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Movies / On DVD / Independence Day
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

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 date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
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Insanely pompous and brilliantly exhilarating in equal measure.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
03/05/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The build up is terrific, with enormous spaceships emerging from the clouds to hover silently over the world's major cities.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/17/01
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Angie Errigo
Angie Errigo
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

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

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
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/18/08
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: ESplatter | comment Comment
07/07/08
Steve Biodrowski
Steve Biodrowski
ESplatter

Splendidly cheesy entertainment.

Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment Comment
03/05/08
Carol Buckland
Carol Buckland
CNN.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
03/05/08
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

If I were a 10-year-old boy, I'd probably think it was the coolest movie going.

Full Review Source: Newsweek | comment Comment
03/05/08
David Ansen
David Ansen
Newsweek

As unavoidably entertaining as it is hopelessly cornball.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/05/08
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

No matter how ludicrous and coincidental the plot gets, it never takes itself seriously.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
03/05/08
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

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 Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
03/05/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

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

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

No brain, no pain, but a heck of a lot of fun.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
04/09/05
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

The most spectacular and intriguing sci-fi action film since the 'Star Wars' trilogy. (published 7-6-96)

Full Review Source: Kansas City Kansan | comment Comment
12/28/04
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

Finally, science fiction the way it used to be: rousing, cosmically xenophobic and ferociously patriotic... Take that, space bullies!

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/30/03
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
all

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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