20 years have passed since the events of the first film, and the Earth that we know and sorta love is very different to the one we reside in; with the victory against the nameless aliens creating not only a worldwide peace treaty between nations (bar a minor rogue militia, which has since calmed down under the new rule of Dikembe Umbutu (Deobia Oparei)) but also integration of their technology with our own. With the boost in technical prowess has come advanced means of air travel and space travel – with outposts now placed on the Moon, Mars, and Rhea – the upcoming anniversary celebrations look set to be glorious... until a new alien spacecraft makes an appearance on Earth's Moon, and is shortly followed by a bigger and badder spaceship than the one before ("It just touched down over the [entire] Atlantic [ocean]!"). With their technology also advanced since the last time and an alien queen appearing to reside at the heart of the new mothership, the people of Earth must stand by together once again to vanquish their returning foes.
With the basic premise being an upgraded iteration of the 1996 original, one would assume that it would overall make for an exciting and intriguing new venture into this alternate 2016 that presents itself as some form of initial utopia. Alas, what we have instead is a film that spends so much of its time setting up where the characters from the last film are now and some of the new characters (40 minutes, to approximate), a very rushed re-introduction to the alien menace – with the iconic visual imagery of the first unable to beat despite the increased magnitude of the destruction – and a long and slow slog through the rest of the film; garnished by forced attempts of comedy, lazy character revivals and repeats of the basic elements of the original. It's less of a Resurgence and more of a Regurgance; handled poorly by its five(!) screenwriters as they struggle to balance out old and new elements amongst creating both a dissatisfying sequel and a trailer for a future sequel. And with a grand finale that only feels grand because of the 100-foot alien parading around the place, it makes for a disappointing adventure.
As the god of disaster movies, Roland Emmerich has by now got a good grasp as to how he should properly direct a movie of this kind, and it's evident here that he does still have it. Whilst the visual effects are barely a scratch on the original (whose only faults are caused by dating and a mild CSO error) and the action, unfortunately, less than exciting, he at the very least can portray both the spectacle and the characters in the best light – no matter how bad both ultimately turn out to be. He's proven himself in the past, but this gig seems to be more of a reversed-repentance for the controversial Stonewall – itself a film highly disregarded by critics and audiences.
Supposedly leading the pack, judging from the film's large advertising campaign, is Liam Hemsworth's bland and disinterestedly reckless Jake Morrison. Male love interest to Maika Monroe and supposedly filled with charisma, his against-the-rules motif only grows more tiresome as the film slogs on, and is barely helped by a leading performance that irritates more than it ought to. Jeff Goldblum's returning character David Levinson is seemingly back at square one in terms of both his love life and his credibility, but at least Goldblum can charm with his Goldbluming; Jessie Usher as Will Smith's son is given a little too much hype as he ultimately plays second-fiddle to Hemsworth; Bill Pullman's former President is the Randy Quaid of this sequel, which is made evident early on; Monroe makes for an interesting performance but is sadly overshadowed by male testosterone; Sela Ward's newbie President barely does anything; William Fichtner proves himself to be quite dull when he isn't given a major villain role across a large amount of screen time; Judd Hirsch and his band of school kids could have easily been cut out of the entire film if not for the necessity of a school bus for the finale; Brent Spiner should have stayed dead; Angelababy's pilot would make for a strong character if she weren't enforced into an infatuation C-plot with Travis Tope's Charlie; Charlotte Gainsbourg is kinda there, as is unnecessary addition Nicolas Wright; and finally there's Oparei – home of a potentially strong sequel about a ground squadron of natives fighting the aliens but instead a standard performance that also offers little other than set-up.
Independence Day: Resurgence had the power to be a superb continuation to a blooming franchise, complete with a solid idea and a memorable batch of characters. Instead, it feels like a lazy rehash more in keeping with the assorted works of Kurtzman and Orci, with new characters being done poorly, returning characters put back to their original states (unless given the chance to evolve over the past two decades) and a story that just feels shoddy. Perhaps while we wait for the next film in 2036, they should spend more time actually solidifying the entire film than just what to do with Will Smith. 3/10.
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