Independence Day

Well sorry for the absence vacation is over and back to work. I couldn’t go through the Fourth of July weekend without watching this 1996 classic.

Independence Day starred Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Randy Quaid, and Jeff Goldblum. The director was Roland Emmerich.

This movie takes place in what is the present day United States. Bill Pullman played Thomas J. Whitmore, the President of the United States. Will Smith was Captain Steven Hiller, an air force pilot who gets caught in the middle of the action. Jeff Goldblum played David Levinson, who works for a television network. Randy Quaid was Russell Case, a Vietnam vet who is now a drunkard crop dusting pilot.

The movie begins with a shot on the plaque that was placed on the moon by the astronauts of the 1969 Moon Landing Mission. Soon after a massive shadow passing over the moon. A group monitoring satellites in space, discovers a signal coming from the moon. News begins to quickly spread amongst government officials. President Whitmore finds out about the new discovery during a run down of his approval rating. The focus switches to New York where David Levinson playing chess in a park with his father Julius, played by Judd Hirsch. David then arrives at work where all the networks are experiencing interference. Next, Russell Case is fired for drunkenly crop dusting the wrong farm. UFO’s begin entering the atmosphere around the world. President Whitmore and his staff are in a predicament deciding what to do. They hold a press conference informing the public on the situation. Alien ships begin positioning themselves above major cities. Captain Steven Hiller is on weekend leave during the start of the invasion. He is oblivious to what is happening until he goes outside to grab the newspaper and sees an alien ship sitting above Los Angeles.

David discovers the secret countdown hidden in the satellite signal, that is interfering with television broadcasts. Chaos begins as people begin fleeing and looting. David tries to call his ex wife that works for the President. He then decides to head to D.C. to warn them. Captain Hiller is called back to El Toro as his squad is preparing for what comes next. David reaches the White House and attempts to explain is understanding of the countdown signal. After a failed attempt to communicate, everyone in the White House attempts to flee before the countdown ends. Evacuation attempts begin with not much time left.  The countdown ends as Air Force is taking off, the alien ships fire down on all their targets. Major cities across the world are destroyed in a matter of minutes and countless lives are lost as once sprawling metropolitan areas become desolate waste land. Captain Hiller and his squad are in the first wave of retaliation operations. They mount up and prepare for an offensive against the invaders. However when they begin the attack, the find out it the UFOs even the smaller fighter ships have an invisible shield that protects it from the missiles being fired at them. During the attack, Captain Hiller’s squad is annihilated, and he narrowly avoids the same fate. Hiller is able to take down and capture an alien during the attack. After being picked up by a motorcade heading east, Hiller directs the group to drop him off at Area 51, where Air Force One has just landed.

The motorcade arrives at Area 51, and is let on the base after Hiller reveals the captured unconscious alien he has obtained. After an incident with the alien, President Whitmore decides to nuke the massive UFO’s but the shield was not broken. As it becomes July 4th it seems all hope is lost until a drunk David comes up with a ridiculous sounding plan that might be able to penetrate the shields and kill the alien bastards. With no other options to turn to, will the plan go into action? Can they take out the alien shields and if so organize a world wide counterstrike? Even if everything goes as planned, will it be enough to destroy the alien invaders and save Earth?

Independence Day is a good movie with a compelling story. I watch this every Fourth of July and enjoy it every time I watch. It’s an always entertaining 145 minutes action film. If you have not seen this movie and are a fan of alien invasions, its definitely a must see. I give this one four out of five stars. Good performances all around from a well put together cast. This movie shows what would happen if the fate of mankind was on the line. With a single enemy threatening to annihilate their very existences, the people of Earth must unite together to take down a common foe. Great for an anytime watch it. Check out this 90’s classic and watch Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, and Randy Quaid come together to try and save humanity.

And I know it’s a longer quote than we normally do but it’s one of my favorite speeches in any film.

“Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. “Mankind.” That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it’s fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom… Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution… but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: “We will not go quietly into the night!” We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!” – President Whitmore

As always thank y’all for reading.

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