INDEPENDENCE DAY DELIGHT
This movie is more than ten years old, but it still grabs me! OK, it's corny, and it has no deep message, but it's really entertaining. That's probably why this movie took in $100 million the first week (in 1996).
Basically, INDEPENDENCE DAY is an updated version of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (before 2005's modern-day release of the science fiction classic), with modern technology.
SUPER SPECIAL EFFECTS
Directed by Roland Emmerich, INDEPENDENCE DAY boasts superior special effects. For more than $70 billion in 1996 dollars, they sure ought to be. Actually, the film won an Academy Award in 1997 for Visual Effects, as well as a nomination for Sound.
Watching that alien ship hovering over the White House is chilling! Seeing New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC, vanish is astounding!
INDEPENDENCE DAY received the People's Choice Award in 1997 for Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture. The instrumental soundtrack won a Grammy Award the same year.
CAPABLE CASTING
Will Smith, as Air Force fighter pilot Steven Hiller, and Jeff Goldblum, as cable repairman and computer whiz David Levinson, are appropriately cast. Still, they don't come close to the appeal of Bill Pullman as a hunky and heroic young U.S. President Thomas J. Whitmore. When Pullman crawled into the cockpit to help save the planet, I wanted to vote for him - right on the spot!
In his own understated way, INDEPENDENCE DAY's Pullman wins MY personal award for the sexiest movie President yet, with Kevin Kline (in DAVE - 1993) and Michael Douglas (in THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT - 1995) tying for distant second.
Randy Quaid, Judd Hirsch, Adam Baldwin, Robert Loggia, Vivica Fox, Harvey Feirstein and Mary McConnell lend their more-than-capable skills in supporting roles.
SELF-DEPRECATING SCRIPT
The movie script entertains because it mocks its own genre. The most quotable moment of the entire film belongs to Captain Steven Hiller (Smith), who beats the feathers out of an alien and then remarks, "Welcome to Earth."
FUN FAMILY FILM
Although rated PG-13, probably for space-age violence, INDEPENDENCE DAY provides an enjoyable blend of adventure and likeable characterizations to hold audience attention well for its 145-minute duration.
INDEPENDENCE DAY is a perennial favorite in our home, even after multiple viewings.