INDEPENDENCE DAY - Review

"WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT! WE WILL NOT VANISH WITHOUT A FIGHT! WE'RE GOING TO LIVE ON! WE'RE GOING TO SURVIVE! TODAY WE CELEBRATE OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY!"

God Bless Americ....I mean the world.....Yeah, the world. Cause the movie President says its no longer exclusive to America. So the world.

The Plot

On July 2nd, gigantic spaceships surround the world, hovering over major cities. When a cable company analyst (Jeff Goldblum) discovers a hidden signal from their satellites that acts as a countdown of destruction, he contacts his estranged wife (Margaret Colin) who is aide to the President of the United States (Bill Pullman) to enact a large scale evacuation. But it is too late, as the aliens destroy every major city around the world. On July 3rd, the surviving military forces, including a cocky air pilot (Will Smith), launch an assault on the ships. Only to discover their weapons have no effect. But on July 4th, the aliens move to make their final strike on the planet, as humanity makes one last desperate attack on their invaders.

Review

What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than watching the most patriotic pro-American movie ever made.... but ironically directed by a German Director. Roland Emmerich is pretty much the disaster movie king, a title he earned by creating this very film. Jaws may have been the first blockbuster film, but when people look back at what defines a Summer Blockbuster, it will be this one. 

Independence Day is a type of High Concept Summer Blockbuster film that we don't get much in the post Superhero Age of Cinema. A film that pretty much solidified to studio execs what a blockbuster film should be like. Epic storytelling, epic visual effects, massive amounts of action, and relatable yet extremely heroic everyday characters who don't have to be developed too much. It may not have been the first of its kind, but it is heavily considered the best of its kind. Because this movie was the very definition of what cinematic spectacle is suppose to be. From the dogfights to the epic wide shots of  spaceships the size of cities hovering over a famous landmark, this film has everything that is now attributed with popcorn cinema. And I pretty much love it.

The film was created in 1996, post-Jurassic Park, which means that CGI still hasn't been refined to its fullest potential yet. This is where we see a true blending between our modern visual effects and the old school practical effects that have been around for decades prior. The inferno destruction of the major American cities due to the alien blast, still holds up after so many years. Mainly because the destruction of cities was done with miniatures that were built painstakingly detailed, only to be blown with real explosions. This gives it a very tangible feeling that has gotten lost with CGI films, mainly because no matter how much watching a CGI city getting destroyed may be more accurate, there is still that realm of knowing what you see isn't real. But in here, most of what is seen on the screen is completely real. Yes, there is CGI in the movie. But to create the appearance of massive spaceship and jet fighter armadas in the background, while real miniature models fly in the foreground. It is no wonder why this film won the Oscar for best visual effects, because no matter how old this movie gets I can guarantee it will still hold up.

But that's enough praise for the spectacle and the special effects. Because one of the weakest points of the film is its characters. Yes, Jeff Goldblum, Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Randy Quaid are pretty much the only memorable aspects of the film. And an argument can be made that Brent Spiner, the guy who plays the wacky Area 51 scientist, is also the other most memorable actor in the film. However the fact that I can't remember the names of their characters or any other characters for the matter, kind of tells you how important they really are. Because the film is pretty much all story, with the characters acting as drivers for the plot rather than participants. There is some character arc developments for Goldblum's and Quaid's characters, but the changes are so small that it doesn't really seem like so much of one. Everyone in the film is pretty much a capable and heroic version of what we hope we can be if we were ever put in that situation. And given that the only true bad guys of the film are aliens, performed by animatronic puppets, it is pretty clear that the movie is not going for the type of really in depth characters we demand so much in modern blockbusters. This is a film that brings back the simple notion that the first Star Wars movie was about: Good versus Evil. Simple and clean.

The only thing that would really date this movie though is that it is pretty obvious that it is a product of the 90s. Blockbuster films of that era are known to have an occasional over the top character as well as tech that would make youngsters of this generation cringe. In an age when Superhero movies offer good guys and bad guys with a lot depth, this one is just pure fun good versus evil shoot em up.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this movie is a product of a forgotten age of high concept blockbuster cinema. In the Superhero Age of Cinema, there are rarely any original high concept films like this anymore. The closest that we have to something like this is Pacific Rim, which pretty much has a similar story except we have giant robots to fight with against giant monsters, and San Andreas, a very dumb movie that is high popcorn entertainment. I wish we can return to a time when blockbusters were something worth seeing, and not sequels or reboots of existing properties. Which ironically enough is happening with this film in the form of Independence Day: Resurgence. Why can't we have more new ideas? Why? Oh well. Watch this movie to have fun, and that's all.

SCORE: 8.5/10 - AMERICA! F#CK YEAH!