Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining escape from the real world fun
Review: What more do you want from a movie. It had laughs, chills, make you go "wow" scenes, and tears. I'm sure I'm not the only person who was a bit touched by the scene with the President and his wife. Or moved by his Independence Day speech. Jeff Golblum, as always, is an entertaining presence in the movie. His unique style speaks for itself and works extremely well in this movie. Will Smith, love him or hate him, brings all his energy to his role as Capt. Steven Hiller. Personally, I thought the cast was perfect for the movie. Sure, there's no Oscars here, but that's not the point of the movie.As we all know, the special effects where great, but despite some complaints that that's what all this movie is about, I liked the story, too. Simple and to the point. Aliens come. Aliens virtually blow up our planet. We fight back. What makes the movie good is that the simple story is presented in a way in which has you rooting for the good guys at the end of the movie, and that's all that counts. As for the DVD special extras, well, it has some pretty neat stuff. Trailers galore, behind the scenes features, the original "Biplane ending", which they made a wise choice in changing. Just a little too much cheese, even for this movie. You get to hear Devlin give his reasons for cutting it, which are good ones. Also, the sound was awesome in my system. Of paticular interest to me was the fact that it had two versions of the film, one the regular and the other, a special edition with nine minutes of footage cut from the original version. Pretty much, most of these scenes don't add too much to the movie, but they are nice to see. My fave new scenes where the ones with Russel and his sick kid and the one with Jeff Golblum and Brent Spiner in the cockpit of the alien craft. Those were nice touches in my opinion. Pretty much, this is a love it or hate it movie. I happened to love it for one simple reason. It entertained the heck out of me, deserving of this type of DVD treatment.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable 2 hours
Review: This is an excellent way to spend the evening. There is nothing overty thrilling, or thought provoking about this movie. It was not written to be Apocalypse Now, nor was it intended to be Hot Shots. In Independence Day, some items are handed to you that are a little difficult believe, and if you want to know what they are, read some of the other reviews. I don't care. If Hollywood wants me to believe a MAC can control an Alien computer, fine. This is a fun movie with good action, and a happy ending, and some of the best "One-liners" to come out of Hollywood since Aliens. Sit back, grab a drink and some popcorn, and enjoy your evening. I know I will.
Rating:
Summary: Whoaaa...Now That Is What I Call A Close Encounter
Review: Go buy this DVD. Run, do not walk. Just do it. This will be the demo disk for every video story in the country and with good reason. The DVD is a huge improvement over the tape both from a sound and a visual perspective. In fact, the quality on the DVD seemed even better than my recollection of the theatre experience. Perhaps they sweetened it up a bit for the release. The image transfer was crystaline down to the reflections on glass surfaces and the subtle textures on the clothing characters wore. I saw some tiny details that just didn't come across in the theatre...much less the VHS. The 5.1 was so good that at times I thought there were people talking behind me. The dynamic range was outstanding and the special effects? Well if you want to break your lease, this DVD and a good sub-woofer will do the trick. I thought it would microwave my innards. As for the "extras"...the additional nine minutes added to the theatrical release was a mixed bag. Some helped and some deserved to be cut. The nine minutes is a blend of special effects scene and character development that made the story a little less cartoonish. The alternate ending was pretty lame and I agree with their decision to swap it for the one used in the theatrical release. Some have complained the story line is flat and full of holes...maybe, but so were Alien(s), Starship Troopers, Terminator(s) and all the rest of the movies that worry more about entertainment than art. Take the film for what it is...a few hours of great entertainment in an impeccable package...and indulge yourself. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic summer blockbuster
Review: Okay, it's not Shakespeare. But there's something about sitting in a cool dark theater on a hot summer day, watching big budget special effects. ID-4 is as much a thrill-ride as a movie, and by those standards it succeeds wonderfully! Many people pick on the plotline. I actually found it clever how Devlin/Emmerich & company managed to take so many movie cliches, toss them into the blender, and come up with the mother of all summer movies: this fast moving, expertly paced explosion-thon. The extended edition adds a few extra character scenes which don't slow the movie & add an occasional tweak to grab the attention of fans who thought they saw it all before. The bigger/better your home theater system, the more you (and your neighbors!) will get from this DVD. Turn down the lights, put on some popcorn, lower the A.C. and crank up the volume! Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: The world gets blowed up real good! Enjoy!
Review: Let's face it..."Independence Day" is about as mindless an entertainment as you can get, but it IS entertainment, and it works beautifully on that level. "Independence Day" is like a 1970's disaster flick with $50 million in F/X. Things get blowed up real good indeed...so good, in fact, that the movie loses a LOT of steam after things stop getting blowed up. Still, "Independence Day" is a lot of fun, and features some funny performances (especially Will Smith, who actually trash-talks one of the alien invaders as he drags him across the desert). But the point of this movie IS watching things get blowed up real good. And that it does well.
Rating: 
Summary: Low taste entertainment, but watch it once...
Review: Well, it is challenging to raise a negative voice against such a "cult" movie, but I can't restrain myself. I have watched it in 1997 and still it remains one of the worst big screen blockbusters I've ever seen (although I LOVE to watch blockbusters and sci-fi and actions movies especially). The plot is universally known and can fit within 3 lines, the movie is full of tarnished cliches (slimy octopus-like aliens who I don't know how can operate their flying sources, brave and courageous pilots and soldiers in general, but usually unhappy in family life or "whose wife is just to give birth to a baby", a very cute and young President with a dying old wife) and cheep pathos and sickly sweet patriotism. The famouse scene of a giant UFO demolishing the White House and surroundings is good, but when Mr President is informed that several million people perished and he even does not blank a tear ... I think you missed a good scene here. It is also a pity to watch good actors performing in such rubbish (got some good dough though, no doubt). The theme of aliens conquering Earth and after initial success receive a good kick in the a.... from humans is eternal and it raises our self-esteem, but I'd like to ask the guys making these movies - respect the audience, not all of us have such bad taste or no taste at all or are kids under 12. One of my friends, an American, said: "When watching this movie, during first hour I was proud that I'm American, after it finished - I was ashamed that we've produced such a movie..." However, I would advise everyone to watch it and decide for him/herself and see.
Rating:
Summary: YAAAY!
Review: True, this movie is your typical no-brainer, but you have to love its worn-out Hollywood theme of losers coming together as one to defeat a common, monstrous enemy. By losers we see a failing, ineffective president; an MIT graduate working for a cable company; a shell-shocked, drunken Vietnam fighter pilot who can't hold down a cropdusting job; another fighter pilot who gets slammed with repeated rejection in his bid to fly the space shuttle, and his girl, a small town stripper with airheads for friends. In the end, however, the good guys prevail, and even send a message: Despite our differences in race or politics, when we unite and stand together, even losers can defeat a monstrous, terrifying enemy. Excellent special effects and a heartwarming if not corny concept boost this movie's overall rating.
Rating:
Summary: Good Grief, It's Only A Film!
Review: So it wasn't 2001, what is these days? Quite frankly I'd rather watch Independence Day again rather than the God awful Phantom Menace. Independence Day is offensive to the intelligent, and just about as ridiculous as you can get. However, the great majority of it is FUN. That's right, just plain, stupid, special effects ridden fun. So the dialogue is cheesy. So the peformances aren't up to par. So the super advanced aliens are Apple Mac compatible. Who cares as long as it belts along at a reasonable pace, with a couple of jumps and laughs along the way? Very few, as the box office showed. It's a typical event movie/summer action flick, and should be approached as such. It's not Star Trek, Blade Runner or Star Wars, but why should any sci-fi film have to be? It exists not to be compared to sci-fi, but to big budget special effects extravaganzas, like Godzilla (against which I think it holds up well!) It has some good moments. For instance, the fate of the hippy types welcoming the 'friendly' aliens (always good for a laugh), and Brent Spinners eccentric scientist. Also Goldblum's setup screen on his laptop (this film films practically shoves the fact that it isn't setting out to be 2001 right in your face). My critisism would only be the patronising way it deals with people from places other than America. However, I find this typical in American films. In the case of ID4 the British have practically been waiting for the Americans to bail us out (as per always, right boys?) ...I might comment that it was a last minute thing as per always, but I'm sure that would get me many non-helpful review votes, yes? At least it's not as bad as Deep Impact, where other nations weren't even informed as to the meteor strike until about two weeks before. Thank you so very much America. Hope to do the same for you someday. Anyway, enough.... ID4 is best viewed on the big screen or DVD. It's a mindless, cheesy flick to while away a summer afternoon with the family when it's too hot to do anything else.
Rating:
Summary: War of the Worlds this isn't.
Review: Here is another example of a movie that can be mildly diverting despite its single-minded desire to pluck the brain right out of its audience's collective head. Big, loud, and VERY dumb, Independence Day does have some pretty cool aliens and some decent spfx scenes. However, it has so many lame one-liners that we are left to ponder whether we are watching a sci-fi flick or Amateur Night At the Apollo. Good actors are wasted in roles that are sketchy and cliched at best. The score is pretty bad as well; all noise and no emotion. Its sad to see so much money wasted on something so lousy. Perhaps films like this exist solely to entertain. Maybe the critics should just lighten up, shut off their brains and enjoy. But, then again, maybe we, as an audience, should stop pouring our time and cash into movies that are slapped together without a trace of thought or creativity. This is definitely one of them.
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: Ok, so this movie may have lacked a lot of elements that make movies great movies great, but it did have something most high-budget movies don't, a good plot. Ok, so I know it was about aliens who try to take over the world in a very inefficient way (the could only blow-up one building at a time) and lots of other things of that nature, but it did it in a believeable way. The actors held the script together. And maybe it was silly, but isn't that what movies are all about? Who wants to see a movie about how bad life really is?
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