History Film / IndependenceDay

'''''Independence Day''''' is a 1996 movie by Creator/RolandEmmerich, known in its promotional material as '''''[=ID4=]'''''. At its core it is a straightforward AlienInvasion movie with a lot of elements taken from well known sources like ''TheWarOfTheWorlds''. The archetypical SummerBlockbuster with a large cast of familiar character types, StuffBlowingUp, fighter jets dogfighting alien craft, {{Rousing Speech}}es, {{Area 51}} and is otherwise fairly by-the-book storywise.

* DeadlineNews: In the ads, as a ''WarOfTheWorlds'' ShoutOut.

* 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!

* PlugNPlayTechnology: See above. How could we have known they would have a weakness to [[ShoutOut a computer]] [[TheWarOfTheWorlds virus]]?

** The strategy to defeat the aliens mirrors the defeat of the aliens in [[spoiler:''TheWarOfTheWorlds'', with a different interpretation of the word "virus".]]

* MatchCut/ TemptingFate: One of the president's speeches, being witnessed in the deserted office building by Levinson and his boss, ends with a close-up of his face as he encourages the nation "If you feel the need to evacuate, please do so in an ''orderly'' fasion". Cue mass pandemonium in the streets, riots and looting spreading like wildfire.

* ApatheticCitizens: The few patronizing the strip club while an alien spaceship hovers over their city.

In 2009 it was announced that two sequels were being planned, but so far not much has come to fruition. Most news articles still talk about story ideas and writing, meaning this project could just as easily fade away.

* ApatheticCitzens: The few patronizing the strip club while an alien spaceship hovers over their city.

* ApetheticCitzens: The few patronizing the strip club while an alien spaceship hovers over their city.

Apparently not one, but two, [[http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/11/12/exclusive-independence-day-sequel-to-be-two-movies-possibly-called-id4-ever/ sequels are planned]].

* IgnoredExpert

The film's success also kicked off a revival of the DisasterMovie in mid-to-late 90s. The influence of this film can be seen even today, with Roland Emmerich himself repeating a similar formula in his later films like ''Film/{{Godzilla}}'', ''TheDayAfterTomorrow'' and ''Film/TwoThousandTwelve''.

!!''Independence Day'' provides examples of the following tropes:

* 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/TwoThousandTwelve''). 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.

The only way this could even remotely have been possible is if the nuke set off some kind of [[DisasterDominoes chain reaction]] in the alien mothership's own [[MadeOfExplodium interstellar drive/fuel store/ammunition depot]], as when a [[PearlHarbor single fighter-carried bomb]] [[WorldWarII detonates an entire battleship or carrier.]] Even [[spoiler:Captain Hiller and David Levinson]] weren't expecting this to happen; [[OhCrap the looks on their faces]] when the mothership blew up in a [[ImpressivePyrotechnics spectacular Michael Bay fashion]] is telling. The nuke was meant to cripple the mothership to buy time, not to destroy the whole shebang.

President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) is the recently elected U.S. President when a ''massive'' (one-fourth the size of the moon) spaceship enters the orbit of Earth. Sending out smaller (city-size) ships that scatter across the globe to all the major cities, it doesn't take long before they begin firing their {{Wave Motion Gun}}s to wipe out entire cities at a time.

* EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep: As is typical for the President in movies. Pop Quiz: Without looking it up, what is the President's name in this movie? It's only used once or twice in the entire film.

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Russell Casse]]. "Hello boys! I'm baaaaaaaack!"

** 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.

* FourStarBadass: General Grey, as contrast to the mousy, ass-covering Secretary of Defense. Honestly, Gen. Grey's pretty much the only person in the government who manages to keep a cool head throughout the crisis, besides President Whitmore, who himself is a badass from the Gulf War. It's really no surprise that in the movie's second act -- by which point the Vice President has been killed off-screen by the alien invaders -- General Grey becomes the President's de facto second-in-command and closest adviser. It's likely that in the movie's universe, General Grey emerges from the crisis with a Patton or Eisenhower-like level of respect, and it's likely that he's either going to be Whitmore's new VP or Secretary of Defense... and the most likely candidate to be Whitmore's immediate successor once his term of office is up.

* PlausibleDeniability: Apparently, the Secretary of Defense who kept the President in the dark even went as far as to keep most of the cabinet in the dark about the existence of Area 51 as well, going by General Grey's reaction to learning this.
-->'''Whitmore:''' Where does all this come from? How do you get funding for this?\\
'''Julius:''' You don't actually think they'd spend $20,000 on a hammer, $30,000 on a toilet seat, do you?

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Boomer mysteriously vanishes for a good chunk of the movie.

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: Boomer mysteriously vanishes for a good chunk of the movie.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The aliens.

* BenevolentBoss: Marty (Harvey Fierstein) - David's Camp Gay boss at the satellite TV company. His immediate reaction on hearing of the potential danger is to tell everyone to stop work and get to safety NOW. This is a media company that is covering the event: shutting off transmission long before others even guess of any danger would cost them $millions.

* InfantImmortality: Yep, the ([[AMillionIsAStatistic onscreen]]) kids all survive the movie.

* FamousLastWords: "It's so pretty..."
** "[[OhCrap Oh, crap]]."

* 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.

** When the alien at Area 51 [[MindRape telepathically attacks]] the President, pretty much everybody present unloads their weapons into him, followed by [[AdamBaldwin Major Mitchell]] [[CoupDeGrace finishing him off.]]

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