Salute the flag and blast the ETs...

Rating: 8/10 (6 September 2000)

Maybe it's just me but the one thing that kept running through my mind as I watched "Independence Day" was - man, Irwin Allen would have LOVED this one!
In fact, ID4 plays at times just like an Allen epic - awesome special effects, one-dimensional characters, action and danger at every turn, melodrama that any soap opera would kill for and top-name stars rounding out a powerhouse cast. The only thing missing was the little boxes with the cast's pictures in them along the bottoms of the movie posters.
And stereotypes? SHEESH! There are one-sided portrayals of drunk hicks (Quaid), old Jewish men (Hirsch), hysterical gays (Fierstein), detatched intellectuals (Goldblum), gung-ho tough guys (Smith), gruff military men (Loggia), and a bunch of women (Colin, McDonnell, Fox) who stand around and look worried as aliens blow up most of the world around them.
Although, Fox is about the toughest of the lot; she can kick doors, drive trucks, tend to the wounded and stand up for herself mighty well, which is more than what the rest of the women here are allowed to do. Quite a shame, too; remember when McDonnell was being lauded for "Dances with Wolves"?
Even so, the FX are top notch as we see New York City, Washington DC and all the other world capitals blasted to smithereens, alien ships hovering overhead like huge gray Frisbees and aliens that look like a combination between crabs, octopi and one of the cantina dwellers in "Star Wars". Very impressive.
BUT, and this is only a slight problem here, why did they have to paraphrase "War of the Worlds" so much? I mean, with all the technology and talent available, why not do something new and exciting? Instead, the solution to curing the Earth of its alien problems is no more advanced than the end of WOTW. If you've seen it, you know what I mean.
For what it is, though, it works. Plenty of action, laughs and excitement. Made for millions now when they use to be made for thousands in the '50s.
Eight stars for ID4...welcome to Earth!