Independence Day: Resurgence
Dir: Roland Emmerich
2016
**
Of all the possible sequels to films I have loved growing up, Independence Day is probably the only I've always wanted but never expected. 1996's Independence Day is far from perfect and there is much about it that I loath but it wouldn't be fair of me to refer to it as a guilty pleasure, it's a brilliant blockbuster and the special effects are still good today. It's incredibly watchable and I haven't tired of watching it every so often since it came out twenty years ago. Independence Day: Resurgence had pretty big boots to fill but unfortunately, after sitting down to watch it on the day of its release (in an eerily empty cinema), I couldn't help but wonder if this was really the best scenario they could come up with after nearly two decades? I liked the set up very much, since the invasion of 1996 the planet has unified and has worked together using the alien technology left behind to create a prosperous and flourishing society. They built weapons, spacecraft, advance planetary defenses - the works. There are no more wars and everyone lives in peace. The people of Earth got pretty lucky last time round in defeating the aliens, chances are they probably would come back again and this time with virus protection, so the planet is ready and poised for battle at any given time. At least, they think they are. This is where the story falls a little flat in my opinion. Everything is rushed and happens at the same time, we see how certain other societies have studied, fought and used the alien technologies but we see very little of what the larger, more powerful countries have done. Suddenly the film turns into a very poor episode of the X-Files and justifies the ridiculous by simply saying 'because telepathy'. Certain characters are brought back and thrown away for no real reason, others are brought back to life with no explanation and some of the original actors should have stayed away as Will Smith did. The first film was silly, cheesy, ridiculous but a lot of fun. Resurgence is all that but without the same level of fun as the first. The special effects are fantastic but I didn't think any of the scenes were particularly memorable. The first film is famous for the White House being blown to pieces, for the giant UFO entering into the atmosphere about New York City and the big air fight above Area 51. Resurgence has none of that, we see a little bit of London getting smashed but it's never clear how or why they were in London or how they got back to America's west coast so quickly. I suppose we saw all of the planets other famous landmarks get smashed in the last film, but in one incredibly headache-inducing scene, Jeff Goldblum's character states the obvious and quips 'They do like to get the landmarks' just as we see Tower Bridge collapse on itself in what has to be the years stupidest script so far - and there have been quite a few in 2016. Self-referencing should be avoid always but especially when your film is essentially an upgraded UFO b-movie. I want to give the film three stars but I just can't do it, I can forgive the poor structure, the horrible editing and pointless characters (seriously, what was the point of Nicolas Wright's character?) but I just can't get past the horribly similar ending and the big (not to mention stupid) rip off of James Cameron' Aliens. The story did open up the possibility of a different and interesting direction for the franchise to go down towards the end and it got my attention but please Mr. Emmerich, and please Hollywood in general, get some new ideas and stop churning out the same old stuff, its just not as good as it was first time round.