INDEPENDENCE DAY

“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.”

1996 was not a good time to be on planet Earth.

Independence Day is the story of an alien invasion on and around the 4th of July. Unlike most disaster movies, this one’s known for, well, kinda being pretty freakin’ great. Luckily for humanity, it’s up to Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum to save the day.

One of the more visual aspects of the movie is one of the more surprising reasons why I love it. Most disaster movies are CGI filled explosion fests. I’m not saying this movie is running short on explosions, believe me it’s really not, it’s just that a surprising amount of what could’ve easily been done with CGI is actually done with practical effects. Perhaps, like other movies that use pratical effects, that’s why it holds up all these twenty years later. Whether it’s entire cities getting vaporized or single explosions, you’ll soon find that a lot less CGI was used than you perhaps first thought.

Y'Know, in moments like this one.

While all disaster movies revolve around destruction, mayhem and general end-of-the-world stuff, what Independence Day does, along with all these, is serve up several character arcs that, by the end, all tie up really well. The pilot who wants to be an astronaut gets to fly in space, the underrated genius saves the world, and the drunk pilot makes his kids proud. Y’Know, day to day stuff.

While the movie is a long one, even by today’s standards, the plot never really lets the film down. The first shot is of the Alien Mothership heading over the moon, and from there the plot takes course over the next few days. There’s a lot going on, but each day has a very different feel to it. Day 1 is anxiety. Who wouldn’t be anxious with Aliens over-head? Day 2 is aftermath. The Aliens have made their move and there isn’t much left. Day 3 is payback. Good old patriotic American payback.

While Will Smith does get top billing, and he does a pretty good job as Pilot Stephen Hiller, it’s Jeff Goldblum that takes the prize for best role. Don’t get me wrong, Smith does get great moments and a lot of funny lines…

“Welcome to Earth.”

But Goldblum’s performance is, well, it’s pretty much Jeff Goldblum playing Jeff Goldblum in a disaster film. That’s hard to top. That being said, Bill Pullman does a good job of playing President Whitmore, a pilot turned politician who gets one of cinema’s greatest ever speeches.

While my thoughts on what the new instalment is going to be like vary from pretty good to average, Independence Day will always be one of those movies I really enjoy watching. Yeah, it’s not the best movie ever, and there’s a few glaring plot holes, mostly concerning the compatibility of an Apple laptop and an Alien spaceship, there’s a lot to like too. Whether it’s the lack of un-needed CGI or just the fact you like watching stuff get blown up by aliens, maybe it’s the badass dog fights in the sky or the guy with the scratchy voice who has to call his mother, it’s just an all-round enjoyable film. Even if a few million people die.

Plus, Y’Know, there’s this line.

“Hello boys! I’m baaaaaack!”