Independence Day (1996)

There are blockbusters, and then there are events. Independence Day, released in the summer of 1996, was very much the latter. Arriving on a wave of trailers that reduced the White House to rubble, the film became one of the defining cinema experiences of its decade, pulling in audiences who had grown up on Steven Spielberg's alien encounters and were ready for something considerably louder. Where earlier science fiction had often treated extraterrestrial contact with wonder or dread, this was something more brazenly spectacular: an all-out invasion picture staged on a planetary scale, timed (with no particular subtlety) to coincide with American Independence Day. It was the kind of film that made going to the multiplex feel like a communal ritual, and audiences responded accordingly, making it a massive commercial success for 20th Century Fox.

Behind the camera was Roland Emmerich, a German-born director who had already demonstrated his appetite for large-scale spectacle with Stargate, and who here was given the resources to operate on an entirely different level. Working with his long-term producing partner Dean Devlin on the screenplay, Emmerich assembled a production that was polished but unashamedly populist, a big-canvas disaster picture dressed up in science fiction clothing. The ensemble he gathered was well-chosen for the material. Will Smith, fresh off a string of films that had established him as one of Hollywood's most bankable stars, brings the kind of easy, crowd-pleasing energy the film runs on. Jeff Goldblum, playing a satellite technician who pieces together the invasion's logic, does what Goldblum does best: making the nervy, verbal intellectual somehow the coolest person in the room. Bill Pullman, as the President of the United States, is asked to carry one of the film's most nakedly patriotic moments and, by most accounts, pulls it off with more conviction than the material probably deserves. Mary McDonnell and Judd Hirsch round out a cast that keeps the human drama grounded, even when the spectacle around them is anything but. The film runs to a generous 145 minutes, a runtime that gives room for both the grand set pieces and the more personal storylines woven between them, for better and occasionally for worse. David Arnold, contributing a score that has become almost synonymous with this brand of heroic, wide-screen cinema, gives the whole thing a musical backbone that suits the ambition on screen. It is worth noting that Will Smith has remained a consistent presence in action cinema, as you can see in reviews of films like Men in Black 3 and I Am Legend elsewhere on this site.

Independence Day (1996) is the ultimate 90s blockbuster, big, loud, patriotic, and packed with enough explosions to level a planet. Will Smith, in full charismatic flyboy mode as Captain Steven Hiller, carries the film with charm, swagger, and one of the most quotable lines in action history: “Welcome to Earth!” The central idea (a global alien invasion on July 4th) delivers pure popcorn fun, and the final act, with jets dogfighting over the White House ruins, still has that epic, seat-rumbling spectacle that summer blockbusters are made for. Roland Emmerich goes all-in on destruction porn, the shots of world landmarks getting vaporised are both terrifying and weirdly thrilling, and David Arnold’s bombastic score cranks the adrenaline to 11. Jeff Goldblum plays the nerdy hero we root for, and Bill Pullman gives a genuinely rousing speech that somehow makes flag-waving feel heroic instead of corny. That said, some of the side plots drag. Randy Quaid’s “flyboy” redemption arc veers into melodrama, the whole subplot with his sons feels tacked on, and there are moments where the film gets bogged down in family drama when you just want more spaceships blowing up. It’s also undeniably cheesy by today’s standards (dialogue, effects, patriotism) but if you lean into the nostalgia, it’s part of the charm. Flawed, over-the-top, but undeniably entertaining. A perfect example of “more is more” cinema. Not smart, not subtle, but sometimes you just want Will Smith to punch an alien and save the world. And hey, he delivers.

I keep coming back to the fact that Independence Day knows exactly what it is, and for the most part, commits to it completely. There is something refreshing about a film that makes no pretence of being anything other than a delivery mechanism for chaos and catharsis. Comparing it to a more recent brand of action spectacle, like something from the Furiosa school of filmmaking, the craft is clearly a different order entirely, but that is not really the point here. Independence Day was made for the summer crowd, for the shared gasp in a packed cinema, for the kind of film you quote with your mates walking out of the car park afterwards. The flaws are real enough, but they are the flaws of a film that swings for the fences every single time. For me, that counts for something. Some films age like fine wine. Some age like lager left in a warm car. Independence Day, cheerfully, is the latter, and I mean that as a compliment.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 1996  | Watched: 2025-09-20

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Independence Day (1996) on YouTube

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
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Related on Movies With Macca

More from Roland Emmerich: Stargate (1994)
More with Will Smith: Suicide Squad (2016) · Shark Tale (2004) · I Am Legend (2007) · Men in Black 3 (2012)
More from the 1990s: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · Blue (1993) · Cemetery Man (1994)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)