Sets a high bar for disaster spectacles

Rating: 8/10 (6 July 2015)

If you're looking to poke "Independence Day", it gives you plenty of ammunition, including an abundance of clunky dialogue, some cornball characterizations (and a few actors who crank up the corn to 11 -- namely Harry Connick Jr. and Randy Quaid), occasional poor CG, boring creature design, and a miraculous magical plot contrivance that is supposed to save the day for us humans. I think all of that is compensated for by the giddy, go-for-broke exuberance with which the movie amps up the scale of destruction, even while keeping the story tightly focused on a handful of nicely played characters who the story brings together smoothly and effectively. Amidst the dialogue groaners and the fake-looking fireballs, it's easy to miss all the big and small things the movie does right -- especially, of course, laying waste to New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. in a thrilling cross-cut sequence. Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum play off each other better than I would have expected and they are supported by an able cast who create a credible ensemble, one member of which actually dies (something disaster movies seem to have forgotten how to do of late). Though the creature design was pedestrian even at the time, the set design of the alien ships remains imaginative and visually compelling. All in all, this film is a blast.