07/04/10 - Independence Day

Independence Day (1996, 153 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116629/

In what has become a yearly tradition for me, I watch part of Independence Day. Usually I catch a snippet on television since it's played nonstop today but today my roommate wanted to watch it so we both popped it in. We selected the special edition for an additional nine minutes of footage.

The film follows American leaders as they respond to an alien invasion. On the political side of things, there is: President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman), Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith), First Lady Marilyn Whitmore (Mary McDonnell), General William Grey (Robert Loggia), and Major Mitchell (Adam Baldwin). On the civilian front there is: David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), Julius Levinson (Judd Hirsch), Russell Casse (Randy Quaid), and Jasmine Dubrow (Vivica A. Fox).

There's quite a few great things about Independence Day. First, there's a huge cast and the movie does a good job at giving each a personality. There's a number of lesser characters that I didn't list above but that are also each well developed. I think the best example of this is Russell Casse. Casse goes through a full character arc (probably more than any other character) and is probably the most lovable of any of them and easily my favorite. Another example is the First Lady. Though she doesn't have but a few scenes (and one of those scenes is exclusively in the special edition I think), the movie still does a good job at making her death emotional. And I don't mean that it just shows how it affects Whitmore since he's a major character but even her death in and of itself is given significance. Independence Day is one of those rare movies where everyone just works in their role. After watching Lord of the Rings, I wonder what it would be like for anyone else to be Frodo or Aragorn or Gandalf. The same thing is true here: I can't imagine this film without Goldblum or Smith or especially Pullman. Such great casting all around.

Next, Independence Day has a very high rewatch factor. I can easily watch pieces of it every year and it come off just as fun as it did the previous year. This is pretty great for a movie of this type. I mean, it's not like I'm noticing something new with every watch like I might be with some drama or mystery movie, but rather I'm just simply enjoying it with each rewatch. I can't think of any disaster movies that can make a similar claim.

Sadly, Independence Day has a few flaws as well. First and foremost is the plot. It's incredibly stupid. Stupid beyond description. I mean, the mere thought that a guy hacks into an alien network and gives them a virus and that they don't figure this out is moronic. The whole Hiller and Levinson mission is stupid and every little thing falls the right way for the aliens to lose. If anything like this ever happened in real life, the alien beings would destroy us so quickly. As even a minor complaint, these aliens operate telepathically and they don't even notice these two humans in a space ship right in front of them. Whatever. But all of this falls into just another of Independence Day's big pluses: it's just so fun to watch. This stupid plot is almost completely forgiven because it's cool to watch these tense moments and daring missions.

Another bad part of the movie is the humor. Lines like "Welcome to earth" and "I have got to get me one of these!" are silly and goofy but they kind of conflict with the whole movie. Sure, the movie can't be serious all the time but most of the humor in Independence Day just doesn't do it for me. Though this could be because I've seen it so often that I've just become immune to it and now find it too corny.

Finally, there's two incredibly memorable scenes from this film. The first is the iconic speech given by Whitmore about fighting for the human race. This is about as over-the-top as you can get with a patriotic speech and it completely works for this movie. It's stirring and rousing, it's perfectly placed, and it jives really well with the whole atmosphere of the film. If I catch one scene when this movie is on television, I make sure it's this one. Next, the second best scene in the movie is the battle immediately after this scene. Not really the whole battle but the Russell Casse moments of it. Sure the whole battle is pretty good as it has well done emotional highs and lows but when Casse comes in is when the scene gets great. Casse has probably had the most character change until this point and by now we're really rooting for him. His final lines are all moving for different reasons, from his arrival at the last moment to Whitmore's call for help, to his leaving words to his family, and to his final words to the alien space ship, it's all just great writing. I might be in a minority when I say it, but it's not even cheesy: it's actually just good dialogue since it goes so well with the whole film.

Overall, I gave this film a 7/10. I reserve a rating of 7/10 for a movie that "can be watched again and still be good or better." This is exactly what Independence Day is for me. Finally, I'm reminded of Armageddon when I wrote this up. Independence Day has phenomenal character development but an overall weak plot. Independence Day works a little bit better on the whole though, so it gets a little higher overall score from me.