The film is shy of common sense or originality, to be sure, but it's an A/V blockbuster of the extreme kind.... Turn your system on, your mind off, and enjoy.
When "Independence Day" arrived on the scene in 1996, a friend and I debated its merits at length. He hated the film because he said it was entirely derivative, made up of bits and pieces of every sci-fi flick ever made. I loved it for the very same reason. I love its tributes to every sci-fi motion picture of the century.
For me, part of the fun continues to be finding references I hadn't noticed before to some other fantasy film. Off the top of my head, the most obvious source of inspiration for cowriter Dean Devlin and cowriter and director Roland Emmerich is H.G. Well's "The War of the Worlds." Next, there's "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers," Kubrick's "2001" and "Dr. Strangelove," and Arthur C. Clarke's novel, "Childhood's End." Then, there's "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "This Island Earth," "Communion," "Invasion of the Saucer Men," "Flash Gordon," "The Thing From Another World," "Roswell," Spielberg's "E.T." and "Close Encounters," "Alien," and, of course, "Star Wars." I could go on, but you get the idea. Anyway, derivative it is, right down to its stereotypical, 1950s-type main characters, which is likewise part of the fun.
For the home-theater buff, I can't imagine a more spectacular way of showing off one's setup or getting one's money's worth out of all that big-screen, big-buck, surround-sound equipment. Without question, Fox's audiovisual reproduction and two-disc deluxe packaging are as extravagant as the movie itself. The film is shy of common sense or originality, to be sure, but it's an A/V blockbuster of the extreme kind, all the same. Turn your system on, your mind off, and enjoy.
The plot is about as simple (and some would say simpleminded) as anything produced by Hollywood in the post-atom bomb, Communist-scared, Cold War fifties. Namely, a fleet of city-sized flying saucers, like a swarm of locusts, attacks the Earth with the intent to kill its every inhabitant and sap its natural resources. Only four intrepid, caricatured heroes can save the day: an ecology-minded computer engineer; a wisecracking Marine Corps fighter pilot; a young, handsome, but politically weakened President of the United States; and an alcoholic crop duster.
Their stories begin separately at the onset of the invasion and slowly intersect as the movie progresses, each man having something to prove, something to fight for. The engineer, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), wants to help clean up the environment, and he gets his chance to save the entire planet. The fighter pilot, Capt. Steven Hiller (Will Smith), wants to be a NASA astronaut, and he gets his chance to fly a starship. The President, Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman), wants to demonstrate his leadership ability, and he gets his chance to pull the whole world together. The crop duster, Russell Casse (Randy Quaid), wants to stop drinking and become a good father, and he gets his chance to become the ultimate savior of mankind. These actors are solid in their roles, backed by an equally secure supporting cast. Mary McDonnell plays Marilyn Whitmore, the President's wife; Judd Hirsch is Julius Levinson, David's father; Robert Loggia is General William Grey, the President's chief of staff; with Margaret Colin, James Rebhorn, Harvey Fierstein, Harry Connick, Jr., Brent Spiner, Adam Baldwin, Vivica A. Fox, and others hanging tightly together.
As good as the ensemble cast is, however, it's obviously the special effects that carry the day. They are spectacular to the limit and make the film worth watching over and again. I don't know why we're all so fascinated by seeing things blow up and burn down, but I don't question it, either. Somehow, it's just fun to watch the White House explode or the Capitol Building and whole cities get torched. Spaceships fifteen miles wide, dogfights in outer space involving hundreds of aircraft, alien beings with inner and outer skins, you name it; every imaginable technique is employed by the filmmakers from miniatures to advanced computer graphics to the real thing. The result is a whiz-bang, thrill-a-minute sci-fi action thriller par excellence.
This digitally mastered, THX-certified DVD set offers two complete editions of the film on one disc and a load of extras on the other. Fox call it one of their "Five Star Collection." I'm not sure what a four-star collection would be like or a three star, presumably something less rewarding. Disc one contains the primary, 144-minute theatrical release and a special, 153-minute Director's Cut. I watched the longer version first and found the added scenes mostly divvied up into tiny segments, thirty seconds here, forty seconds there. The additional material is used chiefly to bolster character development and help allay one's fear that the film's personalities are merely shallow clichés. Little of the added stuff works, though. I found the new scenes of little consequence and in a few instances, as with Casse's drinking affecting his family, more disturbing than enlightening. The film is already long and making it longer is not an improvement.
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