[Review] Movie:Independence Day (1996)

Independence Day is a 1996 American epic science fiction disaster film co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich. The film starsWill Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn,Vivica A. Fox, and Harry Connick, Jr. The film focuses on a disparate group of people who converge in the Nevada desert in the aftermath of a destructive alien attack and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4, the same date as the Independence Day holiday in the United States. The screenplay was written by Emmerich and producerDean Devlin.

While promoting Stargate in Europe, Emmerich came up with the idea for the film when fielding a question about his own belief in the existence of alien life. He and Devlin decided to incorporate a large-scale attack when noticing that aliens in most invasion films travel long distances in outer space only to remain hidden when reaching Earth. Shooting began in July 1995 in New York City, and the film was officially completed on June 20, 1996.

The film was scheduled for release on July 3, 1996, but due to its high level of anticipation, many theaters began showing it on the evening of July 2, 1996, the same day the story of the film begins. The film grossed over $817.4 million worldwide, becoming 1996's highest-grossing film and the second highest-grossing film of all time at that point. It is currently the 51st-highest-grossing film of all time and was at the forefront of the large-scale disaster film and science fiction resurgences of the mid-to-late-1990s. The film received positive reviews upon its release, with critics mainly praising its groundbreaking special effects, musical score, and acting (particularly the performances of Smith and Goldblum), though some criticized its storyline and character development. It won theAcademy Award for Best Visual Effects, while it was nominated for Best Sound Mixing.

The film will have both its twentieth anniversary and premiere at a special at the Royal Albert Hall on 22 September 2016. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the original orchestrator Nicholas Dodd, will perform the score live as the film is projected and the film's composer, David Arnold, will give a pre-film talk at the event about his work in scoring for film and television. A sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, is scheduled to be released on June 24, 2016.

Plot

On July 2, 1996, an enormous alien mothership one fourth the size of the Moon enters orbit around Earth, deploying 36 smaller spacecraft, each 15 miles (24 km) wide, that take positions over Earth's major cities, the White House, and other strategic locations. David Levinson, an MIT-trained satellite expert, intercepts a signal embedded in global satellite transmissions that he determines is a timer counting down to a coordinated attack. With the help of his estranged wife, White House Communications Director Constance Spano, Levinson and his father Julius gain access to the Oval Office and warn President Whitmore that the aliens are hostile. Whitmore orders large-scale evacuations, but it is too late; the timer reaches zero and the ships activate devastating directed-energy weapons. Whitmore, the Levinsons, and a few others narrowly escape aboard Air Force One as the White House is destroyed along with cities and military installations around the world.

On July 3, a squadron of F/A-18 Hornets assaults a destroyer ship near the ruins of Los Angeles, but the craft is protected by a force field. Dozens of small "attacker" ships, also protected by force fields, are launched by the destroyer, and a dogfight ensues; the fighter squadron is wiped out. Captain Steven Hiller survives by luring his attacker to theGrand Canyon and sacrificing his plane, forcing the alien to crash-land. He subdues the injured alien pilot and flags down a convoy of mobile homes fleeing the devastation, hitching a ride with Vietnam War veteran and alien abduction victim Russell Casse. They transport the unconscious alien to nearby Area 51, where Whitmore and his people have landed. The government has known about these aliens since 1947, when one of their ships crashed in Roswell. Area 51 houses a refurbished attacker ship and three alien corpses recovered from that crash.

As eccentric scientist, Brackish Okun, examines the alien brought in by Hiller; it regains consciousness. After knocking Okun senseless, it invades his mind and uses his vocal cords to communicate with Whitmore. Whitmore asks what the aliens want humans to do, to which it replies "Die", launching a psychic attack against him. As Whitmore thrashes in agony on the floor, Whitmore's security detail kills the alien. Whitmore says during the psychic attack, he saw that the aliens travel from planet to planet "like locusts", destroying all native life and stripping the planet's resources before moving on. Whitmore reluctantly authorizes a nuclear attack; a B-2 Spirit fires a nuclear cruise missile at a destroyer nearHouston, but the destroyer's force field holds and the ship is undamaged.

Levinson realizes that the key to defeating the aliens is deactivating their force fields, and devises a way to do it using a computer virus, but to upload the virus, he must infiltrate the mothership. He proposes using the captured attacker ship to gain entry, and once the force fields are disarmed, plant a nuclear bomb on board. Hiller volunteers to pilot the attacker. He and Levinson succeed in entering the mothership, uploading the virus, and then deploying the nuclear device, destroying the mothership as they narrowly escape.

With the alien force fields disabled, Whitmore orders an attack on a destroyer ship bearing down on Area 51. With available military pilots in short supply, Whitmore and Casse join the strike force. Although the alien ship is unprotected, the attacking fighters exhaust their missiles without disabling it. The aliens prepare to fire their primary weapon. Casse has one missile left, but it jams; he flies his plane into the directed-energy weapon port, kamikaze-style. The resulting explosion destroys the alien ship. The Americans share this critical vulnerability with the rest of the world's countries, enabling them to defeat the other destroyer ships. People around the world rejoice against a backdrop of the smoking wreckage of the alien destroyers, as the wreckage of the mothership, burning up as it enters the atmosphere, creates a spectacular "fireworks" display.

Independence Dy Resurgence is Going To Be Out There Soon. Click to Read On It