Director: Roland Emmerich
Writer: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich, Nicolas Wright, James A Woods, James Vanderbilt (Screenplay) Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich, Nicolas Wright, James A Woods (Story)
Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Jessie T Usher, Bill Pullman, Maika Monroe, Sela Ward, William Fichtner, Judd Hirsch, Brent Spiner, Patrick St Espirt, Vivica A Fox
Plot: Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind’s new space defenses be enough?
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Horrendous
Story: Independence Day: Resurgence starts by taking us to a world 20 years after the first one where we have embraced and uses the alien technology. We then have to meet the returning faces and this will take a while because we have so many characters. David (Goldblum) who has spent the 20 years learning the technology preparing for a return, Dylan Hiller (Usher) yes this is a grown up version of Steve Hiller who is dead being an elite pilot who is best friends with Patricia Whitmore (Monroe) who works for President Lanford (Ward) while caring for her father the former President Whitmore (Pull) who is slightly paranoid now. Continuing the character introduction because there are this many we have bad boy Jake Morrison (Hemsworth) who is stuck on the moon, we also have a string of other characters who are easily forgettable.
When we move into the actual story the humans are now in a position in which they believe they can defend the Earth from any alien invasion but when a strange orb turns up, an attack on that brings the aliens back to finish the harvest of the planet and the humans must face off against the aliens once more but this time the old tricks no longer work on the aliens who have wised up.
Independence Day: Resurgence is the sequel to the hugely popular 90s movie and tries to follow in the reboot sequel trend we have been getting later. The problems for this story start very early, we have way to many character to either catch up on as well as a host of new ones to introduce us too. We get the aliens returning more prepared and the usual battle to save Earth. We have pointless sacrifice of characters whose death are non-actual sacrifices. The story comes off very boring as we jump between too many characters that we don’t actually care about now.
Actor Review
Liam Hemsworth: Jake Morrison is the bad boy soldier that is stuck on the moon, he has caused an accident with Dylan which has left him on the moon while his fiancée Patricia is back on Earth. He is the closest to a Will Smith we get. Liam is no 90s Will Smith, hell I was more entertained by his brother in the Ghostbusters Trailer.
Jeff Goldblum: David Levinson is back studying alien technology which he has worked on to help defend Earth. He finally gets a chance to get into an African Warlords base who have never let any outside world enter their base. Much like the first one we get to see David to try and be the voice of reason in any decision. Jeff should have just stayed away from this one because the character just ends up being a boring scientist losing what made him fun.
Jessie T Usher: Dylan Hiller is the stepson of Steven Hiller the Will Smith character who has followed in his step-father’s footsteps becoming a fighter pilot. He leads the attack back against the aliens putting aside his differences with Jim. Jessie is no 90s Will Smith and feels like just a background characters considering he is meant to be a leading man.
Bill Pullman: President Whitmore is struggling with his nightmares from his connection he had with the aliens. He knows something bad is coming but no one wants to believe him but can he finally get through to the people. Bill has the most interesting character in the film but doesn’t get enough screen time.
Support Cast: Independence Day: Resurgence has a huge supporting cast who are a mix of returning characters and new who all don’t get enough screen time because there are just so many to remember what is going on.
Director Review: Roland Emmerich – Roland seems to have lost the fun aspect the first film had which turns this into an overcomplicated mess.
Action: Independence Day: Resurgence has plenty of mindless action going on throughout making it almost impossible to know what is going on.
Adventure: Independence Day: Resurgence, no it is not an adventure film.
Sci-Fi: Independence Day: Resurgence has the alien invasion and alien technology going on to which we have no embraced.
Settings: Independence Day: Resurgence moves onto the moon for parts of the film but I found myself confused that the world rebuilt the same landmarks over homes first.
Special Effects: Independence Day: Resurgence has the special effects that are nearly all CGI which doesn’t help because the first has a few practical effects we could relate to.
Suggestion: Independence Day: Resurgence is one to just miss it really is a mess. (Skip Avoid Run)
Best Part: UMMMMMMMMM
Worst Part: Too many characters.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: Left open for one.
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: NO WAY
Budget: $165 Million
Runtime: 2 Hours
Tagline: They want only one thing . . . DESTRUCTION!
Overall: Terrible mess really.
Rating
