Independence
Day 1996 by AverageMansReviews
Review Time
Warning:
there are flashing effects/colourful effects/environmental/running/vehicle
hit/vehicle crash/bodily functions/cutting/medical/references to Russia and sexual
assault.
The
World is being invaded by aliens in the next 72 hours 02 July-04 July: briefly; but there are only three men that are standing
in the way of this completely happening; President Thomas J. Whitmore [Bill
Pullman:] he previously was a fighter pilot in the Gulf War, but currently and
unfortunately is overseeing this potential world invasion as the President of
the United States of America and on top of that you will have to do work with
somebody that they have a connecting history with; in the form of David
Levinson [Jeff Goldblum:] he is an highly intelligent individual, that is an
educated MIT graduate that is a satellite engineer and technology expert, that
has a mutual dislike for the president: I mean they are civil as best they can but
it is noticeably awkward and finally we have; Captain Steven Hiller, he is a
highly ranked Marine, that was meant to be on annual leave for this holiday
celebration, when his country calls he picks up the telephone and goes back to
serving, he is also a F/A-18 pilot squadron leader with the Black Knight
squadron.
Generally
speaking: the framework and pacing of this
145 minute film is in its entirety excellent as we also have the structure of
days being divided we have always a progressive good pacing to the film
Art, action and comedy; the special effects are holding
up really well; it as they are still able to put across to his audiences; the
gravity of the situation/situations that this unknown visitors/aliens are here;
we don't know what for yet depending where you are in the film obviously; but
what is incredibly obvious is that they mean business as they can destroy
buildings and their blogs or buildings with one powerful generated energy
blast, this film also has this iconic moment [I should quickly clarify when I
say iconic moment I mean modern film history] of the White House being
destroyed and without giving too much away for those that haven't seen this
film: much later on; there is The World vs. Alien invasion in the air: this
sequence is enthusiastic mayhem and lots of fun. But until we get to this
section of this film earlier on; we have the pleasure of meeting Russell Casse
[Randy Quaid:] he is an eccentric alcoholic cropduster, which served his
country in the Vietnam War, there are other ways maintained he was abducted by
aliens; but win here and now as he is drunk the accidentally flies over wrong
field to cropduster it.
Character developments, performances, comedy and voice
performances; the character developments are in-depth defined, so that we can
as viewers either get a good sense of who they are on first meeting or/and get
to know them as people; in simple language these characters have been flushed
and three-dimensional to a certain extent depending on which
characters/performers we meet, which simultaneously the performances from this
cast are all from the perspective of who they are meant to be; for an example
Julius Levinson [Judd Hirsch: David's retired Jewish father which they play
chess together, is sometimes wise, opinionated, sometimes a antidotal about
this that or the other; regardless if the world is potentially coming to an
end: we have this cultural divide Levinson/Goldblum or/and Captain Hillier either individually or
together being their own cultural divides such as Levinson being very often the smartest man in
the room including encouraging environmental protection, whilst Captain
Hillier/Smith has been potentially brought himself up from the streets to where
he is today, he has this self-confidence which as a Marine and fighter pilot is
a good thing, because if you are going to war and dealing with expensive
machinery, you have to be confident in your beliefs and you are capable of
doing this and you clearly shows that by anyone that chooses to step up to him
in an aggressive manner he will just punched them in the face as he does with
this alien and then greets it to Earth. Which in the long run sets up his
eventual cultural divide between these two characters and their performers;
that speaks two very different types of language but individually come to the
understanding of " We need to work on our communication." Just to
record yes I know it is an incredibly long way to set up this over arcane
cultural divide and comedy references out lay; but I see it from the perspective
of if you are going to go that far and put all of this effort into things you
may as well paid it off and use it for what you have been building to and yes
voice performances are all good as well.
This
film receives: 10/10, this film is top-notch entertainment;
this is one of those films that is a classic from the decade known as the
1990s. As I have already referenced in one way or another; the special effects
are still holding up very well indeed, but for those younger generations: yes
we can also see their ageing process, but still holding up to a good standard
and alongside that we have excellent action with excellent comedy with positive
performances from everyone in the cast so what else could you want? You have
three spearheads putting identical levels of performances in Smith, Goldblum
and Pullman: where he really does embody what a US President should be about;
trying to keep calm, trying to resolve situations peacefully and when this
country needs him; like is for country people he steps up to the plate
regardless of his status of President and the chemistry as I have already be
alluded to throughout the cast is spot on perfection: this is one of those
films that you could put on with a takeaway and just enjoy watching it with
family [providing they are old enough,] friends or anyone else really. This
film will as some awards accredited to its name such as 35 Winners positive:
that include but not limited to Academy Awards, USA 1997 Oscar Best Effects,
Visual Effects Volker Engel Douglas Smith Clay Pinney Joe Viskocil, negative:
Yoga Awards 1997 Yoga Award Foreign Director Roland Emmerich [I feel like I am
compelled to point out that he did win or get nominated for some positive
awards in one way or another as well] 35 Nominees which also include but not
limited to positive: from this award ceremony/event Oscars: Best Sound Chris
Carpenter Bill W. Benton Bob Beemer Jeff Wexler and negative: The Stinkers Bad
Movie Awards 1997 Stinker Award Worst Picture
