Rating: 
Summary: A movie without chemistry
Review: What do Will smith,jeff goldblum,judd hersh and bill pullman all have in common?Absolutely nothing,so why are they all cast in this movie together,who knows?Sure it has some spectacular special effects moments,but that doesnt save this dryed out plot and a cast who has seemed to be picked out of no where.All fine actor's in there own way,but this is just downright goofy at times.Also there is no reason what so ever that Randy Quaid should even be in this movie,sure he's funny but is that what the movie is really about,umm no.If you want real sci-fi go for alien's,even the comical moments in it are all better than the serious parts in this movie.
Rating:
Summary: It was a lot better when I was younger.
Review: I remember fondly when this movie came out back in the day. I saw it in theaters (I was probably 12) and I was excited beyond believe - the aerial battle scenes, the final showdown with the world versus the aliens, and the tongue-in-cheek humor found through out. However, when I saw this movie again a few years ago...I had to wonder just how gullible a boy I had been.Don't get me wrong, I can let a lot of things go, but certain things in this movie just kind of started to irk me the second way through. For example, after the aliens' first strike they say the defense force is down to 10%. Yeah...right. Four American cities are blown up and a few hundred fighter pilots are killed - that's not even going to put a dent on America's defense forces. The other odd bit was when they said NORAD had been attacked, like NORAD is one big building (and I don't remember the aliens even being near NORAD...). This some how means the Vice President and a good chunk of American government is dead (which reminds me of that scene in Mars Attacks: "I just want the American people to remember they still have two out of three government branches still working for them, and that ain't bad!") The big pull for me in this movie's credibility was - you guessed it - the Area 51 bit. It's basically like "Oh wait, we have this now." Somehow the Secretary of Defense knows about it and the president doesn't - I guess America has had the same SoD for the last 50 years. Either that or the screen writers reached a null in their thinking and just threw it in. Dave Barry brought up an interesting point in his article regarding this movie: just why can't a superior race get rid of a second-rate computer virus? Computer viruses on earth last about a week before anti-virus upgrades come out, why can't a race that found a way to fly across the galaxy and enhance energy to destroy cities in a few seconds find a way to stop a stupid virus? I would probably only watch this movie again if I was with friends, otherwise I'm not going to watch it on my own any time soon.
Rating: 
Summary: Prepare for impact!
Review: This film paved the way for other world-obliterating movies such as Armageddon and Dante's Peak. OK, I know they're not technically all the same, but they are very similar. Armageddon is one of my favourite movies, and I can see a lot of similarities between that & Independence Day. I don't know why I've only decided to watch this movie nearly eight years after its original release. I will admit to reading the book based on the movie. That could have put me off seeing the movie, as it was mind-numbingly boring. But when I watched the movie, I found myself recognising characters and knowing what was going to happen to them, and recognising the lines too. So obviously the book had some impact on me, despite sending me to sleep most nights. I was shocked to read that this was the biggest box office success of 1996 - you'd think something like that would tempt me to go and see it at the cinema! I saw Titanic twice at the cinema, and watched the video about a zillion more times. Independence Day grossed about $746m around the world, and a mere $306m alone in the USA. There are some spectacular effects in this, including seeing The White House getting blown up, LA/New York etc being reduced to rubble (very Terminator-esque) and some very cute aliens appear in a lab (are they available to buy?) Some great actors appear in this film - Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum being his usual eccentric self, Randy Quaid, Adam Baldwin and . . . Harry Connick Jnr?! There has to be some mistake there. Will Smith was great in this, although there was a big sigh of disappointment when he got out of the bed wearing boxers. Damn. This must have been great to see at the cinema. The sound is fantastic watching it on DVD with a great sound system. I was fearing for the neighbours next door, as my chair was shuddering beneath me, and took a few minutes before the vibrations stopped! Of course, with a great sound system, whether in the cinema or at home, there were nearly a few accidents. I literally jumped out my skin a couple of times, and to persuade my heart to go back to its usual place in my body, rather than in my throat! If you haven't seen this film, you have to go and see it. It's really fantastic, and I'll definitely consider getting it on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Hole In The Plot Part 2
Review: When they are racing back to Earth, the enormous white hot chunks of metal from the mother ship would have surely destroyed their craft, unless they had shields, but all the shields were deactivated. The pieces of the exploded mothership would almost certainly wipe out the human race. If even a tiny fraction of this debris hit the earth, it would be far larger than the rock which hit 65 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs. At the beginning of the movie, the army is reluctant to blow up the mothership for fear of turning one falling object into many, but no one seems to mind this at the end, when the ships are crashing all over the earth. When the alien ship above Area 51 is taken out, we see it lying there in the mountains. These ships are 15 miles wide, and we are led to believe that it somehow didn't crash right onto the area 51 base? Right at the end of the film, they see something crash in the distance. How they know it's the good guys I don't know, but somehow they're sure that everything's fine. For some reason, the President, the kids, the women, the top ranked soldier and the dog all jump in a jeep and drive out towards the crash site. David's father says to Connie on Air Force One: All you need is love. John Lennon. Smart man. Shot in the back, very sad. Actually John Lennon was not shot in the back. He was shot in the chest. When the potential pilots are gathered round and Russell Casse is asked what he's been doing over the years he says something along the lines of, Well, since I was abducted by aliens... Everyone looks at each other like this guy's mad. Am I to understand that even though America's major cities lay in ruins because of huge spaceships, these people still don't believe in aliens?! I give props to Hollywood for depicting mass carnage of such fantastic and grandiose proportion. However, where are the human remains? All those shots of smoldering rubble and burnt cars and building debris and not one single skeleton? Okay, humanity has beaten the aliens. BUT..... With all the major cities destroyed, we've lost any kind of government and law enforcement, resulting in an anarchy that will take years to bring under control. The major cities also held the records of the banking and other financial institutions. That data is lost, and we're all dirt poor. The major cities were also the transportation and shipping hubs of civilization. Goods will no longer get rapidly to consumers, leading to drastic shortages and rioting. We've lost the centers of medical knowledge, scientific advancement, entertainment, and culture. The originals of the great art works are gone, along with countless books. Not to mention the threat of all the aliens who haven't died. Not every alien in a falling ship is going to die (emergency measures, you know) and many were in fighters. They will likely gather and plot a counterattack, and plenty of their equipment will be salvagable. We may have won, but they succeeded in reducing our civilization to a disorganized, dangerous mess. It's just a bit too early to shoot fireworks and smoke victory cigars.
Rating: 
Summary: proboley the best movie EVER MADE
Review: okay this is my favorite movie next to pirates of the carribean [strongly reccomended] and if you are a sci-fi fan go and rent this movie NOW AND I MEAN NOW!!!! its awesome aliens come destroy everything survivors come back and kick butt what more can you ask.there is no nudity of bad dialouge.there is only one or two small refrences that was a little off but nothing else was bad. the language wasent to heavy and it was violent and a lot of people died but the deaths werent grapic at all.the DVD is awesome with a fair amount of bouns features [the movies so good you wouldent care about the bonus features].the widescreen format is reccomended for big or wide screen televisions.if you dont have a big screen or widescreen t.v. get the full screen edition.but thw widescreen format on a widescreen t.v. is unbeleaveably awesome. the menu is really really cool too. its a picture of the spaceship over the white house like on the cover except the spaceship is not blowing up the white house and theres a light on in the white house and it says id4 on it.plus a little bonus thing leave the menu on for about a minute watch listen to the lines they say in the movie and about a minute later you will here jeff goldblum say "times up" just like in the movie. all your chocies will vanish and the spaceship will blow up the white house like on the cover after the white house blows up the movie starts on whatever edition you put it on before [ theatrecal or special edition].this movie is reccomended to anyone.also like a former reviewer said some images are a little disturbing after 911 happened.id reccomend the special edition instead of the theatrical.in my opinoin this movie can be shown to 8 or 9 year olds and up.theatrical version 144 minutes.special edition 153 minutes.rated PG-13 for sci-fi destruction and violence.ID4 Independence Day
Rating:
Summary: After 9/11, some of the scenes are now very disturbing
Review: Like watching the Empire State Buliding explode and watching the people of NYC run for their lives to escape a massive wall of fire. Also, watching the shadow of the mother ship spreading over the World Trade Center(and at the dawn of the next day when the destruction of NYC, you can see that the Twin Towers are still standing and they are on fire near the upper floors).
I saw this in the movie theater and to this day I still remember the hissing and grumbling that occured when the White House is destroyed.
I liked the pro-American, we will never surrender, will fight to the death to protect this land theme.
Rating: 
Summary: For an action flick...
Review: This is a standard formula action flick, but for that genre, it is a good one. Will Smith does a great job. The viewer is invested in the outcome, which is highly satisfying. Worth your time if you want an escape one afternoon.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest movies of all time!
Review: This movie took an old idea of alien invasion and updated it flawlessly. It also includes pop culture UFO references. I hope Independence Day 2 gets made.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much IS too much
Review: I didn't like this film at all.
Too much fuss for nothing!
Too many heroes,extraordinary unreal characters and behaviours...
I like S.F. films however this one is way out of proportions.
Armageddon, Deep Impact and Space Cowboys were FAAAR better films, more believable I would say.
Take my word for it! P.S. You ought to watch it if you want to laugh.
Rating:
Summary: It's all about the popcorn.
Review: When you think of great dramatic movies, this should be nowherenear the list. However, when you think of great popcorn movies, this should be at the top of the list. Watching skyscrapers being destoryed now, has a bit more resonance and less entertainment value. From Jeff Goldblum's patented neurotics. To Will Smith's single minded heroics. To Bill Pullman's to good to be true President. This is the perfect summer movie. It's got humor, heart and great special effects...
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