In the past two decades, America has used alien technology to advance society and provide a layer of galactic protection. Then a strange ship appears near the moon base. Are those tentacled baddies back? In the subsequent chaos, a massive vessel lands on Earth, spanning the Atlantic. President Lanford (Ward) turns to the heroes of the previous invasion, expert David (Goldblum), ex-president Whitmore (Pullman) and scientist Brakish (Spiner). Meanwhile, the next generation of pilots includes Jake (Hemsworth), his girlfriend Patricia (Monroe), his copilot Charlie (Tope) and Dylan (Usher), son of the previous battle's hero.

Anyone in need of backstory or subtext should watch the original movie. This time around, Emmerich has no time for depth of either character or themes, quickly establishing the network of thin disaster movie subplots before dashing through a bit of mass global destruction. After this, there's rather a lot of waiting around before a series of set-pieces from a variety of genres (Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Emmerich's own 2014) followed by a string of climaxes.

The cast does what they can, with Goldblum offering some (apparently improvised) witty banter. The other old-timers get all the best moments, including the biggest laughs and heroics, while seasoned guest stars like Gainsbourg (as a doctor) and Fichtner (a general) look rather lost. Otherwise, Hemsworth is fine in the rather bland rebel-hero role, Monroe is the standard plucky leading lady, Usher is the second-generation soldier with something to prove and Tope is the goofy sidekick.

In other words, the film feels like an assembly-line product, racing through its intriguing premise as if the audience won't notice how underdeveloped it is. The action sequences are too rushed to be satisfying, even on a guilty pleasure level. And the soapy plot strands are so obvious that they add very little interest, which leaves the rousing speeches sounding especially corny. Even so, since it moves at such a brisk pace and is packed to the gills with likeable actors, there's still some fun to be had.

themes, language, violence

21.Jun.16

The plot and characters are worthy of Stephen King; the storyline starts all over the place, focusing on disparate individuals and their problems, which soon fade into insignificance when humongous spacecraft start decimating the planet. Still, the filmmakers take the time to sort out all these little problems in an easy-answer fashion -- you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll swoon, you'll cringe ... all right on cue. And this is what makes the film so engaging. The filmmakers dare to go for shameless crowd-pleasing cinema. And they succeed brilliantly. You can't help but feel the surge of adrenaline as the tense countdown finale grabs you by the throat.

A talented cast adds the charm and depth that's missing from the plot and characters. Smith is especially refreshing as a brave, wisecracking pilot whose first close encounter with an alien involves a punch in the nose. Pullman is little more than a young Bill Clinton, but he's great in the role. Loggia is startlingly good as his right-hand man. And Goldblum's fiercely intelligent, funny technical genius keeps you smiling. And everyone else plays his or her particular stereotype quite nicely.

In the end, Independence Day amounts to little more than American rah-rah save-the-planet propaganda. But you hardly care. If the plot doesn't hold together on close analysis, what difference does it make? With a massively entertaining film like this, such things as depth, theme and cogency are mere trivialities.

PG-13 violence, themes • 25.Jul.96

Dan S, Colorado: "Hilarious -- a strange thing to say about a movie where millions die and large parts of the world are destroyed, but I laughed all thru this film. Will Smith is a very funny man, and I really enjoyed him in this flick. The long line of stars was fun, Quaid is an excellent whacko, Pullman pulls off a good president, Spiner is an excellent mad scientist, etc. Really fun, which is strange because, like I said, it is full of death and destruction."

Barbara B, California: "We both enjoyed it, but my husband may never forgive us for taking him without any warning. He usually sleeps through movies, but he was wide awake and alert. It was a terrible feeling to see your own country blown up. Even though it was just a movie and you knew we would win, it was unsettling. When one pilot sacrificed his life to blow up the alien spaceship, I was cheering him on and had been wondering why no one had done that before. I would have, had I been there. Some of the younger generation think may he was stupid to do that, but thay have no idea of the sacrifices made in past wars to give us the freedom we have today. How do we teach the value of freedom and country to the younger generation?"

Becky O, Minneapolis: "I liked this film quite a bit! People don't usually clap at the end of a movie, but it was very fun to beat those alien meanies! There was that nice bit of heroism, sacrificing all for kids, country and plant. All those rag-tagle pilots come through in our hour of need. The film was surprisingly un-violent for all the death and destruction. I guess it was the suggestion of major death, rather than explicit dying! There were some really big needs for a huge suspension of disbelief -- as if the president would fly an attack mission, or Goldblum's weenie little laptop would be compatible with this alien mother-ship. Having the aliens as bad guys was a nice (lazy) way to avoid political incorrectness; they were genderless, raceless, sexless, disabled-less, creedless, etc, so they could be universally hated without any guilt. All in all a fun, funny, somewhat fluffy, good-time summer flick!"

Matthew D, Yorkshire: "I enjoyed this one! Full on entertainment -- lots of good audience-rousing action and interest. I particularly like Will Smith banging the alien on the head and smoking his cigars, and then waving at the aliens with Jeff Goldblum: 'Do you think they've any idea what's about to happen?'"