Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world's major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that a force of incredible magnitude has arrived. Its mission: total annihilation over the Fourth of July weekend. The last hope to stop the destruction is an unlikely group of people united by fate and unimaginable circumstances.
Independence Day is a crowd-pleasing blockbuster with spectacular large-scale destruction sequences and memorable set pieces, but its plot is formulaic and riddled with contrivances — a ragtag band of heroes, a computer virus saving the day, and hammy patriotic speeches. The acting ranges from charismatic (Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum) to broadly cartoonish, landing above average overall. Cinematography delivers solid widescreen spectacle with iconic imagery of landmarks being obliterated, though it's more technically impressive than artistically distinctive. Novelty gets a bump for crystallizing the modern alien-invasion blockbuster template with genuine energy and scale — it's not wholly original but its execution was singular for its era. The ending is deeply contrived and anticlimactic given the stakes built up, relying on a ludicrous resolution.