Independence Day: Resurgence

Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Jessie T. Usher, Maika Monroe, Sela Ward, William Fichtner, Judd Hirsch, Brent Spiner, Patrick St. Esprit, Vivica A. Fox, Angelababy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Joey King
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
2016

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Two decades after the last invasion, the alien race returns to Earth to wage war once more.

Review:

Tim: Twenty years later, Independence Day remains one of my favorite and most influential movies. I wouldn't have this all-consuming passion for movies, I wouldn't have spent the last fifteen years of my life tracking every movie I watched had it not been for the love of movies that films like Independence Day inspired in me. I spent most of the last two decades not expecting to ever see a sequel. Well, miracle of miracles, we get Independence Day: Resurgence, a sequel to one of my favorite movies of all time. And, as you might have fretted about, the film is bad. It probably looks worse than it is because it's a totally average, lackluster film in every sense of the word. You follow up one of the best blockbusters of all time with a movie like this. Words escape me, they cannot describe the bitter disappointment that roils around in my belly at this film. I am so, so, so sad that this movie wasn't good.

I have to place nearly all the blame on Roland Emmerich. While he has crafted some of my all-time favorite disaster movies, his bad movies are pretty bad. I don't know what he was thinking here, but he made nearly every wrong decision he could. The basic story about the aliens returning is a great one- we've been preparing, and so have they. From that point, though, everything falls apart.

It all starts with characters, and I despised all the new ones. I've seen this movie twice and I couldn't tell you the name of a single new character. They are cardboard cutouts, one-dimensional placeholders. They say nothing real, do nothing to make you care about them. I get the idea of passing the story along to a new generation of characters, but you replace Will Smith, Bill Pullman, and Jeff Goldblum with Liam Hemsworth and a bunch of nobodies? That's a huge downgrade. Sure, we get Pullman and Goldblum back, but they don't have much to do. Pullman is especially wasted in a bizarre story that ruins the character of Thomas Whitmore. There's way, way too many characters in this film. With the old and the expansive new cast, we never get enough time to identify with anyone. How has Emmerich not figured this out yet? We needed half as many characters as we actually got. While it was fun seeing Judd Hirsch again (whose story is one of the worst of the film, which is saying something), there's no reason for Brett Spiner to come back. I don't understand why there's this desire to ride the coattails of the previous movie. That movie was great because it did its own thing. By trying to remind audiences of the incredible first movie, this sequel abandons any chance it had to be successful.

Jessie T. Usher might kind of look like Will Smith, but he put me to sleep. His acting was terrible and yawn-inducing. Liam Hemsworth really isn't a good actor and he needs a director to help him. When you give him crap dialogue like he gets here, his lack of talent gets exposed. Maika Monore was actually decent, so it's no surprise that she gets nothing interesting to do. Sela Ward and William Fichtner were great additions, so of course they are grossly underutilized. Honestly, it was aggravating.

The story was way too scattered. We have all the business on the moon, the unnecessary trip to Africa, the absurd tsunami, the forehead smacking school bus scenes, the alien queen. It was just way too much and too unfocused. What was Emmerich doing?

Now, while I hated this movie, much of that comes from how amazing the original movie is. If I'm giving this movie credit, it was still fun seeing Goldblum, Pullman, and Hirsch reprise their roles. Even though they weren't given any good material, there is still some enjoyment in seeing them again. I still love the idea of the aliens coming back for round 2. None of the potential is realized, but there were moments when I thought it could have been cool. Why didn't we just get a 15 minute aerial battle? That would have been so much better than much of the crap we got.

I bestowed upon Independence Day the most rare of ratings, a perfect 10. Little known fact? It was the first movie I ever rated a 10. It was the standard for all others to follow. Since then, there's been other 10s and better 10s, but still- this movie is iconic to The Movie Files. So, to give Independence Day: Resurgence a generous 6 should be pretty telling. The movie might not be terrible, but it gets a lot closer to that than it had any business doing. Finally getting a sequel to one of my favorite movies of all time should have been one of the true highlights of 2016. Instead, it's a film I need to pretend doesn't exist.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Independence Day