Independence Day

This is a very entertaining movie for sure. I think this is a good line to begin with, because from a movie perspective I see it as a big old B film, hehe... But I enjoyed the movie from start to end, even with all the clichés, the americanish touch, the sometimes laughable dialog. This is a movie where you just turn your brain off, and just enjoy the fun ride it is, and root for the humans, and especially the Americans (:p) to win over evil!...

The movie I must say has a lot of memorable moments... A lot of them comes from the great special effects. I remember when watching this as a kid, I was woved by the effects, and they still look pretty good to this day! So to end it all, if you are a movie viewer who watches movies for character development, clever dialog, etc. This movie is not for you. If you just want a good time, and a good feeling after watching a movie, I recommend this very much! Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Independence Day is the sort of film that's best appreciated on a big screen, preferably a massive great plasma television that is so huge you had to cut the roof off your house and get airlifted in by helicopters just to get it in the living room. You should also have the most state of the art surround sound possible, with bass pickups so deep they cause earthquakes on the Eastern seaboard. Not because Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's alien invasion flick is a masterpiece of cinematic art or anything, but because it's loud. Very loud. And if the windows in your house don't shatter when the spaceship flies over New York then well, you're just not experiencing it properly.

Taking the 1950's invasion narratives and pro-tooling them for 90's audiences, Independence Day is an absolute blast of visual flare and gung ho heroism. The plot is so straightforward as to be superfluous (aliens invade, fights ensue) but even so, it remains an invigorating watch purely because of the spectacle it provides. Back in 1996, the sight of that giant blue laser tearing apart lower Manhattan made jaws drop and while it's unlikely to do the same to today's overstimulated audiences, it's still an incredible visual feast. What's more, the ensemble cast makes it surprisingly unpredictable - we all know that the aliens will be defeated at the end, but what isn't so obvious is which characters are going to be alive to see it. Except for the kid and the dog. They're relatively safe bets.

Watching it now though, it does possess a cheerful naivety in the face of world politics. After all, this was 1996, the Cold War was over and 9/11 a long way off, so the entire world uniting against a common foe without being bogged down with petty arguments and personal agendas still seemed believable. Hell, even the gun-toting Arabs that briefly appear on screen are more than happy to rally behind Uncle Sam in the name of freedom. That's right folks, it's an Americans Save The World movie, complete with a snapshot of British officers drinking tea in the desert and waiting for those silly yanks to get a bally move on and show us what to do.

Needless to say, this is blockbuster entertainment through and through. The aliens are apparently here to strip mine the planet of all her natural resources, but they're quite happy to put that off for a bit in order to blow things up for the entire running time. Fans of in-depth characterisation, intelligent story telling and emotional engagement with the protagonists are wasting their time, but if you want to watch tourist attractions, jet planes and space craft exploding for three hours, you can't really go wrong. That business about a computer virus bringing down the mother-ship is a bit daft though, not once did they try switching everything on and off again.

Turn your brain off and just enjoy it. If you're a hard ass, skip it.

Will Smith and Goldblum together is an A+ in my book.

Highly recommended!

Roland Emmerich is, without a doubt, the Master of the catastrophe films. On his resume, the director not only has Independence Day, his first dive into the sub-genre, but also Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012, all marked by mass destruction - global most of the time - and a complete absence script or quality performances, absences that open the way for the visual spectacle in computer graphics with several memorable sequences. Here, Independence Day literally encapsulates the spirit of all those similar films from the 70s such as the series Airport, Earthquake, Hell in the Tower, Poseidon's Destiny, copying almost entirely from the classic formula, which usually addresses family nuclei or friends before the tragedy in a slow narrative construction and the consequences after the apocalypse sets in. And there's nothing wrong with that, actually, as Emmerich lends his ability to create epics - Stargate was his immediately preceding film, which already demonstrated his ability to handle science fiction well - and creates a film that will be guaranteed fun. Just ignore the various poetic licenses in the script and embark on the guilt-free adventure.

With an estimated budget of 75 million, Independence Day stifled Spielberg's intentions to remake the classic 1953 War of the Worlds to present an alien invasion on an absurd scale. Since the first teaser trailers, with the shadows consuming tourist spots accompanied by the expression of astonishment from passers-by, the feature film has already come with the proposal to shape America's basic formula of self-destruction: if terrorists could not find access - until then - , a flurry of blockbusters began that featured the United States being threatened by natural phenomena and alien forces. As a masochistic pleasure intensified by the approach of the end of the millennium, the result could not be other than a lot of destruction, with sensational effects from impressive models, and the exaggerated patriotism, capable of putting the American president himself on a fighter to face the enemies. Interplanetary.

Don't ask how, but even though the United States government communicates with other nations through Morse code, television continues to quietly broadcast the news with naughty information to the viewer - commonly, us - and that's even after the attacks. It doesn't help the spectator to wonder how David managed, in less than six hours, to pick up his father, get out of downtown New York faster than the whole crowd, and still arrive in Washington, about 330 kilometers from distance; And why bother with the fact that aliens, coming from beyond the solar system, count time in the same measurements as we do? After all, who cares? Forget it, after all, we are back in 1996, a time when the characters use gigantic cell phones, while the aliens have a touchscreen.

Regarding the script of the film, it is fair to say that it is the factor most detonated by the specialized critic. The focus of the production really is to bring elaborate scenes of destruction, leaving the likelihood in the background. There is a lot of patriotism to the United States, to its July 4th holiday (which becomes a world holiday) and to the American army. The script also does not seek to deepen the personal dramas of the characters and some situations are quite fanciful. But the truth is that this was never the intention. Director Roland Emmerich sucks at character development - it would be prudent to say that he may not know what that actually means - but, on the other hand, he is efficient in his action sequences. And since they tend to put the protagonists and large crowds of people in danger, it is easy to gain public empathy, since we on this side of the screen prefer to think that, instead of those figures, we would also survive - right? Big explosion and collapse of a tunnel? No problem, you would go through this to drive a truck and save the First Lady of the United States. Drag the body of an extraterrestrial across the desert, even without supplies? Of course, if you, like Will Smith, can punch one of the damn aliens right in the face. Escape from a colossal explosion at the last second by just a few feet with Air Force One? Only if we can get rid of an even bigger explosion, in space and on board an alien spaceship. Emmerich may not take the human side of his characters very much into consideration, but he is great at instigating the superhuman in them, which hits our ego right in the middle - after all, if they succeed, why not me?

If, on the one hand, the narrative is poor, Independence Day stands out in the technical part. David Arnold's great soundtrack, simply contagious, manages to electrify in the intense scenes and manages to thrill in those more dramatic scenes, as in a moment when an important character dies. The composer manages to bring a track with melodies that help and a lot to give the mood of the film. The editing of sound effects and sound mixing mixes well the noise of explosions, the shouting of people, the shooting of ships and falling buildings. It is no coincidence that he competed for the Oscar for Best Sound.

The general shots taken by Karl Walter Lindenlaub, which Emmerich brought from Stargate, work very well to convey the magnitude of the attacks. David Brenner's montage (The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, The Man of Steel) also deserves commendation for not succumbing to the spectator's bewilderment. Using Lindenlaub's broader photograph very well, he connects the sequences in a way that makes the beating - even in the complicated final aerial attack - logical without losing its energy. And what about the visual effects, which won the Oscars? Today they may seem a little dated, but nothing that gets in the way. And when reviewing the film today, it is actually impressive that many scenes remain current. The grandeur of the ships, the destruction of buildings and the White House, the final air battles, everything remains exciting.

The film is shallow and somewhat empty of content - the theme "union of nations" is beautiful, but if we squeeze it, nothing comes out - but it is undeniable that the director and his script partner Dean Devlin manage to create captivating characters, who they carry the film on their backs. Will Smith in his first big hit, in his burst stage. The star has always lavished charisma, mainly for his comical crazy things and in the action scenes. The best jokes and jokes come out of Smith's mouth. The star Jeff Goldblum (from 'The Fly" and 'Jurassic Park') always with presence and a restrained performance. Bill Pullman plays with respect a well-intentioned and convincing president. Veterans Randy Quaid and Judd Hirsch are surprisingly funny. The synchrony of all of them is something that helps us to care about the characters and cheer in the end.

Independence Day is a beautiful example of the catastrophe film, almost a return to the seventies past, which seems to have been the decade that "created" the genre. This work by Emmerich will remain in the viewer's memory even if it is due to its exaggeration and absurd technological freedoms. A true guilty pleasure, of those who leave a pleasant smile on the face after the projection. It's another great guilty pleasure - that movie, which is essentially pretty bad, but you have fun watching it - directed by the filmmaker specializing in catastrophe films. After all, action and tension is what Emmerich wants to deliver. It is not about his "sophisticated and complex" plot that he wants to base his feature film on, as his artistic expression resides in entertainment. Who cares about ufanism - I would say implicitly, if the foreground was not an American flag - and cheesy melodramas when Bill Pullman is giving such an "inspirational" speech? Anyway, they say that there is that kind of film to "turn off the brain". I say that for this we have those we can call "bad". Independence Day is not to turn anything off, but rather just one of those event films that requires less from the intellect of others - which is different, and by no means a demerit. After all, features like these by Emmerich, however disposable they may be, will always find shelter.

I don't usually comment on this, I don't like to portray a movie as being good or bad just on my opinion, as everyone has their own tastes and needs when it comes to cinema. But god damn, why do so many people hate this film.

Firstly, this is not a serious film, it has never happened nor will it ever. This film is just damn good fun to watch...the explosions, the suspense, the cheesy one-liners...its not trying to tell you that aliens are coming to blow the s**t of of us...its entertainment. To all the people here that have said this is the worst movie ever...you guys need need to watch more movies, because if this is the worst movie ever then im Santa clause! To put it simply, this is 2 and a half hours of fun filled, edge of the seat (occasionally have a laugh) action...and nothing else.

Why cant people just enjoy a independence day for what it is (as mentioned above)...not why its improbable etc etc etc we all know that duh! This film is entertaining, full stop!! and thats all its supposed to be.