Independence Day (1996)

Directed by Roland Emmerich, this film was one of the biggest blockbusters of the year when it came out back in 1996, and it still stands up as one of the best examples of the disaster movie genre. And it is very much a genre film, ticking all the proverbial boxes with its many cliches and tropes.

As the fourth of July - Independence Day in the United States - approaches, a fleet of spacecraft are approaching Earth, and they don't seem to be coming in peace. In fact, as soon as they enter the atmosphere, they begin firing on most of the world's biggest monuments, leaving a path of great destruction.

President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) is immediately evacuated, along with his young daughter, and just in time, too: one of the many landmarks to be destroyed is the White House itself (this particular sequence was a huge shock when it happened in cinemas, and it is just as impressive as ever even today).

US President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman), with his band of advisors.

Ex-government advisor David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) is brought back to advise on a plan of action, as it seems he has an interesting insight into what the aliens might be planning: it seems they are indeed here to destroy all life on Earth, as they have done on several other planets already.

The military are enlisted to mount a massive counter-attack on the alien invaders, but it seems that everything they try isn't working. One of the many soldiers involved is Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith).

I won't go any further describing the plot; there are several other points I wish to make, however.

Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith).

The screenplay, by Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich, is fairly typical of any film in this genre, and not in a good way. The characters are all simple caricatures, the standard characters one would expect to come across in any disaster movie. The plot too relies on cliche, and is far too predictable. While some might feel that these standards of the genre work to the film's advantage - given it is very much a genre film - I would respectfully disagree. Every single twist and turn of the plot can be seen and predicted far in advance, and the film doesn't tread any new ground whatsoever throughout its entire running time.

David Arnold's score is likewise predictable and cliched, and brings nothing new or noteworthy to the genre, or to the world of cinema. It is a score that could have been composed by anyone familiar with the genre, who need not necessarily have ever seen the film, as it is so typically standard of the genre, it could be transplanted into another similar film with no noticeable differences.

The cinematography, however, is interesting. While it is predominantly typical of the genre - surprise, surprise - there are some moments which still succeed in wowing an audience, primarily the sequences depicting the destruction of some of Earth's major landmarks, such as the aforementioned White House explosion scene. Most of these sequences were achieved with the use of incredibly realistic miniatures, but are shot in such a fantastic way as to not be obviously miniatures, adding to the realism of the moment.

The destruction of the White House is one of this film's most recognisable
sequences.

The performances of the cast are adequate for the genre, and typical of any such film, with no individual performance noteworthy enough to mention here. There is an appearance by Randy Quaid as former alien abductee Russell Casse - a character whose entire arc is again incredibly cliched, but nevertheless is an impressive performance.

Director Roland Emmerich has simply made yet another disaster film, that feels a little too much like a painting-by-numbers job. Having seen it several times now, including a recent re-watch for the purposes of this review, I can confidently state I wouldn't be too disappointed if I didn't watch it again, and there are not a lot of films which would make me say that.

4 out of 10.