Great sci-fi movie

Rating: 8/10 (9 August 2007)

Since it's release in theaters 11 years ago, Independence Day has taken a lot heat. While I personally disagree that this movie is so horrible, it is easy to beat up the film seeing that its directed by one of the most boring directors of our time, Roland Emmerich.
However, I believe this is his finest work. The first act is all about the build-up of the alien invasion and the attacks. This takes about fifty minutes, which also develops many (too many) characters and their places in the apocalypse.
The attacks are good, but it is not unexpected. The special effects give it its credibility, and the second act begins the day after.
In the wake of the devastation, mankind is limping on to survive, all main characters personally affected in someway by the attacks. While everybody does a good job bringing out the emotional side of the attacks, Will Smith is the only one that degrades this. After battling the aliens and failing, he has a close encounter with an alien and reacts unrealistically, punching it and sarcastically greeting it. Then he's dragging it through the desert, screaming at it because he is missing a barbecue. HELLO?!? This is an alien race far superior to our own and it has single handedly brought mankind to its knees, and all he can do is yell at it for ruining his day? His performance is plausible but not his role. Thank God this is the only thing that I did not like in the second act.
After Will Smith brings the alien to a secret alien research facility in Area 51, the doctors decide to perform an autopsy. The autopsy scene is a classic. It is probably the best sci-fi scene I have EVER seen. It could fit into a 50's classic, and makes the movie so great.
At the end of the second act, they finally figure out how to take down the alien's shields and destroy their monster-sized spacecraft. This is where the lousy third act begins.
July 4 is the opening of the third act, in which they round up as many pilots as possible. One is my least favorite character, a guy named Russell who claims he had been kidnapped by aliens 10 years earlier. The guy is lackadaisical cornball. He has one good line (Hello, boys. I'm back!!!!). All pilots around the world, including Russell will be in the ultimate battle. They will fight the alien ships while Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum plant a virus inside the mother ship. This is sadly the only interesting part of the third act, the rest of it from before being a cornball of clichés.
The interior of the mother ship is so breathtaking, I actually found myself wishing somehow their ship would malfunction and they'd be stuck inside, forcing them to venture through the space frigate for about an hour in a style reminiscent to "Alien". But seeing that the movie is already 2 1/2 hours, I guess they decided to not to.
Jeff Goldblum's and Will Smith's chemistry work wonders while they're in the mother ship, and every moment inside it is really good.
The movie shortly ends after their departure from the mother ship, so it pretty much comes to a screeching halt. The world is still in ruins, and Emmerich leaves us to ponder how humanity will get back up.
All in all, the movie manages perfectly for 81% of the movie. I would've given it a 9.0 if it weren't for Will Smith's comic relief in the second act, Russell, and mainly clichéd third act. 8.1/10.