INDEPENDENCE DAY
A film review by Chew Joo Siang
Copyright 1996 Chew Joo Siang
Directed by : Roland Emmerich
Written by : Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich
Cast : Will Smith (Cpt. Steven Hiller)
Bill Pullman (President Whitmore)
Jeff Goldblum (David)
Randy Quaid (Russell)
Judd Hirsch (Julius)
Produced by : 20th Century Fox / Centropolis Entertainment
Running Time : 2hrs 20minutes
Rating : **** out of *****
50's `ALIENS VS. EARTH' IDEA REVAMPED!
If you have been following the movie news over the net, you could not have escaped the hype over ID4. It promises to be THE summer film of the year and it has all the elements necessary. ID4 opened in the US on 2nd of July, and up till now, only after a week of release, it has nearly touched the US$100 million mark, a phenomenon last observed when JURASSIC PARK was released back in 1993. The premise of the movie is disgustingly simple: Earth defends itself against the Aliens, a typical and highly popular 50's Hollywood theme which manifested itself in many films produced in that era.
The movie opens via STAR WARS, however unoriginal it may be, it worked. The aliens have sent a large mother ship (supposedly to be 1/4 size of the moon) to attack Earth by deploying attack ships 15 miles in radius to all the major cities on Earth. The US President (Pullman) does not know of the aliens' intention but soon finds out when David (Goldblum) a scientist, discovers that the Aliens are counting down to a synchronised attack on all the major cities. Capt. Hiller (Smith), a hot-shot F-18 pilot are one of the hundreds assigned to take out the hovering alien attack ship over Washington DC. His squadron came under heavy alien fire after discovering that their weapons were useless against the invaders, he crash lands after a spectacular 1-on-1 chase over the Grand Canyon, one of the many highlights of the movie. ID4 features many characters and we are shown the impact on them as the story progresses. Acting on the whole was OK although I thought that Bill Pullman was a bit unsuitable for the president role but he did make a very rousing speech before sending his troops into battle (do we smell a bit of BRAVEHEART here??).
No prizes for guessing how ID4 ends, its just plain obvious. ID4 borrows heavily from STAR WARS, RETURN OF THE JEDI, ALIEN and in some parts of the movie, I could even sense a bit of X-FILES on screen. If I were to critically review this movie, ID4 is full of plot holes, corny dialogue, and ridiculously dumb aliens. However below that wafer-thin plot and on-screen flaws, ID4 scored well in playing with the appealing idea of the entire world giving up their petty differences to unite themselves as one force against the alien invasion. An idea which will have the audience strongly rooting for the united front throughout the movie, thus maintaining a screen-viewer interaction that virtually render any holes in the movie acceptable, no matter how ridiculous.
ID4 was produced under a modest budget of US$68 million, a film of such magnitude would have easily been another WATERWORLD but director ROLAND EMMERICH (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, STARGATE) and producer DEAN DEVLIN assembled a team which did their own special effects rather than commissioning it to ILM or any other special effects company. Some of the effects are not too good but most of it are very believable, especially the epic standoff between 150 F-18's and 250 alien saucers, reminiscence of the classic space battle featured in RETURN OF THE JEDI.
ID4 is a movie for all. Though there are many explosions and implied deaths, there are no gory scenes of human destruction, thus young kids should be able to take it. Sit back and don't be too critical, chances are you will be absorbed into the movie just as I was. If you are not planning to watch any movies this year, please, at least make time for this one. This film is best watched on the big-screen.
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