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Independence Day

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Independence Day (1996)

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Reviews Counted:54

Fresh:33

Rotten:21

Average Rating:6.3/10

Consensus: The plot is thin and so is character development, but as a thrilling, spectacle-filled summer movie, Independence Day delivers.

Runtime: 2 hrs 33 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: With a $71 million budget and mind-blowing special effects, INDEPENDENCE DAY is a grand, high-tech throwback to such films of the 1950s as THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and WAR OF THE WORLDS. Here,... With a $71 million budget and mind-blowing special effects, INDEPENDENCE DAY is a grand, high-tech throwback to such films of the 1950s as THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and WAR OF THE WORLDS. Here, aliens, in numerous gargantuan spaceships, arrive without warning and hover over the world's most important cities, creating global panic. The nasty visitors use death rays to blow New York, Washington D.C, and Los Angeles to smithereens. A handful of plucky Americans, including the Clinton-esque President (Bill Pullman), a gung-ho fighter pilot (Will Smith) and a computer geek named David (Jeff Goldblum), attempt to devise a strategy against the invaders. On July 4th, their risky plan is put into effect, as dozens of fighter pilots (including the President) wage an assault on the spaceships. However, their success (and the fate of the world) depends on David, who is attempting to disarm the aliens's mothership. [More]

Starring: Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Margaret Colin

Starring: Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Margaret Colin, Judd Hirsch, Randy Quaid, Vivica A. Fox, Mary McDonnell, James Rebhorn, Harvey Fierstein, Robert Loggia, Harry Connick, James Duval

Director: Roland Emmerich

Director: Roland Emmerich
Screenwriter: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich
Composer: David Arnold
Producer: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich, Ute Emmerich, William Fay, Lincoln D. Hiatt, Peter Winther
Studio: 20th Century Fox

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Independence Day

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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It coulda been a contender.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
01/01/00
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/18/08
Washington Post
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
09/08/09
Hollywood.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
04/12/02
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Director Roland Emmerich has a knack for belaboring a point, explaining everything to us in dialogue and visuals often and repeatedly and over and over.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
01/01/00
Barbara Shulgasser
Barbara Shulgasser
San Francisco Examiner

Independence Day backs up the commonly-heard claim that movie success often has little to do with a good story and compelling characters and everything to do with big stars, big production values and good timing.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
01/01/00
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

The movie is like an advertisement for more defense spending.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia City Paper | comment Comment
01/01/00
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
Philadelphia City Paper

Unfortunately, and perhaps not unexpectedly, it doesn't live up to the hype.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Switch your brain down and enjoy it. And take along a barf bag for those excruciating American patriotic scenes.

Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page | comment Comment
01/01/00
James O'Ehley
James O'Ehley
Sci-Fi Movie Page

Big, dumb, glossy blockbuster designed for mass appeal is massively appalling.

Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
11/07/02
James Rocchi
James Rocchi
Netflix

No one who wants to see this movie needs me to recommend it to them, but if anyone wants to know, I say stay home and rent one of those other movies on video.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment 1 Comment
02/17/07
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

As for the human characters, they give merely adequate back-seat support to the special effects that drive this big-budget thriller.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Kevin McManus
Kevin McManus
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A gasping, bloated roller-coaster ride that veers from scenes of truly awesome destruction to stretches of numbingly bad melodrama and back again.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle

Does the hype monster ID4 live up to its massive buildup? In a word, no.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

At least Mars Attacks tried to be funny.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Oz
Oz
eFilmCritic.com

Maybe the moviemakers' mission was to boldly go where everyone in Hollywood has gone before: the bank.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
03/05/08
Rita Kempley
Rita Kempley
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Independence Day is Hollywood's poster child for the design-by-committee blockbuster.

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire

Forget government conspiracies about aliens -- what about the entertainment media's conspiracy to persuade America that this movie doesn't suck?

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment 6 Comments
08/13/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Independence Day Restores Order to the Millennium.

Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul | comment Comment
09/01/09
Rob Nelson
Rob Nelson
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

The aliens, when we finally see them, are a serious disappointment; couldn't they think of anything more interesting than octopus men?

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment 3 Comments
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
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Latest News for Independence Day

November 16, 2009: Emmerich Talks Independence Day Sequels Opens in new window
All these years later, Roland Emmerich is thinking about returning to "Independence Day" -- and not with just one sequel, either. How does "ID4-Ever" sound to you? More...

November 02, 2009: 12 Facts About 2012
Did the Mayans really predict, all those centuries ago, that Earth would be visited by planetary apocalypse three years from now? It's open to interpretation -- Roland Emmerich... More...

March 03, 2009: Five Favourite Films with Bill Pullman
Few can forget Bill Pullman's rousing speech as the US president in Independence Day, but it's only one of a long string of vast and diverse roles that have seen him cast as... More...

March 06, 2008: Box Office Guru Preview: Ancient Action Arrives Again
For its third chart-topper of the year, Warner Bros. is going back in time with its ancient adventure 10,000 BC which aims to revitalize a box office on the verge of extinction. More...

See All

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