back in 1996 i saw the movie broken arrow. before it started there was a trailer for id4 which just showed the white house blowing up. i was hooked, as was the whole world. i was there for opening day of this film and i loved it. loved it, loved it, loved it. i saw it again, a week later, still loved it. then i saw it again, maybe two weeks later, i didn't love it so much that time. since then i have caught moments on tv and watched pretty much the whole thing a couple more times. i liked it less and less. it was really cheesy, really sappy and filled with plot holes and things that just made no sense. then a sequel was announced. then a trailer came out for the sequel. then a double bill in the theatre was announced. that was something i had to see. the closest one to my house was 45 minutes away. i went. i watched this one first on the big screen for the first time in 20 years. and i actually liked it, i actually had fun. yeah it is cheesy as fuck, it still has plot holes and things that make no sense and some of the effects don't hold up that well but man it is edited well at times and the music is awesome at times and it has a certain 90's charm to it. that charm of course comes from a young hyper will smith, a looney tunes randy quaid, data (i mean brent spiner), bill 'so inspirational' pullman, jewish to the extreme judd hirsch and the man himself, jeff goldblum. man is he amazing in this. what else makes this fun is that it opens with no setup, it just starts with a bang. huge bass sounds and fade to whites between each scene as the aliens arrive. what a start to a movie. in fact, the whole movie until the attack is fantastic. after the attack it stays fun but laughably so. with corny speeches, cheesy one liners and a few of these moments: the dog jumping to saftey just in time. will smith finding the president while his girlfriend finds the president's wife and then will smith steals a chopper and literally flies right to where his girlfriend is waiting, randy quaid's self sacrifice, the alien ship that goldblum and smith pilot into the mothership and the aliens don't check why an empty ship from 50 years ago just showed up, pullman's corny yet highly inspirational speech. pretty much hanrry connick jr's entire screen time and so much more. in reality id4 is not a good movie but it sure as hell is fun. it deserves no awards but you know what, and i never thought i would say this again, it sure as hell is a good time and it deserves to be watched and even rewatched. it's cheesiness actually adds to it's charm and although the effects don't hold up they are still exciting. if the cast was low tier on this one then the film would sink to much lower depths but as is, especially with goldblum in his prime, id4 is a nostalgic pleasure that will keep you up, make you laugh, make you cheer and allow for some awesome post movie chat as you and your friends discuss all those chees-tastic moments. onto the sequel which has to be better than this one, right? **on a little side note, watching this again for the first time in years i noticed that the day after tomorrow is pretty much a rip-off of this movie. at least the whole build up and destruction part (and if i were to watch day after again i am sure i would think more of it). directed by emmerich he pretty much took the first 30 minutes of id4 and subbed weather for aliens. same set-up, same motivations, same scenes, same movie!!! production design: 7 out of 10 cinematography: 8 out of 10 re-playability: 7 out of 10 originality: 6 out of 10 costumes: 8 out of 10 directing: 7 out of 10 editing: 7 out of 10 acting: 7 out of 10 music: 8 out of 10 script: 6 out of 10 71/100