Not the Greatest Film, But Definitely a Very Fun One

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2016)

Independence Day is directed by Roland Emmerich and stars Will Smith, Bill Pullman, and Jeff Goldblum. These three characters represent an Air Force pilot (Smith), the President of the U.S. (Pullman), and a low life tech whiz (Goldblum). When aliens from outer space attack Earth, these three, along with the remaining survivors, must come together to defeat the aliens and restore freedom to the human race. This all takes place on the 4th of July, as well, because of America.
To start, this movie isn't supposed to be serious, and it's not supposed to make too much sense. This film was purely made to be fun, and to entertain the audience. And that's exactly what it does. Although the movie isn't amazing critically, it's a blast in every way possible. I could watch this movie in the summer (heck, on Independence Day), when it's too hot to go outside, or on a cold winter day when I'm snowed inside the house and can't leave. This movie isn't The Shawshank Redemption (1994), but I'll watch this movie way more than I will Shawshank.
Jeff Goldblum, Will Smith, and Bill Pullman do great in their roles. Will Smith plays the awesome action hero, that eventually learns to care about people other than himself, including his girlfriend and her son. Jeff Goldblum, while playing Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park (1994), plays a good science geek, that eventually becomes another action hero. Bill Pullman is actually believable as the President, and learns that being such a high up position means more than just having the title and giving commands; you have to personally help your people.
The special effects are also great; in fact, they were ground- breaking for 1996. All of the shots of alien spaceships look really believable, and the use of practical effects on the aliens themselves was very smart. The shot of an alien ship blowing up the white house was amazing; I don't know how they did that.
The only real bad thing about this movie is the human's plan to take down the aliens. I don't want to spoil it, but it doesn't make sense barely at all. It's plausible, but it's about a .00001% chance that it would actually work. However, the same could be said about Bill Pullman being the President.
Overall, Independence Day is a very fun movie that's hard to look at critically. It has very few cons, and revolutionary special effects. I'm going to give Independence Day a B+, or an 8 out of 10.