"Independence Day"So have ya seen "Independence Day" yet? Already more Americans have see the movie than get killed in its alien attack. We're talking millions here. This is the big summer blockbuster, but what the heck does ID4 mean? Shouldn't it just be ID? It aint "Independence Day 4," so what's ID4? Don't make any sense to me.
But I saw it and I gotta say I was mildly disappointed. I mean it was OK, and the part where the aliens blow the cities apart was pretty awesome. Better flying trucks than "Twister," and the obliteration of The White House and Empire State Building were cool, even though I've seen those scenes about twenty times on TV and in the coming attractions. It did have the best fireballs I've ever seen, but jeez, ya gotta wait about 40 minutes for that action and the rest of the stuff in the movie doesn't really compare to that. The dogfight stuff between the F-16s and the saucers was good, but it was kinda like "Star Wars." Between the action, I thought the movie really dragged (unless you're a big Judd Hirsch fan) and the whole thing really lacked tension. I was not on the edge of my seat, but I guess when ya come right down to it this is just a B movie like a hokey 70s disaster movie crossed with a corny and unbelievable 50s science fiction movie. It just came with a ton of hype. But it did have it's moments, and as long as you don't have any expectations beyond the special effects you should enjoy most of this.
I tell ya, ya really gotta turn your brain off for this one. Even more than "Eraser." If you think about the plausibility of anything you're in trouble. Then again, ya gotta believe that space creatures are attacking the Earth for no other reason than the fact that they're in a bad mood. If you can buy that premise, then an alien spacecraft (with contour bucket seats, headrests, and tinted windows) that can be flown quite easily by The Fresh Prince shouldn't bother ya too much. I gotta say it's the ultimate "very special episode" of The Fresh Prince. He's pretty good, though, as this pilot who, along with Jeff Goldblum, puts a big hurt on the alien plans. Plus, a Coke can helps in the aliens' defeat. In "Twister," it was Pepsi cans that saved the day against the tornadoes. Coke stops aliens, Pepsi stops tornadoes. I can just hear the boss at Dr. Pepper goin' nuts saying, "Why don't we stop anything?"
But it is nice to have an enemy that the whole world can hate. I tell ya, this is probably the most politically correct war movie in a long time. You can say anything about aliens, you can kill 'em any way ya want, they can be evil and hateful and nobody is gonna get worked up into a lather about it. Unless those green devils show their faces and hold picket signs in one of their three hands, nobody will protest their treatment in ID4. But anyway, let's face it: There's a better than good chance you'll be seeing this at some point. Take it for what it is -- a cheesy science fiction movie with not so cheesy special effects -- and you should have a good time at ID4.
by Regular Guy
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