Directed by:
Roland EmmerichCinematography:
Karl Walter LindenlaubComposer:
David ArnoldCast:
Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Mae Whitman, Vivica A. Fox, Margaret Colin, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, Randy Quaid (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
The spectacle begins when massive spaceships appear in Earth's skies. But wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. Now the world's only hope lies with a determined band of survivors, uniting for one last strike against the invaders - before it's the end of all mankind. (20th Century Fox UK)
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Reviews (10)
I believe that at the time it was released, it was a fine innovative blockbuster that managed to shock. Today, however, Independence Day doesn't impress at all, because we've seen everything in it a thousand times and better. The acting is average, the visuals were fine for the time, but today they are rather laughable, and the completely formulaic plot doesn't add to its appeal either. Roland Emmerich's sci-fi vision, which he spins over and over again in each of his films, also slowly comes across as his pure egotism and personal ambition to make films "for himself", I guess I can't really explain it any other way. I was thinking that this particular piece is quite famous, well-known and praised, but for me it's just a below average misstep that I'd rather not remember tomorrow.
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Switch off your brain, make a big bucket of popcorn for yourself, turn the volume up (there’s no point in watching it anywhere else but at either a home or a regular theater) and make yourself believe the misleading phrase “it’s a spoof" and, mainly, take it easy. If you manage to persuade yourself that it really is meant as a spoof then it is an excellent B-grade catastrophe movie with a huge budget and well known, but mostly terrible actors (with one exception of Will Smith, brimming with snappy lines) and it’s decently paced. On top of all that it’s too long and overflowing with American pathos to an extent that can be trumped only by Emmerich himself in his subsequent movies.
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Roland Emmerich bursts the floodgates with pathos. Bill Pullman is completely off with his heroic president, Will Smith is embarrassing, Jeff Goldblum might as well not have been there at all – and this is all just a minor, overrated mishap. This variation on War of the Worlds didn't work out and despite the gripping scene of the destruction of the White House, I have an aversion towards this film.
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The Hollywood high-budget blockbuster of the 1990s in its full and immaculate glory. I’ve seen it at least thirty times, but the intensity of the experience remains unrelenting and the internal scheme of the narrative as a mediator of a global catastrophe is exemplary. There are dozens of characters, but each of them has an important function in communicating with the viewer, who learns about the alien attack from the point of view of the president, a brilliant scientist, a verbose soldier and the general population, so the presentation of the plot is really incredibly complex and well thought out. It may reek of American pathos and naivety, but Independence Day is simply so well constructed, scored and acted, supported by amazing visual effects and the ultimate adrenaline rush, that I will watch it thirty more times in the future and the general term "Legend" will increasingly come to mind. An incredible romp that will never get old and, above all, will never be surpassed within the genre.
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“I steal, you steal, we steal.” Or how Emmerich and Devlin got together, dumped their brain concoctions into a common cauldron, stirred it properly and prepared an inedible slop. I turned off my brain and just wanted to have fun, but even a lobotomy wouldn't have helped. The massive avalanche of clichés and stupidity swept me away in such a way that I wouldn't want to repeat it.
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