Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
One of the biggest box office hits of all time delivers the ultimate encounter when mysterious and powerful aliens launch an all-out invasion against the human race. The spectacle begins when massive spaceships appear in Earth's skies. But wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. Now the world's only hope lies with a determinded band of survivors uniting for one last strike against the invaders - before it's the end of all mankind.System Requirements:Run time: 147 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/ALIEN INVASION Rating: PG-13 UPC: 024543444237 Manufacturer No: 2244423

Amazon.com essential video:
In Independence Day, a scientist played by Jeff Goldblum once actually had a fistfight with a man (Bill Pullman) who is now president of the United States. That same president, late in the film, personally flies a jet fighter to deliver a payload of missiles against an attack by extraterrestrials. Independence Day is the kind of movie so giddy with its own outrageousness that one doesn't even blink at such howlers in the plot. Directed by Roland Emmerich, Independence Day is a pastiche of conventions from flying-saucer movies from the 1940s and 1950s, replete with icky monsters and bizarre coincidences that create convenient shortcuts in the story. (Such as the way the girlfriend of one of the film's heroes--played by Will Smith--just happens to run across the president's injured wife, who are then both rescued by Smith's character who somehow runs across them in alien-ravaged Los Angeles County.) The movie is just sheer fun, aided by a cast that knows how to balance the retro requirements of the genre with a more contemporary feel. --Tom Keogh

Amazon.com:
In Independence Day, a scientist played by Jeff Goldblum once actually had a fistfight with a man (Bill Pullman) who is now president of the United States. That same president, late in the film, personally flies a jet fighter to deliver a payload of missiles against an attack by extraterrestrials. Independence Day is the kind of movie so giddy with its own outrageousness that one doesn't even blink at such howlers in the plot. Directed by Roland Emmerich, Independence Day is a pastiche of conventions from flying-saucer movies from the 1940s and 1950s, replete with icky monsters and bizarre coincidences that create convenient shortcuts in the story. (Such as the way the girlfriend of one of the film's heroes--played by Will Smith--just happens to run across the president's injured wife, who are then both rescued by Smith's character who somehow runs across them in alien-ravaged Los Angeles County.) The movie is just sheer fun, aided by a cast that knows how to balance the retro requirements of the genre with a more contemporary feel. --Tom Keogh

Rating : - They Don't Make Them Like This Anymore
Released in the UK in 1996, this was a movie with special effects that were very rarely seen back then, but they presented a realism and brought back to our minds the question of whether we're alone in the Universe and gave us a scenario about how we would react if Aliens did make themselves visible to the wide world.
The date is July 2nd and the US government detect objects in the sky that are heading our way, they thought they were meteors; but they were slowing down. The objects enter our atmosphere and hover over the worlds major cities and simply wait for the right moment to begin extermination. Meanwhile Captain Steven Miller (Will Smith) of the US Air Force, who's only dream is to become an Astronaut yet he is torn between his dream and his girlfriend Jasmine Dubrow (Vivica A. Fox) who's a stripper. They have a young son together, Dylan, played by Smith's ex Fresh Prince co-star (Ross Bagley) who was Nicky Banks in the series. On the other side of the spectrum David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), an employee of SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) intercepts signal that the Aliens are using with our satellites and manages to decode it, which to his horror, he finds that it's a countdown to attack. He sets about reaching the White House to inform President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman)

That's enough of the story because it does get more complicated and bigger on in scale. This is a truly fantastic movie and one of those movies that if you haven't seen them, then you're asked "where have you been the past 12 years?" The effects are second to none, and for the time are truly mind blowing; even by todays standards, Independence Day puts some recent movies to shame when it comes to SFX. Sure this film is farfetched and sure it's the typical story of friendship and love coming together when times are hard. This is still an excellent film and one that I have watched time and time again and never gotten tired of it. The characters are believable and give you someone to root for, Bill Pullman as the President I feel is an excellent choice as he's a highly under-rated actor.

I know some readers wanted a review of the whole transfer from SD to HD and the whole features list exclusive to Blu-Ray but it isn't going to happen. I don't own the Blu-Ray version (Yet) but I do plan to do so eventually. If you haven't seen this film at all then it's something that you really must see before you die, if not for the story, then simply watch it for the Will Smith role as this, in my opinion is one of his best movies and gives us a chance to smile inside as we see Will and Nicky interact in a whole new format.

Goldblum isn't bad either.