What A Blast! City-Shattering, Death-Dealing ‘Independence Day’ Delivers On Its Explosive Promotions

The popcorn-friendly “Independence Day” is the most ballyhooed movie of the summer and it’s a pleasure to report that all the ballying and hooing is on target.

Based on a trailer introduced during the Super Bowl, “Independence Day” has built up huge expectations, and most of them are met in this intergalactically entertaining movie. One spectacular section near the beginning of “ID4” - when aliens are blasting major American cities sky-high - is so big, so improbable and so scaryfunnycool that the reaction it produces is something close to euphoria (it’s clear we are not in the real world, where blown-up buildings are becoming too common).

By now, you know what it’s about, and “ID4” cleverly plays with our expectations. As it opens, we hear R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” and, within minutes, 15-mile-wide spaceships are hovering over Earth. We are outmanned (or outaliened), lots of people are going to die and it’s going to take one heck of a brilliant plan for us to beat these outer space meanies.

“ID4’s” first trailers didn’t show the cast, which was a smart move. The actors are a quirky bunch: Jeff Goldblum is an advocate of saving the planet via recycling who ultimately has to, well, save the planet. Will Smith is a Marine whose reaction to the invasion is more cheesed-off than scared. Bill Pullman is a heroic American president. Offbeat actors like Harvey Fierstein, Margaret Colin, Mary McDonnell and Randy Quaid are also involved and, although most of their roles are fairly stereotypical, the actors make them something more.

Smith is, as usual, very funny, and so is Goldblum. Trying to be a big stud, he urges Smith to “take ‘em down, take ‘em out, do your stuff” and his inability to wrap his mouth around the hard-guy dialogue is a scream. “ID4” reels off knowing references to “The X-Files,” “Star Trek,” the alleged Roswell aliens, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and every other station on the paranoid/ spacenut cross. At one point, before it’s clear that the aliens are bad news, a New Ager gazes at the skies and shouts, “Oh God, I hope they bring back Elvis.”

Me, I just hope director Roland Emmerich leaves the sentimental goop out of his next movie. “Independence Day” missteps whenever it tries to push the emotional connections between characters. Judd Hirsch is funny as Goldblum’s pushy dad, but his kvetching gets old and the movie could easily do without a subplot in which we learn that Goldblum and Colin are bickering exes.

I do like the movie’s gung-ho rah-rahism. With tributes to patriotism, the power of prayer, individual sacrifice for the common good and the importance of family, the movie is a regular “Close Encounters of a Norman Rockwell Kind,” and what’s wrong with that?

MEMO: Two sidebars appeared with the story: 1. “Independence Day” Locations: Newport, East Sprague and Showboat cinemas Credits: Directed by Roland Emmerich; starring Jeff Goldblum, Will Smith and Bill Pullman Running time: 2:15 Rating: PG-13 2. OTHER VIEWS Here’s what other critics say about “Independence Day:” Carrie Rickey Philadelphia Inquirer Not content to be a mere blockbuster, this Armageddon flick is going to be a globebuster. … It’s the biggest, loudest fireworks spectacle a kid could imagine, replete with a nuclear blast that explodes the White House and a tsunami of fire that incinerates the Statue of Liberty and topples her from her pedestal. Despite the destruction of our national landmarks, it’s great fun, too, even though about 2 billion people die. The movie distracts you from this shocking turn of events by making sure you’re precoccupied by the fate of one yellow Labrador Retriever. Still, “ID4” is too intense for kids under 10.

Duane Byrge The Hollywood Reporter Undeniably, it’s the film’s visual effects that are the star of this colossus. … The film’s action pyrotechnics are masterful, including raging fireballs sweeping amid skyscrapers, blitzkrieg-ish air battles and spectacular explosions. On occasion, one spots the blue-screened seams, but overall the actionery is astonishing, a credit to the sorcery of the visual effects team.