Monday, April 25, 2011

Independence Day Review












Independence Day


Release Date: 29th August 1996 – Australia


Production Companies
Centropolis Entertainment
20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Distribution
20th Century Fox Australia


Genre: Sci-Fi

Rating: PG

Runtime: 145 minutes
                 154 minutes
                 (extended)


Budget: $75,000,000

Box Office Gross: $817,400,891 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
Humanity becomes threatened when alien spaceships arrive on Earth, launching a massive attack on multiple large cities. Only a group of human survivors can unite and make one last attempt to save the human race from extinction.


Cast
Will Smith – Captain Steven Hiller
Jeff Goldblum – David Levinson
Bill Pullman – President Thomas J. Whitmore
Margaret Colin – Constance Spano
Robert Loggia – General William Grey
Randy Quaid – Russell Casse
James Duval – Miguel Casse
Judd Hirsch – Julius Levinson
Mary McDonnell – Marilyn Whitmore
Vivica A. Fox – Jasmine Dubrow
James Rebhorn – Albert Nimzicki
Harvey Fierstein – Marty Gilbert
Adam Baldwin – Major Mitchell
Brent Spiner – Dr. Brackish Okun
Harry Connick, Jr. – Captain
Jimmy Wilder
Kiersten Warren – Tiffany
John Storey – Dr. Isaacs
Frank Novak – Teddy
Devon Gummersall – Phillip
Mae Whitman – Patricia
Ross Bagley – Dylan Dubrow
Lisa Jakub – Alicia Casse
Giuseppe Andrew – Troy Casse
Bill Smitrovich – Captain Watson
Corin Nemec – Connor McGrady
Barbara Beck – Monica Soloway
Vincent Schiavelli – Dr.
Hartmund Engel (Uncredited)
Gary A. Hecker – Alien Vocal
Effects
Frank Welker – Special Vocal
Effects
Dean Devlin – Eagle 2 Pilot (Voice) (Cameo) (Uncredited)
Volker Engel – Man in Office (Cameo) (Uncredited)

Crew
Writer/Executive Producer/
Director – Roland Emmerich
Writer/Producer/Second Unit Director – Dean Devlin
Associate Producer – Peter Winther
Executive Producer – Ute Emmerich
Executive Producer/Unit Production Manager:
New York – William Fay
Production Designer – Oliver Scholl
Production Designer/Alien Creature Effects
Designer & Supervisor – Patrick Tatopoulos
Art Director – William James Teegarden
Assistant Art Director/Set Designer –
Lauren E. Polizzi
Set Decorator – Joe Erickson
Property Master – Doug Harlocker
Costume Designer – Joseph A. Porro
Assistant Costume Designer – Sanja Milkovic Hays
Director of Photography – Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Additional Photographer – Ueli Steiger
Director of Photography: Second Unit –
Jonathan Taylor
Unit Production Manager – Kelly Van Horn
First Assistant Director – Sergio Mimica-Gezzan
Second Assistant Director – Kim H. Winther
Stunt Coordinator – Dan Bradley
Aerial Second Unit Director/Coordinator –
Kevin LaRosa
Mechanical Effects Supervisor – Clay Pinney
Miniature Pyrotechnics/Mechanical Effects
Supervisor – Joe Viskocil
First Unit Supervisor: Mechanical Effects –
Hans Metz
Second Unit Supervisor: Mechanical Effects –
Mike Edmonson
Visual Effects Supervisors – Volker Engel
and Douglas Smith
Digital Effects Supervisor/Producer –
Tricia Henry Ashford
Digital Visual Effects Supervisor: OCS –
Ray McIntyre Jr.
Digital Effects Producer: POP – Andrea D'Amico
Digital Producer: VisionArt – Joshua D. Rose
Visual Effects Project Managers –
Nikolaus Kraemer and Marc Weigert
VFX Production Supervisor: Visual Effects
Camera Unit – Bob Hurrie
VFX Directors of Photography: Visual Effects
Camera Unit – Anna Foerster and Phillipp Timme
Technical Supervisor: VisionArt – Rob Bredow
Model Shop Supervisor – Michael Joyce
Model Unit Art Director: Model Department –
Steven Legler
Motion Control Camera Operators: Visual Effects
Motion Control Unit – Harry J. Alpert
and James Balsam
Digital Effects Production Administrator:
Digital Visual Effects – Craig A. Mumma
Digital Imaging Supervisor: Digiscope – Dion Hatch
Digital Compositing Supervisor: POP – Pablo Helman
CG Supervisors: Digital Visual Effects –
Tara Hardy Turner and Joseph Francis
CG Unit Digital Animation Supervisor –
Hartmut Engel
CG Previsualization Compositing – Marc Kolbe
and Fred Fouquet
Film Editor – David Brenner
Additional Assistant Editors – Donald Likovich
and Michael McCusker
Sound Designer – John P. Fasal
Supervising Sound Editors – Sandy Gendler
and Val Kuklowsky
Sound Design/Editorial - Jonathan Miller
and Jon Johnson
Sound Mixer – Jeff Wexler
Sound Effects Recordists – Ken J. Johnson
and Eric Potter
Re-Recording Mixers – Bob Beemer,
Bill W. Benton and Chris Carpenter
Additional Sound Re-Recording Mixers –
James Bolt, Michael C. Casper,
Patrick Cyccone Jr., Daniel J. Leahy,
Christian P. Minkler, Sergio Reyes and
B. Tennyson Sebastian II
Foley Artists – Hilda Hodges and John Roesch
Music – David Arnold


Awards

1997 Academy Awards
Best Visual Effects – Volker Engel, Douglas Smith,
Joe Viskocil and Clay Pinney (Won)
---------------------
Best Sound – Chris Carpenter, Bill W. Benton,
Bob Beemer and Jeff Wexler (Nominated)


Review
INDEPENDENCE DAY is an excellent sci-fi disaster film dealing with a terrifying alien invasion of Earth that plays out like a cheesy old 1950s B-movie. The aspects of this film were the cheap laughs, stunning visual effects, terrific explosions, impressive dogfights and the acting of Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman. Opposed to the other alien antagonists who may have a single target, the ones portrayed in this film targeted several monuments, destroying them with their mothership. While aliens in movies and television can range from friendly to evil, the intriguing part of this feature is explaining why the aliens chose to attack Earth (but I won't give spoilers).

This magnificent blockbuster hit is a one-of-a-kind blast. I like to thank Roland Emmerich for making INDEPENDENCE DAY an exceptional flick. I highly recommend this alien invasion movie to anyone who wants to see it, whether it's your home or anywhere.

Star rating: (5/5) Best Movie Ever

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