Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0024543000457
Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, THX, NTSC
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 2
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Region Code: 1
Release Date: June 27, 2000
Running Time: 153 minutes
Sales Rank: 14088
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: July 03, 1996
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video:
In Independence Day, a scientist played by Jeff Goldblum once actually had a fistfight with a man (Bill Pullman) who is now president of the United States. That same president, late in the film, personally flies a jet fighter to deliver a payload of missiles against an attack by extraterrestrials. Independence Day is the kind of movie so giddy with its own outrageousness that one doesn't even blink at such howlers in the plot. Directed by Roland Emmerich, Independence Day is a pastiche of conventions from flying-saucer movies from the 1940s and 1950s, replete with icky monsters and bizarre coincidences that create convenient shortcuts in the story. (Such as the way the girlfriend of one of the film's heroes--played by Will Smith--just happens to run across the president's injured wife, who are then both rescued by Smith's character who somehow runs across them in alien-ravaged Los Angeles County.) The movie is just sheer fun, aided by a cast that knows how to balance the retro requirements of the genre with a more contemporary feel. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - War of the Worlds
I don't know how to explain to somebody that likes this why this movie sucks. Here's a few random things that come to mind in no particular order: 1) Will Smith is an uninteresting actor except for when he was in MEN IN BLACK and some other movie I can't remember the title of. 2) Bill Pullman is the president. 3) The president is one of the heros of the movie. LAME. Presidents are cowards and frauds that would hide in a bunker somewhere. 4) The plot is dumb and sucks; particularly the silly backstory between the president and Jeff Goldblum. 5) The name of the movie is lame. INDEPENDENCE DAY. Right. First we kicked British --- and now the aliens. America Rules!!! USA! USA! USA! America is saves the planet. The way the aliens are defeated- Lol! OK, "it's just a movie". It was a virus that destroyed them like in some other story about an alien invasion, but this time one for the alien's computers. "Star Wars" for the next generation I spot a reviewer claim?! SAY WHAT?? Sorry, that reviewer doesn't got a clue. And comparing it to STARSHIP TROOPERS? No, that is completely wrong. Saying this movie is better than STARSHIP TROOPERS is a complete misunderstanding of what STARSHIP TROOPERS was about. They didn't get it. STARSHIP TROOPERS is both a brilliant satire AND highly entertaining, well crafted sci-fi adventure flick in certain aspects masquerading as a B movie as well as perfect parody of WWII propaganda films. TROOPERS lightheartedly calls the viewer's attention to the propensity of propagandized ... Read More
Rating:  - Brilliant entertainment
You don't need the philosophies of Plato or Schopenhauer or Descartes to watch this film. Watch it for what it is: an suspenseful action-packed sci-fi film. Although it does seem a bit long (just over 140 minutes), the film doesn't seem to drag at all. The subplots are interesting, and the special effects won't really disappoint. The actors and their characters are memorable (the chemstry between Goldblum and Hirsch is a plus for the father-and-son genre). David Arnold's music is spectacular, and it's one of my favorite scores. And finally, I don't really mind the overpatriotism found in this film, just as long as I can focus on the action and the aliens.
A-
Rating:  - Flawed yet still fun disaster flick
Before superpowered crimefighting men in tights dominated the summer movie landscape, there were asteroids (Armageddon, Deep Impact), tornadoes (Twister), and giant lizards (Godzilla) destroying national landmarks that caused people to flock to their air-conditioned movie theaters in the summer months. But the film that seemingly started it all was 1996's Independence Day.
Directed by Roland Emmerich and produced by Emmerich and his partner (or in most cases, co-offender) Dean Devlin, the "masterminds" behind the so-so sci-fi film Stargate. While on the press junket for Stargate, they were questioned about their belief in aliens, which they responded that one day we may wake up to find alien spaceships in the sky. At that moment, the concept for their next film was born.
Some call Independence Day "the Star Wars of the 90's", but Independence Day lacks the religious mysticism and homages to Westerns and samurai films. What it does have is a love for old sci-fi B-movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still, movies made to be more fun than based in heady subtext or scientific fact.
The story takes place over the span of three days: July 2nd, July 3rd, and July 4th. The film begins on July 2nd with the ominous shadows of the invaders' massive spaceships slowly enveloping everything they pass, and we're introduced to a number of characters and their own storylines, so many that I might not be able to list them all here. You have President Whitmore (Bill "I'm Not ... Read More
Rating: - Good character developments & acting. Special effects were good at that time but not good compared to movies of the last 4 years
It has good character developments and acting. The special effects were good at that time but not good compared to movies of the last 4 years. It's worth watching.
Rating: - Independence Day
I lost my original copy in the divorce. This is a cool movie.
Randy Quaid Rules
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