| Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) | |
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Rating: 5.2/10 (188,055 votes) Director: Roland Emmerich Writer: Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods, Dean Devlin Stars: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman Runtime: 120 min Rated: PG-13 Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi Released: 24 Jun 2016 |
| Plot: Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind's new space defenses be enough? | |
Hard to believe that it has been twenty years since Independence Day was released. Whilst you could strip the film down critically and write it off as terrible – the corny dialogue, the cheesy moments, the hammy acting, and the cliche filled plot – the film still holds some charm, and stands up well alongside blockbusters today. You see, over the bloated run time, that film had a heart, a human element, and a sense of fun throughout. It knew exactly what it was, and played well to the strengths, with a tongue planted firmly in its cheek. Whilst the impact of that film is somewhat lessened on the small screen (especially in the air attack moments), it is still an undeniable pleasure to revisit the film.
Sadly the same will never be said of this sequel, and it was actually a chore to sit through once!
It is twenty years since the events of the first film, and humanity has lived in a united peace ever since, developing technology by analysing the alien technology, and we have now colonised the moon as well as explored further into our solar system, setting up defences in case of a future attack. So it is that when a strange vessel appears on the moon, the US president (who we can only assume is in charge of the whole planet now given she has the authorisation to make decisions that affect us all) issues the command to destroy it. Geoff Goldblum, returning to his role as David Levinson, thinks it’s a bad idea and hitches a ride to the moon to examine the wreckage, recovering its passenger. You see, the vessel was from a race that was coming to help us face a greater menace, which, right on cue, appears. A giant mothership that drops itself onto the Earth and prepares to destroy us all. Can humanity fight this new menace, and the giant alien queen that occupies the ship? Can the day be saved once more? Trust me, as the film hits he half way point you won’t really care.
Seen it before moments don’t help things much.
Gone is the heart that the earlier film had. Instead we have some of the old cast returning, some forcibly added because Roland Emmerich clearly misunderstood that a small cameo that entertains doesn’t mean we want more of the character (yes, Brent Spiner, I’m talking about you), as well as a bunch of bland stereotypes who we don’t spend enough time with to really give a damn about. We also have the obligatory destruction of landmarks, here done in a mothership landing scene that goes on far too long, and also leaves you wondering why, if the mothership flying around our planet can cause so much destruction, why did it bother landing? It could have simply continued flying around the planet, wiped out all humanity, then landed to drill to the core or something. That scene is then followed by a variety of combat scenes, we laser bolts flying everywhere, to such a degree that you become numb to it all. There’s no sense of danger or risk in any of the sequences, no build up, no drama, and no reason to care what happens.It has been found that people respond at different doses, and so doses can be increased to help you reach cialis buy on line your wellness goal. Apart from curing hyperglycemia, intake of aloe Vera juice safely lowers triglyceride levels in a short span discount viagra uk of time. It was first researched and introduced by generic super viagra GlaxoSmithKline. These all points clarify that fuming tobacco viagra without side effects plays a major role to affect men’s sexual health.
Half way through the film I found myself trying to convince myself that there was something good in the film…but there wasn’t. Goldblum sleepwalks through the whole thing, as do the rest of the returning cast such as Bill Pullman as ex-president Whitmore, here laboured with a daft plot idea that he now has a mental link with the aliens. The new cast have little to do aside from shout and shoot, and the talents of people such as Liam Hemsworth and Jessie Usher (if talent is the right word) are squandered with uninspiring characters. Without that heart, without that fun element, we have another dour attempt by Emmerich to craft a disaster movie, but ending with a movie disaster.
Slightly amusing in the first film, terribly annoying in this one. When a cameo becomes a main character, it never goes well.
It has been said by some that this is a return to form for Emmerich, and indeed it is. However it is a return to the form seen when he made Godzilla, which is not a good thing to compare against. In addition the final moments of the film unnecessarily set up a sequel with some of the most contrived exposition ever, leaving you hoping for the film to bomb in the same way Terminator Genisys or Fant4stic did, so we don’t have to suffer anymore. The sooner films stop trying to set up franchises, and just focus on making good standalone films the better. Heck, the Marvel films manage it well enough, using subtle nods or post credit stings to link the films together, but allowing each film to work as its own beast. If only other films would stop making the last piece of dialogue be a direct set up to the next film.
Independence Day Regurgitation Resurgence is a dour mess of a film, and evidence that sometimes you should just leave nostalgia in the past.
