More fun than War of the Worlds

Rating: 6/10 (27 July 2005)

While the 2005 WoTW probably is a much more artistic and carefully made 'Aliens blow up the world!' summer blockbuster,ID4 is much more fun.
When ominously large,round alien ships enter the atmosphere,the wonder and awe of meeting extraterrestrial life that Earth experiences quickly fades into abject terror as the ships proceed to obliterate anything and anyone in their path. An ensemble of plucky heroes,most notably a computer technician and chess enthusiast(Jeff Goldblum),a tough and streetwise Marine pilot(Will Smith),his stripper girlfriend(the luscious Viveca A. Fox)with her son and dog in tow,a crazed vet working as a crop-duster(Randy Quaid,stealing EVERY scene he's in)and,of course,the President(Bill Pullman,butched and brooding,as contrasted to his whacked-out turn in the previous "Mr.Wrong")who has the task of being both a father and inspirational leader at this time.
The plot points are firmly in place,the lines are spit out like professional writers made them(as if!),and there's expositions aplenty. Throw in a tie-in to Area 51 paranoia and some stock side characters(a fried scientist played by Brent Spiner,the put-upon kids of Quaid's character,a tightly-wound General played by Robert Loggia,the President's cute-as-a-button daughter and his doomed first lady, played by an underused MAry McDonnell,Judd Hirsch as Goldblum's character's kvetching dad,etc.)and you've got an instantly accessible hit. And yet,despite the sense of eye-rolling predictability about this film,it still is a fun ride! The action moves at such a fluid pace that it doesn't allow you the viewer to dwell too deeply on the light characters or the overly jingoistic sentiment.
People who saw this on the big screen probably got the added bonus of being able to experience the audio intensity of the film's sound editing that you probably won't get from seeing it on video or TV. DVD might give you SOME of that effect,but unless you have a home theater system with surround sound,I kinda doubt it.