Review #1,138: 'Independence Day' (1996)

What I remember about Roland Emmerich's Independence Day as I child is the cheesy one-liners, that Presidential speech that has everymen and war heroes alike puffing out their chest with patriotism, and a portrayal of a world where America acts as the sole voice of reason to a bunch of lesser powers who fully embrace their own stereotype. I always hated it, and could not fathom why the movie had gathered such a loyal army of fans throughout the years, even amongst critics. The film was, and still is, very much a modern-day blockbuster, but watching it again 15 or so years later, it now seems wonderfully old-fashioned.

Dismissing the more studious, and admittedly more intelligent, first contact movies of the 1970s as liberal wishful thinking, Independence Day harks back to the alien invasion pictures of the 50s, where a more us-against-them approach catered to the Cold War-influenced paranoia of the time, and squared-jawed heroes, loony scientists and military personnel alike put their heads together to defeat a force from outer space. Here, we get Will Smith as Captain Steven Hiller, a hotshot pilot who manages to capture one of the tentacled martians after a disastrous dogfight; Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson, a genius satellite technician who uncovers the aliens' plans; and Bill Pullman as President Thomas Whitmore, a young ex-pilot going through an image crisis.

The posters and trailers focused on the image of the giant alien ship looming over major American cities, and indeed the moments of catastrophic destruction (usually of famous landmarks) and giant energy beams still manage to amaze, with the special effects still holding up 20 years later. Yet the movie spends most of its time at ground level, and crams it with enough characters and side-stories to fill another 3 films. The three central, intertwining stories aside, we also have a sub-plots involving Hiller's wife Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) encountering the wounded First Lady (Mary McDonnell), and a boozed-up crop duster played by Randy Quaid, whose claims of alien abduction have made him a laughing stock. Throw in Robert Loggia, Judd Hirsch, Harvey Fierstein and Brent Spiner, and there's enough going on to make your head spin.

Yet Independence Day manages to burst through the convolution by sheer force, delivering a story that is simplistic, ham-fisted and very stupid, but never unspectacular. The three leads help make their characters memorable and incredibly likeable with charisma alone, as the script never allows them to be anything more than an archetype. It's the very definition of big, dumb and fun, and was a bit of a game-changer in its day. Disaster movie audiences were no longer satisfied unless they witnessed carnage on a global level, and blockbusters today are still trying to replicate the success of 'ID4', including the director himself, who tried and failed on an astronomic level with the utterly atrocious 2012 (2009). I didn't see it coming, but my opinion of Independence Day has completely changed. Perhaps the movie's age gives it a nostalgic charm it never had before, so I'm hardly anticipating the sequel.


Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, Randy Quaid, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie