Starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Video: 2.35:1 anamorphic enhanced for 16:9, 1080p HD
Audio: English DTS HD 5.1 lossless, French DD 5.1, Spanish DD Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean, captioned
Extras: Smart Menu Technology, Commentary tracks by special effects supervisors, Trivia track, Scene-specific commentary track by director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin, Theatrical teaser and trailers, Personal scene selections, “Alien Scavenger Hunt Game” during feature, D-Box motion control system coding
Length: 145 minutes
Rating: ****
Some online reviews of this sci-fi blockbuster call it the best sci-fi movie ever made and easy to watch over and over, whereas others feel it was a yawnfest. I’m about halfway between those opinions. The story and some of the acting is over the top but so was Star Wars and it worked. The casting seems perfect and so are the special effects. The extras go into detail about the many different technical approaches that were used in the many different effects, such as the destruction by the not-friendly aliens of the White House, New York City etc. It was interesting to know that in this age of fancy CGI creation of almost anything onscreen, some very convincing shots were still done using a cheap plastic model from a toy store plus some creative lighting and photography.
This film depicts the biggest and baddest alien invasion of any sci-fi movie before. City-sized saucers suddenly appear and hover over the major cities of earth. Alien-friendly groups assemble on skyscraper roofs hoping to be abducted, but on cue a synchronized attack is launched around the world on the cities. (Some reviews refer to the odd nostalgia of seeing the World Trade Center in the NYC skyline, but I saw no reference to the scene in which the Empire State Building is destroyed, collapses top to bottom exactly like the World Trade Center, and fills the street with fire, smoke and debris – very disturbing…I’m amazed that scene was not edited out for the DVDs.)
The attack was predicted by computer geek Goldblum’s character, whose ex-wife is one of the U.S. President’s top aides. That connection gets him into the White House to warn the President in time to evacuate before it is destroyed by the aliens. The base of operations moves to the infamous Area 51 in the desert and Air Force strikes are ordered against the alien ships. They prove invulnerable. In one attack on them the only survivor is Will Smith’s character, who brings back an unconscious alien from his ship.
WARNING: Spoiler! = Things look bleak as it is learned the aliens plan to completely annihilate life on earth. Even nuclear missiles are ineffective against them. Goldblum’s character has given up and is getting drunk, but has an epiphany to create a computer virus to destroy the central computer on the mother ship which controls all the other ships. He will deliver the virus to the mother ship, flown by pilot Smith, using the alien fighter that crashed at Roswell and has been repaired. (I had to include this to mention one of the on-screen production tips which came up during this scene: It referred to the unlikely situation that the vastly superior aliens had no virus protection software on their computers. They must have been running “MicroSoft Windows E.T.”)
This points up that the film is not without humor here and there, but it does require some uncomfortable stretching to encompass that along with the mass killings and destruction that are shown so graphically. Everyone concerned is so gung ho about launching the final attack on the aliens on July 4. The aliens originally arrived July 2 so this will be a real Independence Day for the whole world if they succeed. The President makes a speech about how we must stop our petty fights against one another and fight together to stay alive on earth. OK, OK – by the way, the final celebration of the President seems out of place since his wife has just died of injuries from the original alien attack. I suppose this film could be considered a sort of antidote for the more suspicious/hawkish to sci-fi classics such as E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The little text on-screen tips are the only Smart Menu item on this Blu-ray; there are no others as there were on the I, Robot Blu-ray. Time didn’t permit auditioning the commentary tracks, but I’m sure there is plenty for the director, producer and special effects experts to discuss. Even with the added resolution of Blu-ray, all the special effects looked very convincing and the lossless DTS surround puts the viewer right in the middle of the war with the aliens. After viewing the wild ride Smith provides when flying the alien fighter, I don’t think I would want to be sitting in a D-Box-controlled chair. Might lose my reputation for never becoming seasick!
– John Sunier