Oh I love this film. Admittedly you're going to get sad watching any film that involves a dog falling down a well and having to be saved but The Dog That Fell Down A Well And Had To Be Saved is something else. Firstly...Err Neil, this is supposed to be a review of Independence Day. Is it? Err, could you just remind me how that one goes again? Marauding aliens attack Earth. Oh yeah...that's the one where those Mexican ladies kept doing things to farmyard animals wasn't it? No, that was one of those 'adult' films that can send you blind - Now stop stalling and get writing.

ID4 as a concept isn't too bad but it does try to update that 70's product, the disaster movie. Being the 90's though things were bigger (i.e. global) but we still get the cast list of thousands, the multitude of 'small' stories, and mankind standing up against adversity. Actually, when I say mankind, I really mean America. Now in our post September 11th world America has gone jingoism mad but ID4 was well ahead of the game on this front and to a non-US audience it kind of grates. Yes it would have been stupid to try to make this a global story with vignettes from around the globe but ID4 really shoots itself in the foot with it's whole attitude of America being brilliant and the rest of the world being idiots (hmmm, why are the words 'pot', 'kettle', and 'black' springing to mind). The stereotypes come into play and once again the world must hide behind the shield of global protection that America creates. The US goes takes on the alien invaders single handedly and organises the rabble that is the rest of the planet. But being America, stealth and intelligence go out of the window and, in truth, who needs them when you have some hot shot pilots armed with some gung-ho lines (usually involving the word 'sucker').

And finally we come to the cast. As this a galaxy of stars production I'll have to skip many but the main players will get a mention. It would be nice to think that ID4 could whip up a great cast in the style of the 70's disaster movie. Yes the films were hideous and the stars were obviously slumming it but they WERE stars - not so here. The less than brilliant Will Smith once again pretends that he's an actor and you can think of Smith as being the black Chris Evans - you either love or loathe. I, surprise surprise, fall into the second category but which ever way you line up on the Smith debate, this is very much business as usual. Delivering his nonsensical lines in the same 'home-boy' style way as in everything else he's ever done, Smith relies far more on 'attitude' than actual talent...and that kind of sets the pattern for the pretty much whole film. Bill Pullman tries to be earnest as the President but the structure and style of the film soon shift him away from being believable and turn him into a another gun-totting 'hero' (in the hour of destiny the Pres...jumps in a fighter jet and leads the attack himself - Wooooo, go America (oops, sarcasm overload)).

Director Roland Emmerich also co-wrote the screenplay and as such he should have a great understanding of the material and from what we can see on screen, he does - it's just a shame that the material is of a combat fatigue style rather than a multi-layered effort. ID4 is unashamedly action orientated and if you're looking to get whipped up in a seemingly never ending stream of explosions and 'macho' moments then it'll be very much the film for you. Emmerich does this side of things well but it's the other aspects of the story that are undeniably weak. There's practically nothing beyond the action, there's no moral, no questioning of man's fragility, or anything even approaching an intelligent thought. From a story point of view he tries to encapsulate so much but while the use of terms such as 'Area 51' might get X-Files fans excited, the reality ends up being almost cartoon-esque. The wiry haired scientist, the 'broken' spaceship (that only Goldblum can fix and only Smith can fly), the stream of coincidences and 'lucky' breaks - it's lazy storytelling that treats us (the audience) with scant regard. Ever get the impression I wasn't impressed?

Is it worth a watch though? Well if you haven't seen it and you're in something of an action orientated mind, then yes it's worth a look. It'll take you on a rollercoaster ride of thrills and spills (eurgh, I hate using that phrase) and as brain dead entertainment it's great. If you're looking for more than brain dead entertainment though, ID4 is probably not for you. The stars and stripes waving style of the film grates enormously and if you got annoyed with films like U-571 then this will certainly have you pulling great chunks out of the chair arm.