A film for our time.

Rating: 9/10 (2 August 2003)

This franchise will, in all likelihood, become remembered as a franchise that shaped filmmaking over the next 10-20 years, and will remain a watched film while the industry lasts. The question then commonly asked becomes, "Does this movie deserve to be remembered that long?"
The answer to that question is, really "deserved" is the wrong word.Independence Day will probably still be watched 30 years from now, not because it is necessarily all that good, but because it was hugely successful and spawned a slew of disaster-related flicks. In other words, it defined an era. And with the Harry Potter series being developed as we speak, and both the Chronicles of Narnia and His Dark Materials being made into franchises, one can easily conclude that this film will be remembered as the film that spawned the development of modern fantasy blockbusters (although the Harry Potter series being contemporary was coincidental). By now, we have come to expect that lesser films will occasionally become classics, while greater films will occasionally fall into obscurity.
However, I feel, and I hope you will concurr when you see it for yourself, that this is a worthy addition to those era-defining films that come along every-so-often. In fact, IMHO, this is one of the best era-defining films since Star Wars, or at least one of the most enjoyable. Several things from this franchise are truly, justifiably, memorable, such as the wholesome innocence of the Shire and the hobbits, gandalf's stand against the balrog, the preparation for the climactic battle of helms deep, the double personality of Gollum, and...well, since this review is being written in August of 2002 and the Return of the King is not out yet, I'll leave this last one blank, but I am confident that this last film will give us something that will make it worth remembering, perhaps even more than the first two. Some say that the oscar should and will go to this last film, but I say that the oscar has had mixed reactions to these era-defining franchises (the only film I would classify as an era-defining franchise that garnered an oscar since the 70s was Silence of the Lambs), and the Academy might be better off bestowing the award on another film that will fall into obscurity if not honored, rather than adding garnish to an already classic series.
I never garauntee that everyone will like a film. If you go to the Casablanca (my personal all-time favorite) page on this website and check the rating stats, you'll find that more than a few people have given it a "1" rating. But most probably will find this film at least a highly enjoyable diversion, and that is what film is all about in the first place.
9/10