Hollywood Production

"On July 1, Independence Day, with a production budget of 100 million dollars, premiered in North America as scheduled..." In the live broadcast studio, Gene Siskel sat on the sofa facing the camera and spoke to Roger Ebert across from him. "Following its release, the film has faced a barrage of unanimous negative reviews across the United States. Some media outlets and critics have even given it a zero. Duke Rosenberg, whose career had been smooth sailing until now, has run into massive trouble."

Acting as if Duke's film truly had no takers, he asked, "Roger, can you break down the reasons for this?"

"The failure Duke Rosenberg has encountered is actually due to a variety of reasons."

Sounding like the film industry's supreme authority, Roger Ebert steadily began his analysis. "Let's start with the film itself. The plot and structure of Independence Day both have very serious flaws."

"Anyone who has seen the movie, or even just the trailer, can tell that Independence Day is yet another alien story, yet another fantasy of America saving the world. Aliens attack, the world falls into a panic, humanity—led by the American President—launches a counterattack against the extraterrestrials, and finally, world peace is restored. Hollywood has relied on this cliché for far too long!"

"And this one is the absolute worst I've ever seen. The plot is thin, the logic is riddled with holes, the dialogue is dry, and the special effects are simplistic!"

Siskel chimed in right on cue. "Roger, can you give a few examples?"

"The most classic example is using a computer virus to disable the aliens' energy shields. Anyone with a basic understanding of computers knows that a virus relies on the system's fundamental architecture. Are we supposed to believe the aliens use the exact same systems as humanity? Do they use the DOS Operating System? Or Intel CPUs?"

"Furthermore, the film's attempts at emotion are far too cheap and heavy-handed..."