Independence Day (1996)

Director:

Roland Emmerich

Writers (WGA):

Dean Devlin (written by) &
Roland Emmerich (written by)

Release Date:

3 July 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

We've always believed we weren't alone. Pretty soon, we'll wish we were.

Plot:

The aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy. Fighting superior technology, Man's best weapon is the will to survive.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Spaceship | Area 51 | Spacecraft | Weapon

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 26 wins & 21 nominations

Cast

Will Smith	...	Captain Steven Hiller
Bill Pullman	...	President Thomas J. Whitmore
Jeff Goldblum	...	David Levinson
Mary McDonnell	...	First Lady Marilyn Whitmore
Judd Hirsch	...	Julius Levinson
Robert Loggia	...	General William Grey
Randy Quaid	...	Russell Casse
Margaret Colin	...	Constance Spano
Vivica A. Fox	...	Jasmine Dubrow
James Rebhorn	...	Albert Nimzicki
Harvey Fierstein	...	Marty Gilbert
Adam Baldwin	...	Major Mitchell
Brent Spiner	...	Dr. Brackish Okun
James Duval	...	Miguel Casse
Lisa Jakub	...	Alicia Casse

Also Known As:

ID4 (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
дЕМЭ мЕГЮБХЯХЛНЯРХ (Russia) [ru]
A függetlenség napja (Hungary) [hu]
Dan neodvisnosti (Slovenia) [sl]
Dan nezavisnosti (Serbia) [sr]
Dan nezavisnosti (Croatia) [hr]
Dia da Independência (Portugal) [pt]
Dia de la independencia (Venezuela) [es]
Dzien niepodleglosci (Poland) [pl]
Ha-Yom Ha-Shlishi (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Independence Day (Germany) [de]
Independence Day (Spain) [es]
Independence Day (Brazil) [pt]
Independence Day - Il giorno della riscossa (Italy) [it]
Independence Day, le jour de la riposte (France) (poster title) [fr]
Independence day - Maailmojen sota (Finland) [fi]
Iseseisvuspäev (Estonia) [et]
Kurtulus günü (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Le jour de l'indépendence (Canada: French title) [fr]
Mera anexartisias (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi destruction and violence.

Runtime:

145 min | USA:153 min (special edition)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS 70 mm (70 mm prints) (Europe) | DTS (35 mm prints) | Dolby Digital (35 mm prints) | SDDS (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Ireland:PG | USA:PG-13 (certificate #34370) | Brazil:12 | Japan:U | New Zealand:PG | Australia:PG (edited for lower rating) | Canada:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Italy:T | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | Israel:PG

Filming Locations:

2nd Street Tunnel, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Centropolis Entertainment

Trivia:

As David and Steve prepare to launch in the alien craft's cockpit, David's laptop computer greets him with the spoken line "Good Morning, Dave", and the image of an electronic camera eye. This is a reference to, albeit a misquote of, the HAL 9000 sentient computer ("HAL") from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and his greeting to crew member Dave Bowman. Although HAL never actually says "Good morning, Dave" in the film, the electronic eye that appears on the screen is indeed a picture of the HAL prop from the movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the L.A. office building explosion a car can be seen hitting a traffic light twice.

Quotes:

[first lines]
SETI Chief: [answering telephone] If this isn't an insanely beautiful woman, I'm hangin' up.
SETI technician: Sir, I - I- I think you should listen to this.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Die 120 Tage von Bottrop (1997)

Soundtrack:

Oh Vicki

WOW, KABOOM, SWOOSH!!!

Never mind the stereotypical characters. Never mind the non-existant logic. Never mind that the dialogue is inane and bordering on idiotic. THIS IS GREAT ACTION! And there's no point in denying it.

First of all: I love to watch destruction. Preferably in larger scales. You get fed an enormous amount of it here. Second: I love alien starships the size of New York. And you sure get that too. And third: I love dogfights. You get that too. Forth: I don't take it seriously.

This films is one of the best of the decade, not simply because it works so well in an all-over scheme, but it provides some kicks that no other film had up to then (1996). Aliens arrive in gigantic spaceships and blow up a bunch of major cities. That's all I need.

How to grapple with the fact that logic takes a backseat - please spare me. There are worse films than this one.