The archetypal "aliens are invading the USA - oh, and the rest of the planet too, but don't worry because we have some nukes and enough white Christians to fart them in their direction" type movie, 'Independence Day' was obviously going to be a hit. It had some nice visuals but was effectively shit, save several cast members who can bring life to a production without trying very hard - which they weren't. It lacked an ounce of subtly, and the plot was basic to a fault.
It reminds me of 'Team America', with every other country being ridiculously quaint. Somehow the RAF from the Second World War have survived until the mid 90s without aging or loosing their jobs, and a group of desert nomads are hanging around the Great Pyramids of Giza, with the rest of Cairo cut out of shot.
The first shots of the alien capital ships hovering over major capitals are nice, though I must repeatedly remind myself that at the time of filming this hadn't already been done a hundred times. The efforts to acquaint us with the various characters that precede this scene totally fail to grab my attention, however. All the characters are fairly basic, and while some of the dialogue is funny, it all feels very contrived.
The action sequences are fine, but there aren't any that don't take place in the cockpit, and anything technical about the aliens are either sipped over or really badly explained. I enjoyed seeing Brent Spiner as someone other than Data or the guy who built Data, and Jeff Goldblum does adequately, but I didn't like Will Smith at all (I rarely do) and the rest of them were forgettable (apart from Jeff's dad, who I liked).
That speech the American President gave, though. Terrible.
Independence Day: 33.7