When it comes to movies watched on July 4th, it doesn't get any better than this.
I remember seeing the teaser a lot on TV and I didn't have clue what it was, but then when I saw Jeff Goldblum from Jurassic Park in the trailer that's when my interest got sparked. Only more so when I recognized other actors like Will Smith whom I only knew from the show "Fresh Prince" along with Kiersten Warren from "Saved By The Bell: The College Years". While I didn't get a chance to see it in theaters I was so glad when I got the VHS way back when, then the Collector's Edition DVD and now the Blu-Ray Steelbook edition. And every time I see the movie, it never gets old.
The story begins with a shot of the moon, specifically a landmark placed on part of it to commemorate the first moon landing decades ago. While everything seems normal, the ground on the moon begins to shake, and then a large shadow begins to cover the moon's surface, and then as the camera pans over to Earth, a giant alien ship begins to approach it.
From then on you get a good amount of multiple scenes that at first seem separate but they will be affected by what's about to happen, like the scene at SETI and the Pentagon, with President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) getting the news.
Meanwhile the movie cuts to New York City where David Levinson (Goldblum) is playing chess with his father and then heads off to the cable company he works at and finds that something seems to be wrong with the satellites being used to broadcast television to which David sets to work on trying to solve, eventually discovering a strange signal in their feed.
Next we meet Russell Casse, a former Vietnam Veteran turned crop duster who is on a bit of a drunken binge while trying to do a crop dusting job to support his kids but with very mixed results.
Back in outer space, smaller ships begin to break off from the larger ship and head straight for Earth during all of this.
Back in Washington DC Whitmore and his staff are trying to figure out what the object is and what to do about it but then some US military troops arrive with an update on the object having broken into "...three dozen other pieces, smaller than the whole...Yet over 15 miles in width themselves...they should be entering our atmosphere within the next 25 minutes."
No sooner does he say that does the movie cut to the Iraqi desert where one ship is already breaking through the atmosphere yet is covered by fire, along with another ship making its way to Los Angeles and another heading to New York, though the latter scene isn't shown.
Eventually firestorm in the clouds dissipate, revealing the ships to a shocked population as well as the characters we've been following thus far.
"Now what do we do?"-Connie Spano "Address the nation. There's going to be a lot of frightened people out there."-Whitmore "Yeah. I'm one of them."-Connie
During this we are introduced to yet another group of people: Dylan, his mom Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) and her boyfriend U.S. Marine Steve Hiller (Will Smith). For them the morning seems to go on like usual...until Steve heads outside to get the paper and finally notices the city-sized ship over LA.
With David he realizes that the problem his company had with the TV satellites was because the strange signal was in fact a countdown for the aliens to coordinate an attack. Knowing that his ex-wife is still at the White House he and his father head to D.C. to get her out, if not try to warn the President despite the past history between Whitmore and David.
Managing to get an audience with Whitmore David explains as best he can what he found out regarding the signal and what the "visitors" real intentions are. Whitmore then tries to order an evacuation of the major cities but no sooner does the President, his staff along with David and the latter's father get to Air Force One ready to take off does the Alien's countdown timer reach zero, which then allows the ships to finally attack the cities.
Needless to say, Humanity wasn't going to let this go unanswered, and on July 3rd a counterattack began in earnest, with Steve Hiller helping to lead the attack. Unfortunately no one expected the aliens to have powerful shielding that could withstand conventional weaponry. Well, almost no one. (Mr. Secretary, you have some 'splainin' to do!)
Shortly after, it's revealed that Area 51 exists, and the President has Air Force One head there, to which they discover the crashed alien craft from Roswell was real, as well as the late alien crew from said ship. Soon Captain Hiller arrives at Area 51 with not just a brigade of survivors from Los Angeles but the alien pilot whose fighter he managed to bring down. Unfortunately while the Area 51 staff is trying to remove the biomechanical suit the alien wakes up and manages to take out the staff except for one just as Whitmore and his team arrive. As the President and the alien communicate with each other (with the latter using a scientist as a puppet) Whitmore finds out that the aliens are simply cosmic versions of locusts who travel from planet to planet, settling on said planets until all natural resources are consumed, and then they move on. If there are any locals on the planets they settle on, the aliens simply do what any new tenant does with pests - they get rid of them.
Immediately after this encounter Whitmore authorizes a nuclear attack on one of the ships, but much to the horror of the President and his staff, the shields on the Alien Destroyer are powerful enough to withstand even a nuclear blast. Disillusioned, Whitmore calls for an abort of the mission, while Steve goes to his old Marine base to find his girlfriend and son, and fortunately he is successful in saving them as well as the President's wife, but the latter sadly succumbs to injuries sustained from the initial attack and dies, leaving Whitmore ever more short on hope - a feeling that has already begun to creep in among all the survivors, and just in time for July 4th.
With morale at an all-time low David stumbles upon an idea unexpectedly given to him by father while they were talking about something else - a cold, specifically a virus to take the shields down. While it would only be for a short time, it can still give humanity a fighting chance.
So between recruiting anyone among the survivors to sending out messages to other surviving military bases via Morse code, a final counteroffensive is put together, with David and Steve flying up to the mothership in the captured alien fighter to upload the virus.
Once inside David gets to work on uploading the virus while the President and the pilots get ready to engage a Destroyer ship that is heading in the direction of Area 51. Once the virus is uploaded Whitmore fires a missile but the shield is revealed to be up. Taking a chance Whitmore fires another missile, and this time it works, leading the other pilots to join in, and though the Alien Attackers are launched to meet this surprise attack, the playing field is now more even.
While the battle rages, it turns out that the alien Destroyer hasn't sustained enough damage to be brought down, and clearly the aliens have had enough of this battle going on longer than usual and prepare to use the same weapon they used to destroy the major cities.
Whitmore tries to use his last missile but misses. Fortunately help arrives in the form of none other than...Russell Casse!
When his missile malfunctions despite having the target right in front of him, Russell makes a decision to fly up into the weapon itself. And though he loses his life, Russell's sacrifice reveals the weakness in the alien ship - destroy the ship's primary weapon, and the whole thing goes down.
While humanity finally gains the advantage, Steve and David are still stuck in the mothership. With no other choice but to make their own sacrifice David arms the nuclear missile installed into the stolen alien attacker and launches it, causing them to become unstuck and managing to escape just in time for the Nuclear missile to go off and obliterate the mothership and all aliens within it.
With victories finally happening all over the world all that was left now was hear back from David and Steve. While contact was lost for a bit, strange signal was picked not too far from Area 51, and it turns out to be David and Steve. Reuniting with their families everyone then watches as debris from the now destroyed mothership streak across the sky, looking very much like fireworks
So what is there left to say about this film? Well, I think I'll join in with the rest and say that this movie is truly one of the best summer blockbusters. Not just during the mid/late 90s but of all time. The action and the quality of special effects definitely helped elevate the film to a degree that hadn't been done at that point in time, and much like a certain film from 1977, this movie helped change the landscape, especially in terms of special effects. Though CGI is the standard these days, there is something great about practical effects that CGI can't do. And when you can't tell the difference between CGI and practical, that's how you know the special effects are great.
With the casting - this movie took it to a whole new level. From main cast to supporting cast, this film was stacked with some very well-known stars from TV and other films. And yet, each role was played perfectly well. Nothing from any of the actors felt contrived and everyone had a chance to shine in this film. Personally, I think there's only two movies that had a top-notch cast of this degree, and that was "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame".
The music done by David Arnold was also top-notch. In listening to his themes I get a bit of a classic feel that John Williams does with his own scores. To add to that there's always a main theme which lingers in the film, along with I'm guessing is the love theme/hopeful theme which follows. But interestingly enough, Russell Casse's theme is also prominent in the film at times, which is surprising because in the beginning when you meet Russell he is just a former Veteran/alien abductee who really has a fondness for drinking, which if I was to take a guess is a way to numb the trauma of being abducted as well as losing his wife years ago. Going on that you would wonder why is this theme being played the way it is when it comes to this character, until you get to the final battle and Russell makes the sacrifice play. That's when you realize who the character really is beyond his flaws - a good man who tries to do right by his kids and ultimately lives up to this notable line:
"I won't let you down." -Russell Casse
And in the end, he stayed true to it.
With merchandising I'm surprised there was quite a lot in regards to movie tie-ins: Action-figures, trading cards, even a video game adaptation and a trio of tie-in novels. Having played the original Playstation I can say that it is quite a bit of fun, but it does not hold a candle to something like Star Fox 64.
The tie-in novels are my personal favorites. The main adaptation helps flesh out the characters more with who they are, where they came from and the like. "Silent Zone" is a prequel that gives a little more backstory on Dr. Okun, while "War In The Desert" tells the story about the two RAF pilots from the "Morse Code" scene and the battle that ensues not just with the surviving aliens, but with nations that are still scarred by centuries of hatred, and if they can let that hatred go and focus on the bigger problem.
While I don't have an opinion on the sequel, this film on the other hand is a classic in every way that matters, and there has yet to be a film that utilizes special effects to this extent. The script doesn't take itself too seriously, yet there is plenty of action and heart, with characters that stay with you long after the credits roll.
And even if it's not July 4th, you can still sit down and enjoy this classic.
"Today we celebrate our Independence Day!" -President Thomas Whitmore
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