Still Holds Up Well

Rating: 8/10 (24 August 2015)

Roland Emmerich. The name is synonymous with epic-level disaster movies. From Godzilla 2000 to 2012, Mr Emmerich has made the majority of a career of making movies on the edge of largest as possible. He has created a model that has allowed the return of disaster movies and it started with Independence Day.
The movie depicts a struggle between humanity-reeling from devastating attacks and highly advanced alien invaders. The story follows a select group of these survivors enduring attacks on a genocide scale. Mr. Emmerich was able to put together an all star cast to complement the Oscar-winning visual effects.
Bill Pullman leads the cast as the President of the United States, a steady youthful figure who falls into the standard profile of a cinematic President. Jeff Goldblum continued his trend of playing the scientist figure who suffers in life due to his lack of emotional expression. Will Smith in a role that cemented his meteoric rise to acting stardom plays an air force pilot. Costars include Robert Loggia, Judd Hirsch, Randy Quaid and musician, Harry Connick Jr.
While the movie's theme coincides with it's release weekend, July 3rd; the movie itself tends to pay homage to films such as Star Wars, The Day the Earth Stood Still and other classic science fiction movies. This is done primarily through familiar camera angles and setups that were pioneered during the classic era.
While Mr. Emmerich's cast does a good job of moving the plot forward and showing appropriate emotion as needed; Independence Day shows it's weaknesses during predictable plot twists and the lack of a singular identifiable antagonist. The movie now nineteen years old has stood the test of time and compared with today's blockbusters still is able to show it's quality.