Now and Then Blogathon (Then): Independence Day (1996)

Independence Day (1996) a.k.a ID4

Twentieth Century Fox, Centropolis Entertainment, USA, 1996.

Participating the Now and Then 2017 Blogathon event, arranged by Realweegiemidget Reviews and Thoughts of All Sorts! This is part 1 (Then!) of 2 part post.

Independence Day of the United States is approaching and so is a gigantic spaceship. The President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) suffers from waning popularity. Although he was a popular war hero, media says that his achievements as the leader of the country have been disappointing. His day becomes worse when a gigantic UFO emitting a strange signal sends smaller smaller spaceships above major cities. SETI scientists open Champagne bottles but cable-TV technician (and former university guy) David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) cracks the code and notices that the signal send by the spaceship is a countdown to destruction.

This is not a weather balloon!

Thomas J. Whitmore

David Levinson

The humans try peaceful greeting but the extraterrestrials answer by blowing whole cities up. After a worldwide destruction, the survivors try to save their families who have been lost in the chaos. Army attempts a strike back (nuke 'em!), but that only makes aliens laugh. However some promising technology is hidden in Area 51. Eccentric scientist Dr. Okun (Brent Spiner, Data from Star Trek TNG) shows the secret alien artifacts retrieved after the Roswell Incident.

Dr. Okun

Alien warrior

After David and his daddy Julius (Judd Hirsch) invent a way to destroy the mother ship, the different nations join the counter attack. And should they win, the Fourth of July will no longer be only an American holiday, but the Independence Day of the whole Earth! ID4 is a shamelessly patriotic movie with good old flag waving.

Julius

Saving the world are drunk pilot Russell Casse (Randy Quaid) and his family, hotshot pilot Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) and his girlfriend Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox). There is also important motivator for David, his ex-wife and President's Communication's Director Constance Spano (Margaret Colin). David and Constance separated because David was unambitious with his career and more interested in protecting the environment. Well, now he has a chance to save the world. Helping the heroes is also Major Mitchell (Adam Baldwin). Interestingly, Adam played also part in latter X-Files episodes as an alien-human hybrid supersoldier.

Jasmine and Steven

Russell

Major Mitchell and Constance Spano

The movie come out when the space aliens were hot and I had spent considerable time watching "The X-Files" and playing "UFO: Enemy Unknown", so the movie left a big impression. It was a perfect movie for the 1990s UFO boom. The combination of disaster film and B-film style alien attack film made with a big budget made it a summer box office hit film, with thrills, drama and witty one-liners.

The all-star cast had a bunch of new faces and already established actors. Will Smith was still in the early phase of his film career, at the time that he made his iconic roles (in "Bad Boys", "Men In Black" and "Enemy of the State") and here he does great action-comedy. Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman take care of the dramatic arc while Judd Hirsch and Randy Quaid have more comical characters. For Vivica A Fox this movie was very important for her career. James Duval plays here Russell's son, he is rarely seen in big budget films and has apperared more in indie films.

Rating: Very good

Starring: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, Randy Quaid, Margaret Colin, Vivica A. Fox, James Rebhorn, Harvey Fierstein, Adam Baldwin, Brent Spiner, James Duval, Lisa Jakub, Giuseppe Andrews, Ross Bagley, Bill Smitrovich, Mae Whitman, Harry Connick Jr., Kiersten Warren, John Storey, Frank Novak, Devon Gummersall, Leland Orser, Mirron E. Willis, Ross Lacy, David Pressman, Vivian Palermo, Raphael Sbarge, Bobby Hosea, Dan Lauri, Steve Giannelli, Eric Paskel, Carlos Lacamara, John Bennett Perry, Troy Willis, Tim Kelleher, Wayne Wilderson, Jay Acovone, James Wong, Thom Barry, Jana Marie Hupp, Matt Pashkow, Robert Pine...

Director: Roland Emmerich