Independence Day (1996)
Director Roland Emmerich is known in our modern times as the king of disaster films. How much of that is because these are the stories he wants to tell and how much of it is him being pigeon-holed by the film industry, who can say? But his career in large scale destruction starts here and it might be one of the best examples of the genre to date.
Few large scale action/disaster films have a moment as memorable or exciting as the arrival of the aliens, and their synchronized attack of Earth in this film. Experiencing these mammoth ships entering Earth’s atmosphere behind a storm of fire and light felt almost biblical and took my breath away. Witnessing highly detailed miniatures meticulously blown apart from the inside out, as the fire from those real explosions highlight chunks of debris being jettisoned in every direction takes the whole film to another level.
The craftsmanship regarding the practical effects extend to the creature and ship designs as well. As if Close Encounters of the Third Kind had been designed for the Alien Universe, the film’s designers took the traditional designs of big eyed aliens and flying saucers from popular culture and evolved them into something much more menacing. The alien spacecraft function in ways that seem very futuristic and yet are made from material that feels incredibly ancient. While the aliens themselves are infused with just enough Xenomorph DNA to remind you that these lifeforms do not come in peace.
Most surprisingly, the special effect utilized better than any other to ground this unbelievable story are its characters. Not just the three lovable heroes of President Whitemore(Bill Pullman), David Levinson(Jeff Goldblum), and Steven Hiller(Will Smith), but the numerous side characters that surround them. Children, parents, partners, and co-workers- Independence Day is chock-full of endearing secondary characters that inject the threat of alien invasion with real stakes. Beyond the fear of losing them, the film sprinkles in beautiful moments of connection, acceptance, and love between characters because Emmrich understood something very important. He understood that in order for all the effort and sacrifice made by our heroes to have been worth it and the action scenes and special effects to have meant something, the film would need to prove in some way that not just the planet, but that humanity itself was worth saving. Mission accomplished Roland, mission accomplished.
