How Had I Never Seen..."Independence Day"?
Saturday, July 3, 2021 at 2:47PM ;)
Some of my recent choices for the "How Had I Never Seen" series may have leaned towards the esoteric. Probably most people don't wonder why or how they have never set eyes on Valley of the Dolls or Girlfriends. This time around, however, I've decided to fix a pretty deep lacuna in my movie-watching, one that's firmly in the mainstream rather than an arthouse curio. Today marks the 25th anniversary of Roland Emmerich's 1996 Oscar-winning mega-blockbuster Independence Day. To commemorate the date, I finally watched the flick that turned Will Smith into a star of the silver screen, redefined the effects-driven summer movie, and birthed a new era of Hollywood entertainment…
I'll be upfront with you, dear reader – I was not too fond of Independence Day. However, I'm not interested in spending the movie's anniversary lambasting the "poor" thing. So, let's try to get most of the negative stuff out of the way and concentrate on what's good about the box-office champ. In many ways, I look at Emmerich's seminal success in the same way I might regard the Dardennes' early films. It's a strange comparison so let me explain. More than the pictures' merits, I'm drawn to see these works by what they wrought. If the Belgian duo shifted the tenets of European arthouse realism and brought on an age of endless copycats that wore their aesthetic banality as a badge of honor, so did Independence Day establish an oft-imitated model.
Since I'm probably one of the few people in the world who hadn't seen the movie till today, I won't bother with much plot synopsis. Aliens invade the Earth with hostile intent, and many American heroes save the day on July 4th. Despite the sheen of 90s VFX, this is openly cribbing from midcentury B-movies. The big difference being that those sci-fi delights were sparingly short, acknowledging their silliness with aplomb. Independence Day, on the other hand, isn't as willing to embrace these aspects. What's more, it crossbreeds the 50s sci-fi B-movie with the tradition of 1970s star-studded disaster flicks. Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! did the same in 1996, but its intentions were transparently parodic.
The result of Emmerich's reference cocktail is indefensibly long at 145 minutes, cursed with a cast of millions that makes every death feel inconsequential even as the direction insists it's all very heartbreaking. Furthermore, the mixture of glibness and drama punches the air out of both modes of expression, nullifying them and creating a story where everything feels inconsequential even as the fate of Humanity is at risk. Finally, for as much time spent on character drama, those characters rarely rise above stock one-dimensionality. But wait, didn't I promise to be positive? Yes, I did, but one needs to establish why the success of one particular performer is so remarkable and necessary to counterbalance Independence Day's structural, tonal, and narrative failures.
Will Smith takes 22 minutes to appear on-screen, but it's like new life is breathed into the movie when he does. Now that's a star! Acting within the center of an epic is a great challenge, but this leading man manages to overcome it and make it seem effortless. He does so by relying on sheer charisma and the quasi-everyman quality his screen presence evokes. Only Will Smith could pull off a scene where his girlfriend says he's not as charming as he thinks he is, and the man rapidly responds with "Yes, I am." As embodied by Will Smith, he's right. The star thus grounds this inane monument of interplanetary violence while also making himself part of the bigger-than-life spectacle. It's a legitimately impressive achievement that's more difficult than one might realize.
Because of that, it's a real tragedy that Emmerich does so little with Smith. Independence Day could do with a lot more of his cocky charm. Apart from him, I have little patience for the movie's human element, and, judging by Emmerich's directorial choices, I feel like he might share the same disinterest. In contrast, he dedicates a lot of attention to the magnificence of the alien invasion that gives the movie its simple plot. And, to be fair, such commitment does pay off. There's a fantastic sense of scale to some shots. Notice the images of massive shadows appearing over New York, Washington, and Los Angeles. We're made to sense the might of what's to come before the impossibly large spaceships even become visible and the pyrotechnics start in earnest.
It's a great crescendo of threat that culminates in the movie's best and most famous sequence - the one that featured so heavily on the flick's promotional material, including its famous Super Bowl ad. The building tension is genuinely powerful, the propulsive score and nervous editing patterns heightening our sense of dread while tempering it with awe. As the city-size spaceships open up for the first time, one feels as if it might all turn out well, the light coming from its gaping maw shining with heavenly portent. But then, from celestial, it all turns to an inferno of immeasurable destruction and mind-boggling carnage. Being only familiar with posters and film stills from the original Independence Day, I didn't realize that a tsunami of apocalyptic hellfire followed the destruction of iconic hallmarks. The overambitious grandeur was a happy surprise.
The visual effects, combining CGI and practical models, still hold up. Still, it's the interplay of size, the contrasts of infinite possibility, and dreadful final judgment that make it all sing. Frankly, the movie lost me after the big set-piece, but I'm sure others have different experiences. As a horror aficionado, it was easy to find things to love about the surgery gone wrong scene, even though the alien designs are a bit derivative. Unencumbered by nostalgia and coming from a decidedly non-American perspective, I'm not the ideal audience for this movie in 2021 and am ready to admit it. Even so, I wish I could see it on the big screen at the height of its popularity. The big explosions are truly mesmerizing, and seeing them projected wide in the theater, along with an effusive audience, must have felt sublime.
Despite my ambivalent/negative comments about Independence Day, I am happy to have watched it and hope others keep getting more from it than I did. If you want to watch the movie, it's streaming on all HBO platforms.
Reader Comments (22)
Every day with a Claudio article is a day of freedom and liberation. An Independence Day of sorts.
You hadn't missed much
Ah, yes, that VERY American film, betraying its roots and intents even in the culturally specific title. And what junk it is. But my most treasured memory is watching it in a gigantic cinema in Toronto, and when the 'independence day' speech happened, the ENTIRE AUDIENCE burst into laughter at that pile of American baloney. ideology masking as entertainment always betrays itself.
My best friend was an extra on it, and can be seen in the Army scenes with Robert Loggia and Bill Smitrovich.
It's a big, dumb, Summer blockbuster. 'MERICA!!
Sometimes if it's on I'll watch it up through that initial destruction of the cities because it is well paced, etc., but after that the film is such a going-through-the-motions bore.
I recently watched Independence Day with Dianne Wiest. Such an unfortunate name but what a performance from Wiest!
Still haven’t seen it, and this essay makes me feel good about that fact.
Bravo Bradley!
The 1983 film Independence Day was written by young novelist Alice Hoffman before she attained her overwhelming popularity. Then unknown Dianne Wiest took the role of abused wife Nancy Morgan and imbued the character with pathos, verve and heartbreak. Wiest was runner up for Best Supporting Actress at NYFCC. Forty years later and I am still haunted by Nancy's explosion. I have long forgotten the tiresome bombast between aliens and Will Smith.
I can't completely agree with you assessment.
You truly can't get the sense of the scope of the film not having seen it on the big screen or with an audience. I saw it when it was just out on the gigantic screen of the packed to the gills Uptown theatre in Washington DC and it was just a POW experience.
It's not the cleverest movie but I didn't expect it to be when I walked in the door. What I was looking for was a big, loud escapist piece of entertainment with decent actors in undemanding roles and that is exactly what the film delivered. The crowd was with the film from the first moments and that excitement kept popping up at all the key set pieces with the audience bursting into applause throughout the picture.
Will Smith is unquestionably the star of the film and the one who carries it once he enters but his easy chemistry with Jeff Goldblum's slightly nutty professor make them a fun pair that you root for. Emmerich's filling the roles to type (Bill Pullman & Mary McDonnell as the obvious Clinton stand-ins, Harvey Feinstein & Harry Connick Jr. as the comic relief buddies, Randy Quaid the seemingly nutty oracle crop duster, Margaret Colin as Jeff's smart, capable blessedly age appropriate and not bimboish ex-wife, etc.) makes it unnecessary to flesh out the paper thin characters since the performers presence does that for him and he can focus on the real reason for the picture-the spectacle.
To see just what a good job this does all you have to do is try and watch the ghastly 20 years too late attempt to revive the story-Independence Day: Resurgence which is none of the things this film is but a vacant CGI bore with interchangeable nonentities that make the shallow but relatable characters of the first seem like characters from an Ibsen play!
It's an alright film that has its moments but I don't think it's aged well for me. Some of it is stupid. Plus, I felt it did too much for Will Smith and not give enough credit to Jeff Goldblum who was the one that figured out how to kill the aliens.
If I made top ten lists when this came out (as a 15-year-old), this would’ve been my #1 movie of the year. I just loved every element.. the suspense, the still-great effects, the race against time. Watching it now it completely falls apart. Aside from the effects, the acting ranges from enough! (Judd Hirsch) to ridiculous (Randy Quaid).
How can you do an article on this and not mention the Presidents speech near the end. That scene might be the best speech ever delivered in movie history, everything about it was perfection, acting, writing editing and the score were all firing on all cylinders.
I saw it at the cinema with a big crowd as a (Aussie) kid and it was such fun. I'll never forget the crowd or myself jumping at the lab scene. It's a 'you had to be there' kind of movie.
There is a Renegade Cut episode of youtube that totally encapsulates my feelings but it's a jingoistic mess. When I see American leaders speaking they are all trying to create the President's speech from this film and just as scripted and insincere.
There must be an essay somewhere on Independence Day that takes into account the fact that Roland Emmerich is not American (German) and that he's openly gay.
I grew up with this movie and it holds a special spot in my heart, lol. Ya'll this is a 90s blockbuster without, IMO, any intention of being a think-piece *italics* film.
A list of five:
1. ID4 has some of the best extras in film. Every moment leading to the first big attack on NY/The White House etc is filled with such dread and chaos - the extras are so believable and well choreographed.
2. Every VIvica A Fox line reading. "WHY? That's why!" (and let's never forget "I'm a dancer." "Ballet?" "Exotic.")
3. BOOMER
4. "Ah, crap."
5. Judd Hirsch!!
I saw Independence Day once back when it came out. Never watched it again. The one thing I remember was Harvey Fierstein's gay character was treated terribly. All the roles are basically American stereotypes. Goldblum is the computer nerd, Smith the urban cool guy, the WASP President,etc. And somehow Emmerich found a way to give each of these stereotypes a heroic moment. Even Quaid, the trailer park drunk gets to be the ultimate hero sacrificing his life. But the gay character doesn't get that heroic moment. He is hiding under a desk in one scene and dies screaming for his mommy. It seemed to be a subtle message that put me off the movie.
Aliens looked awful in that movie, badly done. The destruction is all front-ended, should be in the climax. Silly characters, cringe-inducing dialog. I saw it once, never again.
I remember having a similar reaction when this came out: “So Mars Attacks, but serious…?” There”s a scene with the First Lady (Mary McDonnell) and a stripper (Vivica Fox) on the run from aliens. I wanted the whole movie to be about them. They both had great hair.
I just have to love how everybody seems to forget that Emmerich is in the same satyrical league of Verhoeven and his films aren't meant to be read literally, in many occasions. Emmerich has a lot of fun with subverting the expectations through actually playing it over the top and inviting the audience to laugh at his own film. This is more evident in the fantastic allegories that mine "2012", but also on his delightfully trashy work in Godzilla, blatantly ripping off Jurassic Park at some points, but still being somewhat faithful to the scale and sense of wonder of the japanese orginal (it's no chance that the cast is made of comedians, including a couple of brilliant The Simpsons actors). In Independence Day, we have a big bunch of characters, all clearly defined and the body count is high but surprisingly low for most of them. Again, Emmerich handles the cornyness and cheese masterfully (specially in the First Family scenes) to create a playful spectacle out of the horror of an apocalypse (something he mastered in 2012 to perfection, combining the awe, horror, and dark humor). and in the end, if one actually pays attention to the film, it's not just "America" who saves the day, but just TWO diverse characters (one, jewish, the other one, african-american) infiltrate the mothership and use the virus to provoke the chain reaction that will dismantle the shields of the ships attacking earth, but the hard job is done by ALL NATIONS ON EARTH, and thus the final message marks the end of the USA independence, in a new world in which nations have to be UNITED, regardless of the differences, against the alien enemy in common.
Also, the much maligned virus "ex machina" is based on the screenplay and logic... it's clearly said that the Roswell spaceship lead to huge advance in technology and it is easy to infere that modern computer science would be based - in this world - on the alien technology, therefore the basic computing code, would be compatible with the alien computers.
I always considered it, a misunderstood film... and with Emmerich - people tend to completely underrate him - that's a constant.
To summarize...
What People understands it is the message of ID4: "America, f*ck yeah!"
What it actually says: "The USA can't isolate themselves and need to stop looking at their bellybuttom"
Such a stupid movie. But I'd really meant to watch the scene with the White House blowing up during the Trump years. Oh well.