‘Independence Day’ explained: How does humanity defeat the alien invasion?
The movie Independence Day was one of the biggest blockbusters of the 1990s. It was released in the United States on July 3rd, 1996, to coincide with the country’s national Independence Day celebrations the following day. Its story is set around the date of the celebration and depicts a fictional alien invasion along with the US military’s efforts to defeat it.
Portraying human warfare with extraterrestrials on a level of cinematic grandeur greater than any other film had achieved up to that point, Independence Day also featured Will Smith’s breakout role as an all-action movie star. At the time, Smith was known as a rapper and comedy actor, and he was most famous for his TV show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Since the film’s release, however, he’s never looked back, becoming one of the biggest big-screen actors in Hollywood.
In one of his most celebrated performances, he portrays US Marine pilot Captain Steven Hiller, who leads the airborne operations against the aliens’ mothership and flying saucers, which ultimately prove most effective in overcoming them. Before his intervention, things looked pretty dire for humanity, with a nuclear missile attack against an alien saucer backfiring and blowing up the city of Houston while the extraterrestrials were progressing with their plan to annihilate all life forms on Earth.
It’s Hiller’s abilities as a pilot and willingness to volunteer for a frontline mission against the alien forces that lead to his prominent role in the victory of humanity over the invading force. He is tasked with flying a captured alien fighter vessel up to the mothership, in order to destroy it along with the extraterrestrials’ defensive shield against human attacks.
But how are the mothership and shield destroyed?
David Levinson, who is Hiller’s partner on his mission, has written the code for a virus which will paralyse the alien forces’ defence shield system. Played by Jeff Goldblum, Levinson is an engineer from MIT with the programming expertise to complement Hiller’s piloting skills.
When the two of them arrive on the extraterrestrial mothership disguised in the alien fighter vessel, they upload the virus onto the mothership’s operating system before the aliens on the ship are able to detect them. With their defence shield disabled, the aliens’ flying saucers and fighter vessels on Earth are sitting ducks for the military might of humanity’s combined armed forces.
As they escape from the mothership, Hiller and Levinson deploy two nuclear missiles from the vessel they’re piloting, which blows up the ship from the inside. They manage to escape the mothership seconds before the missiles detonate, with Hiller exclaiming, “Elvis has left the building!”
The film ends with images of people around the world celebrating the success of Hiller and Levinson’s mission, with cringe-worthy depictions of exotic African tribespeople and bedouins next to the Egyptian pyramids. USA saves the day. What better way to commemorate the fourth of July?
