Oh, how I hate Roland Emmerich!

Rating: 7/10 (8 March 2001)

Roland Emmerich seems to have a problem of showing the fears of violence... it seems like he always, in all movies he makes, has to make a too-good ending, make all the people in the story happy in the end and of course, no person we like can die in his movies...
When I watched it the first time, about 12 years ago or so, I hated it. Now, I've seen it a couple of time, and I like it better.
Still, it's not a perfect film. There are things I'd like to change. That the fire never reaches the room where Jasmine throws herself in the tunnel. That they never salvage the shot-down alien spacecraft for parts. No reason for how a common PC can interact with the alien-computers. How it's possible to fly away from a fire-storm with Airforce One. And so on...
Considering that most of these weird "mistakes" actually LOOK kind of cool on the screen, you can get away with it. If you watch an Emmerich film with one reason only: to be entertained - then you will love it. You will love ALL his films.
From what I understand of Emmerich, he is doing these enormous movies with enormous sfx that are pure entertainment - and that's the way he wants it. So, my guess is that this is what he set out to do.
ID4 is a good movie. Very entertaining and some visual stuff that are still wonderful 12 years later.
Great stuff!
7/10