Year: 1996
Film: Independence Day
Box Office Gross: $306,124,059
Awards: 1 Oscar for visual effects
Actors: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsh, Harry Connick, Jr., Jeff Bridges, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner
This is one of my favorite blockbusters, and definitely my favorite Will Smith movie. He was still new as a leading actor, moving away from his TV fame, and still rising as a rap/R&B star (It was a little before Jiggy became a household word, and before it stopped being one). The movie starts with all the communication systems going crazy, our heroic President (Pullman) trying to figure things out, but still doesn't make sense. Jeff Goldblum figures out what's going on, and tries to get to the White House with his father (Judd Hirsh) because his ex-wife works for the President. With the help of Captain Steven Hiller (Smith), they try to attack the large circular UFOs, fail miserably, and have to find another method to get them away. Smith figures out how to fight one of the individual UFOs (smaller little units part of the big ones), and captures it. This reveals that this has happened before (yet another hypothesis of what happened at Area 51) and now that they've returned, the machines are working again and maybe they can fly the old ship into the mother ship and detroy everything. Writing this, it seems even more preposterous than actually watching it. It all makes a little bit of sense in context (with the realm of sci-fi anyway). There's a lot of humor throughout, even while you're unsure who will survive. Lots of people don't, but of course our hero prevails. I still like it, and even with the 12 years since, the technology they use hasn't made it particularly dated yet, though it might someday. Oh yeah, and the whole thing occurs from July 2-4, hence Independence Day! Below, this is one of my favorite scenes - listening to Will Smith yell at the alien.
1 comment:
Every now and again I look at my dvd library and wonder why some films are missing (and why some films are there, like The Transporter) and Independence Day is one of those that is MIA. It's not a masterpiece, but it is very entertaining and brings back some hardcore nostalgia. And how can anyone not love Will Smith after this?
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