Its been 20 years since this film came out and I finally got a chance to watch it. When an alien civilization attacks Earth its up to Will Smith (Men in Black), Bill Pullman (The Equalizer), Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park, The Grand Budapest Hotel), and a few other folks to save the planet. This film has gone down in history as a great blockbuster, which is exactly what it is. This movie is a big-scale disaster flick with a star-studded cast of misfits who guide the story arc. So many characters are involved in this two-and-a-half hour film, that it often feels thrown together as a collage of action.
Slow to start, Independence Day saves most of its action for the last 45 minutes. Most of the movie is set-up for the final act, where we see the main characters kick some alien a**. Director Roland Emmerich introduces us to a bunch of different characters ranging from the President of the United States to a drunken crop duster pilot. Its pretty cool to see so many different perspectives of the alien invasion, but this direction makes the characters less relatable. I never felt like I really knew a single character. Without the knowledge of the actors's individual careers, I might not have cared about any of them. But when you throw Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum on the same side of a war, of course I am going to root for them.
Clearly, the film is dated with unbelievable special effects and weird lookin' aliens. However, those aspects make the film all the more fun to watch. The mise-en-scene may not be up to par, but who really cares when the film reaches this sort of audience appeal. Independence Day has almost become a cult film with such a large following. To reiterate, the film is not bad but it is also technically outdated with newer special effects and cgi improvements. I just bought my ticket to see Independence Day: Resurgence and I'm hyped to see what new technologies can add to this sort of sci-fi action experience. Unfortunately Will Smith isn't returning, but there is plenty of other fresh talent and old talent anyways!
The Bottom Line: Outdated, but fun nonetheless.
Score: 7.9/10
Image credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Independence_day_movieposter.jpg
Slow to start, Independence Day saves most of its action for the last 45 minutes. Most of the movie is set-up for the final act, where we see the main characters kick some alien a**. Director Roland Emmerich introduces us to a bunch of different characters ranging from the President of the United States to a drunken crop duster pilot. Its pretty cool to see so many different perspectives of the alien invasion, but this direction makes the characters less relatable. I never felt like I really knew a single character. Without the knowledge of the actors's individual careers, I might not have cared about any of them. But when you throw Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum on the same side of a war, of course I am going to root for them.
Clearly, the film is dated with unbelievable special effects and weird lookin' aliens. However, those aspects make the film all the more fun to watch. The mise-en-scene may not be up to par, but who really cares when the film reaches this sort of audience appeal. Independence Day has almost become a cult film with such a large following. To reiterate, the film is not bad but it is also technically outdated with newer special effects and cgi improvements. I just bought my ticket to see Independence Day: Resurgence and I'm hyped to see what new technologies can add to this sort of sci-fi action experience. Unfortunately Will Smith isn't returning, but there is plenty of other fresh talent and old talent anyways!
The Bottom Line: Outdated, but fun nonetheless.
Score: 7.9/10
Image credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Independence_day_movieposter.jpg
