Independence Day (1996)
Tomatometer
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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
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,... [More]
Starring: Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Margaret Colin
Director: Roland Emmerich
Reviews for Independence Day
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 3/5 |
Insanely pompous and brilliantly exhilarating in equal measure. Full Review |
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Everything feels anti-climactic after the fireworks, but the moral is clear: it's the end of the world as we know it. And we feel fine. Full Review |
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3/5 |
The build up is terrific, with enormous spaceships emerging from the clouds to hover silently over the world's major cities. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Independence Day is a throwback to traditional entertainment with an old-fashioned, gung-ho good time thrilled up by 90s-style state-of-the-art technology. Full Review |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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Independence Day Restores Order to the Millennium. Full Review |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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Basically, this is almost perfect realization of the movie you eagerly anticipated when, as a kid, you saw some poster or coming attractions trailer for a 1950s-style alien invasion movie ... Full Review |
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Splendidly cheesy entertainment. Full Review |
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B+ |
It's the first futuristic disaster movie that's as cute as a button. Which, when all the special effects blow over, is what we Americans like in a monster hit. Full Review |
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If I were a 10-year-old boy, I'd probably think it was the coolest movie going. Full Review |
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As unavoidably entertaining as it is hopelessly cornball. Full Review |
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Maybe the moviemakers' mission was to boldly go where everyone in Hollywood has gone before: the bank. Full Review |
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B+ |
No matter how ludicrous and coincidental the plot gets, it never takes itself seriously. Full Review |
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The earnestness, the effects, and the notion of a whole world forgetting its differences to defeat a common foe carry a certain charm. Full Review |
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1/5 |
Forget government conspiracies about aliens -- what about the entertainment media's conspiracy to persuade America that this movie doesn't suck? Full Review |
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1.5/4 |
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 |
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B+ |
No brain, no pain, but a heck of a lot of fun. Full Review |
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A- |
The most spectacular and intriguing sci-fi action film since the 'Star Wars' trilogy. (published 7-6-96) Full Review |
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3/4 |
Finally, science fiction the way it used to be: rousing, cosmically xenophobic and ferociously patriotic... Take that, space bullies! Full Review |
CommentLatest News for Independence Day
November 16, 2009:
Emmerich Talks Independence Day Sequels 
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...
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