The greatest bad movie of all time

Rating: 8/10 (11 September 2000)

Much has been made of the flaws of this film: the cardboard cutout characters, the cheesy Hollywood storyline, the plot holes so big the alien mothership could fly through them. Normally these things turn me off to a movie. But ID4 is too much fun, I don't care how bad it is.

Paying homage to 50's invasion movies, 70's disaster movies, Star Wars, War of the Worlds, etc., ID4 digs right in as huge alien saucers drop into our atmosphere and hover ominously over the 30 most explodable landmarks in the world. They soon reveal that they're - gasp! - unfriendly and start wiping out humanity city by city. The rest of the movie follows several groups of characters trying desperately to come up with a way to fend off the slimy visitors.
The fx, of course, are top-notch. There are a few battle scenes that are amazing. The acting isn't all that hot, but Will Smith is his usual perky self (I enjoy describing Will Smith as "perky"), and Bill Pullman brings what he can to the presidency, including a scene late in the movie in which he rallies his attack pilots before the final battle; this over-the-top monologue is by far my favorite movie speech ever. Still brings a tear to my eye. Independence Day would probably qualify for MST3K in a few years, but its cheesiness is forgiven - this movie is too much fun.