Independence Day (1996 film)

Independence Day (also known as ID4) is a 1996 American science fiction action film directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, Harvey Fierstein, Vivica A. Fox and Harry Connick Jr. The film focuses on disparate groups of people who converge in the Nevada desert in the aftermath of a worldwide attack by an extraterrestrial race of unknown origin. With the other people of the world, they launch a last-ditch counterattack on July 4th&mdash;Independence Day in the United States.

While promoting Stargate in Europe, Emmerich came up with the idea for the film when fielding a question about his own belief in the existence of alien life. He and Dean Devlin decided to incorporate a large-scale attack having noticed that aliens in most invasion films travel long distances in outer space only to remain hidden when reaching Earth. Shooting began in July 1995 in New York City, and the film was officially completed on June 20, 1996.

Now considered a significant turning point in the history of the Hollywood blockbuster, Independence Day was at the forefront of the large-scale disaster film and sci-fi resurgence of the mid-late 1990s. The film was released worldwide on July 3, 1996, but began showing on July 2 (the same day the film's story begins) in limited release as a result of a high level of anticipation among moviegoers. The film received positive reviews and grossed over $817.4 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1996 and the second-highest-grossing film ever at the time behind Jurassic Park (1993). The film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing. A sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, was released 20 years later on June 24, 2016, making up the first part of a planned series of films.

Plot
On July 2, 1996, an enormous mothership UFO that has one fourth the mass of the Moon, enters orbit around Earth, deploying assault fortress saucers, each fifteen miles wide, that take positions over some of Earth's major cities. David Levinson, an MIT-trained satellite technician, decodes a signal embedded within global satellite transmissions that he determines is the aliens' countdown timer for a coordinated attack. With help from his former wife, White House Communications Director Constance Spano, David, and his father Julius, gain access to the Oval Office and warn President Thomas J. Whitmore the aliens are hostile. Whitmore immediately orders large-scale evacuations of New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., but it is too late; the timer reaches zero and the saucers activate devastating directed-energy weapons, killing millions. Whitmore, the Levinsons, and a few others narrowly escape aboard Air Force One as the capital is destroyed, along with the other locations over which the saucers are positioned.

On July 3, international leaders begin ordering individual counterattacks. Their air forces attack the saucers positioned above the ruins of the cities, but the saucers are protected by force fields. Each saucer launches a swarm of attack fighters, each with its own shield as well, which wipes out the human fighter squadrons and military bases. Captain Steven Hiller, an F/A-18 jet pilot with the USMC squadron VMFA-314 based out of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, survives by luring his attacker to the enclosed spaces of the Grand Canyon and sacrificing his plane, forcing the alien to crash-land. He subdues the injured alien pilot and flags down a convoy of refugees, hitching a ride with former combat pilot Russell Casse. They transport the unconscious alien to Area 51, where Whitmore's group has landed. Through Secretary of Defense Albert Nimzicki, they have learned that a faction of the government has been involved in a UFO conspiracy since 1947, when one of the invaders' attack fighters crashed in Roswell. Area 51 houses the now-refurbished alien fighter, and three alien corpses recovered from the crash. As eccentric scientist Dr. Brackish Okun examines the alien captured by Steven, it regains consciousness and attacks, telepathically invading Okun's mind. It uses Okun's vocal cords to communicate with President Whitmore, before launching a psychic attack against him. Whitmore sees visions of the aliens' plans: their entire civilization travels from planet to planet, exterminating all indigenous life and stripping the planet of all natural resources. After Secret Service agents and military personnel kill the alien that leaves Dr. Okun in a coma, Whitmore reluctantly authorizes a nuclear attack; a B-2 Spirit fires a nuclear warhead tipped cruise missile at a saucer positioned above Houston, but the saucer remains intact. Meanwhile, Steven's fiancée Jasmine and her son survive the destruction of Los Angeles, and use an abandoned service truck to rescue other survivors, in the process finding the injured First Lady, Marilyn, whose helicopter crashed during the initial attack. Though the group is rescued by Steven and taken to Area 51, Marilyn dies of her wounds shortly after being reunited with her family.

On July 4, David demonstrates the key to defeating the aliens is to deactivate their shields, and devises a plan to do this by uploading a computer virus into the mothership using the refurbished alien fighter, which Steven volunteers to pilot. The U.S. military contacts surviving airborne squadrons around the world through Morse code to organize a united counter-offense against the aliens. With military pilots in short supply, Whitmore enlists the help of volunteers with flight experience, including Russell, to fly the remaining F/A-18s at Area 51; and leads an attack on a saucer bearing down on the base. Flying into space, Steven and David upload the virus and successfully deploy a nuclear weapon on board the mothership, destroying the aliens' communications system and reinforcements once the malware has filtered into the alien ships over Earth. With the aliens' shields deactivated, the fighter jets are able to successfully fight back against the enemy craft, but their supply of missiles is exhausted before they can destroy the saucer. As it prepares to fire on the base, Russell has one last missile to spare, but when the firing control on the missile fails, he rams his jet into the directed-energy weapon port, causing a chain reaction that destroys the entire ship. Human resistance forces around the world are informed of the alien saucers' weak point, and successfully destroy the others. As humankind is rejoicing in victory, Steven and David return to Area 51 unharmed and reunite with their families. They then accompany Whitmore and his daughter in watching the wreckage from the mothership blowing up, resembling a fireworks display as it enters Earth's atmosphere.

Cast

 * Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson, an MIT-educated technological expert.
 * Bill Pullman as President Thomas J. Whitmore, a former fighter pilot and Gulf War veteran. To prepare for the role, Pullman read Bob Woodward's The Commanders and watched the documentary film The War Room.
 * Will Smith as Captain Steven Hiller, a Marine F/A-18 pilot. Devlin and Emmerich had always envisioned an African-American for the role,< and specifically wanted Smith after seeing his performance in Six Degrees of Separation.
 * Mary McDonnell as First Lady Marilyn Whitmore.
 * Judd Hirsch as Julius Levinson, David Levinson's father. The character was based on one of Dean Devlin's uncles.
 * Robert Loggia as General William Grey, USMC, the head of the United States Space Command. Loggia modeled the character after World War II generals, particularly George S. Patton.
 * Randy Quaid as Russell Casse, an eccentric, alcoholic former fighter pilot and Vietnam War veteran. He insists that he was abducted by the aliens ten years prior to the film's events shortly after completing his military service.
 * Margaret Colin as Constance Spano, Whitmore's White House Communications Director and David Levinson's former wife.
 * Vivica A. Fox as Jasmine Dubrow, Steven Hiller's girlfriend and mother of Dylan Dubrow.
 * James Rebhorn as Albert Nimzicki, the Secretary of Defense and, as former CIA Director, is a member of a governmental faction who are aware of the aliens' existence due to the ship recovered at Roswell. Rebhorn described the character as being much like Oliver North.
 * Harvey Fierstein as Marty Gilbert.
 * Adam Baldwin as Major Mitchell, USAF, Area 51's commanding officer and thus a member of a governmental faction who are aware of the aliens' existence, but during the war with them, he aligned with Thomas Whitmore and William Grey.
 * Brent Spiner as Dr. Brackish Okun, the unkempt and highly excitable scientist in charge of research at Area 51. Dr. Okun appeared to have been killed by an alien but returned in the sequel, where it was revealed that the character had been in a coma for exactly two decades since the incident.
 * James Duval as Miguel Casse.
 * Bill Smitrovich as Lt. Colonel Watson.
 * Harry Connick Jr. as Marine Captain Jimmy Wilder. Connick took over the role from Matthew Perry, originally cast in the role.
 * Mae Whitman as Patricia Whitmore, the daughter of President Thomas J. Whitmore and First Lady Marilyn Whitmore.
 * Ross Bagley as Dylan Dubrow-Hiller, Jasmine Dubrow's son and Steven Hiller's stepson.
 * Lisa Jakub as Alicia Casse.
 * Giuseppe Andrews as Troy Casse.