ID4 did the "epic disaster movie" thing much better (all the cool shots of the ships getting in place, then destroying the landmark buildings like the White House). It had a more complex plot (you had several characters in separate locations who had actual storylines to follow - Will Smith and Vivica, Jeff Goldblum and his dad and ex-wife, the drunk cropduster pilot and his kids, the president and his wife, etc.) ID4 was also sort of the first of the modern epic disaster blockbuster movies (came out before Armageddon, Deep Impact, Signs, the new War of the Worlds, Day After Tomorrow, 2012, etc.)

The script was corny at times, (and the plot device with the computer virus was wack) ID4 basically set the bar for that genre. So if you're gonna make a movie in a similar genre, 15 years later, the bar needs to be set higher. I mean in Battle LA they even stole a line from ID4 exactly - "we're sending the word out across the world on how you killed them."