Let me say I absolutely HATED this movie when I saw it a long time ago but I'll give it another chance this summer. I'm sure it'll be on tv at least once.

Excellent movie. Everything about it is so... epic. It had a wide variety of characters, all of them were pretty likeable.

A-
91%
#20 on my all-time list

Really entertaining popcorn fare.

8/10 (B+)

It was an A back when it first came out, now it's more like a B

A


This is pretty much the definition of a summer blockbuster and I love it. Good cast, likable characters and incredible visual effects which are still not any worse than those made nowadays. Hugely entertaining flick that holds up well on repeat viewings. How cares if there are some plot holes and overly patriotic undertones?

A+...One of my favorites. Great action flick, and Will Smith does a great job. Kind of sets up his career as a star. Theres a reason that this movie made so much money, it's great!

Big, dumb fun. Everything up to the attack is nearly perfect, save for some rather inane subplots. The suspense and gradual horror is terrific. Some of it is kinda silly, but it doesn't ruin the film. Unfortunately, almost everything after the attack is even sillier, and really ruins the film. The inane subplots from the first half are widened to become the bulk of the film in the second half, and logic and reason are more and more done away with. By the end, it's become hopelessly jingoistic and patriotic, and far too cheesy. The cast is pretty good, with some great chemistry between Smith and Goldblum, and the special effects are still stunning today, which make up for the failings of the plot. A pure summer blockbuster.

Extremely, extremely stupid, but hugely entertaining and thrilling. B

I still can't enjoy this film, sorry...


A C- for the visual effects.


War of the Worlds belongs to a COMPLETELY different league imo, so comparing the two for me is ridiculous..

One of my all time favourite fun films.

A+

A great mega-budget B-movie.

A

A good old school summer fun amazing cool looking but bad story blockbuster.

Its like x-men 3 to me

A-

This is better than War of the Worlds.

ID4 for me is not only the movie - but also the incredible leadup (trailers) and marketing - making it the biggest summer film event ever. I havnt seen it again since then but i really should.

Grade: A

In terms of scale, still the largest film ever made.

ID4 nearly broke the Fri-Sun "Opening weekend record" despite opening on a Tuesday. Completely amazing.

Batman 89 was the true birth of mega movie marketing. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Back To The Future sequels had all kind of hinted at the potential, but Batman 1989 was the perfect storm. The opening weekend record was broken two weekends in a row (June 16 - 18 Ghostbusters 2 does 29.7m) and than June 23-25, Batman does 43 million. Batman CRUSHED the record by 42% despite the record being ONE WEEK OLD.

Batman had one of the earliest released full trailers at the time, debuting one 7 months before release. It starred the biggest star in Hollywood, Jack Nicholson. Megastar Prince's songs were blowing up the radio. TV spots began airing in APRIL (the film opened in June). Tie ins OUT THE ASS. Mid June date a few weeks into summer (movie summer began on Memorial day back then).

Dick Tracy, Terminator 2, Batman Returns, Jurassic Park, and a number of other films try to recapture the marketing magic which made Batman the uber event / priority film it was. Independence Day in 1996 was the first time since BATMAN that all the stars aligned once again.

ID4, Batman 89, Spider-man 2002, and The Dark Knight are still the most impressive opening weekends I have ever read about. They are the perfect storm which happens once every 6-9 years.

It doesn't get better.

Avengers doesn't REALLY belong there. It sold less tickets than TDK, Spidey 3, and perhaps Spidey 1 while on a lot more screens. Heck, even counting the shooting, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES inflates to ~190 million with 3D. With 3D and without the shooting, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES opens to 220m +. Avengers was not even the most anticipated film of it's summer. Yeah yeah yeah, mega openings are mega openings, but if that is the case, TDKR needs to be up there. TDKR's opening day with 3D is like 87 million. That includes the shooting. TDKR with 3D and no shooting would have topped 100m opening day and 220m opening weekend, I am certain.

THAT is truly overwhelming hype. Film isn't an event, it is a PRIORITY.

Sith ....meh. It's midnights are really amazing, though it was the first film to get a TON of screenings for them. The midnights are what gave it that 50m opening day. A number Pirates 2 crushed (despite doing only 8m in midnights). I hate to sound this way, but what happens in the future after the films open has to effect their impressiveness a little bit. i.e. potter 1s opening suddenly didn't too impressive too impressive at all when Spider-man CRUSHED it just 6 months later. Pirates did 42m on opening day to Siths 34m.

Directed by a homosexual German.

My gf never saw Independence Day, so I thought now is a perfect time for a re-watch. Still epic. It's always been one of my favorite movies, but now it just reminded me of how good it really is. The special effects are still pretty awesome, although they don't really hold up anymore in 2015, they don't take anything away from the movie either. The movie is so much more than just the effects, and the main ones, like the white house blowing up are still impressive. The characters are investing, Smith and Goldblum are a great duo. Smith was great back then, he just doesn't bring that force to movies like After Earth and Focus anymore. And Goldblum, I know he's still around, but he was brilliant in so many major movies in the 90's as the wisecrack, don't know why he couldn't get those roles anymore in the 2000's. Bill Pullman's speech is one of the best movie scenes ever. Randy Quaid role is good too. The alien space ship encounter in space and the F16's battling it out with the alien ships on earth are so thrilling, I hardly see it surpassed by anything. The way I look at it now, I feel it's probably one of the most ambitious movie ever made. The sequel next year or something can probably never live up to this.

A+

Never been a fan of Independence Day. It has no heart. It's all surface-level patriotism and gung-ho Will Smith punching an alien. It never goes beyond just being an action-adventure ride. Seeing the White House getting blown up was nice, though. I hope the sequel links to these events (for example, we could see a new White House or it being rebuilt). War of the Worlds is much finer example of a modern alien invasion movie.

I hope they make a fortune.

zwackerm made a funny.

Watched this on AMC last night. Awe it is still so fucking awesome. Yeah the general plot is absurd how the characters all know eachother and what not, but the movie still just works so well. The build up and execution of the attack scene is just fucking flawless. And love how they have the Americans be the group who brings the world together. HELL YEAH.

"The aliens...abused him...SEXUALLY..."

"......NUKE EM..."

"Insert Will Smith line here"

& LOL at the super generic Jew and Black people.

I just rewatched this today as I wanted to revisit it before the sequel. It's such a good popcorn flick. Is the sequel really that bad?