INDEPENDENCE DAY
A film review by Mike Warner
Copyright 1996 Mike Warner
* Preamble
For component summary, see http://www.id4.com
* Irrational
** Snapshot
I'm testosterone overloaded and out for bear. Gentlemen, saddle up, strap me in, and snap my head back. Whaa-- We're in an 8G power-dive and suddenly the flaps are down. Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me. I didn't realize we had to cut to Will Smith's Significant Other shopping for Huggies.
** Summary
Velocity Interruptus. Screenwriting Amateurus.
* Rational
** Summary
Margaret, what I lack in technique, I'll make up for in size.
** Theory
*** Story
Good versus Evil. Cowboys and Indians-from-space with a state-of-the-art video treatment. How could I not like the White House getting pulverized? You say Bill and Hillary are on the doorsteps?
*** Screenplay
**** Structure
Look. If you're going to be the butt-kickingest high-velocity fireworks show yet, then do it. Don't ALSO try to be Les Miserables. When you've established a wake and we're all being sucked along at mach 3, don't stop to smell the roses.
***** Space & Time
Linear in time. Thank Christ. I don't think I could have handled "Captain Steven Hiller: the Formative Years". Localized in space. Which is fortunate. If the story-tellers had been Stephen King fans, we could have been saddled with following the Japanese Brady Bunch.
***** Threading
A story is a set of independent, parallel threads, with a camera following each thread. A screenwriter must be able to switch between threads without disrupting the velocity established by the preceding thread. Trust me, If you don't maintain consistent velocity between threads, the viewer gets pissed. ID4's screenwriters couldn't pull it off. The movie had 20 minutes of disruptive sub-threading that should have been edited out. Come to think of it, maybe these guys ARE Stephen King fans.
Verdict: Thread velocity mismatch.
**** Characterization
Carpe diem, dudes. Instead, let's go with the most embarrassing cliches we can remember. Hell, these guys didn't take Screenwriting 101. In the first class you learn: dont *tell* the audience; *show* them. Example: Will Smith's incessant carping about how "bad" he is. Yeh right, Will. You couldn't put a submission hold on the Avon Lady.
**** Dialogue
Again, Carpe diem, dudes. In the world of High Technology, these screenwriters were in over their heads. But don't feel bad, boys. Most screenwriters are. Also, many missed opportunities to delight with things contrasting and unexpected. They should have pulled-in Quentin Tarantino as a script consultant. In dialogue, Quentin knows about Seizing the Moment.
** Practice
*** Hype
This is where ID4 excelled. They had some excellent clips and whetted our appetites way in advance. Even if the thing had turned out to be as bad as Eraser, the advertising momentum would have pinned the facts in a match. The Marketroids rocked.
*** Acting
Will Smith [Captain Steven Hiller]. I got real tired, real quick of hearing Will Smith tell me how bad he is. Smith's a wimp. Plus, he can't act. But then, he's not an actor; he's a comedian who can't make the transition. Should have hired Wesley Snipes.
Harry Connick Jr. [Jimmy] Here's a musician who *can* make the transition. His impersonation of The Reverend Jesse Jackson is the high point of the film. This guy is dangerous. He can sing Frank Sinatra better than Frank. Have you seen CopyCat? Read my lips: HCJ will receive an oscar within the next 3 years.
Jeff Goldblum. [David Levinson] His verbal cadence and propensity to expressive hand gestures are getting him typecast as a techie. See Jurassic Park, Powder. Jeff's cool.
Judd Hirsch. [Julius Levinson] The film's other title is How The Jews Saved Earth From Alien Invasion. Judd Hirsch's character is there to remind us that Jeff is a Jew and that it's Jews who are saving our ass--once again.
Bill Pullman. [The President] Mis-cast. Bill, god bless his soul, is a mainstream non-entity. You find his picture when you look up the word "uncharismatic." He was pushing his envelope in The Accidental Tourist. In ID4 he has one shining moment to prove to us that he can act, AND ---. Sorry,Bill. You can't really act. See if Uncle Pully can get you into the Carpet business.
Brent Spiner. [Dr. Okun] Mis-cast. Plus, he doesn't play a character, he parodies one. I guess the Director went out with the Best Boys for tacos. Spiner should have waited till Emmerich returned, because Spiner apparently suffers from Judgment Deficit Disorder. Hell, there's always the Next Generation residuals.
Randy Quaid. [Russel] He could have played the character, but the Director was off with the Best Boys, so Quaid joined Spiner, who also suffers from Judgment Deficit Disorder. In the director's absence, Quaid played a stand-up comic parodying a drunk, something he does about 80 percent of the time, anyway. He's getting a lot of practice.
And various space-takers who didn't quit their day jobs, hopefully.
*** Direction
What direction? I think Emmerich used some of his bloated budget money to go to Disneyland. Couldn't he have waited until the movie ended? There's always the chance that one of the actors would have stumbled over him and he could have used that as an excuse to interject his recommendations on characterization. As Ace would say: loo-hoo-ser
*** Effects
Pretty much the whole gambit: modelling, compositing, computer imaging, and so forth. I'm beginning to favor the theory that Bill Pullman's character was actually an animatronic device. Hmmm. Anyway, Models are cool. You can down-light a model so that it lacks detail. That way the audience can't tell the blurry thing is a model. You can do the same thing in Software, but Software Engineers are WAY into proving that they can ray-trace better than god. Plus, they want you to see every incredible detail of the texturing on the ten million edge-softened polygons. You want me to blur what? Blur this.
Hell, with thirty-thousand dollars worth of Amiga/Video Toaster workstations, networked together ala Babylon-5, they could have had something viewable. Oh well. Why use what works when you have so many Effects Studios familiar with what doesn't?
Verdict: Gag me with a model.
*** Soundtrack
**** Music
Very few Movie Makers know how to use the power of Music to drive the velocity and create emotional involvement. Michael Mann is the expert. He proved his expertise in the Miami Vice series. If you want to experience the power of Music to contribute to the effect the Director envisions, check out the last ten minutes of Mann's masterpiece, Manhunter.
In ID4, the Makers were either clueless or uninterested. They may have been mesmerized by the Video and forgot about the Audio. Or maybe they had to trim the budget someplace. In the end, when we finally figure out how to take the Alien Octopi to the mat, a few power chords may have been in order.
Verdict: At least they didn't use Rap.
**** Other
THX rules. Some of the low-end notes (the thuds) were quite inspiring.
*** Integration
Not bad, really. Some of the computer-generated explosions were a little askew of the exploding models, but, hey, captive inertia carries the audience by many of the flawed details.
* Recommendation
Fuck it! Go see it!
** Rating
Rating system : -4 to +4, where 0 = better than a blank screen, but only if you smuggled-in your own candy.
+2
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