Indepedence Day Blu-ray: Out-of-this-world Entertainment

Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Starring: Will Smith (I Am Legend, I,Robot) as Captain Steven Hiller, Jeff Goldblum (The Fly, Jurassic Park) as David Levinson, Bill Pullman (Wyatt Earp) as President James Whitmore, Mary McDonnell (Dances With Wolves, Battlestar Galactica) as Marilyn Whitmore
Directed by: Roland Emmerich (10,000 BC, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow)
Subtitles: English, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean

The Story
Independence Day [Blu-ray] was one of the biggest selling summer blockbusters…ever. Big explosions, aerial gunfights, likeable characters, and nasty aliens all taking place on Americas most sacred holidays made it a guaranteed hit. If you’re looking for high art, buy Shakespeare. If you want something that’s loud, proud, and in your face, buckle up and enjoy the ride. Think updated War Of The Worlds with Windows 95 where, instead of destroying the aliens with a cold virus, we destroy them this time with a computer virus. Sure there are strange coincidences and plotholes big enough to fly the alien craft through, but who cares? This is pure eye and ear candy.

I loved the scenes between Steven Hiller (Smith) and David Levinson (Goldblum) when they ride the captured alien fighter up into space in an attempt to destroy the mothership. As a wannabe Space Shuttle pilot, this is THE place Hiller wants to be. As someone who gets airsick on Airforce One, this is the LAST place Levinson wants to be. They remind me of the odd couple.

The many set pieces are spectacular, particularly the initial attacks on New York, L.A, and Washington D.C. My only wish is that they had shown more of the actual aliens as they looked super cool. For the ladies, there’s the simmering love story between Levinson and his ex-wife. Judd Hirsch, who played Levinson’s father, was extremely funny as the old-school Jewish motormouth.

This is one of those movies that bring out the kid in every adult. Now that it’s finally on BD, we can all enjoy it in glorious hi-def. I have a major complaint, though. Why, oh why, did Fox release only the theatrical cut and not the director’s cut with 9 minutes of extra footage? After all the D/Cut has been available on DVD for 8 years now. This smacks of pure laziness and i suspect that buyers will be double dipping on this in a few years’ time. Shame on you, Fox.

A very enjoyable movie and my score is 8.5/10 (my score would have been 9 if it had been the director’s cut).

The Visuals
As a whole, the visuals on this 12-year-old movie are great, though there are instances of minor softness. Facial detail is not quite as sharp as, for example, Man On Fire or I Am Legend, but are extremely good, nonetheless. Skin tones and black levels are spot on, and shadow detail is extremely good. The print is clean. The many explosions look spectacular. This is a very good image worthy of an 8.5/10.

The Audio
Having watched this movie prior to the PS3 dts HDMA upgrade, I was only able to listen to the core (1506kbps) dts soundtrack. I can only comment on this, but will update my score when i get back from Southern Thailand. I was still extremely please with what I heard. This is a very action orientated sci-fi movie, so accurate sound steering is essential. I was NOT disappointed. The numerous explosions sounded clear and accurately placed. Dialog was also clear and never drowned out, despite what was going on. My score for the core dts soundtrack is 8.5/10, but as stated earlier, I will re-evaluate when I listen to the full dts HDMA track. Dolby surround in Spanish and DD5.1 in French are also available.

The Extras
When this BD was delayed (along with I,Robot and Master And Commander), it was hoped that the delay would mean that when it did come out it, would be a feature-packed BD. How wrong were they. What a disappointing collection of extras. Many people were expecting most, if not all, supplements from the earlier 5-star collection DVD to be on the disc, along with new features. All we get from Fox is yet another royal fisting and an inevitable double dip further down the road.

No documentaries, no storyboard, no original artwork. In fact, all we get as remnants from the 5-star DVD are the two
audio commentaries, the first by director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin, the second by special effects supervisors Volker Engel and Doug Smith. We do get a scene specific trivia track, which I found fairly interesting.

The Alien Scavenger Hunt – You are given a list of 12 items to find during the course of the movie, find them all, and you get to see the original bi-plane ending that was in the 5-star DVD…..yawn! We have one teaser and 3 theatrical trailers for the movie in HD. Fox On Blu-ray are HD trailers for Alien Vs Predator, The Fly, I,Robot, Planet Of The Apes (2001), Predator, and X-men: The Last Stand.

Keyword Search allows the viewer to access their favourite scenes or characters in the movie simply by using an alpha-numeric list on screen. Personal Bookmarks allows you to set up and jump to custom markers in the movie. D-BOX Motion Code for all those lucky enough to own D-Box Intergrated Motion Systems can get their arse pummeled whilst watching this movie.

All in all a very lackluster collection of goodies on a movie that screams for behind the scenes material. Fox, you screwed us yet again. Only worthy of 3/10.

Overall Impact
A fun movie with great action and likeable cast. Superb audio and visual. Sadly let down by mediocre supplements and Fox’s inexcusable decision not to include the director’s cut that has been available on DVD for years. I bet there will be a feature-packed director’s cut sometime down the road. Believe me, I know Fox.

As it stands i will give Independence Day an 8/10. It so easily could have been a 9 or 9.5, if Fox had pulled its head out of its arse. C’mon, guys, get with the program.

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