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Independence Day is the collaborative effort of Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the creative team who's earlier production, Stargate (1994) won critical acclaim and the applause of audiences worldwide. I became a huge fan of their work just on Stargate's merit. Now that I've seen ID4, I think that they are perhaps the finest production team in movies today.

Independence Day, in case you don't know (either if you're in another country, or you've been living in a cave since the awesome ID4 ad during last January's Super Bowl), is about a fleet of aliens who invade the Earth just before America is set to celebrate the Fourth of July. Sounds like a tried-and-true movie plot, right? Well, ID4 takes that and turns it on its head with some of the most incredible special effects in film history, such as a 5-10 minute long retina-frying sequence where the aliens destroy New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and several other major world cities. But that aspect doesn't downplay the incredible acting by one of the finest ensembles put together on the big screen in quite some time. Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Will Smith top an impressive billing that also includes several veteran actors and actresses. How good is the acting? Well, I've seen it five times so far and I've had tears in my eyes every time I've heard Pullman, as President Whitmore, give the "Independence Day" speech. There oughta be awards a'plenty coming to these folks in the next several months!