Independence Day (1996 film)

Independence Day is a 1996 American epic science fiction disaster film cowritten and directed by Roland Emmerich. The film stars Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, Vivica A. Fox, and Harry Connick, Jr. The film focuses on a disparate group of people who converge in the Nevada desert in the aftermath of a destructive alien attack and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a lastchance counterattack on July 4, the same date as the Independence Day holiday in the United States. The screenplay was written by Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin.

On July 2, 1996, a 500km wide alien mothership enters Earths orbit and deployssaucershaped destroyer spacecraft, eachmiles 24km wide. As they take position over some of Earths major cities, David Levinson Jeff Goldblum, an MIT graduate working for a cable company in New York City, discovers hidden transmissions in Earths satellites which he realizes is a timer counting down to a coordinated attack by the aliens. With the support of his estranged wife Constance Spano Margaret Colin, the White House Communications Director, he and his father Julius Judd Hirsch gain entrance into the Oval Office to notify President Thomas J. Whitmore Bill Pullman about the attack. Whitmore orders largescale evacuations of the targeted cities, but the aliens attack with advanced directedenergy weapons before these can be carried out. Whitmore, portions of his staff, and the Levinsons narrowly escape aboard Air Force One as Washington, D.C., California, New York and other major cities around the world are destroyed.On July 3, the Black Knights, a squadron of Marine Corps FA18 Hornets, participate in an assault on a destroyer near the ruins of Los Angeles. Their weapons fail to penetrate the crafts force field. Dozens of attacker ships are launched by the aliens in defense, and a onesided dogfight ensues in which nearly all the Hornets are destroyed. Afterwards, many American military installations, including NORAD, are destroyed, killing the Vice President and most of the Cabinet who had been hiding there. Captain Steven Hiller Will Smith is the only pilot to survive the Los Angeles assault by luring a single attacker to the Grand Canyon and causing their aircraft to crash into the desert. He subdues the injured alien and is rescued by Russell Casse Randy Quaid, who is traveling across the desert with a group of refugees. They take the alien to nearby Area 51, where Whitmore and his remaining staff have also landed. Area 51 conceals a topsecret facility housing a repaired att

Source: Wikipedia