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Independence Day
(**)
Wow! In one 2 1/2-hour movie, I counted the following:
- An Eccentric computer genius
- Strippers
- Touching love stories (3)
- Asshole government agents covering *something* up
- A pilot with a chip on his shoulder
- Cool shit blowing up
- Mad scientists
- Creature FX
- Old wise Jewish men
- Cute, annoying children
- Brave dogs defying death
- RDR (red digital readouts)
There are more, but I became ill (gee, I wonder why) and I had to stop counting. With all this going on, it's a bit difficult to really go over everything in one small review. The filmmakers much have thought they'd have the same problem with the movie, because everything is so glossed over and blatantly stereotyped we feel like the movie we're watching is some sort of express picture. I expected to see a sign at the end saying "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out".
The basic story is simple. Some big spaceship ("1/4 the size of the moon") comes along and stops in an orbit around earth. A series of smaller saucers are dispatched, and they hover over all the major cities in the world until the big Kaboom, where they start blowing things up and killing people. Before this happened, computer nerd David (Jeff Goldblum) found a signal indicating a countdown, and he brings it to ex-wife Connie, who just *happens* to be President Whitmore's (Bill Pullman) right hand, er, woman. They evacuate the White House just before it goes Kaboom, and we see various shots from New York and Los Angeles of the cities being leveled. Quickly, a counter-offensive is assembled, headed by Capt. Steven Hiller (Will Smith). But they're taken out quickly.
At this point, something really interesting occurred to me. If these aliens are so advanced, and they can level cities so easily, why do they bother engaging pilots in air skirmishes? We find out early on that the alien ships have shields that repel all sorts of blasts, including a nuclear assault. But no matter. Intelligence is not to be used in conjunction with this movie.
Probably the most notable part of this movie is the result that, at Area 51, there really are dead aliens and a ship being held. We're taken there, and find Dr. Okun (played by Star Trek's Brent Spiner), who provides another light in the movie. It's from here that the rest of the movie plays out as one strange and half-assed dogfight; as if it wasn't already.
I dunno. Overall, I can't say I liked the movie much. But there were some very good points to the movie. Acting-wise, there wasn't much outstanding, although Brent Spiner brought about some chuckles. It's the special effects that made me watch it, and I wasn't disappointed. Full scale dogfights, and some pretty neat looking aliens. But where's the awe? When you find out there's aliens, and they want to visit, do you contemplate what this could mean to the world as you know it? Or do you take the route taken in this film? That is, hold meaningless press conferences about how there's nothing to fear, loot, or wonder if they're going to attack us? No one for one second stops and realizes "Hey, there's life on other worlds!" Instead, it's some cheap action picture.
If you're going to watch it, be prepared to stifle laughter as a result of the ludicruous dialogue. Bill Pullman's little speech immediately before the final scene stands out. Did he have to practice a lot to keep from laughing at such ludicruous lines? This is not his best work. Otherwise, if you have some time to kill, why not?