits over their base, our heroes retaliate with a full-on air battle assault,
and it’s such a thrill to see basic fighter jets combat alien attack vessels. It
was also rousing to see the humans finally unload some damage on their ships. Now
keeping in tone with the film, this final battle gets very cheesy, but I love
it all. It’s awesome to have the president leading a squadron of ships into
battle, which is admittedly ludicrous, but I still love it. Also, while I didn’t
like Randy Quaid’s character very much, his sacrifice which brings down the
alien ship is a shining example of Red-neck heroism on film. However, my
favorite aspect of this whole third act is seeing Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum fly
a stolen alien ship into the mother ship in an effort to bring down the entire fleet.
Seeing these two talents play off each-other is an absolute delight, and their
daring escape leading up to the ships explosion is absolutely the most exciting
of its kind sense the climax of “Return
of the Jedi”, in which the Rebels blew-up the Death Star from within.
In the end, I can’t
call “Independence Day” any kind of
masterpiece, but I’ve always had a lot of fondness reserved for the film. It’s
one of those movies I don’t think about, but whenever the 4th of
July comes around, I always feel a little excited about watching it again. Despite
not containing a single original idea, there’s just a real sense of charisma,
energy and excitement that comes with the whole package, and makes it work. There’s
also a genuine sense of high stakes, and some reasonably good tension that fits
along with the films overall fun factor. I do think that the film was a big
influence on summer blockbusters to follow, but weather that’s a good or bad
thing is up for debate. The overabundance of disaster movies in the late 90’s
was grading, and clearly steamed from the popularity of “Independence Day”. On the positive side of this coin was a steady
reemergence of the Sci-Fi genera, which up to this point had been in limbo. While
successful television shows like “The
X-Files” set things in motion, it was “Independence
Day” that brought crowds of fans back to the excitement of outer space and
alien encounters. For all its short comings, I do think it holds up as one of
the all-around best alien invasion movies, and I don’t think I’ve seen one
sense that’s left quiet as memorable an impact.
Thanks for reading my review of the 1996 classic “Independence Day” ... and continue to enjoy the movies you love!
