dismissed by French critics, the film was still a success and won an Oscar

Roland Emmerich is one of the emblematic directors of American spectacle cinema. A specialist in disaster films, he signed The Day After, 2012 et Independance Day. Released in 1996, the latter tells the story of the invasion of extraterrestrials on earth. A group of survivors flee to the Nevada desert, where a last chance battle will take place on July 4, the American national holiday.

Like many classics of the genre, the action and disaster feature film, starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum, was not particularly well received upon its release. It’s especially the French press that is demolishing Independance Day : Télérama clashes with “monumental bullshit, a rancid recycling of Alien, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and other Poseidon Cruise”, when Positif dismantles “the silliness of the scenario”, Libération defines it as “a film overwhelmingly worthless and, more serious, boring”. The international press is a little less difficult, but does not save the film which has 65% favorable opinions on Rotten Tomatoes, and a score of 59/100 on Metacritic.

But as is often the case, the public is more lenient than the critics. Independance Day enjoyed great success at the box office: it grossed $817.4 million worldwide, and achieved more than 5.6 million admissions in France. Even more honorable, Roland Emmerich’s film was crowned with an Oscar, for best special effects, in 1997. It was in competition, that year, against dragon heart et Twister.

Synopsis – A gigantic flying saucer invades the sky. A multitude of ships are then deployed and take place above major cities around the world. Analyst David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) picks up a signal that appears to be a countdown. He informs President Whitmore (Bill Pullman), but it is already too late: the cities and their inhabitants are destroyed. Steven Hiller (Will Smith), captain in the army, organizes the response. Attacks are carried out against the ships, without success. We must find a way to pierce the protective shield of the ships. Meanwhile, the survivors of Los Angeles, including Steven’s partner and son, mobilize to survive.