SNMR 6.25: "Independence Day"

I try to be topically relevant whenever possible with my movie reviews, so I wanted to review a movie with a 4th of July theme. I could have chosen "Born on the Fourth of July," but wasn't in the mood to watch a Tom Cruise movie. Therefore, I've decided on the other obvious choice. Tonight's SNMR feature is "Independence Day" (1996, PG-13, 153 minutes), starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Geoff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, Randy Quaid, Vivica A. Fox and James Rebhorn. The film was directed by Roland Emmerich.

PLOT SUMMARY: Mysterious signals are being received by the military and no one knows what to make of them. Before we realize what's happening, giant alien spaceships are hovering over every major world city. Using our satellites against us the aliens coordinate one giant attack and destroy all of our cities with massive laser weapons. Fortunately, the President gets out just before the White House is blown to smithereens. Can a ragtag group of people and what's left of our military defeat the aliens? Let's hope so.

MY OPINION: I remember not liking this movie the first and only time I watched it, thinking that it was rather corny and that there was no way in heck some lame weaponry we had could outgun the aliens' firepower. This time I thought the movie was better than I remembered it. Of course, I forgot the part about Area 51 in Nevada, where fortunately for us, we've had a bit of this same alien technology under wraps since the 1950's and have figured out somewhat how to use it.

The story is similar to many other alien invasion type movies and specifically reminded me of "The War of the Worlds" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still." The writing is okay and has some clever lines in the script, which adequately serves the purpose. The special effects are excellent, and this movie won the 1997 Oscar for Visual Effects.

I didn't recall such a good cast with lots of well known actors. Overall the performances were good, but not fantastic.

The movie has a run time of 153 minutes and I thought the movie dragged a bit in setting up the arrival of the aliens. All in all though, this is a decent movie.

*** out of *****