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Independence Day (1996) Will Smith .................... Captain Steven Hiller Jeff Goldblum ............. David Levinson Bill Pullman .................. President Thomas Whitmore Randy Quaid ............... Russell Casse Leland Orser ........... Tech/Medical Assistant #1 Synopsis In Independence Day, a scientist played by Jeff Goldblum once actually had a fistfight with a man (Bill Pullman) who is now president of the United States. That same president, late in the film, personally flies a jet fighter to deliver a payload of missiles against an attack by extraterrestrials. Independence Day is the kind of movie so giddy with its own outrageousness that one doesn't even blink at such howlers in the plot. Directed by Roland Emmerich, Independence Day is a pastiche of conventions from flying-saucer movies from the 1940s and 1950s, replete with icky monsters and bizarre coincidences that create convenient shortcuts in the story. (Such as the way the girlfriend of one of the film's heroes--played by Will Smith--just happens to run across the president's injured wife, who are then both rescued by Smith's character who somehow runs across them in alien-ravaged Los Angeles County.) The movie is just sheer fun, aided by a cast that knows how to balance the retro requirements of the genre with a more contemporary feel. From Amazon.com Availability Video and DVD. The Leland Factor Blink and you'll either miss him or fail to recognize him. He doesn't appear until the heroes reach Area 51. Allison's Review I have to admit that I regard Leland's presence in this film with a kind of amused disbelief, because for the longest time I thought he was someone else. To make a really long story short, I got him confused with Anthony Crivello, who I knew as the fantastic Grantaire from the Les Miserables Tenth Anniversary Concert video, and who also had a small part in ID4. When I went hunting for him, I had very little in the way of references to go on, and I also didn't know who Leland was. So my sister and I settled on one of the guys helping with the alien surgery. Later, I became a fan of Leland, realized that he was in fact the surgery guy, and then had to hunt for Anthony all over again. So all that combined with the fact that he has like one line has left me with the lasting impression that Leland still really isn't in Independence Day. (Yes, I know I'm weird.) Thus, it's a little hard to review his performance, since there's not much of anything to go on. We all know he conveys fear well, which he has the opportunity to demonstrate when the alien wakes up during surgery and starts wreaking havoc. That's basically the entirety of his role. He also shows up in the background while President Whitmore is examining the alien spacecraft--I actually missed him there the first time I went through the movie making screencaps, so you have to pay attention. On the DVD, he also appears in a deleted scene where Dr. Okun shows David Levinson the spacecraft's controls. But he doesn't say anything, just observes, so it's not much of an addition. Since we never actually see the alien doing anything to him in the operating room, I keep harboring this hope that he went and hid in a cabinet somewhere and didn't get knocked off. Hey, I can dream. :) Verdict Just watch it. I could rave for eons on how much its cheesy goofball goodness makes me happy. (I understand that not everyone agrees with me on this.) /back |