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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Independence Day
20th Century Fox


6.5

based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 18 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sci-fi destruction and violence

Starring Bill Pullman, Mary McDonnell, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Will Smith, Vivica A. Fox, Randy Quaid, and Robert Loggia

Mysterious and powerful aliens launch an all-out invasion against the human race. The spectacle begins when massive spaceships appear in Earth's skies. But wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. Now the world's only hope lies with a determined band of survivors, uniting for one last strike against the invaders - before it's the end of all mankind. (20th Century Fox)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Sci-fi
WRITTEN BY:	Roland Emmerich Dean Devlin
DIRECTED BY:	Roland Emmerich
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 11, 2004 Video: November 22, 1996 Theatrical: July 3, 1996
RUNNING TIME:	145 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

The film won a 1997 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and it was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Sound category.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Empire Kim Newman

Like "2001," "Star Wars" and "Jurassic Park," it ups the special effects stakes and gets closer to putting on screen the images you've had in your mind while reading epic sci-fi.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The alien attack, taking place in several cities at once, is breathtaking...All the same, Independence Day is consistently funny.

USA Today Mike Clark

A rousing state-of-the-art cartoon capped by an aerial-combat climax that, to its credit, isn't anti-climactic. [2 July 1996, p.D1]

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

It's the first futuristic disaster movie that's as cute as a button. Which, when all the special effects blow over, is what we Americans like in a monster hit.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Cities engulfed by rolling walls of flame, sinister aquamarine power blasts turning beloved national monuments to toast, even the roiling clouds the spaceships appear out of, they are all disturbing, unsettling and completely convincing.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Two reasons it's impossible to resist "Independence Day": because of its pitch-perfect cartoonish dialogue ("Now you're never gonna get to fly the space shuttle if you marry a stripper!") and because the Captain, like Indiana Jones, is so unflappably tough.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The aliens, meanwhile, are a fabulously nasty lot of slimy, tentacled, malevolent telepaths, but all their superior technology is no match for our red, white and blue ingenuity. Take that, space bullies!

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

Fans of sci-fi, special effects, big explosions, panicky crowd scenes and theater sound systems cranked up way beyond the capacity of the human ear to hear comfortably will love this movie. I am not among you.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

For all of its huge budget, Independence Day is a timid movie when it comes to imagination. The aliens, when we finally see them, are a serious disappointment.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

With its hackneyed plot, feeble attempts at characterization, and predictable finale, the second half of Independence Day becomes an extremely dull and lifeless affair.

Newsweek David Ansen

The dialogue is tacky, the characters stock and the special effects no improvement on anything George Lucas did 20 years ago.

Variety Todd McCarthy

The cutting-edge perfection of effects in Cameron and Spielberg films is replaced here by work that looks more homemade, particularly toward the end in some faintly cheesy composite shots.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Once you get past the admittedly breathtaking shots of our national landmarks being turned into kindling, the rest of the film is a tired and empty two hours of feel-good patriotism and oddly cast characters.

Washington Post Kevin McManus

Cruises to an upbeat ending but furnishes no more of the wicked thrills of the initial hour. Particularly disappointing is the human contrivance employed in the defeat of the vastly superior enemy.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The action is fast, furious, and loaded with explosive effects, but the theme is a regrettable return to the us-against-them paranoia that dominated much science fiction in the cold-war era.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Overlong but watchable.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

An overgrown hybrid of disaster epic, can-do combat adventure and '50s sci-fi movie, this craft has visited our world many times before. And while she's a beaut, the sticker on her titanium bumper reads: "Been There, Done That, Beam Me Up, Scotty."

Salon.com Scott Rosenberg

A colossally dumb epic that happily traffics in third-hand imagery and ideas while feeding its audience maintenance level doses of humor, adrenaline and spectacle.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Joyce C. gave it a0:
very predictable and obviously written. Most people say its very good, when seriously it is ridiculous, I hated it, definite crap.

JC Andrew gave it a0:
I'm so sorry Jeff and Will. Two actor's, and one horrible script.

Jared Christenson gave it a0:
The special effects aren't bad, character use magnificent, story pretty superb, acting okay, but it is absolutely cheesy every second. There is one really funny part and thats it, there are several smiles and giggles of entertainment, the action totally passes, the plot has so much and flies. But the lamest part of it all is that the German Shepherd survives a jump into a truck with fire flaming 1 centimetere away from him. And the president's wife goes in a Helicopter and the Helicopter blows up in an instant noticable explosion, and the girl lives lying on the ground with just a bleed and dust particles on her face. when she should have a dissinagrated head and organs melted. That was the main road of the story which is lame, and it really drags on near the end. I just found it boring and unsuccesful, overall not worth it.

Anson G gave it a9:
Cool, i liked this film. U can see jets and alien ship plied the skies like Star Wars. I'm tellin u, it was great movie.

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
Not the best story, but it's high on very good effects and some nice, dumb fun. Forget reading the story on paper, this is a movie that must be seen to be enjoyed for the FX afterburner it is. You can imagine yourself flying a jet against those UFOs.

[Anonymous] gave it a 9:
This an awsome movie, and the FX are great for a movie made in '96. the story is.... amusing to say the most. but great action, great acting( most of the time), and cool aliens make for a great movie.

Andrew M gave it a 7:
This is filmmaking by numbers, but it's done with a big budget, big effects and big dreams...which translates to big fun! In the vein of Terminator 2 and Men In Black, this is a film made to entertain and delight and impress with it's skill (not to mention rake in the bucks) and it certainly does all this. The plot is as straightforward as they come, the characters are all the usual suspects, and the ending could have been predicted by a five-year-old. But you knew all this, right?......you also know it's a downright blast, a ride with all the spills and chills and ups and downs, and an absolute feast of visual thrills. That's why they make 'em and that's why we go see 'em.

Independence Day 20th Century Fox

Independence Day
20th Century Fox