Not THAT awful when you think about it....

Rating: 4/10 (7 February 2003)

Yes, this is a bad movie. Yes, it was the start of several similar movies like it where there is no story and just a lot of special effects. Yes, the "plot" makes no sense and seems like something a 5 year old would come up with. There is also cheesy dialog that only Titanic can match- another flashy dud. I still can't bring myself to label this as "the worst movie I have ever seen". Why not? Because it is, in some ways, refreshingly different. It also has, despite what everyone else says, some originality if you put the clothes-pin on your nose look closely enough at this stinker.
If you see this after the World Trade Center attack, you'll see people coming together in the face of adversity...just like they do when they are faced with overwhelming odds against them. I had seen this back in 1996 and thought that it was unrealistic that people of all different backgrounds and races/classes pull together and help each other in spite of their differences. It turns out I was wrong because that is exactly what happened on 9/11/01. The U.S. military are not the bad guys, for a change. The main characters are not believable, but they are awesome role models for our young people. I think that's great! There is a minimum of profanity or sex either, which is a welcome change.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and probably offend a lot of people, but I thought this movie came at just the right time for the USA. We didn't have a good role model, IMHO, as a leader, so it was refreshing to see a too-good-to-be-true leader as a president in a movie.
Despite these good points, it is still a mess of a movie with an awful plot and terrible dialog. Still, there is a silver lining to every cloud...4/10