Independence Day is still the ultimate alien invasion movie — and it’s streaming on Netflix

For comparison, just look at the alien invasion movies that have come out since Independence Day. Many of them are solid films, yet not one is as big.

Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds is an exciting chase through a world under siege, but the focus remains solely on Tom Cruise’s character, limiting the perspective of the film. Cloverfield captures some of Independence Day’s sense of destruction, but the found footage format that makes it so harrowing also limits its scope. Signs is nicely creepy, but the action is all confined to a farm and it never really escalates beyond that setting. Arrival has that same sense of global crisis that Independence Day does, but the peaceful aliens in that movie never start blowing shit up (lame). Finally, the Quiet Place films are excellent, but most of them take place after the invasion and A Quiet Place: Day One, which does portray the invasion, is still limited to just one city.

In contrast, Independence Day covers all of its bases by splitting the story among five disparate citizens in different locations. Many films have utilized the format of separate characters with intertwining stories, but it lends itself particularly well to an alien invasion story as it covers the catastrophe from every angle, enabling Emmerich to scratch nearly every possible itch for the alien invasion genre.

To start things off, the one character who might be called the lead of Independence Day is Marine Captain Steven Hiller played by Will Smith. By having a character in the military, the movie gives us that most direct, “us vs. them” conflict between the humans and the aliens. The choice, in particular, of a pilot in the lead allows for the movie’s fun dogfight sequences featuring fighter jets squaring off with the alien ships.

Then there’s Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson, who introduces the scientific perspective. When Levinson discovers the alien signal early on in the film, it creates a countdown clock, which offers a heavy sense of foreboding. Eventually, when time runs out, there is an epic payoff where the aliens blow up the White House, the Empire State Building, and so many other Earthly targets all at once. Few movies of any genre have paid off a ticking clock with such epic destruction.

Filling out the core trio is Bill Pullman as President James Whitmore. As the leader of a nation under attack, Pullman captures the countrywide and, to a lesser extent, the worldwide scale of a global invasion. By having the president as one of the leads in the movie, Independence Day conveys the whole picture in a way more character-focused films don’t. It also helps that the famous speech delivered by Whitmore is genuinely inspirational.

To a lesser extent, the film also has its own story for Vivica A. Fox as Hiller’s girlfriend Jasmine Dubrow and her son Dylan (Ross Bagley). Stuck in Los Angeles after the aliens have already attacked, she embodies what it’s like to be a parent protecting your kid in an urban setting that is quite literally on fire. And her quest to reunite Hiller conveys that most natural urge to locate your loved ones in a crisis and make sure they’re safe.

Finally, there’s Randy Quaid’s drunken cropduster Russell Casse. On the surface, he serves as the rural counterpoint to Fox’s story, but there’s also something deeper and more patriotic going on. When President Whitmore gives a rousing speech asking help from ordinary Americans. Casse is one of the many that answers the call, which is exactly the kind of thing that happens in a crisis. Strangers who all have their own lives and problems step up and help people in need as well as their country. While it’s easy to laugh off this character — particularly with who

Quaid has become in the years since — he’s one of the film’s most heroic, human characters.

Don’t get me wrong, Independence Day isn’t perfect. Emmerich’s reputation as a director is that his films prioritize spectacle over story, and that’s certainly true of Independence Day, which has wonderful visuals but a fairly simple story. Dividing up the screentime among five different perspectives (each with its own supporting players) means the characters are certainly more shallow than they would be if any of them was the sole lead. The scientific angle of the film embodied by Goldblum especially suffers, with the whole “give the aliens a computer virus” thing aging particularly poorly.

I might even go so far as to say that all of the bases covered by Independence Day are explored more deeply by other films. Whereas Independence Day is pretty much confined to the U.S., Arrival feels like the whole world is gripping with invasion and it even brings in some geopolitical complexities to deal with (it also has way better science than Independence Day’s computer virus). Independence Day may pay off the anxiety it provokes far more effectively, but watching Signs makes you really fear the aliens even more and its rural setting is more than just window dressing — it makes the lead family feel isolated in their dread. Cloverfield has a far more exciting story of urban destruction, as well as being entirely about finding the person you love during a disaster. And as opposed to the mostly-breezy dogfights in Independence Day, Spielberg’s War of the Worlds includes several extended scenes of the world in military lockdown as the Army tries and initially fails to make a difference. Plus, that movie finds a far more emotional take in the “ordinary American stepping up” thing in the story of Tom Cruise’s character’s son.

Yet no movie manages to do it all in the same place the way Independence Day does, which is why, for 30 years and counting, it stands as the biggest, best, most exciting, and most satisfying alien invasion movie ever made.

Independence Day is streaming now on Netflix.