Plot
The aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy. Fighting superior technology, Man's best weapon is the will to survive.
Release Year: 1996
Rating: 6.7/10 (203,352 voted)
Critic's Score: 59/100
Director:
Roland Emmerich
Stars: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum
Storyline On July 2nd, communications systems worldwide are sent into chaos by a strange atmospheric interference. It is soon learned by the military that a number of enormous objects are on a collision course with Earth. At first thought to be meteors, they are later revealed to be gigantic spacecraft, piloted by a mysterious alien species. After attempts to communicate with the aliens go nowhere, David Levinson, an ex-scientist turned cable technician, discovers that the aliens are going to attack major points around the globe in less than a day. On July 3rd, the aliens all but obliterate New York, Los Angeles, and Washington. The survivors set out in convoys towards Area 51, a strange government testing ground where it is rumored the military has a captured alien spacecraft of their own. The survivors devise a plan to fight back against the enslaving aliens, and July 4th becomes the day humanity will fight for its freedom. July 4th is their Independence Day...
Writers: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich
Cast: Will Smith
-
Captain Steven Hiller
Bill Pullman
-
President Thomas J. Whitmore
Jeff Goldblum
-
David Levinson
Mary McDonnell
-
First Lady Marilyn Whitmore
Judd Hirsch
-
Julius Levinson
Robert Loggia
-
General William Grey
Randy Quaid
-
Russell Casse
Margaret Colin
-
Constance Spano
Vivica A. Fox
-
Jasmine Dubrow
James Rebhorn
-
Albert Nimzicki
Harvey Fierstein
-
Marty Gilbert
Adam Baldwin
-
Major Mitchell
Brent Spiner
-
Dr. Brackish Okun
James Duval
-
Miguel Casse
Lisa Jakub
-
Alicia Casse
Taglines:
EARTH Take a good look. It could be your last.
Filming Locations: 2nd Street Tunnel between Hill and Figueroa, Los Angeles, California, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $75,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $50,228,264
(USA)
(7 July 1996)
(2 Screens)
Gross: $817,400,891
(Worldwide)
(1997)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
USA:
(special edition)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Dr. Okun is a reference to Jeffrey A. Okun, one of the visual effects supervisors from director Roland Emmerich's previous film
Stargate
Goofs:
Continuity:
When Connie and David argue, David opens the refrigerator door, and we see several items (a milk carton and a few bottles) on the shelves inside the door. When Connie opens the refrigerator a moment later, those shelves are empty.
Quotes:
[first lines]
SETI Chief:
[answering telephone]
If this isn't an insanely beautiful woman, I'm hangin' up. SETI technician:
Sir, I - I- I think you should listen to this.
User Review
Suspenseful Feel Good Fun!
Rating:
I am just shocked at all the negative reviews by pseudo-intellectuals saying
the film was heavily flawed, incomprehensible, devoid of any merit, and
"lame", to quote a few. What were they expecting? A remake of 2001: A
Space Odyssey. Sure, I am not going to pretend the film does not has many
glaring weaknesses. The plot is hardly original; its execution is even less
inspiring. Roland Emmerich goes out of his way to use every cliche in the
book, over-sentimentality, weak, flat characterizations, incredible jumps in
logic and reasoning made on the viewer, and the use of special effects to
overcome these shortcomings. But what some of the reviewers seemed to have
missed, and its there as substantiated by the huge popularity of the film,
is heart. The film has a lot of heart. It makes you feel good after
watching it. And although that quality does not make it a great film, it
certainly makes it a good film in my book. The film is vastly entertaining,
very suspenseful, a delight for the eyes with dazzling special effects, and
even has some dialogue that does just rise above its hackneyed origins. The
acting is adequate all around with no one pulling off a great performance,
but a few doing marvelous jobs with what they have to work with. Judd
Hirsch easily out acts his fellow colleagues as a Jewish father with a gift
for common sense and lack of tact. Jeff Goldblum also gives a pretty good
performance as his son. Yeah, Will Smith is just Will Smith..lots of one
liners and little meat so to speak. But he is bearable. Watch for Brent
Spiner in an outrageous role as a hippie scientist. His performance is a
real hoot! If you are looking for philosophical science fiction, this is
not it. See Starship Troopers(a great film). This is just good old
Americans against the universe stuff, lots of action but little substance.
But whatever it may have as its faults, it is a fun, happy, sad, charming,
engrossing film to watch...time and time again.
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