Independence Day (1996)

Although I was a fan of the long-running television show, even after most of the original cast were gone, I was not a big fan of Roland Emmerich's movie Stargate.  I think it was because my hopes were raised by the whole silly idea of it, including ancient astronauts and the Pyramids being used as spaceship landing pads.  I'd long outgrown that type of thing when I started realizing that all these "unanswered questions" had been answered.  Still, I was expecting an entertaining film, and I got something that fell quite short. 

That would be hallmark of Emmerich's films going forward, but that didn't mean I was going to pass up what looked like it was going to be a decent alien invasion movie with Independence Day.  The early trailers didn't leave much to the imagination - aliens show up, blow things up and humanity must fight back.  Simple as that, and hopefully not trying to give what would inevitably be thinly drawn characters too many subplots.  I was looking for the modern version Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and, when I saw this the night before it officially came out, that is what I got. 

On July 2 of an unnamed year SETI picks up the signal they have been waiting for - however, instead of coming from a distant star, it's coming from the moon.  President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) is alerted to the fact that a large object is approaching the Earth and appears to be slowing down, while broadcasts around the world suddenly are dealing with satellite interruption.  David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), an engineer at a New York cable station, figures out that the signal is a countdown.  As 15-mile-wide spaceships enter Earth's atmosphere and begin hovering over its major cities he tries to get his ex-wife Constance (Margaret Colin) to alert the President, but she won't listen to him.

David and his father Julius (Judd Hirsch) head for Washington and manage to convince the President and General Grey (Robert Loggia), head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that they should evacuate.  The President barely makes it out of Washington and soon finds out that this isn't the first time the aliens have visited.  Meanwhile Capt. Steven Hiller (Will Smith), during a counterattack against the alien ships, manages to capture one of them and bring it in for study.  David also begins his own study of a captured alien ship and figures out a last-ditch idea that, with Hiller's help, may just help humanity win the day.

A lot of criticism surrounding Independence Day is that it is quite focused on what happens in the United States.  While it does show some of what is happening around the rest of the world it makes sense that, at that time, the U.S. (and probably the UK, more than they are represented here) would have been expected to be the ones to do something.  Still, I think a lot of it comes down to budget.  Independence Day does have some digital effects, but quite a lot of the movie involves the use of miniatures, scale models, reused sets and a lot of camera tricks so that some of the constraints don't show.  Even then this was an expensive movie to make; it just looks like it cost about twice as much as it did, and it was the highest grossing movie of 1996.  Although thought by some to be a bit jingoistic it still appealed to a worldwide audience, making a profit comparable to many of the Marvel films. 

As simple a popcorn film as it is it does have some great performances.  Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsch are great together, and this was the film that transformed Will Smith into a major movie star.  Bill Pullman also plays one of his most memorable roles as President Whitmore.  For the bit parts, there is Mary McDonnell as the first lady and Brent Spiner as the eccentric Dr. Okun, who ends up being the unintentional mouthpiece for one of the invaders.  Then, of course, there is Randy Quaid as an alcoholic pilot who claims to have been abducted by aliens.  

Emmerich, who directed and cowrote the film with Dean Devlin, made sure he pulled out every alien invasion trope he could as well as using every manipulative tactic known to Hollywood.  The thing is, it works.  It's downright cheesy in parts - Hiller's girlfriend Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) saving her son and the family dog in a burning tunnel and many of Will Smith's lines - but it never stops being a lot of fun.  Although I definitely have to blame Roland Emmerich as one of the reasons modern day event films have become so awful his formulaic approach works here since there is no reason for a lot of complicated subplots to get in the way of this movie.  Every subplot involved is basically to get everyone to the same place at the same time for a rousing finale. 

As for still liking Independence Day after suffering through Emmerich's later films and many of the boring CGI messes that were inspired by it - yes, I did.  I expected the effects to hold up because the model work was excellent to begin with, but I still found myself enjoying the movie almost as much as I did when I saw it 25 years ago.  Emmerich may usually make trash, but that doesn't mean he isn't a decent director; even his version of Godzilla looked good, even if the story and everything else about it was garbage.  What he does right with Independence Day is keep things paced so that there is always something going on.  There are quiet moments, but those always lead to something important to move the film along.  I also appreciate how it is just pure escapism.  This isn't trying to make any sort of political point other than the nations of Earth coming together to face a major threat.

For those who need every bit of their cinema to have something relevant to say or be like a painting on the screen I can see why Independence Day would be downright offensive.  It certainly was to many critics at the time but, like now, audiences are made up of people that spend all day dealing with drudgery and getting berated for every little thing they do.  They don't need the movies they see to turn around and do that to them as well.  It's unfortunate that the days of a movie like this getting made - a pure, dumb science fiction action movie that still manages to not seem like a hollow money grab - are long gone. 

Independence Day (1996)

Time: 145 minutes

Starring: Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox, Margaret Colin, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, Randy Quaid

Director: Roland Emmerich