Review - Independence Day (1996)

    Hey guys, Chuck here. For everyone living in the United States as I do, Happy Fourth of July. Let's celebrate with my review of the 1996 sci-fi action classic: Independence Day. Directed by Roland Emmerich, this film features a massive cast that includes Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Will Smith, Judd Hirsch, Vivica A. Fox, James Rebhorn, Brent Spiner, Robert Loggia, Mary McDonnell, Adam Baldwin, Randy Quaid, Harry Connick Jr, and a host of others. Let's just jump right into things. This is Independence Day.

    In 1996, on the morning of July 2nd, a massive alien spaceship arrives and stops just in orbit of the planet Earth. In Washington D.C., President Tom Whitmore and his advisors, unaware of the spaceship, tries to figure out what the object is, as several smaller ships break off from the larger spaceship, and each one comes into hover over several major cities across the globe. In New York City, cable repairman David Levinson stumbles onto the alien's signal, and realizes that the signal he discovered is a countdown to an attack. David and his father Julius drive to D.C. to inform Whitmore of his findings, convincing the President to evacuate every major city in the nation, particularly New York, Los Angeles, and D.C., where three of the alien ships are located. In Los Angeles, U.S. Marine captain Steve Hiller is recalled to the El Toro military base, and his fiancée Jasmine, along with her son Dylan, leaves Los Angeles later that evening. Back in D.C., three helicopters are attacked after making an attempt at communication with the aliens. As the cities are being evacuated, the ships open up and attack, completely decimating Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C. 

    On July 3rd, Steve and his fellow pilots fly towards the alien ship hovering over the ruins of Los Angeles in an attempt to attack and destroy it. Unfortunately, the ship is shielded, and invulnerable to our weapons, and several smaller attack ships arrive and attack the squadron of military jets, with only Steve and his friend and fellow pilot Jimmy escape. Jimmy, however, does not survive and is destroyed by an alien attacker. Steve, however, brings one down near the Grand Canyon, and punches out the alien pilot as it emerges from the ship. Jasmine and Dylan, who survived the previous night's devastation, find a large truck and use it to drive people to El Toro, unaware that the aliens destroyed it. Meanwhile, on Air Force One, Whitmore, along with General Gray and Defense Secretary Nimzicki discuss possibly retaliating with nuclear ordinance, especially after hearing about the destruction of NORAD. Julius, overhearing them speaking out against David's arguing against a nuclear strike, defends his son and mentions the Roswell incident from the 50's, and about the ship and alien stuff being researched at a base known as Area 51. While Whitmore denies the existence of Area 51, Nimzicki more or less confirms it. Steve, meanwhile is picked up by a convoy of RV's, and among theme is fighter pilot turned crop duster Russell Casse and his family, who pick up Steve and take him to Area 51 in the Nevada desert. Air Force One arrives, and Whitmore, David, and co. meet Major Mitchell, as well as Doctor Brackish Okun, who gives some background on the aliens based on what they were able to learn over the years. Steve arrives with the alien he knocked out, and Okun performs an autopsy on it, only for it to wake up and kill everyone but Okun. We'll get back to him when we look at the sequel. However, after a mental attack by the alien, Whitmore learns of their plan, and orders a nuclear attack. Steve takes a helicopter to El Toro, where he finds Jasmine, Dylan, and a group of survivors including the First Lady. After the first attempt at a nuclear strike fails to destroy the ship over Houston, Texas, Whitmore orders them to abort the mission. Steve returns with the survivors from El Toro, and while the doctors do what they can, Whitmore's wife unfortunately dies from internal bleeding. 

    On July 4th, David, after a bit of inspiration from Julius, comes up with an idea to fly the craft being held in Area 51 into space, dock with the Mother Ship, and plant a virus into the aliens' signal in order to take down the shields from the alien craft. Steve, having seen the alien attackers in combat before, volunteers to fly the ship. Major Mitchell calls upon the many people that are staying outside of the base for pilots to launch a counter-offensive, and Russell is one of the many to volunteer. Steve and Jasmine get married, with David and his ex-wife Constance in attendance. During the ceremony, Constance sees the wedding ring still on David's finger, and the two reconcile. Outside, Whitmore rallies the troops with the most iconic speech in cinema history. Steve and David head into space, while Whitmore leads the squadron of F-18 fighter jets against the alien ship approaching Area 51. After implanting the virus successfully, the shields are down and the squadron at Area 51 attacks and fights off the attackers. as the larger ship prepares to fire, Whitmore targets it, but is unable to hit his target. Russell, however has a missile left, but due to a missile jam, is unable to fire at the target. Sacrificing his own life, Russell flies directly at the target, destroying it and the ship. Word is sent out to other squadrons worldwide, and the ships are destroyed. In space, David and Steve launch s nuclear warhead and escape just before detonation, and the mother ship is ultimately destroyed. Crashing down in the desert, David and Steve are met by Whitmore, Constance, Julius, Jasmine, and General Gray, as people across the world celebrates their Independence Day. 

    What amazes me about Independence Day is the film's minimal use of CGI. A large number of the visual effects were all done in camera, and the effects still hold up by today's standards. We're talking explosions and sequences of destruction that guys like Michael Bay and Zack Snyder WISH they could make look as cool as Roland Emmerich did. In fact, according to a behind the scenes featurette on the Blu-ray, the crew had set up bleachers on the set at a distance from where they blew up a model of the White House. The cast of this movie, including Judd Hirsch, Randy Quaid, Harry Connick Jr., Robert Loggia, Vivica A. Fox, and Bill Pullman were all fantastic. However, the two standouts in this movie are easily Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum. I gotta be honest, while I didn't like this movie at first (but then again, I was only four years old when this movie hit theaters), I have grown more fond of the movie over the years. Director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin, both of whom wrote the screenplay, made a genuine sci-fi masterpiece, and I give Independence Day a rating of 5/5. Now yes, I do plan to review the 2016 sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, in the future, but I don't know when that will be just yet. 

    This is Chuck signing off. Hapy Fourth of July, and I'll see you guys next time.