Recently, I watched the movie ‘Independence Day’ on directv. The movie has many big name actors, including Will Smith as Captain Steven Hiller, Bill Pullman as President Whitmore, Jeff Goldblum as computer geek David Levinson.
I love this movie. In the beginning, there are a few signs that something is happening. A slew of technical equipment shows an object in space that is slowing down. Soon, televisions stations are flickering and people are wondering what is going on. In some of the major cities around the world, including New York and Los Angeles, an atmospheric disturbance occurs and gigantic alien crafts show up. All around the world, people are panicking. President Whitmore tries unsuccessfully to communicate via lights on a helicopter. David Levinson discovers that the alien ships are communicating via the Earth’s satellites, which is causing the television static. Levinson happens to have an ex-wife who works for President Whitmore, so he gets in to see him to tell him that the aliens have a countdown to destruction of the major cities. All the key players escape in the nick of time and end up in Area 51 to try and figure out how to defeat the invasion. It is this main plot of the evil aliens that drives the story. However, there are a couple of sub-plots involving a washed up alcoholic pilot played by Randy Quaid, who eventually redeems himself by figuring out what the aliens weakness is. There is also another story involving Captain Hiller’s stripper girlfriend, played by Vivica A Fox.
I have to say that my favorite parts of this movie are the panic and special effects that happen when areas around the world are obliterated. I also like the scenes in Area 51 where they are trying to dissect a live alien. I could watch this movie over and over, despite the 3 hour length.
