ID4 is easily one of the most overrated and cheesy films of all time!

Rating: 1/10 (22 September 2006)

Independence Day, otherwise known by the abbreviation, ID4, was the blockbuster film of the summer of 1996, powered by Will Smith, and of course, a nonstop promotional blitz by 20th Century Fox.
Directed by Roland Emmerich, director of 1994's equally cheesy Stargate, and the completely awful 1998 Godzilla, insults the intelligence of every moviegoer with this travesty. The man simply cannot direct, period.
Advertisement was through the roof during the summer of '96 promising non stop special effects and an unbelievable science fiction story.
Unfortunately, special effects were the only thing that was available in this film, since the story is completely cheesy, stupid, and just plain unremarkable.
The three leads, (Will Smith, the cocky and smart mouthed fighter pilot, Jeff Goldblum, the cable employee who cannot drive a car and relies on his father for transportation yet, comes up with the virus that save humanity and Bill Pullman, the clueless president of the United States who doesn't even know about Area 51) are simple caricatures of cheesy 70's disaster movies from which they are based. None of them are remotely believable in any way whatsoever. Everyone thinks that Will Smith was terrific in this film, however, I feel he was a lot better, in the superior 1997 science fiction film Men In Black.
Another point how could Steven Hiller, (Will Smith) find his stripper girlfriend in the middle of a supposedly destroyed Los Angeles after "borrowing" or actually stealing a helicopter from the most idiotic guard in the history of mankind?! Or better yet, the United States itself would not be able to survive after it dropped a nuclear weapon on it's own backyard as they did in Houston in the film, just another laughable oversight by the filmmakers!
The "story" if there is one, involves a nonstop invasion from outer space, and the destruction of our planet.
It's just another humans vs. them science fiction film that has been done hundreds of times in the past, with far better results.
Want a better film with a similar premise, try watching 2005's War of the Worlds, directed by the great Steven Spielberg with a far better storyline involved. None of the characters are remotely interesting in ID4, and one of the characters played by Miss Doubtfire's Harvey Fierstein was so annoying, that it was the only time, I smiled to see the end of that irritating character.
But, the real thing that makes ID4/Independence Day such a terrible film is the completely ridiculous notion that one measly cable repair man with a laptop computer can disable the aliens shields to allow the United States and other countries to take down their spaceships. (And people thought the ending of War of the Worlds was unrealistic!)This is definitely one of the most unbelievable endings to any film ever made, and completely insults the intelligence of every moviegoer who had to endure this film.
ID4 rates one star out of ten. Rent 2005's War of the Worlds instead!