Review of Independence Day (1996) by Kai82 — 18 Jul 2021

In hindsight this was not a truly great movie back then. However it hit the right spots at the right times and is a good popcorn movie. It is basically a reimagination of “War of the Worlds” or lets say it is heavily influenced and has B movie charm and cheesiness.

Also it has the pathos, spirit and patriotism that wins over the US audience. All together Roland Emmerich created a truly convincing movie that works well enough to ignore the weaknesses. Maybe it is one of the biggest dazzles in movies that hides its weaknesses so well that you recognize them only far later.

Story: Shortly before the US independence day an enormous alien mother-ship arrives in the orbit of earth (Smaller moon size to be specific) and deploys a few dozen city size saucers that stay stationary above huge cities of earth.

Because no successful contact could be made no one knows what to expect. This is the set up and the movie follows the story of a few protagonist in the following days. I avoided spoilers here but don't even know if it is needed.

The movie, its story and a lot of scenes are close if not common movie knowledge. Like I said the movie pulls all the right strings to be entertaining. It is a good popcorn experience and worth watching.

Of cause it is not an all time classic or in the realm of the best movies of all times. It has however a lot of memorable scenes, a good bit of humor and an enjoyable cast. Cast: We have a cast of really likable and good actors.

There is Will Smith as ace pilot Steven Hiller, Jeff Goldblum as engineer David Levison and Bill Pullman as President and former ace pilot Thomas J. Whitmore. These 3 work well and get you invested into the / their stories.

Then we have the support characters and lets start with Randy Quaid as Russell Casse who is probably the most memorable (side) character of the movie and steals the show. Judd Hirsch as Julius Levison delivers a good performance.

Then there is Vivia A Fox as Jasmine Dubrow who also delivers a good performance as does James Rebhorn as Alber Nimzicki. Brent Spiner as Dr. Brackish Okun is really weak int the movie and I blame it on the script as he is a truly good and convincing actor.

In total we have a solid to good performance with some weaknesses. I must admit here that we have a bit of cheesiness and maybe to much pathos and stereotypes. This can drag down the enjoyment and rating for others and I will say it is a valid point.

Presentation: The special effects worked amazingly well back then. It helped a lot to create the atmosphere and feeling of the movie. The White House scene in particular is quite famous. The sets and other visuals look good too and there is no grave misstep in this category.

The soundtrack was amazingly good and I fully praise the composer David Arnold for this. It is fondly remembered. Overall I repeat that in hindsight it was not a great movie but it pulled the right strings and was entertaining.

It camouflaged its weaknesses well. However it earned its place in movie history for its impact and success. I would recommenced it to watch at least once to be able to discus it. Bonus knowledge: Despite different depictions in movies, TV series and books aliens would not even have to leave their solar system to wage war or destroy other civilizations.

A Nicoll-Dyson beam combines a Dyson sphere with a death ray and there is the relativistic kill shot where you use the energy generation to speed up an object to high fractions of light speed. If at 98% light speed you have a reaction time of a week per light years distance and the relativistic speed makes an object far more destructive than any nuclear weapon we can build (Not planet destroying but civilization erasing except you use bigger objects which is an overkill).