Written and directed by Roland Emmerich as his thesis at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München (HFF),this movie cost about $740,000 to make, while the average student at the school spent $12,000 on their thesis movies. But hey, how many of them got to make Independence Day?

In 1997, peace has come to the world. Except for, well, the chance that World War 3 could break out at any moment and the satellite that Billy Hayes is working on could be the weather control instrument of Earth's last war.

It's basically like most of his other movies - people yell at each other - without the benefit of a huge special effects budget. That said, I bet the other students absolutely hated when he walked up on the day of showing student films and was like, "Oh, you made a movie about the sad and noble trials of man? I made a popcorn movie!"

Fascinating and also inconceivable somehow, that THIS really was a breakthrough for Emmerich's career. Okay, the whole career is fascinating measured at the movies he makes - but this one ... Wow! I totally agree with "malk4": Nearly the only thing memorable (and kinda understandable) and worth mentioning is: "There was a space station"!

The year is 1997, and World Peace seems to have come, with most classic weapons of mass destruction having been abandoned. However, orbiting the Earth there is the European/American space station FLORIDA ARKLAB, capable of controlling the weather at any location on the planet underneath. A civil project by nature, it might be abused as an offensive weapon, since it could deliver devastation to any potential adversary simply by creating natural disasters such as storms and floods. No wonder the space station soon becomes the central point in rising political tensions between East and West, next stop World War 3 (as indicated by the German tagline (transl.) "The end of our future has already begun"). We're following the main protagonist Billy Hayes, an astronaut aboard the station, as he wades through a plot of secrecy and sabotage trying to tell friend from foe in the process.

This film is the first "real" movie by Roland Emmerich, and knowing his later works, it is, simply speaking, surprisingly good. First off, it was and is a visual treat by any standard, with well-crafted models and a set-design that made a point in trying to look as realistic as possible. At that, it is visually reminiscent of many other movies from that era (Star Wars or Moonraker, to name some),but doesn't fail nearly as badly as some of them do; it simply looks good. And what's more, this movie has a story that makes some sense and won't let you leave your seat until it is resolved. The acting is good, the characters are well drawn and partly are in for some surprise. The general mood is by no means optimistic, this is definitely a Cold War scenario, which nowadays of course has the tendency to make you chuckle, considering that 1997 looked totally different than portrayed in the movie.

Bottom line: if you know later Emmerich blockbusters such as ID4 and Godzilla, you definitely notice his handwriting in this one, and seeing the path he took from here on makes sense. But much unlike said later works, this movie excells not only in the audio and CGI department, but also has something like characters and storyline. People liked ID4 as a cineastic lollipop, but as a film, this one is far better than most