Derivative Sci-Fi No-brainer or Great Satire?

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2000)

Commentators who like this film seem divided: some applaud ID4's special effects and dismiss those who slate its lack of character development, implausible science, and US-centred chauvinism. Others hail it as a great spoof, and insist that the references to War of the Worlds, Alien, Star Wars and so on are satirical.
Anyone who makes a successful movie has to be intelligent, and that lends credibility to the spoof theory. It's easy to believe that there is more going on than meets the eye. But the intelligence of this fim is largely visual: it's in the special effects rather than the script. If this were truly a spoof of the sci-fi films of the 50s and 60s, and the disaster movies of the 70s, I'd expect to discern more wit in the dialogue. But the dialogue was entertaining without being razor-sharp.
So I reluctantly conclude that this is a film to be enjoyed for its action rather than than fun it might be poking at earlier Hollywood genres. And enjoyable it is: the special effects are special indeed.
Who cares that the security in the White House is so lousy, that the aliens clearly bought their computer software from Microsoft, and that the rest of the world is supposed, yet again, to believe that only Americans have the heart and know-how to save us?
One thing that does irk me, though, is the stereotypical portrayal of non-Americans. I can just about stomach the plummy accent of the British officer in the Iraqi desert - after all, Sandhurst graduates do often speak like that. But Africans running through the bush with spears? Now you really are pulling my leg. Or was it a satirical reference to Zulu?