Clichéd but in a fun way

Rating: 8/10 (21 October 2007)

I have to admit that, as far as Hollywood blockbusters go, 'Independence Day' has always been a favourite. The film starts on July 2nd, when the planet is thrown into chaos when number of alien starships enter the atmosphere and settle into orbit over various key cities worldwide before launching a devastating attack. Survivors-- including the American President and his staff, an Air Force pilot and his girlfriend, a drunk and his three kids and the cable repair man/genius who first discovered the aliens' intent-- congregated at a secret facility at Area 51 then on July 4th, they launch their counterattack.
The characters were stereotypical but the actors, including Bill Pullman, Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Margaret Colin, Randy Quaid, Judd Hirsch and Robert Loggia, all gave decent performances despite the cheesy dialogue they were sometimes lumbered with. Even then, the 'good' characters were all likable enough and you wanted to see the good guys strive through and win (unlike Spielberg's 'War of the Worlds' where I wished someone would just dish the main characters up to the aliens) while the token difficult, arrogant politician played for 'boos' with good effect.
In terms of the storyline, it was predictable and, at times, sugary but it was fun! It has everything from action to romance to humour to drama and even handled death with some degree of poignancy, and all this before the standard geeky character saves the world using the 1996 version of HG Wells' virus idea. The special effects used for destruction of the cities were impressive, even eleven years on, as was those used to depict the combat between the American planes and the aliens. It was quite breathtaking when I saw it in the cinema back in '96.
The main complaint about 'Independence Day' seems to be over the depiction of Americans saving the world. As a Briton myself, I do find the idea that every other country would sit back and expect America to save us a tad idiotic, not to mention I like to think the majority of mature Americans don't need to be spoon-fed patriotism, but you can't expect deep thought from a blockbuster. And the President's nauseating Independence Day speech was good for a laugh.
Overall, this is a fun film that was the first to update the whole 'disaster' flick genre. Don't nitpick but just kick back and enjoy.