1. Finally, science fiction the way it used to be: rousing, cosmically xenophobic and ferociously patriotic... Take that, space bullies!
2. The most spectacular and intriguing sci-fi action film since the 'Star Wars' trilogy. (published 7-6-96)
3. No brain, no pain, but a heck of a lot of fun.
4. Everything feels anti-climactic after the fireworks, but the moral is clear: it's the end of the world as we know it. And we feel fine.
5. No one who wants to see this movie needs me to recommend it to them, but if anyone wants to know, I say stay home and rent one of those other movies on video.
6. Forget government conspiracies about aliens -- what about the entertainment media's conspiracy to persuade America that this movie doesn't suck?
7. The earnestness, the effects, and the notion of a whole world forgetting its differences to defeat a common foe carry a certain charm.
8. No matter how ludicrous and coincidental the plot gets, it never takes itself seriously.
9. A gasping, bloated roller-coaster ride that veers from scenes of truly awesome destruction to stretches of numbingly bad melodrama and back again.
10. At least Mars Attacks tried to be funny.
Based on these individual reviews, what is the critic consensus?
The plot is thin and so is character development, but as a thrilling, spectacle-filled summer movie, Independence Day delivers.