History Film / IndependenceDay

The movie itself features a British commander making a similar TakeThat: "It's about bloody time!" His tone of voice has all the {{subtext}} of "Those bloody Yanks are LateToTheParty ''again!''" Most [[SnarkBait snarkers]] [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation instead interpret]] the line as playing the trope straight, though.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: The first guy to be killed is still a black guy, albeit an unnamed one.

** Yay, now we can get back to using it up ourselves!

Humans fight back, with U. S. Marine pilot Steven Hiller (WillSmith) and computer programmer David Levinson (uh... JeffGoldblum) pulling together a {{plan}} to save the human race.

* AchillesHeel: [[spoiler:The open bay of an alien saucer's main cannon. Or to be more exact, the volatile plasma within the bay.]]

* AlienAbduction: Russell... or so he claims. The viewer is left to their own devices about whether or not this was entirely a delusion brought on by alcoholism, war trauma, or just being nuts. The novelisation has him see the alien downed by [[WillSmith Captain Hiller]], and think that's it's not the same as the ones who abducted him. Then he starts to wonder whether other aliens are visiting Earth, or if it even really happened. The same novelization strongly implies that it ''did'' happen: inside their bio-suits, the invading aliens look exactly like the ones in Russel's memories.
** There was a {{Marvel}} comic book that shows several events from the earlier lives of the characters, as a sort of "prequel". Russel is clearly shown to be abducted by the invaders.

** Everyone makes fun of Russell for believing that he was abducted by aliens. Even after the aliens show up. But it's doubtful that his acquaintances got an opportunity to compare his description of the aliens to the one taken prisoner by Captain Hiller, and in any case he's the town drunk.
** Even after the attacks the president refuses to believe in Area 51, though in this regards, his disbelief stems from not being told it existed. As the leader of the nation, he assumed that something of such magnitude wouldn't have been kept from him -- especially when aliens began arriving under his watch. It's pretty much the Secretary of Defense's fault for not informing him.

* ArmorIsUseless: The aliens have biomechanical armor but it doesn't seem to help them very much from being punched out. The armor might have helped against being shot, if Dr. Okun and the other scientists hadn't cracked it open to vivisect the alien inside. When [[AdamBaldwin Major Mitchell]] and the other soldiers shot it, its armor is open.

* AuthorityEqualsAssKicking: The president was a fighter pilot and leads a raid against one of the ships, though he doesn't get the final shot to take them down.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:"It's me, Russel Casse, sir! ''Told'' you I wouldn't let you down!"]]

** The President also acts in a condescending way when David's father begins to talk about {{Area 51}}, the [[RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell Incident]], and other alien conspiracies (as he was not told about Area 51 earlier, apparently not even telling the rest of the staff, either, or at least not the Joint Chiefs of Staff, viewing it as better to hold up PlausibleDeniability instead.) It turns out, he was right.

** Second, the "[[WaveMotionGun Hammer]]". This is a nice one: If you look a at the L.A. destruction scene, you'll see that the beam turns into a chain-reaction/explosion the moment it hits solid matter, and just keeps going until there's no significant obstacle left. Therefore, the denser the target, the worse the explosion (like the Mothership from ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer 3'', which was inspired by this movie), making it perfect for leveling cities. When [[spoiler:Russell]] crashed his plane into the generator, he did it at the very moment the beam started, and at the very "tip" of the gun, therefore setting off the chain reaction ''inside'' the alien's ship (which is likely to be just as densely packed as a city, if not more so).

* NoEndorHolocaust: Dozens of ships that size hitting the ground would throw up enough dust to blot out the sun. And that's not even considering blowing up something as big as the mother ship in Earth's orbit like that.

* NoPeripheralVision: Captain Hillard, a US Marine pilot whose job depends on having excellent vision, steps outside to get the paper, looks left and right and above and only notices a gigantic 15-mile-wide, black saucer hovering over Los Angeles when he looks ''directly at it?''

** The president finally authorizes the use of [[NukeEm nuclear weapons]], a B-2 bomber launches a Tomahawk cruise missile at a giant flying saucer while it's over an evacuated city, the bomb explodes, the air clears, and ... the flying saucer is undamaged.
** They've finally brought down the flying saucer's shields, they're hammering away at it with missiles that just aren't taking big enough chunks out of it, and then, right when it's over their base ... it opens its city-incinerating gun port. The background music at this moment plays the most OhCrap-ified version of the alien motif in the movie.

** Russel Casse, [[spoiler:before he proceeds to shove his F/A-18 up the alien ship's ass and completely ''annihilate'' it in a glorious (and, for him, quite satisfying) HeroicSacrifice.]]
-->'''Russel Casse:''' "Hello, boys! ''I'M'' '''''BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!'''''

* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: President Whitmore, finally fed up with Secretary of Defense Nimzicki tells him he's fired, to which Nimzicki grumbles "He ''can't'' do that," to which the President's assistant notes that he just did anyway.\\\

* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Russel gets revenge for his abduction years back and shows humanity how to win the war.]]

* EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse: Not completely straight, but somehow the Earthlings managed to stop the alien advance when they've stripped God knows how many planets before them.

* HackedByAPirate: Oh God yes. Also a CrowningMomentOfFunny and PreAsskickingOneLiner.

** Played straight at first when David tries to warn people about the countdown signal in the satellite network. Even his ex-wife refuses to believe him, thinking he's crazy or manipulating her. However, it's finally averted when the President finally hears him out and evacuates the area immediately. People seem to have a hard time taking Russell seriously, even after the aliens show up. Being that he's an alcoholic, it's not surprising.

* NoPeripheralVision: Captain Hillard, a US Marine pilot whose job depends on having excellent vision, steps outside to get the paper, looks left and right and above and only notices a gigantic 15-mile-wide, black saucer hovering over Los Angeles?

* HoYay: [[InvokedTrope Invoked.]] Hiller and Jimmy have more than a bit of this going on (''"Hold me!"'') although it's all PlayedForLaughs and purely justified considering that they're HeteroSexualLifePartners.]

* IfIDoNotReturn: When Casse realises [[spoiler:he has the only missile left and it's jammed, he says, "Tell my kids... I love them very much," and flies his plane into the alien ship's weak point.]]

* BikiniBar: Jasmine is named as a stripper in dialogue, but we only ever see her in one of these.

* SceneryGorn: This film revels in the wholesale destruction of the populated centres of the world. (Emmerich returned to make similarly spectacular carnage in ''TheDayAfterTomorrow'' and ''Film/TwentyTwelve''.) Love of this trope must be the reason that a movie which features the destruction of the White House is shown on American television every year on the Fourth of July.

** To ''JurassicPark''; JeffGoldblum's character says, "Must go faster. Must go faster. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!" in the same way as he does in one scene in ''Jurassic Park''. Exactly the same way, in fact: the audio was cut directly from ''Jurassic Park'' and pasted into this movie.

-->'''Whitmore:''' The only mistake I made was appointing a sniveling little ''weasel'' like you as my Secretary of Defense. [[GrissomOneLiner Fortunately, that's a mistake I'm glad to say that I don't have to live with.]] Mr. Nimziki, you're fired.

Even the TV Show TheWestWing points out that Presidential appointees serve at the pleasure of the President, meaning he can fire them any time he wants.

-->'''Hiller:''' [[MathematiciansAnswer Do you really believe]] ''you'' can do all [[XanatosGambit that bullshit]] you just said?

* TheAlcoholic: Russel
* AlienAbduction: Russel... or so he claims. The viewer is left to their own devices about whether or not this was entirely a delusion brought on by alcoholism, war trauma, or just being nuts. The novelisation has him see the alien downed by [[WillSmith Captain Hiller]], and think that's it's not the same as the ones who abducted him. Then he starts to wonder whether other aliens are visiting Earth, or if it even really happened. The same novelization strongly implies that it ''did'' happen: inside their bio-suits, the invading aliens look exactly like the ones in Russel's memories.

* AnalProbing: Russel attests to having been abducted by aliens. Those who don't believe him crack jokes and ask if he was ever sexually abused on the flying saucer, suggesting this trope.

-->'''Steven Hiller:''' ''(to crash-surviving alien) *WHAM*'' Welcome to EARF!

** The president also acts in a condescending way when David's father begins to talk about {{Area 51}}, the [[RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell Incident]], and other alien conspiracies (as he was not told about Area 51 earlier, apparently not even telling the rest of the staff, either, or at least not the Joint Chiefs of Staff, viewing it as better to hold up PlausibleDeniability instead.) It turns out, he was right.

* ChessMotifs: "And when the countdown reaches zero, then what?" "... checkmate!"

** The only man who figures out the alien signal is a countdown happens to have an ex-wife who works for the president, thus getting him access.
** Hiller's girlfriend in Los Angeles happens upon the First Lady, so when Hiller finds her, he finds the president's wife (who everyone had pretty much given up for dead).

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: When Jimmy bends down on the floor to retrieve a wedding ring dropped by Hiller, another soldier passing by thinks he's proposing to his best friend. The other guy helpfully leaves immediately, not wanting to spoil the moment.

* EnemyMine: Israeli, Egyptian, Iraqi and English airforces are shown working alongside each other during the scene where the global counter-offensive is planned, seemingly having agreed to a mutual détente in the face of the alien threat.

* HackedByAPirate: Oh god yes. Also a CrowningMomentOfFunny and PreAsskickingOneLiner.

* HoYay: Hiller and Jimmy have more than a bit of this going on (''"Hold me!"'') although it's all PlayedForLaughs and purely justified considering that they're HeteroSexualLifePartners. [[invoked]]

* IGotYouCovered: At the end of the film, the President orders the rest of the fleet to cover Casse since he has the only missile left.

** And the first lady lovingly calling her husband "Liar."

* EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion: It takes a simple computer [[theWarOfTheWorlds virus]] (and, y'know, a large nuclear warhead) to take down spaceships 1/4th the size of the moon and kill millions of aliens. Gotta love that universal Operating System!

** These are Harvey Fierstein's character's last words.

** The president finally authorizes the use of [[NukeEm nuclear weapons]], a B-2 bomber launches a tomahawk cruise missile at a giant flying saucer while it's over an evacuated city, the bomb explodes, the air clears, and ... the flying saucer is undamaged.

** The President moments prior: "Alright, boys, let's give Mr. Casse some cover. '''''GENTLEMEN! [[GatlingGood LET'S PLOW]] [[MoreDakka THE ROAD!]]'''''"

'''[[AdamBaldwin Mitchell]]:''' No sir.\\

In fact, the president can fire any member of his cabinet at any time, no reason even needed. It's not even a screw the rules, as the rules say the president can. In fact, when Congress passed a law in 1867 ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenure_of_Office_Act_%281867%29 Tenure of Office Act]]) prohibiting the president from removing certain office-holders without the approval of the Senate, the Supreme Court later stated it would be unconstitutional to restrict the right of the president to fire them.