RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Independence Day
Independence Day

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Independence Day (1996)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
65 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:17

Fresh:11

Rotten:6

Average Rating:6.5/10

Consensus: The plot is thin and so is character development, but as a thrilling, spectacle-filled summer movie, Independence Day delivers.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sci-fi destruction and violence.

Runtime: 2 hrs 33 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Theatrical Release:Jul 3, 1996 Wide

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]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Sep 23, 2008

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Independence Day

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 17 (sorted by date)
Text View
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

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

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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The picture is ultimately fun, thanks mostly to the colorful characters and the mock-hero ic spirit that kicks in full-throttle after the world has almost been destroyed.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
06/18/02
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
04/12/02
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

So much about ID4 is so old it's inevitable that homesick audiences, eager for familiar scenarios, will embrace it as if it's nothing but new.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
02/14/01
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film has a genial it's-only-a-movie attitude that sets it apart, quite emphatically, from other blockbuster action movies.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Caryn James
Caryn James
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Unfortunately, and perhaps not unexpectedly, it doesn't live up to the hype.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As for the human characters, they give merely adequate back-seat support to the special effects that drive this big-budget thriller.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Kevin McManus
Kevin McManus
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

You know going in that Independence Day will have terrific effects and loads of action. But the filmmakers have also carefully crafted appealing characters and several good relationships, which they develop as the story unfolds.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Louis B. Parks
Louis B. Parks
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Though the movie isn't too deep, it's certainly a rousing state-of-the-art cartoon capped by an aerial-combat climax that, to its credit, isn't anti-climactic.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The aliens, when we finally see them, are a serious disappointment; couldn't they think of anything more interesting than octopus men?

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment 3 Comments
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's precious little reward in plumbing the world-historical implications of the screenplay.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Scott Rosenberg
Scott Rosenberg
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 17 (sorted by date)
Text View
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

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
15% 15% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Avatar

Avatar

Watch an exclusive behind-the-scenes video!

Box Office

Box Office

New Moon #1, breaks TDK records

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

Ninja Assassin

Ninja Assassin

Learn to train like a ninja in this clip!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
8
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
9
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
106
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
64
  • Forbes Names Hollywood's Most Overpaid Actors Source: Forbes
20
  • Chris Weitz Says He's (Almost) Done with Directing Source: Film School Rejects
26
  • Spider-Man 4 Casting Rumors Multiply Like Rabbits Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily
51
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
163
  • Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
129
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Twilight's New Moon Dazzle?
97
  • Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
75
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
53
  • Five Favorite Films with Werner Herzog
50
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
44
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
32
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Angels & Demons, Funny People, and Superman
14
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
6
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
6
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
8
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
19
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
6
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
18
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Independence Day at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Independence Day at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
Star Trek DVD Exclusive
Star Trek DVD Exclusive External Link

TECHLAND gives us a first look at the extras, including Leonard Nimoy's last day on set!

The New Cult Canon
The New Cult Canon External Link

AV Club looks at a beloved cult classic, Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness.

New Moon Portraits
New Moon Portraits External Link

TIME offers us a closer look at the characters from the latest Twilight film.

Unsexiest Men Alive
Unsexiest Men Alive External Link

Moviefone lists their choices for the least attractive men in Hollywood.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.