INDEPENDENCE DAY

1996

by
Rolland Emmerich

music by
David Arnold

main actors and actresses
Bill Pullman (as Thomas Whitmore), Jeff Goldblum (as David Levinson), Will Smith (as Steven Hiller), Mary Mc Donnell (as Marilyn Whitmore), Margaret Colin (as Constance Spano), Vivica A.Fox (as Jasmine), Randy Quaid (as Russel Casse), Judd Hirsch (as Julius Levinson) and Brent Spiner (as Dr Brakish Okun)

The story

On the 2nd day of July, every station with radars in the world received a signal and on the computers a huge mass appeared, it was coming from the Moon and it was approaching the Earth. This big thing was sending strange and indecipherable signals. That mass was a spaceship and later it seperated in three dozen spaceships. A few hours later, these ships arrived and covered every capital city of the world with their shades. Everybody looked at the phenomenon, shouted and ran. Each spaceship stopped moving above a monument in each town. The President, Thomas Whitmore, sent calls to reassure people in towns. At that time, Captain Steven Hiller, went to work and have information about these phenomenons. A computer scientist, David Levinson, discovered the signals were a countdown so he went to the White House with his father Julius to tell the President about the danger. They talked with Mr Whitmore, he decided to leave, to go out of the town by plane. At night, the spaceships opened themselves and threw a laser on the monuments. These towers, buildings, blew up but the explosion grew and destroyed everything on its passage. Jasmine (Steven's fiancée) was in a traffic jam, when she turned around, she saw the "wall of fire" approaching. She took her child and went into a small room in a tunnel.
The following day, on July 3rd, Jasmine went out of the tunnel and saw everything was destroyed and on fire, every building. She drove a lorry and helped people who had survived. Steven Hiller attacked the spaceship with his team but it had a protective shield. He killed and captured one of them and went to another base because El Toro was attacked too. At this base, Dr Brakish Okun (a crazy man) wanted to examine the E.T. but this E.T. killed the doctor.
On July 4th, David put a virus into a small spaceship and he went to the mothership with Steven in space (with the small spaceship) to put another virus into it. The protective shield was broken and every spaceship destroyed itself thanks to Russel Casse, a pilot (another crazy man). Everybody was happy.

My choice

I've chosen this film because I like the "wall of fire" and the laser falling on monuments and blowing up everything but I also like the music, the actors, the actresses and the special effects too (and I don't forget the sets!). It has been my favourite film since I saw it for the first time in 1997.