Independence Day

One of the best summer blockbusters ever made, Independence Day follows a multitude of disparate characters as they’re forced to band together and fight after alien invaders attack our planet. Filmmaker Roland Emmerich, working from a script cowritten with Dean Devlin, does a superb job of initially establishing the impending extraterrestrial incursion and its impact on over a dozen protagonists, with the impressively watchable atmosphere heightened by an almost uniformly charismatic, engaging cast (which includes Bill Pullman, Will Smith, Randy Quaid, and Jeff Goldblum). It’s clear, too, that Independence Day benefits substantially from Emmerich and Devlin’s padded-out yet mostly streamlined screenplay, as the movie, which is broken up into easily-definable sections (eg July 2, July 3, etc), boasts a palpable sense of momentum that grows exponentially as the aforementioned threat becomes more and more ominous and deadly. There’s little doubt, as well, that the larger-than-life action sequences fare better than one might’ve anticipated, with Emmerich’s stellar handling of such interludes ensuring that they are, for the most part, thrilling and engrossing. (The climactic battle, kicked into gear by Pullman’s now-iconic inspirational speech, is especially captivating.) And while the movie is probably a little longer than necessary, Independence Day is, for the most part, a big-budget extravaganza done exceedingly well and it’s ultimately hard to deny that the movie fares better than most contemporary similarly-themed works (including its own sequel!)

***1/2 out of ****