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
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 20th 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