Independence Day is big, it is loud and it is long.

Rating: 7/10 (15 May 2002)

INDEPENDENCE DAY is also instantly forgettable, yet another disposable summer movie with little staying power. It gets off to a relatively engaging start, and the alien destruction of various US landmarks is fun to see. Too bad the rest is merely mechanical without the necessary human interest to keep us involved. Hostile aliens traveling in city-sized spaceships have entered our atmosphere and have made rubble of New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Houston, etc. If they keep this up, Clovis will be the largest American city left standing. Scientists must figure out a way to penetrate the spaceships' invisible shields before the entire planet is leveled and civilization destroyed. Not much has changed since the 1950s when planet Earth had to battle unfriendly visitors in INVADERS FROM MARS and WAR OF THE WORLDS. The special effects are, for the most part, more impressive, though some still look a tad cheesy. Jeff Goldblum seems stuck in his JURASSIC PARK mode, but generates a few laughs as a jittery scientist. Judd Hirsch, who is terribly miscast, is most annoying as Jeff's fretting father. Likable Bill Pullman is very sketchy as the US president, and Will Smith (at the time this movie is made) is far too lightweight to register as a he-man action hero. The finale with peoples around the world celebrating the US victory over the aliens is only slightly less jingoistic than NBC's coverage of the Olympic Games.