Independence Day

Dir: Roland Emmerich

1996

****

Roland Emmerich's alien invasion movie of 1996 was the big film of the year. The blockbuster had been forced to up its game somewhat since 1993's Jurassic Park and Independence Day was really the only big competition that followed in the subsequent years. It's pretty much what every 1950's UFO b-movie aficionado had wanted since special effects got really good. The special effects and CGI still hold up twenty years later but the script was already forty years past its best. As with all good blockbusters, Independence Day doesn't take itself too seriously, which is a personal preference thing really, I would have liked a little more realism but the studio stayed safe and pleased the wider audience. Personally I thought the humour was quite well balanced, although some jokes could and should have seen the cutting room floor. Some of the smaller, less important characters were written poorly and were questionably cast. It is generally the script that lets it down. Firstly, being from outside of the USA, I didn't feel the same connection Americans did what with American independence meaning very little to me. The idea and dialogue that comes with the whole Independence Day thing is about as cheesy as it gets. It's one big American patriot love-fest really, the president kicks ass, Area 51 has the Intel and the rest of the world waits for them to tell them what to do. Indeed, there is a scene whereby a British Captain is standing somewhere in the far east, a solder hands him the phone and tells him the Americans want propose a counter-strike and in the best mumbled home-counties voice he declares "About bloody time". It's fair enough though, it's an American film after all and all that stuff is easily ignored. The dog is saved in ridiculous fashion, people sacrifice themselves quite pointlessly and stereotypes are everywhere. I think the thing that bugged me the most were the performances that were both overacted and underacted at the same time. For instance, the beginning sequence, where a young technician wakes and first hears the alien's signal. He overacts by falling all over the place with his mouth wide open but also under acts by being completely unconvincing that he'd actually just heard proof of extra-terrestrial life. In my version he would have thrown up and launched into a thirty-minute monologue about all his regrets and fears, but then that wouldn't have been very family friendly. The way they end up defeating the invading aliens make Mars Attacks! look like a serious drama. The special effects might have been cutting edge but the ideas certainly were not. I loved the old 1950's UFO movies because they were shocking, funny and full of suspense, Independence Day is all that but with amazing special effects, is longer and never held back due to lack of budget or technology. It could have been a hundred-times better than it was but the scene whereby the UFO is revealed still sends shivers down my neck.