Independence Day

Judd Hirsch

Julius Levinson

**Disaster or alien movie (possibly even action movie) - it just doesn't get better than Independence Day! This 1996 sci-fi action blockbuster is one of the greatest of all time!** When you watch the mega-blockbusters of the 1990s and compare them to each other, it is easy to forget how groundbreaking they really were. Films like Jurassic Park and Independence Day were massively ahead of their time, winning all kinds of awards and launching cinema into a new era of special effects. But Independence Day is much more than effects: the directing, the writing, the characters, the cast, the story, the pacing; everything about this movie is the perfect storm of excellence, enthusiasm, and entertainment. It is rare to find a film that so perfectly blends action, adventure, comedy, horror, and sci-fi as beautifully as this movie. Will Smith was a promising new actor surrounded by high-caliber performances from Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman. Seriously, we need to elect Bill Pullman's Thomas Whitmore as President. His speech to inspire the troops before the climactic final battle is among the most iconic in cinema history! Independence Day set the bar for alien invasion blockbusters and brilliantly told the separate stories of its main characters while weaving them together in the final act to save the world. Roland Emmerich knows how to do a disaster movie; this is his masterpiece.