'Independence Day' shows human heroism

By Primastuti Handayani

JAKARTA (JP): Are we alone in the universe? Is there another life outside the Milky Way? What if there is another life outside our galaxy?

Director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin, who produced the 1994 box office hit Stargate, have come up with a sci-fi movie with the emphasis on human heroism, especially that of Americans, in their fight against the aliens.

Emmerich stresses that the key phrase is "What if..?".

"I believe in the great 'What if..?' What if aliens appeared? What if tomorrow morning you walked out your door and these enormous spaceships hovered over every single city in the world?" he said.

That's what happens to Marine Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith). Dragged out of bed early one morning by the son of his girlfriend Jasmine (Vivica Fox: A Lowdown Dirty Shame, Born on the Fourth of July), Hiller gets the shock of his life when he sees huge spaceships, right before his eyes.

His instincts tell him to report right away to El Toro basecamp, leaving his frightened girlfriend but promising to pick her up after gunning down the enemy.

The same thing happens to scientist David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum). This genius manages to unravel the alien code and warns the U.S. president.

Coincidentally, Levinson is married to Constance 'Connie' Spano (Margaret Colin: The Devil's Own, Three Men and a Baby, Terminal Velocity), the president's adviser.

Levinson, who still loves Connie, has to deal with his chatty father, Julius (Judd Hirsch: TV series Taxi) on their way to the White House to meet Connie and warn the president.

"The question of whether we're alone in the universe has finally been answered," says President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) in a televised speech.

The president evacuates people from big cities, above which enormous alien spaceships are hovering. But before everybody gets out of town, the aliens attack, not only in the United States but also on other continents.

More than 10 big cities all over the world are destroyed in a very short time.

Can we fight the aliens? Are we able to challenge their much more sophisticated technology? The answer remains with the Levinson-Hiller-president trio.

President Whitmore, together with General Grey (Robert Loggia: Smilla's Sense of the Snow) and Secretary of Defense Nimziki (James Rebhori: Up Close and Personal, Carlito's Way, Scent of a Woman, Basic Instinct), go to Area 51 in Nevada, where the Ministry of Defense captured a space ship in the 1950s.

The experiment on the space ship, led by Dr. Okun (Brent Spinner: TV series Star Trek), gives Levinson the idea how to break the shields of the alien spaceships.

The president surprises his cabinet members, who survive the attack, by leading the last mission to attack the alien spaceships.

That is Independence Day, a movie which took in more than US$104.3 million in box office sales in the first six days of screening in the U.S. alone.

It beat the record of Spielberg's smash-hit dinosaur adventure Jurassic Park, which made US$100 million in nine days during a non-holiday period in 1993.

Independence Day is not the first movie about extra- terrestrial life. George Lucas and Spielberg began the era of sci-fi movies about life outside earth with the Star Wars trilogy.

Independence Day, which reportedly cost about $70 million to make, has lots of special effects, which could be the most sophisticated ever seen.

The 20th Fox Studio spent $25 million on marketing, resulting in the most successful opening in the history of motion pictures.

The Daily Variety said that President Bill Clinton has given the film a thumbs up.

"Somebody said I was coming to Youngstown because this was the day the White House got blown away by space aliens," Clinton said in Ohio for the Fourth of July commemoration, referring to a scene where a giant alien ship destroys the White House in a spectacular explosion.

"I hope it's there when I get back. Anyway, I recommend the movie." Clinton saw the movie last month after putting in a special request with the filmmakers.

The Emmerich-Devlin team also recruited sister Ute Emmerich William Fay, executive producers, and Karl Walter Lindenlaub, cinematographer, to produce the movie.

The same team, except Fay, worked together in Stargate, a futuristic science fiction extraterrestrial movie whose special effects included digitally-produced Egyptian pyramids and spaceships, which cost $55 million and starred Kurt Russel, James Spader and Jaye Davidson.

Emmerich and his team then were engaged by Rambo producer Mario Kassar to direct Universal Soldier, one of the first action films dealing with Vietnam war. The 1992-smash-hit starring Jean- Claude van Damme earned over $100 million gross.

Independence Day has three male leads: Bill Pullman, David Goldblum and Will Smith.

Pullman, who attracted movie-goers' attention in Steven Spielberg's Casper and While You were Sleeping, shifts from one character into another easily. As President Whitmore, under pressure before an election, Pullman initially is convincing as a doubtful president. He then plunges into the character of a real hero when he has to lead the do-or-die mission against the aliens in an F-16 Tomcat. In between these two characters, he is a good husband to his wife, First Lady Marilyn Whitmore (Mary McDonnell), before she dies when her helicopter crashes during an alien attack.

Pullman is ably supported by Jeff Goldblum, who plays scientist Levinson. This is not Goldblum's first role as a scientist. He was a scientist in Jurassic Park and movie, The Fly.

Goldblum is convincing as the jealous ex-husband of Connie; she cares more for her career than their marriage. He performs the character of a earth-loving scientist very well.

Goldblum, an Academy Award nominee for Little Surprise, expresses optimism, and tries to find a way to beat the aliens. But he draws the line at the use of nuclear weapons.

Goldblum's duet with Hirsch as an old man in Independence Day gives the movie a touch of humor with their father-and-son dialogue.

The real hero of the movie could be the charming Will Smith. To understand the character of Capt. Hiller, Smith studied the basics of flying in the U.S. Marine's simulator prior to shooting.

Smith, who shone in the action-comedy Bad Boys with Martin Lawrence, a comedian, shines again in Independence Day. As a fighter pilot, Smith loses all his friends during the attack. He shows his emotion excellently, especially when he is gunning down the alien's motherships.

Smith, who earned the 1992 NCAAP Image Award as Outstanding Rap Artists with partner Jeff Townes, attracted TV lovers in NBC's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air series.

After watching Independence Day, may be you will start to wonder "What if aliens really exist? What if they really want to conquer our earth?"

You may also ponder whether Americans are running out of real enemies and need to find others to satisfy their penchant for heroism.