Independence Day is a seminal 1996 science fiction/disaster film starring Bull Pullman (as President Whitmore), Will Smith (as Captain Steven Hiller, USMC) and Jeff Goldblum (as David Levinson). The film shows the effects of an alien expedition arriving at Earth and mankind’s attempts to resist the alien assault. The film was a major commercial success and largely popularized the “big summer sci-fi blockbuster” concept, especially given it’s incredible (for the time) special effects.
The film opens with the alien mothership passing by the Moon, the shock of it’s passage disturbing the lunar surface and washing away Neil Armstrong’s footprints (somehow). Signals from it are promptly detected by SETI, who sound the alert. The Us President, Thomas Whitmore, is informed over breakfast of the astonishing fact. The mothership deploys 36 “destroyer” spacecraft, each 15 miles or more in diameter, which quickly enter Earth’s atmosphere and position themselves over major cities., prompting hordes of alien-enthusiasts to start impromptu parties to celebrate.
Meanwhile, MIT graduate and cable engineer David Levinson has found an alien countdown signal in the Earth’s satellite network and rushes to warn the President, along with his father and with help from his estranged wife, White House Communications Director Constance Spano. The President orders a mass evacuation, but it is too late. As the Presidential party escapes the White House, the alien ships simultaneously open fire, with a massive energy weapon that destroys whole cities. Air Force One only barely escapes the firestorm with the President and his fellows aboard.
The US Military attempts a counter-attack, but is foiled by the ship’s energy shields and similarly-protected fighter craft, with Captain Hiller being the only survivor. He forces on attacker ship to crash and knocks out the pilot. Hiller begins dragging the alien across the desert in search of a base he saw whilst flying. He is eventually picked up by a group of refugees who go with him to the base.
The base in question is Area 51, where the President has gone to since NORAD and other hardened bunkers have been destroyed. The staff their reveal that they have another crashed attacker from the 1940’s and a trio of dead aliens in storage. Hiller arrives with his live aline prisoner, which is quickly examined. The alien doesn’t take kindly to this and breaks out of restraints, killing most of the scientists and launching a psychic attack against the President before it is killed. The President, having seen that the aliens are like locusts, consuming world after world, orders a nuclear strike against the alien ships. Once again, the enemy shield stops them, although Houston, Texas is still leveled by the bomb.
The next day, David comes up with a plan to sue the captured attacker to sneak aboard the alien mothership and upload a virus to it, shutting down all the alien shields. This would give the military a chance to launch a final counter-offensive, with an added distraction provided by sneaking a nuke aboard the mothership as well. The mission goes well, David and Hiller manage to get intot he mothership adn upload the virus, lowerignt he shields. THe American fighters (and preusmably, the others worldwide) press the attack, but quickly exhaust their missiles. Eventually, only one pilot, a widowed drunk who claims to have been abducted ten years prior, has the last remaining missile, but it is jamemd and it won’t fire. He sacrifices himself to destroy the alien ship, whilst in orbit David and Hiller narrowly escape after arming their nuke, which obliterate the mothership. The news is spread around the world, and the film’s finally shows us scenes of alien ships crashed and burning across the globe.
The film was a smash hit, it combined spectacular special effects (which continue to impress even today) with an impressive story of humans and how they deal with the unknown and the unexpected.
Independence Day Pictures & Wallpapers
Here are some great Independence Day pictures and Independence Day desktop wallpapers. You can download any of these images to your computer by right-clicking on the picture you want and choosing "save image as". Once you've downloaded one of these Independence Day images you can use it as your wallpaper etc.
