Maybe the Aliens Came to Earth to Destroy The Makers of This "Movie"

Rating: 3/10 (16 December 1999)

The Plot: Predatory aliens are coming to destroy Earth and it's up to Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum, Lord help us, to save the planet. That's basically it for a "plot".
My Critique: It's unfortunate that one of the largest grossing films of all time also happens to be one of the stupidest. "ID4" is perhaps the granddaddy of all bad science fiction/special effects movies in the blockbuster-driven 1990's. It has it all, as far as blockbuster go. "ID4" has no real story. Aliens come to Earth and blow up things. Earth (or rather America) fights back. More things blow up. Between things blowing up, we have pitiful attempts at filler, such as a stripper saving the First Lady.
The screenwriters opted for minimal character development. The Characters don't actually have much to do with the "story", they're just there to yell stupid one-liners and "No!!!!" whenever something blows up.

In place of story, special effects are used. To me, the special effects in "ID4" aren't even good. In the entire movie, we only see one alien. The Oscar winning special effects are mainly of explosions and ugly, gray, alien destroyers, which all look the same to me.
But perhaps the main thing "ID4" lacks is a message. When I say message, I don't mean a moral lesson. Instead, I mean that the movie doesn't have a point it's trying to make. All great science fiction, and most movies in general, have a point to them. In "2001 : A Space Odyssey", the point was that man cannot rely on computers. In "The Day the Earth Stood Still", aliens were coming to destroy Earth, like the ones in "ID4". However in "The Day the Earth Stood Still", the aliens were trying to teach humans a lesson about nuclear war, as was the point in many sci-fi movies from the 1950's. In "ID4", though, aliens simply want to destroy humans. They have no motivation for carnage.
It's a true shame that a movie as stupid, thoughtless, and flashy as "Independence Day" is one of the highest grossing movies of all time.
My Rating : 3