Independence Day: Resurgence

To say appropriately that “Independence Day: Resurgence,” released in 2016, ruined the look of its predecessor but the original “Independence Day” wasn’t really watchable to begin with. James Berardinelli rightly said in his review, “It’s probably better in our memories than it ever was on celluloid and, as a result, the sequel looks considerably worse by comparison. In fact, when it comes to dredging up old Devlin/Emmerich memories, Resurgence recalls nothing more strongly than the colossal 1998 misfire of Godzilla. Its shameless pilfering from science fiction classics (a little Star Wars, a little Aliens…) doesn’t appreciably elevate the material.” This is pure evidence of a story being slapped together to give the special effects the attention, not the other way around. When you start in satisfying foreign audiences first, you get a movie that is on the same scale as the Michael Bay “Transformers” franchise.

20 years is way too long to make a sequel and, currently, it’s safe to say that a large amount of the viewers don’t care. Berardinelli rightly said, “16-year old boys have turned into 36-year old men with other concerns. Independence Day may have caught lightning in a bottle; it’s doubtful the sequel will be as lucky. More likely, the studio will be left thunderstruck by how poorly it performs.” A better story would have helped out the movie but what is the major drawback is that Will Smith didn’t return. Berardinelli noted, “Then again, considering his (rejected) salary demands for reprising his role, maybe 20th Century Fox showed some semblance of fiscal sanity in this regard.”

Returning cast members include Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson, a scientist who now behaves the same way Ian Malcolm did in “Jurassic Park,” Bill Pullman as former President Whitmore, who still likes giving inspiring speeches, Judd Hirsch as David’s stubborn father, whose character is even more useless this time around, and a couple of other minor actors given more screen time, like Brent Spiner and Vivica A. Fox. Maika Monroe plays Patricia Whitmore, the president’s adult daughter, and Jessie T Usher is Dylan Hiller, the adopted son of Will Smith’s dead character. The alleged protagonist is Liam Hemsworth’s Jake Morrison, a fresh pilot who begins the movie being on the moon. Sela Ward is the current president and William Fichtner is the aggressive General Adams. (Robbert Loggia has a cameo. I can’t say for sure if this was filmed before Loggia passed away or if they had done some CGI like they did in “Rogue One.” Either one is possible seeing how can easily miss this appearance.)

“Independence Day: Resurgence” emerges on the 20^th anniversary of the “War of 1996,” as they say it. Berardinelli noted, “Whitmore, a bearded, hobbled recluse (shades of Donald Pleasance in Halloween 6), is sounding the warning cry that the aliens are coming - something the moon crew, including Jake, finds out first-hand.” David, looking into the only alien ship left from the first attack, goes to the moon immediately spotting an interesting thing shot down. Berardinelli rightly said, “From that point, it’s an alien-invasion-by-the-numbers approach in the Emmerich/Devlin/Bruckheimer/Bay style, with lots of pyrotechnics, massive destruction, and far too many pointless secondary characters.”

“Independence Day: Resurgence” was going to be a light summer enjoyment, a chance to sit back and not think so hard. However, any sort of thinking will spoil the experience because this movie is so vacuous in having to sit through a small consideration. It’s too predictable and pointless to be more than occasional enjoyment and those moments don’t happen that often. Berardinelli’s rebuttal was, “With the exception of David (who, as I mentioned above, seems more like Goldblum’s Jurassic Park character than the original incarnation), everyone from the first film is treated rather shabbily.” The mission in “Independence Day: Resurgence” is get the new kids off of Earth and that isn’t successful. Berardinelli admitted, “During one of the endless, interminable dogfights, I started rooting for the aliens.” That’s not good.

The attack on the mother ship is supposed to be a tribute to the Death Star attack in “Star Wars.” Sadly, that doesn’t even succeed on the same area as Anakin shouting in excitement on the droid control ship in “The Phantom Menace.” Berardinelli said, “As for the queen alien - H.R. Giger’s estate should sue (I looked for his name in the end credits but didn’t see it). Although reminiscent of the alien’s look from the original Independence Day (which was, in and of itself, highly derivative of Alien), this one borrows so heavily from the queen mother in Aliens that I kept waiting for someone to shout the famous line from that movie. Didn’t happen. I guess Emmerich doesn’t recognize that, with a film this cheesy, that sort of thing will buy a little goodwill.”

Emmerich said that he was wanting to make a third “Independence Day” movie. Unless the film makes a lot of money abroad, I doubt it will happen. However, I think that we are not going to see a third movie, the filmmaker’s opposition to let his alien attack stay in the 90s allowed him to join in the image of all this display that is today’s blockbuster – American movies made for foreign audiences where the main language is violence, explosions and global annihilation.

In all honesty, if you liked the first movie as a guilty pleasure (I don’t really think I found it very fondly either), this movie is not for you. It’s a sad attempt at resurrecting a cheap 90s movie that it fails. I know that I have recommended patriotic movies in the past, but this one I don’t recommend at all. Stay away from this poor sequel at all cost. However, it’s not an entirely bad movie, but just one that is disappointing and not worth watching.

Happy Independence Day everyone. Check in to see what I will be reviewing this month.