INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE

Independence Day: Resurgence

Grade: C

Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Jessie T. Usher, Bill Pullman, Maika Monroe, William Fichtner, Brent Spiner, Judd Hirsch, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Travis Tope and Sela Ward: Also with Joey King and Vivica A. Fox

Premise: On the twentieth anniversary of the worldwide alien invasion of 1996, a new, terrifying alien ship arrives to wreak havoc on humanity.

Rated PG-13 for action violence, intense scenes of destruction and peril, and some language

Why oh why didn’t they wait to release this on the actual Independence Day, or at least as close as possible? Then there at least would have been some sentiment accompanying this film…

Why a movie called Independence Day was released a week and-a-half before the holiday when it could have been released at the beginning of the holiday weekend (Friday, July , for instance) is anyone’s guess, as is why, exactly, anyone in Hollywood thought it was a good idea to make a fast, funny sequel to a pretty open-and-shut twenty-year-old science fiction film. Director Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, 2012) is back and trying to destroy the world just like before, but the movie, to describe it in the appropriate words of on one IMDB user comment, is “big and dumb, and a bit of fun”. This movie is fun—I won’t deny that. But boy, is it dumb, not to mention completely devoid of any of the sense of real dread or drama that accompanied its semi-classic 1996 predecessor. Where the original was one of the first big, epic special-effects blockbusters that had potentially world-ending consequences, this is a neat, tidy, barely-two-hour film wrapped in overwhelmingly-glossy CGI, neat contrivances, nice coincidences, and massive plot holes—one in a seemingly never-ending parade of glossy computerized world-in-peril blockbusters.

The average viewer will probably leave satisfied, I’ll give it that. And I had a decent time watching it and would watch it again. But mostly I’m just disappointed that this sequel had to go and put a damper on one of the first big, awesome films of my childhood.

Plot

**It’s hard to imagine many people not having seen the original Independence Day, but, in any case, viewing it is not a complete necessity. There are many remaining characters, but their dynamic should be easy enough to pick up.**

In a more futuristic 2016, the world, led by American Madam President Lanford (Sela Ward), is celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the War of 1996, in which an extraterrestrial race of city-sized alien ships attacked earth and were defeated only after nearly annihilating the human race. As it turns out, not only did humans defeat the aliens, but we also learned from them and adapted their technology, so that our earth and space defenses are light years beyond what they were before. Two young pilots represent the strides humanity has made—Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) helps maintain a huge laser cannon at the moon’s high-tech space defense center, and Dylan Hiller (Jessie T. Hughes), the stepson of the late hero Captain Steven Hiller (who was played by Will Smith), is Earth’s Mightiest Young Hero, on a first-name basis with President Lanford and leading an elite international team of earth-and-space fighters.

When the aliens return, two old heroes are among the first to know it. Former cable repairman David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) has become a highly-touted scientific mind, and he’s in Africa looking over remains of an old spacecraft from the ‘90s when the craft unexpectedly starts powering up. Meanwhile, the oft-quoted President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman), who has been left haggard and tormented by his experiences with the aliens, starts having vivid dreams including a beacon seemingly summoning the aliens to earth. In short order, the aliens show up in a huge ship that dwarfs the city-sized saucers that attacked last time, quickly lay waste to earth’s most high-tech, space-based defenses, and plant themselves noisily on earth. Even nuclear-protective bunkers prove little defense against the laser-blasting extraterrestrials. Jake and Dylan manage to board the alien ship but find their weapons are of little use. Only Dr. Okun (Brent Spiner), the head scientist at the Area 51 laboratory who was left comatose for nearly two decades following a very close encounter with the aliens and has suddenly awoken, seems to have any inkling how it might be possible for humanity to stop this invasion.

What Doesn’t Work?

To be frank, there’s a lot that doesn’t work. Resurgence is pretty entertaining in the moment, but if you stop to think logically for a second, the problems and clichés with the movie will come swarming to your mind like the little alien fighter ships that constantly barbecue our human aircraft in these movies. First and most obviously, this Independence Day musters none of the dread and menace that made the first film a smash hit us-against-them underdog story, not to mention an edgy, intimidating viewing for a then-eight-year-old like me. Perhaps it’s not this movie’s fault that the original was among the first humanity-in-peril/earth-in-jeopardy blockbusters of the type that have become very commonplace nowadays, but the fact that Resurgence is unlikely to make anyone shudder—or so much as blink—with its visuals of alien ships hovering over entire cities just underlines how far we’ve come (or how far we've fallen--whichever). The special effects are fine, but unimpressive.

And that’s not to mention that the human…um “drama” in this movie is basically a rehash of what was in the first, or at least of what’s also regularly seen in summer blockbusters today. Will-they/won’t-they couples that obviously will? Check. Dweeby government type who learns to let loose and help fight the aliens? Check. Hopelessly close-minded government types? Of course. Obviously-doomed characters (including a couple of the returning cast members from the previous film)? Uh-huh. Characters who only speak in one-liners or heroic trailer-ready sound bytes? Obviously. And how about would-be climactic action sequences in which it looks like the good guys won but they obviously didn’t because the movie’s only an hour in and it’s obviously going to be two hours, so something clearly didn’t work? Yeah, that, too. Particularly bemoanable material for me included an embarrassingly-wasteful side plot including Judd Hirsch’s returning character and a couple of random kids who added nothing to the story, and a couple of different moments where our main characters managed to break through a previously-impenetrable alien shield just because they kept shooting. Would it have been possible for a no-name to keep shooting and break through the same alien shield? I bet not.

What Works?

Independence Day: Resurgence is a pretty fun viewing—certainly more entertaining than Warcraft, the last film I saw and reviewed. Director Roland Emmerich and his four co-writers manage not to make things too easy, and to add some interesting material that could set up an intriguing sequel. A couple deaths manage to hit home. And the movie presses the nostalgia button nicely with by bringing back both of the Area 51 mad scientist actors (Brent Spiner and John Storey), hinting that Vivica A. Fox’s character got a major job upgrade from stripper to nurse between films, and even including a brief but poignant appearance by the late Robert Loggia, who played one of the higher-ranking military commanders in the first film. It’s also nice to just see Jeff Goldblum in a big film again.

Most of the cast are playing parts that have been done a million times, are painfully clichéd, or are really poorly-written (even spilling tears adds little to the portrayals of practically all the movie’s 20-something pretty faces). However, two actors managed to bring some gravity to their performances, and I’m happy to say they’re both returners. Perhaps it’s because Bill Pullman is best known for this part and because he hasn’t been seen onscreen much lately, but Pullman’s Thomas Whitmore might be the most dimensional and interesting character in the film. Though most of his dialogue is clichéd or in the line of rousing speeches like he gave in the original, his presence is a nice mix of nostalgia and some actual character layers. And though it’s preposterous that Brent Spiner’s Dr. Okun survived his encounter with the aliens in the first film, his mad scientist energy and enthusiasm is a nice tonic from the stale action-hero doings of the “kids” and the murmurmings of the government types.

Content

Really young kids might be intimidated by the huge spaceships, big explosions, a few closeups of the gooey aliens, or by a few of the “big” deaths, but there’s nothing particularly off-putting or edgy about Independence Day: Resurgence. There’s a lot of action, a lot of things blow up, people worry about the future of humanity, and humanity wins. Hooray.

Bottom Line

Independence Day: Resurgence isn’t terrible—there’s just nothing special about it. I don’t know if the first movie is generally considered a “classic”, but it was a groundbreaking special-effects spectacle that made alien invasions seem awesome and epic and scary. The sequel, 20 years later, dripping in glossy CGI and featuring a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears 20-something action heroes, doesn’t feel any different from countless Transformers or Marvel movies or other big blockbusters in which the End of the World is at stake. Plus the action is by-the-numbers and the characters aren’t particularly memorable. The absence of an actor with the magnetism of Will Smith doesn’t help (sorry, but Liam Hemsworth is not the same). There’s definitely a few exciting action scenes, some good special effects, and some of the older returning actors (Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Brent Spiner) have nice moments, but most of the movie is clichéd and corny and easy-to-predict. There are a million plot holes. And they’re setting the table for…a sequel.

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Directed by Roland Emmerich

Screenplay by Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods, Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich, and James Vanderbilt

Based on Characters created by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin

Rated PG-13

Length: 120 minutes