A silly but fun popcorn flick

Rating: 7/10 (7 October 2014)

Roland Emmerich has never been one of my favorite directors, mostly because he has been making the same type of movie now for about 20 years (not unlike Michael Bay in some respects). Still, he does have a great eye for visuals and can create spectacle like few others out there. INDEPENDENCE DAY was one of his first forays into the "disaster" genre, and as a large-scale blockbuster, it largely succeeds. Sure, there isn't a lot of attention paid to character or plot, but it delivers on the action and visuals. The ensemble cast is also great, and each person gets their own moment to shine. At first glance, one might be tempted to compare this to Armageddon, but I think that this film edges it out by a small margin. Both movies have essentially the same story beats, but the emotional arcs in this movie feel more genuine and there isn't a sappy Aerosmith ballad, either. The special effects in this movie are incredible, considering it came out in 1996 and I thought that the alien and spaceship designs were creative and nice to look at. Overall, I think that this movie has had, and will continue to have more staying power than Armageddon, if only because it did it first. Generally speaking, I enjoyed it, and if you're looking for a fun, turn-your-brain-off type of movie, you can't go wrong with this one.