Independence Day (Region
2 DTS DVD Edition)
Picture: B+
Sound: A- Extras: B Film: B
It’s truly hard to believe that Independence Day (or ID4
as it became known) is now nearly a decade old at the time of this review. I suppose that is hard to believe because it
seems like so much has happened since then, and then again, so little. In the world of blockbusters it would seem
much has happened and in the same vein, so little. Going back and watching this film again I was
quickly reminded of the decline in filmmaking in recent years because I was
actually enjoying this film probably more than I did even the very first
time. Reason? Well, I had to pick my brain a bit and figure
out why that could be. My conclusion led
me to the understanding that the film is a solid piece of popcorn fluff, but
the watered down effect that has happened since has caused the film to actually
age better than what is currently hitting the theater.
Roland Emmerich directed this film shortly after his
success with Stargate and then
plummeted to unbelievable lows with his version of Godzilla, followed by
equally bad The Patriot and then The Day After Tomorrow. There are many similarities in his films;
most of them have to do with destruction. In comparing The Day After Tomorrow with ID4
there is a great sense of a gap occurring.
Where ID4 was big, explosive,
and over-the-top, it still had charm about it.
The Day After Tomorrow
displaced that charm with idiocy.
However, this review is merely to emphasize the coolness of getting the
Region 2 DTS edition, which is far superior to every DVD edition released of
this film in the U.S. Sad huh?
Roland Emmerich has had a huge success rate when it comes
to his films on DVD. For example there
have been 4,352 releases of his film Stargate
on DVD, actually that number is a bit of an exaggeration, but let’s say there
have been at least four that I can count.
The most recent included a DTS-ES soundtrack that was quite good. Then Columbia TriStar issued Superbit
editions of Godzilla and The Patriot, which were also quite
good. The Day After Tomorrow (reviewed on this site) also included a DTS
audio track along with some extras. I
suppose it is safe to say that DTS is something Emmerich prefers, but for some
odd reason ID4 does not have that
option inside the U.S. Out of all of
those films, this is the film that Fox should have issued in DTS, especially
when it was part of their Five Star Series.
The Die Hard Trilogy was
re-issued as part of that same series and was upgraded to DTS, but not ID4.
Well, leave it to the U.S. market to mess things up, but
alas the Region 2 Edition got things right, and boy did they ever! The DTS 5.1 mix for this film is top-notch
and then some! The Dolby Digital track
that was provided on the U.S. DVD’s was always missing quite a bit. While it did have it’s moments, it also
lacked some of the depth and most of all the bass that should have been heard,
but where that fell short, the DTS makes up for. I want to point out that loudness does not
make up for bass or fidelity for that matter.
DTS outperforms Dolby Digital simply because it’s higher bit rate allows
for less compression and enables the listener to hear sweeter high end and more
aggressive, yet well-pronounced low end.
From the opening credits you instantly become immersed in
this sound experience. Partly because
the ambience and the extremely low-end roar slowly fills up the room and is
ready to take over at any moment. The
entire film essentially builds and swells up into a moment of absolute chaos,
at that moment the surrounds and every channel in your setup becomes engaged in
all-out-war! The split surrounds are
busy at every moment possible with plenty of front soundstage happenings as
well. This is one of the best-balanced
mixes because dialogue and other important information is still penetrating
through the center channel despite how engaged the rest of the channels have
become. 70mm blow-ups of the film were
shown with DTS, and the old 12” DTS LaserDisc of the film is the only DTS
version still to this day issued in the U.S., despite all the DVD versions.
It’s almost impossible to not love a film when it sounds
this good, or at least find it entertaining.
This was one of the films that was out right around the time that
blockbuster movies were at a record number.
Going back it seems that those films hold up better than imagined. For example, Armageddon, The Fugitive,
The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off, Air Force One, True Lies, and some of the
others that seam to be synonymous with these are sometimes worth revisiting,
even if it is for a mere laugh. Will
Smith of course practically reprised his role here, although with a more
comedic twist the following year with Men
in Black.
There are some definite connections this film has with
both the original and the remake of War
of the Worlds and of course The Day
the Earth Stood Still, which is actually playing on the TV in one of the
scenes. Not only was this film meant to
be heard, but also seen big and the DVD here presented in 2.35 X 1 anamorphic
PAL looks pleasing and then some. My
only gripe is with the black level a bit, but other than that flesh tones seem
accurate and natural as the color palette comes across strong and defined. If you have a good PAL/NTSC converter in your
machine it will look really great with no blocking effect or choppiness.
The extras on the DVD appear to be the same as that issued
for the Special Edition here in the U.S.
Not the Five-Star Edition though, but the single disc re-issue. What most consumers will want though is the
better sound that is once again offered outside the U.S. Question is…how long will the American
consumer have to wait for better editions of DVD’s when the market outside the
U.S. seems to understand that people want quality with quantity?
NOTE: Since we ran this, the film was issued in a
terrific Blu-ray High Definition edition with even better DTS and you can read
more about it at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6720/Independence+Day+(1996/Blu-ray)
- Nate Goss
