A sci-fi story constellation of the brightest star elements. With German director Emmerich at the helm, Independence Day soars as filmic uber-craft.

| Jul 3, 2018

Sonnenfeld has directed with gusto and precision from a vaguely plotted but often hilarious screenplay, and his view of Manhattan as a holding pen for intergalactic refugees has the touch of authentic experience fundamental to all great comedy.

| Jan 18, 2018

"ID4" presses all the current hot buttons with great efficiency which will make it hard to keep in mind that just because a movie kicks major butt doesn't mean it's good.

| Jan 18, 2018

It may be film-making by numbers, but the numbers are the right ones, and they fall into place with a satisfying clunk. This is everything a blockbuster should be.

| Nov 27, 2017

A loathsome, soulless husk of a garbage movie - a bad movie then, and it's a bad movie now.

| Jul 1, 2016

| Original Score: A- | Feb 18, 2012

Splendidly cheesy entertainment.

| Mar 5, 2008

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.

| Original Score: B+ | Mar 5, 2008

If I were a 10-year-old boy, I'd probably think it was the coolest movie going.

| Mar 5, 2008

As unavoidably entertaining as it is hopelessly cornball.

Full Review | Mar 5, 2008

Maybe the moviemakers' mission was to boldly go where everyone in Hollywood has gone before: the bank.

| Mar 5, 2008

The earnestness, the effects, and the notion of a whole world forgetting its differences to defeat a common foe carry a certain charm.

| Mar 5, 2008

Everything feels anti-climactic after the fireworks, but the moral is clear: it's the end of the world as we know it. And we feel fine.

| Feb 9, 2006

The picture is ultimately fun, thanks mostly to the colorful characters and the mock-hero ic spirit that kicks in full-throttle after the world has almost been destroyed.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 18, 2002

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 12, 2002

The build up is terrific, with enormous spaceships emerging from the clouds to hover silently over the world's major cities.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 17, 2001

So much about ID4 is so old it's inevitable that homesick audiences, eager for familiar scenarios, will embrace it as if it's nothing but new.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 14, 2001

The aliens, when we finally see them, are a serious disappointment; couldn't they think of anything more interesting than octopus men?

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

Though the movie isn't too deep, it's certainly a rousing state-of-the-art cartoon capped by an aerial-combat climax that, to its credit, isn't anti-climactic.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

There's precious little reward in plumbing the world-historical implications of the screenplay.

| Jan 1, 2000