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Independence Day (1996)

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Post  BoG Wed Apr 21, 2010 4:22 pm

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This is a consistently entertaining piece of entertainment from start to finish.
Take the arrival of the huge ships, halting to hover over the big cities. Yes, not really new (see, as I mentioned, the mini-series V from the eighties). But, it's done right. The filmmakers could have blown it - have various people ignore the ships or act really stupid, or have foolish fainting scenes or people vomiting. But, they did it right - there was a sense of awe about these scenes. There was a later home video release (LD & DVD) that had an extra 8 or 9 minutes to it, btw.
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The first thing that hostile critics of this film point out is the whole issue about hacking into the aliens' computers. Everyone from Harlan Ellison to would-be computer programmers raised hell about this and I think many just jumped on that bandwagon. There's an alternative view on this and why I was not too upset about it. I had a debate with a friend a dozen years ago about this and other "silly" (my friend's words) stuff in the film; by short reply had been  that it was a popcorn flic, a crowd-pleaser. My friend was really in 'serious' mode back then (which means he was in a bad mood most of the time, looking for a job, etc.) and has since mellowed out. Could that be the reason for the different approaches to this film? I'm not sure.
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But, in my view, the main reason this was such a success and is so watchable is the cast. It's a big cast (meaning many speaking roles) and there are no weak parts, except maybe Randy Quaid - I guess I never liked drunks in film; it's tiresome. Goldblum is usually singled out and is a standout. Will Smith first showed his star power here.
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Pullman was good as the Prez, a former soldier & pilot, so an ideal version of that sap Clinton; he wasn't as good as most of the others, but I liked his speech near the end - it worked, it was inspiring. Margaret Colin was almost my favorite actress back then. Loggia is another favorite and just right as the general. Rebhorn was superb as the weaselly defense secretary. Hirsch was funny with every line of his dialog. Vivica Fox was... quite foxy. The list goes on & on; even the small, brief roles were nicely done, such as Adam Baldwin as the Area 51 officer.
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There are some minor problems and one of those - the first that springs to mind - is the loopy character played by Brent Spiner, who is almost as bad as the idiot played by Quaid. There is funny (Hirsch) and then there is painfully unfunny and way over-the-top. I like Spiner as an actor but here, though he's supposed to be the preeminent scientist of the late 20th century, he comes across like some goofball, pretending to be a scientist. Goldblum's character makes a fool of him and I guess that's easy to do. How the hell did this guy (Spiner's scientist) stay in charge of Area 51? In most of his scenes, he's making some stupid remarks and the other characters either roll their eyes or tell him to shut up.
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There were no dopey characters interrupting the flow of more serious invasion tales like the original War of the Worlds (or the remake for that matter).
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So, it's a bit uneven in places, maybe a little lopsided here-&-there. But, there are reasons why I watch this once a year. It goes well with popcorn and makes you forget about the real world for a couple of hours.  BoG's Score: 8 out of 10
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Post  BoG Sun Nov 16, 2014 4:01 pm

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