Independence Day was a giant hit upon it's relese, grossing over $300 million upon it's domestic release. It helped launch Will Smith into movie fame after Fresh Prince ended. It had groundbreaking effects. It had a kickass speech. And it had audiences mesmerized by how cool it was to see international landmarks destroyed before international landmarks actually started getting destroyed. After 20 years, of Roland Emmerich trying to get a sequel off the ground, it's finally arrived. And it's got everything people loved about the first film. Except Will Smith. So does this sequel live up to the legacy left behind from the first film?
CONS
I'm just going to go ahead and talk about the big problem with this movie. The characters. This movie has too many damn characters. I wouldn't mind a lot of characters, but a good number of them are either pointless, annoying, or both. Let's review. Liam Hemsworth has a best friend who's hitting on this female asian pilot. The pilot is pointless and the friend is annoying. Okun is gay now. His boyfriend is pointless. There's an accountant who keeps following Jeff Goldblum. He's pointless AND annoying. Judd Hirsch is back. He's pointless. He finds a bunch of kids, They're pointless AND annoying. The list goes on and on and on.
What's worse is that a lot of the characters that DO have a point are just bland. Liam Hemsworth and the adult versions of Patricia and Dylan from the first films are just boring. Lanford is the president... and that's it. Jeff Goldblum's wife died, so now he has a new love interest. Not only does the romance feel forced and is only brought up once or twice, but she's just "the scientist". There are a few characters I like, but we'll get to that later.
Like most films like this, the first act let's us get to know the characters before the big disaster happens. However, since most of the characters are either pointless, annoying, bland, or all three, the film's first act is excruciating. It is painful to watch a lot of these characters and you're just waiting for these characters to be blown up by aliens. And when the aliens show up, it just becomes a mess. The movie keeps throwing stuff at you, which I can't talk about without spoiling things. But a lot of the stuff is either pointless or they try to force in setup for a third film.
The action scenes aren't very good either. A lot of them feel like they're copying the first film. Like let's destroy some landmarks. Let's have an alien wrap around someone and press their face against a window and talk through them. Let's have another airfight. The only differnce with these is that the humans are more high-tech. The only action scene that feels different from the first film is the final action scene. Which was actually kinda cool. Speaking of cool, I have some nice things to say about this.
PROS
There are some characters I like. Whitmore, David, and Okun are all back and they're still enjoyable. Some of the new characters like, Joshua Adams, William Fichner's character, or Umbutu, a warlord helping David, are actually pretty good. Also, the acting is pretty good. Brett Spiner, Bill Pullman, and Jeff Goldblum are still good. William Fichner does a good job. Even the actors playing the lesser characters do good jobs.
The effects are good, too. Which is a blessing, considering there's a lot more, with humans having alein tech,now. The design and effects of the aliens are great. The ships are cool. The effects on the action scenes make them watchable. They're actually some of the best effects of the year. Too bad they're in one of the worst movies this year.
VERDICT:
Independence Day: Resurgence may have a few likeable characters and some fantastic effects, but most of the characters are terrible, the action scenes, with the exception of one, are generic, and the plot is just one big mess. Do yourself a favor and skip this movie, unless you're such a big fan of the first film that you MUST see it. But at that point, just wait for it's home release. This film feels like the sci-fi equivalent to Dumb & Dumber To. By that, I mean the first film was a dumb enjoyable 90s flick that everyone loved. But 20 years of waiting for a sequel results in a painful result not worth the wait. This movie sets up a potential third film. I don't think I can handle it if it's as bad as this film.
3/10