Independence Day: Resurgence felt like the sequel no one thought would ever happen and as it turns out, it probably should have stayed that way….
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
20 years ago when Independence Day debuted, it was one of the first huge summer blockbusters and the movie has maintained popularity over the course of the last two decades.
Following the success of the original film, director Roland Emmerich long teased that he had ideas for a two-part follow up to Independence Day with rumors floating around for years about Will Smith returning to the role that turned him into an action movie star as well as all kinds of different plot machinations that would build the franchise into a true film trilogy.
Those rumors floundered over the years, but Emmerich finally unleashed Independence Day: Resurgence, which lands in theaters on Friday, and it feels like a movie that probably should have stayed as a summer movie blockbuster from 1996.
With a bloated cast that includes several returning cast members including Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman along with numerous new pretty people like Liam Hemsworth and Malika Monroe, it feels like Emmerich is trying to revive the franchise with a new film that could possibly spawn numerous sequels but this movie feels a lot less like Independence Day and a lot more like a half-hearted Starship Troopers sequel.
Plot
It’s been 20 years since aliens first landed on Earth and destroyed half the planet before humanity fought back and destroyed the invaders. The world is a much different place these days after nations put aside petty differences and all sought a peacefully way of life on Earth while preparing for the day when aliens might one day journey into our atmosphere again.
Adapting the technology taken from the alien ships that landed on Earth the first time, scientists like David Levinson (Goldblum) have fashioned a defense system to ensure that any invaders who decide to attack again will be met with a much stronger resistance.
Of course it doesn’t take long for Levinson and the rest of the administration to find out that the aliens didn’t die before sending out a distress call to the larger colony that was still somewhere deep in space and it’s finally time for them to come to Earth to find their friends.
Acting
Overall the acting in Independence Day: Resurgence isn’t bad, especially with stars like Goldblum and Bill Pullman around to anchor the cast of newcomers. The performances are sometimes over the top and a bit cheesy when delivering dialogue, but that was a staple of the original Independence Day as well.
William Fichter steps into a leadership role in the movie, seemingly taking over for Robert Loggia’s General William Grey from the original film while Sela Ward plays the president in this updated sequel.
The younger cast members seem a little over matched unfortunately against their more experienced co-stars with an obvious push from the writers and director to turn Hemsworth, Monroe and Jesse T. Usher into the next wave of stars who could carry the Independence Day franchise for another 20 years if this sequel is successful.
For an action movie, Independence Day: Resurgence delivers about what you’d expect from the actors — which is to say don’t look for anyone to win awards off this movie, but it’s comparable to any typical summer blockbuster without a stellar script to work with.
Directing and Writing
Listen, they aren’t going to re-invent the wheel with this kind of popcorn feature but there are still a ton of holes in the script with some obviously hokey dialogue that weighs down some of the stronger points in the movie.
In a lot of ways, Independence Day: Resurgence essentially tries to tell a similar story to the first film, but the movie does it in a far less effective way. There are characters missing from the original movie — like David Levinson’s wife — and some ham-handed romantic twists that feel jammed into the plot for no other reason than having two people kiss in an attempt to recreate the spark felt from the first movie between Will Smith and Vivica A. Fox.
Instead of this film feeling like another classic alien invasion, it feels like the writers behind Independence Day: Resurgence sat around for a weekend watching Starship Troopers and decided to turn the franchise into a full on space opera rather than focusing on the battle back on Earth, which made the original film feel so epic and all encompassing over the course of two plus hours.
In other words, Independence Day: Resurgence felt like a bad attempt to turn a fun summer classic into a multi-film franchise that will be churning out sequels for the next decade, which seems to be the way Hollywood works these days. No movie can stand alone — there has to be a sequel.
What’s Wrong with the Movie?
There’s a lot wrong with this movie, but it’s not all bad either.
Independence Day: Resurgence ticks all the boxes for a typical summer blockbuster. There are some chiseled heroes with perfect smiles to save the day and there’s plenty of comic relief from old favorites like Judd Hirsch and even Brent Spiner, who returns despite the fact that he was pronounced dead in the first film.
The problem is by upping the ante for the second wave of the invasion, everything had to get bigger and grander in scale and that’s not always a good thing. The overwhelming feeling of dread in the first movie is gone. This time the alien invasion is not only expected, but almost crammed onto the screen without much explanation or exposition before the world is thrown into chaos again.
One of the reasons why the first Independence Day movie worked was the story building that took place in the first 30 minutes before shit started to explode. Now it feels like the sequel can’t wait to get to the explosions and essentially sacrificed story for the sake of some more cool effects.
Final Verdict
Independence Day: Resurgence feels like the kind of sequel you’d watch on HBO on a Saturday night long after the movie faded from theaters. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from big summer blockbusters in recent years like the numerous superhero movies out there or even the relaunch of Jurassic World, there’s plenty of time for heart-pulsing action but that doesn’t mean the story has to be sacrificed in the face of more explosions. Independence Day: Resurgence has a lot of spectacle but doesn’t have much heart to back it up.
Independence Day: Resurgence gets a 2 out of 5 on the Skolnick Scale:
