Rating: 
Summary: Bill Pullman pulls of playing the President
Review: This is one of those movies you go and see on a hot summer afternoon. You go to get out of the heat and into the cool air conditioning of the theatre. There is alot of hype about the movie, so you go expecting eye-candy. That is what you get! And alot of it. The special effects of this movie are spectacular. Amazing. The special edition DVD is almost as good as seeing it in the theatre. The added features of the DVD are great too. A new ending is included on the bonus disk, I won't ruin it for you, but it is great. The behind the scenes stuff is good too. One thing I would have never believed though is that Will Smith is almost beleivable as a hot-shot pilot, and Bill Pullman, yes the guy from Spaceballs, pulls off being the President. Get that movie and watch them right after another. Tell me that you would have beleived it.
Rating: 
Summary: New life blown into old and tired genre
Review: Independence Day was one of movies that did well mostly due to itspublicity. If it wasn't for the Apple TV-ads, videogames, toys,T-shirts, posters, big amounts of previews on telly before premier -this wouldn't have been as successful as it was then. What also helpedwas shortening the title into two letters and a number, ID4 - Creatinga hip publicity title and thus spawning many following stunts likethis (see Mission:Impossible 2, Mission to Mars etc). The casting ofan all-star cast, particulary Will Smith, also drew in a bigaudience.ID4's production has been done very well - Containing allthe basic elements any typical disaster movie has: big theatricalimages, one big proud scene used in every commercial material to givean idea of what to expect (in this case, blowing up the White House),a sometimes overdone statement of values, a trip through all kinds ofemotions - especially dramatic, a huge amount of people beingintroduced from varied kinds of background, the main event seen fromdifferent perspectives and bystanders, new love and reunited lovers,unlogical techno-jabber, scientific and factual errors and, of course- the heroic dog versus the impossible odds of survival.But it'sstill quite a good movie which is held well by the story, the fantasyand the brilliant casting - which is done completely correct. But, asthe majority of movies like this, too many characters areintroduced. So you can quite end up watching the film withoutremembering their names. Other drawbacks are the clearly statedchauvinistic messages and the plausible physical errors - which arejust there to add more to the suspension. So this film is still a mustsee. Just don't forget to leave your brain at home and enjoy theride.The transfer on this DVD is almost flawless. The image doescontain a few edge-enhancements but shows no apparent grain. The DD5.1 track sounds totally clear and natural. It gives your sub-woofer agood work out as well. Sometimes the loudness balance isn't doneproperly. Don't know whether this was intended or not - but I didn'texperience these same problems on the VHS version.This DVD comeswith 2 versions of the film - achieved with DVDs seamless branchingcapabilities: the original theatrical version and the special editioncut. The latter adding a total of 9 minutes of deletedfootage. Although it may only last for a mere 9 minutes, mind you thatmost of those scenes are just a few seconds in the running. They docontribute something to the character development and the story andexplain things further - but you can learn/guess these same things tooafter several viewings or just by instinct. Some of these restoredscenes have also been added poorly obvious; Sometimes the musicsuddenly stops to insert the scene, just to pick it up againafterwards. Most restored scenes also slow down the pace of the movietoo much, compared to the original theatrical cut.The enjoyingcommentary track featuring Dean Devlin and Ronald Emmerich is the bestof the two commentary tracks. Being very witty, funny andinformative. Dean gives the facts and views as Ronald is jokingaround. This is the best extra feature on this double DVD specialedition. It has a lower frequency/lesser quality, because it's beentaken directly from the rerelease Laserdisc.As for the otherextra's... they're more of the usual package. The alternate endingisn't really special, but the featurettes can inform you enough aboutthe film and the making of it.So summed up: 1nce again a greatentertaining overall package by Fox - who spoil us so much with theamounts of extras they put in these special edition discs, we'regetting used to it!
Rating:
Summary: This is why the DVD Special Edition format was created
Review: There have been many dissapointing "Special Edition" DVDs that have come out recently. ID4 does not fall into this category. From the audio commentary to the original ending (cleverly hidden in the menu of disc 2) to the 3 documentaries on the making of this film, this a great collector's item and a very enjoyable movie to boot. Besides, any movie that uses the words "plausible deniability" as a major plot point can't be all bad. Overall, a must have for fans of the movie and a must rent for anyone who has not had the pleasure yet.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent DVD Package Makes Up For OK SCI-FI Flick
Review: Let's face it, Independence Day was a whole load of hype. The movie itself wasn't too bad, it just wasn't that very good either. All the hype gave this movie a lot of popularity and made the movie a lot of money. Thank God Fox decided to release the movie in such a nice DVD package, I mean we should expect these kind of DVD's from Fox, they gave us hit DVD's such as Fight Club and The Abyss. They came through again, realeasing a great DVD package that will boost this movie up sci-fi charts. Another two-disc set from Fox, the first disc contains the feature. Great picture and an excellent new Dolby 5.1 mix are just the beginning. From the menu, you can choose to play the theatrical version, or the new Special Edition which has 9 minutes of additional footage(nothing too special though). The movie also has two audio commentary tracks. One from director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin, and another from Oscar-winning special effects supervisors Volker Engel and Doug Smith. That's only the beginning. The second disc is loaded with features. 3 documentaries!!! One is a 30-minute documentary on making ID4, the second is a 22-minute mockumentary that is quite entertaining, and the third is the 30-minute HBO First Look documentary. The disc also has the original ending to the movie(thank God they didn't stay with it), Storyboards, artwork, and production stills. Disc also has a DVD-ROM game and a DVD-ROM weblink. Some trailers and tv-spots also appear. Even if you did not like ID4, but want to give it another try, go with this excellent DVD package, it might change your mind. Thanks again Fox!
Rating:
Summary: Get the Independence Day experience on DVD.
Review: Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich the tag team that gave us Stargate hits it big with this 75 million dollar invasion film in 1996 Independence Day was one of the most hyped movies since the first Star Wars , movie posters , advertisements ,trading cards, action figures , mockumentarys , and superhuman movie trailers that swept you into the Independence Day experience and when it opened on JULY 3rd of ' 96 it was everything that it was set out to be a huge event , some theatres even chose to play the invasion 24 hours a day. On a normal uneventful day an invading mother ship sends out sevral 15 mile wide destroyer ships to the earth in every major city in the world , as the media trys to alert the public widespread panic is in full force , when it's not sure weither the ships are hostile a scientist finds a signal in a sattleite that the ships will indeed launch a full scale attack on July 2nd they arrive but in July 3rd when thr white house makes a futile move to contact the ships , they finally attack sending there plasma beams to destroy everything in sight inculding an attack on the White House itself the attack seems forever and after it's done laid waste and ruiens will be nothing but all thats left of the earth humanity with the help of the president must immobilize a full scale attack before there is nothing left of humanity to defend Independence Day will never be looked the same in this huge invasion epic. An incredible all star cast include Will Smith , Bill Pullman ,Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margret Colin, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, Harvey Fierstein, there has not been a cast like this since The Posiden Adventure on the DVD Volker Engel takes you through the specal and visual effects on this film you'll be suprised to know that even though most of the effects looked digital they were done in a very conventional way for instance when we first get a glimpse of the destroyer while it's hovering in all it's glory over the brookln bridge it was done with a large scale 5 foot wide modle of the ship and a , matte painting of the clouds it looks incredible in the movie. There is also a hokey mockumentary that is just part of the experience of ID4 it at times will make you laugh and the making of Independence Day hosted by Jeff Goldblum and creating reality the specal effects documetary wich is a worth while viewing and the big entry Independence Day:Specal Edition with over 9 minutes of unreleased footage not shown in theatres , so grab the biggest invasion movie on DVD your sure to be happy with this Sci Fi epic .
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie, even better with new footage
Review: I saw this movie for the first time on VHS when it first came out and thought it was a great movie then, the DVD simply blows it away. There are at least 2 additional plot lines added in to the movie with the restored footage. About 6 minutes of restored footage was added that explains Brent Spiner's character a little better and more footage shows up regarding Randy Quaid's kids. Overall, this is a totally different movie then what the VHS edition shows. Definetely worth the investment.
Rating:
Summary: ID4ever
Review: In plain and simple english, ID4 is massive entertainment full of inventive visual effects and an all star cast. It's just plain fun all around. Director Roland Emmerich as assembled great talents to produce the ultimate "B" movie with an "A" budget. The film is basically a disaster film, one so simple in premise that you may ask yourself why schlockmiester Irwin Allen didn't produce such a film in the 1970's. The film is about a mysterious alien race who arrive two days before the fourth of July and begin blowing cities apart with massive energy beams. Think "Day the Earth Stood Still" meets "Aliens" with a dash of "V: The Final Battle". As the world reacts in horror to the extermination of the human race we meet our principle heroes. We meet an idealistic president (Bill Pullman), a computer genius (Jeff Goldblum) and a cocky Air Force pilot (Will Smith) who lives with his stripper girlfriend. The rest of the plot involves the president, the computer genius and the jet pilot coming together via convenient plot developments to rally remaining human forces to combat this alien threat. One bit of inspired writing has the president and his team going to the mysterious Area 51 to find a way to fight the aliens. Although a bit corny at times, ID4 is so much fun that it's easy to overlook some questionable acting and some gaping plot holes. Wouldn't an alien race as advanced as this have an anti-virus program for thier ships? Also, wouldn't alien fighters be able to outspeed an F-15? Ah, who cares the movie rocks. ID4 continues to entertain on a massive scale and not many big blockbusters have accomplished that much.
Rating:
Summary: dear all
Review: dear all ....a have nothing to say else that i'v seen this video for mor than 20 times ....and still want to see it more . thanks
Rating: 
Summary: the worst "science fiction" movie ever.
Review: Honestly, I think that watching a toilet flush for 2 hours would be more entertaining than this film. That they were able to finance and create it in the first place amazes me, and the reception at the box office undermines my faith in the American public to a great degree. And now a DVD!? Please put this one in a coffin instead.
Rating: 
Summary: A DVD review
Review: This set of DVD's is good but not great as two disc sets go. The three documentaries are good; however, they have a great deal of shared material, so overall you get maybe an hour of new information. The commentary by the director and producer was interesting. Information like the US military did not support the film because Area 51 was mentioned, makes you wonder. Most of the added minutes in the special edition are just extended scenes already in the movie. In some cases this enhances the characters but not by much. Most interesting was the changed ending. I liked the never-seen ending better. The reason it was changed was apparently for believability, but the whole movie was not believable. The picture galleries aren't that good and very short. The special effects commentary could have been better. Most of the interesting information on the special effects was covered very well by the documentaries. Most of the special effects commentary is reduced to the commentators saying, "That's a model," and "That's CGI." Overall, a DVD I have in my collection because I love sci-fi and not for the features, effects or story for that matter.
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