Films Of The 90's: Independence Day

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2006)

Independence Day (1996): Starring Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Will Smith, Judd Hirsch, Randy Quaid, Vivica A. Fox, Harry Connick Jr, Harvey Fierstein, Margaret Colin, Mary McDonnell, Robert Loggia, James Duval, Brent Spiner....Director Roland Emmerich, Screenplay Dean Devlin Released in the summer of 1996 to correspond with July 4th, Independence Day, this was a box-office blockbuster and a document in films of the 1990's. Initially, I was repulsed by the commercials and previews for it and despite all the hype surrounding it (everyone who was ages 13-30's and fans of sci-fi thrillers at this time kept raving about it)I didn't see it. Not until it was released on video (yes video not DVD) did I finally see it and appreciate it for the exciting if unlikely story and the special effects, attractive characters, music, stunning cinematography and the overall "feel-goodness" of it all. Predatory, heartless aliens invade the earth and destroy pre-9/11 New York City and other parts of the US and the world, and humans fight back on Independence Day and beat the aliens. This was a time, we must remember, when the X-Files was on TV, as well as Millennium and when interest in aliens and end of the world prophecies were rampant, especially because the year 2000 was approaching. Remember the looney Heaven's Gate cult consisting of seemingly normal middle-class Americans who left families, trust funds, identities and renounced their current life in order to be picked up by a spaceship and instead committed group suicide ? If this film had been released after 9/11 the aliens would be a stand-in for terrorists. Will Smith as Captain Steven Hiller is delivering the kind of action-hero role he has for the most part performed and is enjoyable nonetheless. Vivica A. Fox as a stripper/mother is another fine role, though she, like all the women in this film, take backseats and it's the men who save the day. Especially good are Judd Hirsch and Jeff Goldblum, as a Jewish father and son Julius and David who constantly bicker but prove resourceful and valiant in mankind's darkest hour. Margaret Colin as Constance "Connie" Spano, a beautiful, strong-willed President's Secretary and David's love interest is also doing a fine job. Not to mention Bill Pullman as the President, portraying the President as tough and ready to put his own life on the line. Yes, his wife the First Lady (Mary McDonnel) dies, and his Presidency seems to be under mostly Republican attack (like Bill Clinton who adored this movie) but he proves heroic and fights the aliens with his fighter jet, something President Bush would never think twice about. Overall, there is a sense of patriotism and humanity in this film, expanding beyond American love of country but in a sort of Many People, One Planet sort of way, and truth be told, should aliens threaten the earth, humans would set aside their religious, political rivalries and unite in a common cause. Randy Quaid as ex-World War II pilot Russell Casse, another hero, is superb. Harry Connick Jr and Harvey Feinstein make appearances - Harry Connick as Steve's army buddy Captain Jimmy Wilder and Harvey Feinstein as Marty, David's other Jewish (and gay though we don't get too much gay from him) friend who panics, worries about his mother and dies in a firestorm in his car as the Empire State Building collapses. Far from being a movie which only relies on everything being blown up and military planes battle alien ships, this is a movie with a lot of poignant and genuinely moving human moments, even leaving room for good humor. Roland Emmerich established himself as a master of this kind of epic adventure film. He would later film "Godzilla" in 1998 to lesser success as that film pales by comparison, but he made up for it in 2004's well-made "Day After Tomorrow".