Independence Day (1996)

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Independence Day (1996)

It begins on the moon, at the Apollo 11 lunar landing site. Suddenly, rumbling causes Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's footprints to disappear. A shadow is cast over the site, then the entire northern lunar hemisphere, as the camera pulls up and a gigantic spaceship comes into view, heading straight for Earth.

After brief troubles with satellite communications and television disruptions due to strange atmospheric conditions, the US Military learns that enormous objects first thought to be meteors are on a collision course with Earth. Finally, on July 2, the world stands in shock as an alien mothership, about one quarter the mass of the Moon and over 550 kilometers in diameter, enters orbit around Earth. The mothership deploys several dozen smaller ships, each itself with a diameter of over fifteen miles (24 km), that fly into Earth's atmosphere, causing strange atmospheric phenomenon and hover over many of the world's major cities. In the United States, the ships appear over Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C.. A TV shot also briefly shows ships over London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and Moscow as well as the phenomena heading towards other major world cities such as Delhi, Beijing, and Bangkok a caption reading that the "Southern Hemisphere is unaffected".

David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), a scientist turned cable-technician, finds a hidden message in the satellite transmissions and heads towards the White House with his father to save his estranged wife, but also to warn whomever might listen, including President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman). It is then revealed that the aliens are coordinating an attack, and have only minutes before the countdown is over. Whitmore orders General William Grey (Robert Loggia) to have Atlantic Command evacuate as many people from American cities as they can. At this point, the alien's hostile intentions are revealed when they shoot down three helicopters attempting to establish communications.

Using advanced directed-energy weapons, the aliens destroy many major cities, along with millions of people, and annihilate virtually every famous landmark in the world. Whitmore, Levinson and his father, General Grey, and most of the President's staff barely escape the destruction of Washington, D.C. aboard Air Force One. The first wave of the American counterattack sees Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) leading his unit of fighter pilots from El Toro. Unfortunately, conventional missiles are useless against them, as both the city-destroyer ships and the individual alien fighters are protected by impenetrable shields. Decimated and ineffective, the humans break off their attack. Hiller's entire squadron is shot down and his friend/wingman Jimmy Wilder (Harry Connick, Jr.) is killed. The same happens with every counter-attack around the world, including those in New York and Washington. However, Hiller is chased by an alien fighter, whom he out-maneuvers in canyons leading across the desert. Eventually, he deploys a parachute back at the alien craft, and ejects from his own plane, after which both crash into the canyon wall. Hiller finds one of the alien invaders and renders it unconscious with a single punch. Sadly, El Toro is attacked by a large force of alien fighters and they succeed in destroying the airbase, killing most of the personnel still stationed there.

Hiller takes the captured alien to nearby Area 51, a rallying point for survivors. Both storylines in the movie thus converge, as Air Force One, carrying Whitmore and his remaining staff, as well as Levinson and his father, has landed. It is also learned that other major US cities - including Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, and Philadelphia, PA - and NORAD (along with most of the executive branch and the Joint Chiefs, who were sent there before the attacks for their safety) have been destroyed. The American military forces are moved from their bases; however the attacks have reduced their forces to 15%. They calculate that the aliens will destroy every major city in the world within 36 hours. It is discovered here that Area 51 has an alien craft and three alien bodies, presumably from the Roswell Incident back in 1947.

During an encounter with the surviving alien, who escapes attempted surgery and captures the lead researcher Dr. Brackish Okun (Brent Spiner), Whitmore questions the alien, who is now speaking through Dr. Okun. Whitmore asks for a peace or truce, which the alien replies "Peace...? No peace..." When asked by Whitmore what it wanted the humans to do, the alien replies, "Die." The alien uses a psychic attack against Whitmore, and in an attempt to free the President, military personnel on hand shoots through the glass separating them, killing the alien. The President then reports that he was able to see the alien's thoughts and now knew what exactly they were doing. Their entire species goes from planet to planet, annihilates all other life there, and uses the planet's own natural resources for themselves and then move on when the resources have been exhausted, and Earth is next. Knowing now there is no chance for a peaceful solution, the President decides to "nuke the bastards".

After the encounter with the alien, Whitmore orders a nuclear attack using B-2 stealth bombers on a city-destroyer ship over Houston (which had been vacated at this point). However, the attack fails to damage the ship at all, its shield protecting it from destruction. Shortly thereafter, in a semi-drunken rage and partly spurred on by his father who tells him he might "catch a cold" sitting on the floor, Levinson devises a plan to introduce a computer virus into the mothership. At the same time, they would plant a nuclear device on board the mothership in hopes of destroying it. Although they would probably have a window of mere minutes, it seems to be their last hope. Hiller volunteers to fly the alien fighter which has now powered up due to the presence of the mothership. Levinson accompanies him in case anything might go wrong with the upload of his virus.

The Americans signal to their counterparts around the world about their plan and the pending counterattack via morse code. Anyone with flying experience is recruited into the final makeshift attack squad. Even President Whitmore himself, a veteran fighter pilot of the Persian Gulf War, joins in and leads the human resistance. In real life, only George Washington and James Madison have ever fought personally on the battlefield as commander-in-chief.

The movie climaxes on July 4, with a speech from President Whitmore about Independence Day being for everyone on Earth, "should they win the day." While aboard the mothership inside the captured alien fighter, Hiller and Levinson discover that the aliens are assembling an army of thousands or millions for their ground invasion.

After learning that the virus has been planted by Levinson, Whitmore launches a missile, which only hits their shields. When it seems that all hope is lost, Whitmore decides to fire again, and this time the missile hits the ship, the result of a delayed reaction to the virus. All fighters engage the ship, with the initial volley doing considerable damage to the ship. The alien fighters attack, and an all-out melee ensues.

While the fighters continue to launch missiles onto the ship, they are only doing only moderate damage to the huge city-size destroyers. Their primary cannon is being prepped to fire, so Whitmore, flanked by two fighters, makes a break for the weapon. He fires his last missile, but it fails to hit its target, and both of his wingmen are destroyed. Eventually, all the American fighters have shot their missiles. Russell Casse (Randy Quaid), an American volunteer who is a crop duster, Vietnam pilot veteran and alien abductee, appears, armed with the one remaining missile. As he attempts to fire it, it jams on the launch rail. Russell realizes what he must do and pilots his F/A-18C in a kamikaze attack on the alien ship's primary weapon as it is about to fire, causing a chain reaction that destroys the vessel. Task forces around the world use the same weak point to destroy the rest of the alien ships while the nuclear missile detonates and destroys the alien mother ship, ultimately saving Earth and several surviving major cities. Hiller and Levinson both survive the destruction of the ship. The film ends with the main characters watching as debris from the mothership re-enters the atmosphere like shooting stars.

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