Today’s quick review: Independence Daysaster. On the Fourth of July, alien drilling machines erupt all over Earth, causing untold devastation. When President Sam Garsette (Tom Everett Scott) crashes in his hometown, his militant vice president Dennis Brubaker (Garwin Sanford) is left in charge. Meanwhile, Sam’s brother Pete (Ryan Merriman) teams up with Celia Leyman (Emily Holmes), a SETI scientist, to look for a way to stop the invasion.
Independence Daysaster is a budget sci-fi action movie about an alien invasion. The movie follows three groups of people as they respond to the attack: the stranded president as he tries to get back in contact with the rest of the government, the vice president as he throws everything he can at the aliens, and the president’s brother as he guides a group of teenagers to safety and helps an alien expert make a pivotal discovery.
Independence Daysaster acquits itself well for a budget movie. The story has the right scope, just large enough to be cataclysmic but still focused on a relatively small number of people. The plot progresses nicely, while the alien drones give the characters something to investigate. Finally, Independence Daysaster remembers to make its characters human, giving them moments to react to the loss and destruction going on around them.
Unfortunately, Independence Daysaster is still limited by its budget. The CGI is weak and takes center stage for a few pivotal scenes. The plot is adequate but not groundbreaking, with a tendency to gloss over tough problems with convenient pseudoscience. The character arcs are better than in other budget offerings, but they are still underdeveloped. And while the progression works well overall, it’s still abrupt in places.
Independence Daysaster is a credible effort that makes decent use of its budget, and its more watchable than some of its peers. However, its limits in terms of budget and writing put it well behind what the best of the sci-fi genre has to offer, meaning it is only a worthwhile pick for lenient viewers. Give it a shot if you’re curious, but most viewers will want to look elsewhere.
For a big-budget sci-fi movie with a similar name and a very similar premise, try Independence Day. For a sci-fi movie with a similar budget, a similar name, and a more optimistic take on a vice president stepping up, try Independents’ Day. For one with even lower production values, try Independence Wars: Insurgence.
[3.4 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2645670/). I give it a 4.5 for basic competence that can only take it so far.