The Good and Bad of 'Independence Day'
Welcome to the Mesh Point. If you have not already, please subscribe. We have a lot of fun around these parts. In the spirit of the 4th of July, I’m writing about one of the best and one of my favorite blockbusters ever: Independence Day.
It is time for our country's most cherished holiday: July 4th or Independence Day. From beach vacations, cookouts, lake days, pool parties, and fake deep patriotism this is a holiday that really gets the people going. No matter how one feels about America and how it upholds these freedoms and justice, most will not oblige to the day off and something hot off the grill. But instead of steeping your traditions in the things of this country, or earth for this matter, let me invite you to the church of ID4. Where we do not smoke our cigars to til the fat lady sings.
Independence Day is one of the best summer blockbusters ever and one of my favorite movies ever. Catching this on TV during some of 4th of July during middle school changed my movie viewing experience. Dated yet still feeling like a big budget blockbuster. Having Will Smith during his meteoric ascent to the top of Hollywood.
Casting Magic
Between 1995-1997 Will Smith starred in Bad Boys, Independence Day, brought Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to a close
, and starred in Men in Black. What a run. Perhaps what is even more impressive is Smith’s aurora in Independence Day. It takes a whole ass 22 minutes for Will Smith to appear on screen but once he does, you are hooked. This is not Smith at his peak of Hollywood fame but similar to Lebron in 2007, we knew we were watching something great.
Another highlight of Smith’s performance is pairing him with two great costars. First, we need to discuss what is the greatness of 90s Vivica A Fox. Stunning beauty matched with a demanding presence on screen. When her characters appear on screen you knew they were about their business. From 1996-1997 Fox played roles in Independence Day, Set it Off, Booty Call, Batman and Robin, and Soul Food. Sure some of these are lack luster films, yet Fox never lacked luster. This presence mixed with Smith’s enthralling personality, you get an all-time movie couple.
Next, you pair Smith with one of the greatest sci-fi actors ever, Jeff Goldblum. With starring roles in science fiction classics such as The Fly (1986) and Jurassic Park, Goldlum had already made his stamp as the quirky, yet oddly attractive scientist. Just as his character in Jurassic Park, Goldblum’s David Levinson in ID4 lets his intelligence get in the way. A nerd guy trope, he is incredibly smart yet lacks the social skills to maintain relational capital to those around him. Why would anyone listen to him even if he can pinpoint how and why the aliens are coming to earth?
Pairing this aloofness with the infinite coolness of Smith proved to be a major hit. Grossing over $817 million, it was the highest grossing film of 1996 and at the time only second all time to Jurassic Park. This movie played a pivotal role in reshaping the summer blockbuster and disaster sci-fi genre that had a strong resurgence in the 90s. You can see the influence of this movie on the current super hero genre that has dominated the box office for the last 10 years. But even with all this greatness what makes ID4 truly an American movie is in its passion for American patriotism.
Yay, Patriotism
In perhaps the climax of the movie, we get one of the greatest speeches in Hollywood history. Before the final attack on the alien shield, and attempt to infiltrate the mothership, President Thomas J. Whitmore played by Bill Pullman gives an emphatic speech to rally the troops.
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"And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: 'We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive!”
This is peak Clinton-era political dreaming. Where America is the greatest country in the world, and we will wield democracy and freedom to the rest of the world. As I write these very sentences, the leading court of our nation is stripping away the liberties and freedoms of Black Americans, LGBTQ+ folks, and deciding that businesses have more grace and freedoms than working class people.
While Whitmore’s speech is maybe the greatest American President performance in Hollywood, the delusion and borderline propaganda in the speech is laughable and cringy at best. But this is perhaps the most American thing in the entire movie, while spending most of the movie being a government that moves slowly in the face of global catastrophe (stares in climate crisis), at the last moment you decide to pitch the last ditch effort as some sort of American Achilles last stand. Get out of here with that garbage.
Flip the coin, and I’d argue that is what makes this a great summer blockbuster. In spite of the gross American patriotism, we still find ourselves rooting for them to take down the aliens. Which with the genius of Jeff Goldblum and the charisma of Will Smith, they are able to do.
So grab a cigar, and let’s watch some fireworks.
Great Led Zeppelin reference with “Achilles Last Stand,” which was my favorite song of theirs for a while.
I think it’s so interesting to come back to this film almost 30 years later and see what they were going for. Americans always want to position ourselves as the underdogs, even when we really haven’t been that since the War of 1812, and it takes an alien invasion to get us there. I’d be curious to chase that thread and see how deep American exceptionalism goes in blockbuster cinema.
Great review as always, and has convinced me to fire it up tomorrow.
(You’re still WAY out of pocket for saying these two are the best sci-fi duo of all time)