It's average, no more, no less.

Rating: 5/10 (21 January 2001)

** out of ****
It's been a while now since Independence Day had been a reigning box office champ. I remember all the hype and media coverage over it. The film broke box office records and had people clamoring over it. Well, it's pretty much a forgotten film now, as nobody seems to really mention it anymore. Either the ones that receive awful reviews (Battlefield Earth) or good to great reviews (Star Wars, The Matrix) are the big-budget sci-fi films that stay remembered. Independence is just relentlessly mediocre.
Taking place over the course of 3 days (basically the first 3 of July), the film begins with a gigantic spacecraft hovering over the moon. Separate pieces disentangle itself from the mothership, 36 in all, and position themselves over the world's most powerful cities. At this point, President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) is undecided as to what course of action to take. Should they wait, or fire upon the alien ships.
A brilliant cable repairman (Jeff Goldblum)-no kidding-figures out that the aliens are using a code through Earth's own satellites, and is actually a countdown, and when the clock ticks to zero, all of Earth will be decimated in a hailstorm of lasers. He manages to warn the president in time (he's the ex-husband of one of the president's advisors, no less), and they evacuate just before the ships fire down on the cities, and soon 36 of the world's largest and most powerful cities have been reduced to rubble.
The humans aim for a counterattack, with fighter jets to take down the ships, but as Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) and his squad figure out, these ships have some sort of force field that prevent penetration from any object. With the exception of himself, Hiller's squad is completely destroyed, and he ends up in the deserts of Nevada, dragging an unconscious alien. Eventually, all the characters meet in Area 51, buried secrets of the past are unearthed, and discussions and plans of ways of fighting back are brought into light.
There's really nothing to get excited about concerning this film. It has a few exciting action scenes, some humorous bits, and a barrage of outstanding special effects, but it's rather dissatisfying. There's not nearly as much action as you would hope for, and I would like to have seen some hand-to-hand combat, not just some aerial dogfights. The movie is basically hollow entertainment, and even then, it tries the patience with the slow buildup in the first hour. If you want entertaining and non-stop sci-fi action, go with Starship Troopers, and if you want a better film a similar storyline, then just stick with Star Wars.
Roland Emmerich isn't exactly a director that's well known for helming compelling scripts and Independence Day is no different. The screenplay features a bevy of plot holes and blatant stupidity, most of which appear in the final half hour, as the ridiculous plan to fight back the aliens strikes me as lame-brained. Emmerich is adept at handling special effects and action, but a good bit of it feels like it's for naught with some of the outright idiocy of the story behind it.
The performances are merely average. Will Smith is a lot of fun to watch as the hero, and he does turn in the most likeable and charismatic performance. Jeff Goldblum plays a genius as usual, and he's good at it, too. It's just that everyone else is not so good. Bill Pullman is pretty stiff, and while others do manage to put life into their roles, there's not nearly enough screentime given to them to put any signifigance into it.
I suppose now that all the sound and fury is over, Independency Day really doesn't add up to too much, it's a major disappointment. It's nowhere near being awful, but it has too many flaws to make this a film worth watching over and over again.