Action Entertaining, Characters Forgettable

Rating: 7/10 (7 July 2015)

It seems like about every holiday has a movie based on the holiday. Frequently, the movies are also named after the holiday as they did it with this movie. Most of the movies named after a holiday are not action movies with exception to this one. This movie is a movie you can definitely expect to see on TV during the 4th of July, as that holiday just happened. A little like how you can definitely expect to see Home Alone and Home Alone 2 on TV during the holiday season, and if you're like me, you'll like watching them around the holidays to get into the holiday spirit. This movie would definitely be an entertaining movie to watch on Independence Day with friends. Seeing action in movies naturally excites us and keeps our eyes on the screen. The action in this movie is definitely one to excite you.
So, while this movie has some entertaining action it definitely has flaws which I notice and you probably notice too. Like the biggest example I think has to be getting to know the characters. This movie has multiple main characters, and scenes keep switching from one character to the next. We might remember a couple of the actors that starred in this movie, but we will probably forget the name of the character they played. As the scenes keep switching from characters, it is hard for us to keep up with all of them and a lot of the scenes we see them in where there isn't action are slow scenes. They don't seem like characters you'd write a wiki article after or really care to know about their background outside of the movie. The characters mostly seem like just a group of people from different backgrounds handling an alien invasion. Will Smith also starred in the movie Men In Black which also dealt with aliens and came out less than a year after this one does. We seem to get to know his character better in that movie than this one, and we'd probably think of Men In Black a little more as entertaining, and his character is a little more funny in that movie.
Again, the action scenes are cool. The first action sequence has to be the most memorable as it is seen in the covers of this movie. It is sometimes even shown in pop culture, like they show a scene from the first action sequence in Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me. The action sequences after that look like scenes from a Star Wars movie, or a video game. They remind me of a video game I used to play, Star Fox 64. Those scenes are cool and can be cheesy at times, but also have humor to them. They also have really good special effects that seem to work really well, almost 20 years later.
The plot from this movie does not seem too out of the ordinary. It seems like a common plot of having aliens come to earth. Some aliens coming in peace, and others wrecking havoc like this one, and humanity having to find ways to defend themselves. About movies of aliens coming in peace, one movie which I feel like is way underrated and it seems like half the people who saw this movie loves it, is a movie that came out last year called Earth To Echo. I'd go far enough to consider that the greatest movie ever made, and I'd strongly recommend it. Also, another movie I'd recommend in movies named after holidays which I feel like is slow but entertaining, and the slow scenes in that movie are more entertaining than the slow scenes in this movie is called Labor Day. I enjoyed it when I saw it.
One thing I always remember from watching this movie on TV and how it's on during Independence Day and I remember this from many years ago. If you watch movies on TV, they frequently shorten some scenes and go to commercials at the exact same time every year you watch it on TV. I notice that with Home Alone, how some scenes are shortened and one scene in particular from Home Alone that I remember them going to commercials to is after Kevin looks out the window after fooling the crooks of people in the house using mannequins, if you watch it on like TBS. In this movie, from what I remember watching it from like 18-years ago as a kid also on Independence Day. While I don't know this movie well enough to talk about shortened scenes, I always remember how one time this movie switches to commercials is after the first action sequence right after the light bulb in the tunnel pops. A way to keep us watching to find out what happens next.
So, the movie is entertaining and in one sentence it's flaws are not getting to know the characters, sometimes cheesy, not a lot of plot, something that doesn't seem too out of the ordinary, and some slow scenes for a 2+ hour movie. This movie has seemed to change how we see movies and action in cinemas since it came out and I look forward to it's sequel. Though this movie doesn't seem like the type of movie that needs a sequel or can go in the direction for a sequel. So, despite it's flaws because of the action and entertainment I give it a 7/10.