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MOVIES / ON DVD / INDEPENDENCE DAY
Independence Day

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Independence Day (1996)

62%
65%
77%
N/A
N/A
N/A
62 %
Reviews Counted: 53 Fresh: 33  Rotten:20 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.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 2 hrs 33 mins

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, aliens, in numerous gargantuan spaceships, arrive without warning and hover over the world's... 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]

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Starring: Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Margaret Colin, Judd Hirsch

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

DVD Info

Release:

Jan 22, 2008

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • (unspecified) - English

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Ratings Image
N/A

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 | comment Comment
07/07/08
Steve Biodrowski
ESplatter
Ratings Image
N/A

Splendidly cheesy entertainment.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/05/08
Carol Buckland
CNN.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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3/5

Insanely pompous and brilliantly exhilarating in equal measure.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/05/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
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 | comment Comment
03/05/08
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
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Ratings Image
N/A

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

Full Review | comment Comment
03/05/08
David Ansen
Newsweek
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Ratings Image
N/A

As unavoidably entertaining as it is hopelessly cornball.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/05/08
Todd McCarthy
Variety
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Ratings Image
N/A

Maybe the moviemakers' mission was to boldly go where everyone in Hollywood has gone before: the bank.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/05/08
Rita Kempley
Washington Post
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Ratings Image
B+

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

Full Review | comment Comment
03/05/08
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews
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N/A

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 | comment Comment
03/05/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
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Ratings Image
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 | comment Comment
08/13/07
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
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 | comment Comment
02/17/07
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
Ratings Image
N/A

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 | comment Comment
02/09/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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B+

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

Full Review | comment Comment
04/09/05
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews
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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 | comment Comment
12/28/04
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan
Ratings Image
3/4

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

Full Review | comment Comment
07/30/03
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image
3.5/4

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
05/20/03
Susan Tavernetti
Palo Alto Weekly
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5/10

One of the prime guilty pleasures of our time.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/14/03
Dragan Antulov
rec.arts.movies.reviews
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1/5

Big, dumb, glossy blockbuster designed for mass appeal is massively appalling.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/07/02
James Rocchi
Netflix
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2/4

It has the big budget and SFX of a 90s flick, but it still feels like a 1950 B-movie, and not even a good one. Now that's sad

Full Review | comment Comment
09/10/02
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal
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N/A

The ultimate special effects spectacular.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/27/02
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice
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