Well in a couple of hours from when I start writing this review, I'll be going to an early showing of Independence Day: Resurgence. So it only figure that I should make sure to re-watch and review the first film before that.
Plot: Set two days before the 4th of July, an army of aliens travel to Earth and begin destroying the human race. So it's up to a group of people including a F/A-18 pilot, a computer expert, and the President of the United States to figure out a way to fight back as save the world from annihilation.
As a kid I liked this movie. We never owned it, but it was a nice maybe-if-we-feel-like-it movie to watch on the 4th of July. But as I got older, I started to see how silly it is. There are some things that make it a little entertaining -heck, I'll admit that the idea of this taking place on Independence Day is kind of a charming idea....but in a very silly popcorn movie kind of way. In fact, I think I remember around high school there were people who thought this was a Michael Bay movie that he didn't direct but produced. Now none of that is true, but given the basic premise on top of all the special effects, character stereotypes and the fact that this is about invading aliens, it does kind of feel like Bay took a lot from this movie when he was making the first Transformers film.
Let's start off with the characters...mostly that the majority of them are pretty much stereotypes. Now to be fair, some characters have their own charm, but mostly because of the actors that are playing them; mainly Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and of coarse Will Smith ...at least for me personally. Goldblum is doing his usual "um"s and "ah"s, but I think he's likable enough. I thought Pullman was entertaining as the president, and finally, I figure most people will like Will Smith the most just because he's Will Smith. Even when he's not fighting aliens, he still has a likable charm to him. But aside from that, the majority of the characters are stereotypes. The drunk redneck, the jewish guy, the geeky scientist and so on and so forth.
The most of the explosions look pretty cool even today, but there are a few shots where you can probably tell today that they're fake. Other visual effects like the CGI for the aliens and their ships don't look that great, but I guess you can just say that it's a product of its time. Plus to be fair, it was good enough back then that it did win an Oscar for best visual effects, so while the Oscars aren't always right, I guess that should count for something. The designs of the aliens and their ships do look like your stereotypical aliens with their UFOs, but I think they made them work well enough to still look a little cool.
The dialogue in this movie is cliched in the long run. A lot of it you more than likely have seen many times before. But with that said, some of the lines are portrayed so silly/corny that they are still memorable in their own way. I think none of us who have seen this movie will ever forget Randy Quaid as Russell Casse shouting out "Hello boys, I'm back!" And as silly as Pullman's big speech before the climax is, admit it it sounds kind of awesome. As far goes a big speeches in our B actions films, he says this speech in such a fun yet motivating way that I'd rather hear him inspire the troops then something like Idris Elba's "cancelling the apocalypse speech in Pacific Rim with - as I said in my review for that film, made me and my brother snicker.
And that's my review for Independence Day. If you just want to see a silly popcorn movie - particularly to celebrate Independence Day, you'll have fun here. But if you're looking for something more than just action, stereotypes and likable actors like Will Smith, you should give it a pass.
Rating: 50%
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