"Independence Day" (1996)
A Film Review by Jason Wallis
"Independence Day" * * 1/2 (out of four) Starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Brent Spiner and Randy Quaid Directed by Roland Emmerich
Anyone who knows me is aware of my hatred for comtemporary Hollywood. I loathe almost every big budget Hollywood production I come across. Oh, sure, there's the rare exception (i.e. "Face/Off" and "Men in Black"), but they're mostly just cash-cow crap. And the only reason these exceptions are actually good is because of character development or just sheer cleverness. Well, Roland Emmerich's "Independence Day" posseses neither of these qualities. But I was shocked to discover that, although in a very guilty-pleasurish way, I actually kinnda dug it. Usually, I am not entertained by mere explosions and loud noises, but the makers of "Independence Day" (or "ID4") accompany all the stupid explosions and whatnot with some very good one-liners, delivered very effectivly by the entire cast. I particularly liked (as I'm sure everyone did) the character played by Will Smith. I was never a big fan of his TV show "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and have never seen nor have any desire to see "Bad Boys" (mostly because of Martin Lawrence - can't stand the guy), but here, he shows that he was some real talent that other action stars like Sylvester Stalone or Ah-nold Schwarzenegger very rarely get to display. And when he made the fantastic "Men in Black" the following year, he proved to the world (or me, at least) that he truly deserves his star status. Judd Hirsch and Randy Quaid are also great in their roles, by the way. But, having said that, there are not enough strong points in "Independence Day" for me to really recommend it. Many great actors are wasted in this film, especially Brent Spiner. Now I've never been a huge Trekie, but anyone who's seen even a single episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" can see that Spiner is an excellent actor (he even had a cool cameo in "Phenomenon"). But no, instead of taking a well-written role to make make a cameo appearence, he has to choose to play the sterotypical nutcase scientist. In "Star Trek", even though he played an android, you could see underlying emotions that not very many other actors could pull-off. Here, he just seems like a grown-up asshole trying to be funny. And then there's Bill Pullman, who I'm a huge fan of. He shines in almost every film he's in and I think he even deserves an Oscar nomination for his recent role in "Lost Highway". Well, here, he sucks. And it's not that his acting sucks, it's that his character is very poorly written and extrememly one-dimentional. However, you can't really blame poor Bill because, despite how good of an actor you are, if you're given a bad character, you can't be expected to perform. Just look at Jack Nicholson in "Mars Attacks!". Even though he's the greatest actor to ever live, he couldn't get anything out of his character (or characters, in his case). And as for Roland Emmerich, he just needs to find a good story to film. With his earlier "Stargate", even though the actual final product was horrible, he showed amazing skill as a director. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention all the people who were calling this piece of psuedocrap "Star Wars" for the 90s. Do yourself a favor and watch it again, only this time on video. Just 'cause a movie is loud and shakes your seat in the theater, that doesn't mean it can be compared to a classic like "Star Wars" or any of it's sequels. That just isn't right. So, I actually almost-sorta-kinnda recommend "Independence Day" just for the performances from Will Smith, Judd Hirsch and Randy Quaid and maybe even for some of the one-liners. But I still don't see how the American public can make this one of the top grossing films of all time. Maybe it's not up to me to understand...
Visit Jason Wallis' "Filmaholics Anonymous" web page at
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/7475
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