History Film / IndependenceDay

** Spinoff material and the sequel reveal that [[spoiler: Whitmore appointed him National Recovery Director, and then convinced him to run in his place in the 2000 election due to his own declining health. Whitmore ran against ''Nimziki'' of all people, and handily won the election.]]

* HemisphereBias: Anything south of the Equator isn't worth concern. Though we get to see crashed [=UFOs=] in Sydney and right against Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. There's even a news report with the subtitle "Southern Hemisphere Unaffected" under a map showing where the city killers are appearing (do note that the Southern Hemisphere is home to one of the ten biggest cities in the world - São Paulo, in Brazil -- so in the context it's a wonder that the aliens have passed it up). Possibly justified, in that the aliens initially seem to be targeting the Earth's major military and industrial nation-states. It's also possible that at the time of that news report, no confirmed sightings had taken place in the Southern Hemisphere. Possibly a later report may have featured cities such as Sao Paulo, Buenos Aries or Johannesburg.
** 36 saucers had been launched from the mothership. In that broadcast, the reporter says that only 10 to 15 ships have been sighted, leaving the 21 others not yet accounted for.
** The [[http://www.warof1996.com War of 1996]] website for ''Resurgence'' confirms that a destroyer was deployed to South America, and attacked Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Buenos Aries before being intercepted over Caracas. In Africa, Mogadishu, Lagos and Addis Ababa were destroyed, but Cape Town survived. Jakarta, Medan and Perth were destroyed, but Sydney survived, as well.

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Russell Casse, who gets his revenge on the aliens by suicide bombing the destruction laser with an F/A-18 before it can fire]]. "Hello boys! I'm baaaaaaaack!" [[spoiler:Taken UpToEleven in the novelization - he flies his ''old biplane with a missile strapped to it''.]]

** The opening credits have a shadow fall over them and then the letters explode outward, foreshadowing that the aliens are about to do all over the world.

* CreditsGag: When the Humane Society's credit appears during the end credits, it says "[[NoAnimalsWereHarmed no animal or alien was harmed in the making of this film]]."

* GreatOffscreenWar: The vast majority of the invasion is referred to passing. When the Black Knights attack the Los Angeles City Destroyer, it's mentioned that attack squadrons near New York and Washington are also going into action. British, French, German, Russian, Israeli, and other forces join in the initial counterattack, but they're just as ineffective against the invaders.

** Steve claims that he is aware of the alien fighter capabilities and that makes him the best chance with flying the Roswell ship. Being a pilot he already has a background in adjusting to different control schemes, but the controls seem fairly intuitive using dual joysticks. His first attempt in the cockpit ends with him going in reverse, although the movement directions being labeled wrong by the scientists weren't helpful. Immediately after making that claim David asks him quietly if he really believes he can fly it.

* WaveMotionGun: The primary weapon of the City Destroyers. It is fired in three stages. First, eight pylons stream high-energy plasma to a central spire, called a "schism." Once the weapon is charged, a bright beam is shot down into the target. The final step is the "Hammer," a ball of energy that obliterates the target and causes a chain reaction to wipe out the entire area.

** In one of many shout-outs to ''War of the Worlds'', a trio of helicopters attempt to make contact with the aliens through light glyphs. The aliens vaporize the helicopters without a second thought.

* GeniusBurnout: Played with, David is an MIT graduate and works for a cable company diagnosing network issues. For the average person with those credentials that is a perfectly fine job, but it's clear David is much more talented than he lets on and not particularly ambitious, with a couple jokes about how he is just a cable repairman. He gets drawn into the main plot because he managed to crack the alien signal before he really understood what it was.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The prayer that Julius gives at the end is actually supposed to be given while standing.

* HopeSpot: The instant the nuke hits the ship in Houston causes [=SecDef=] Nimzicki to shout "it's a hit!" and for everyone to break out into applause, only for confirmation that the strike completely failed.

* TheWarRoom: Air Force One has one, where Whitmore, Grey, and Nimzicki observe the initial counterattack. Later, the command center of Area 51 is converted into one for the final battle.

* NothingIsScarier: When the aliens attack, the bombastic orchestral music that was playing a few seconds prior ceases, replaced with silence.

On a beautiful July day in 1996, a New Mexico-based organization searching for extraterrestrial life detects a strange signal coming in, a possible sign of alien life and an exciting discovery -- until they find out it's coming from the Moon.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The work's [[Characters/IndependenceDay characters sheet]] lists tropes for over 30 characters.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Tiffany ignores Jasmine's warnings of getting out of Los Angeles and instead heads directly to the gathering on the US Bank Tower's roof, right under the City Destroyer. Guess what happens?

* HopeSpot: The instant the nuke hits the ship in Houston causes SecDef Nimzicki to shout "it's a hit!" and for everyone to break out into applause, only for confirmation that the strike completely failed.

* ForgottenFallenFriend: After losing a good friend during a DogFight with the aliens, Hiller is quickly back to cracking jokes and never mentions the loss again.

** The letter Steve gets from NASA has the address "El Toro, CA 50055." The zip code 50055 is actually for Collins, Iowa. Prior to its closure, the zip code for El Toro was 92609.

** After the U.S. attack on the alien destroyer ship hovering over Los Angeles, a large number of alien fighters are able to make a surprise attack on the U.S. Marine airbase at El Toro even though the base should have been able to see them approaching with its radar.

-->'''Steven Hiller:''' ''[to crash-surviving alien] *WHAM*'' Welcome to EARTH!

* DisasterDodgingDog: Provides the image for this trope. At the end of the movie's main disaster scene, Jasmine Dubrow (Will Smith's character's partner) forgets her dog Boomer, which is locked in her car mere seconds away from being incinerated from the incoming wall of fire. Much to our relief, it manages to OutrunTheFireball and reach its master's shelter just in time.

'''David:''' No, no, I don’t mean that part.\\
'''Julius:''' What? I don’t want you to catch cold?\\

'''Julius:''' What’s the matter with you?\\