INDEPENDENCE DAY
A film review by Chad Polenz
Copyright 1997 Chad Polenz
**** 1996, PG-13, 145 minutes [2 hours, 25 minutes] [science fiction] starring: Bill Pullman (President Thomas Whitmore), Will Smith (Captain Steve Hiller), Jeff Goldblum (Dave Levinson), Margaret Coplin (Connie), Randy Quaid (Russell Case), Robert Loggia (General Gray), Judd Hirsch (Julius "Pops" Levinson), produced by Dean Devlin, written by Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich, directed by Roland Emmerich.
Wow! I am so blown away by this film that I am nearly speechless. Rarely does a film come along that is such an excellent blend of excellent storytelling, suspense, and adventure and is able to synchronize it as well as this film does. At times this movie becomes something more, it is something that can unite everyone together and move an audience. This is an excellent achievement in great storytelling, special effects, and most of all its ability to take a rather complicated plot and make it so breezy. The sensation and excitement are unlike anything I've ever experienced since the "Star Wars" trilogy, and that's something even remotely difficult to stand up to.
The story starts out with some scientists realizing that something huge is approaching the Earth and is giving off a radio code that is reducing itself as it constantly recycles - a definite warning of some type. It gets closer until they realize that it is actually a group of huge UFOs approaching the Earth's atmosphere. Even though not much has happened, the sense of intense excitement and suspense builds very quickly, we are wondering who these aliens are and why they are here.
When the ships finally enter the atmosphere, panic ensues and President Thomas Whitmore (Pullman) addresses the country and tries to calm everyone down. One of the scientists who first discovered the aliens (Jeff Goldblum as Dave Levinson) has an ex-wife (Margaret Coplin as Connie) who is an assistant to the president and is able to meet with him and warn him of the countdown. Suddenly the suspense builds to a boil as they realize that they are about to be obliterated. We get quite a cliche escape scene and many terrifying devastation scenes, but the suspense, combined with the excellent special effects are so unbelievable that it is all breathtaking.
What follows is a fantastic aerial battle between U.S. Marine F-18 Tomcats and alien ships, perhaps one of the single most exciting scenes I have ever viewed. Just consider the situation for a minute, our own military up against aliens from another planet - how cool is that? In most stories of the genre we are so far behind in technology that we are immediately incinerated, here we at least fight back, but do not win (at first).
Will Smith also stars as one of those pilots - Captain Steve Hiller, and he was perfectly cast for the role. His character is quite hyper and yet easy going, he seems so right for the film, unlike a character that could have been played by Harrison Ford or Tom Cruise. When Hiller is psyched to "whoop E.T.'s ass" we know exactly how he feels, and when he is actually able to shoot down one of the aliens he is still so psyched that he cold cocks the alien and knocks him out! It does not seem at all corny or trite at the time, the audience is just as psyched and as scared as Hiller is, it works well and this is how the entire movie feels.
We did not win because we cannot overpower their technology, will these visitors conquer the planet or just destroy it? When the president and the military all meet at super secret "Area 51" they realize that the CIA had captured an alien ship 50 years ago and has learned much about their anatomy and technology. This is the only real time that film starts to become a little too formulated, just the basic idea of what is happening reminds one of an Ed Wood film. We even get a mad scientist of sorts, but is this a parody or something to be taken seriously?
Like all other stories of the sort, Devlin and Emmerich's script makes us wonder if there is any chance at all for victory, and of course some kind of loophole is found, and of course it will take a super exciting, cliffhanger scene to overcome the conflict but the payoff is well worth it. At first we witnessed our boys lose to the aliens and it was exciting just because of the mood, now that the entire world is united together and actually winning it brings about a sense of courage, pride, excitement and suspense.
"Independence Day" isn't Shakespeare but it's still very excellent, it might not be the most realistic story but I think that's the point. We tend to take our movies too seriously today, if we just leave our cynicism behind and use our imagination we'll experience something so fantastic words will not be able to describe it. (7/7/96) (12/9/96) [other films of this genre: the "Star Wars" trilogy, "The War Of The Worlds," "V," other films by Emmerich: "Stargate"]
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