‘Independence Day' Movie Review: So Boring Compared To The First One

“INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE” comes exactly 20 years after the first movie was released in 1996. The original was memorable and really shocked us with the destruction of well known international landmarks like the White House, Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House, etc. In the 20 years that passed since it was shown , we’ve been treated to other disaster movies showing the demolition of other familiar icons and places, from the Marvel flicks to “Men in Black”, “Transformers”, “X Men”, etc.

When it comes to Destruction-Demolition Porn now, nothing else can shock us anymore, honestly. So why do they still have to make a sequel of “Independence Day” when there’s nothing new to show? The U.S. now has a female president, and it’s not Hilary Clinton but Sela Ward. But the former president in the first movie, Bill Pullman, is back here and he’s having dreams about another alien attack. Also back is Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson, a scientist who’s an expert in global defense, with Judd Hirsch once again appearing as his dad who’s tasked to ferry a school bus full of children to safety.



Jeff had a good tandem with Will Smith as a hero pilot in the first movie. Obviously, Will turned down doing the sequel (he must have read the atrocious screenplay) so, in his stead, there’s a character who is supposed to be his son, played by new actor Jessie Usher who, unfortunately, is so devoid of any star quality

And there’s another hotshot fighter pilot, a white boy played by Liam Hemsworth, whose leading lady is the daughter of the ex-president, Maika Monroe, such a bland actress you’d wonder what the hunky Liam sees in her. Goldlum is also given his own unsavory love interest, Charlotte Gainsbourg as Dr. Catherine Marceau, a scientist who studies alien symbols. Alas, all of them are just wasted in this movie.

No less than five people (including original creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin) are credited in writing the script, but they miserably fail to provide coherence and wit to all the proceedings on screen with several narrative strands that don’t really go anywhere. They just made the alien spaceship now much bigger and more gigantic, enough to cover the whole Atlantic Ocean and it possesses its own field of gravity it can suck up entire cities. The plan of the aliens is to kill all humans and get our natural resources by drilling into Planet Earth’s very core.

The first movie was definitely much more fun, with witty lines and great special effects. It was imitated by a lot of other movies and now, the sequel doesn’t have any new thing to offer anymore. It’s just so boring. Our grandson fell asleep and I can’t blame him. This is about as big a fiasco as Emmerich and Devlin’s forgettable remake of “Godzilla”. Even the movie’s climax, showing the alien queen with octopus-like tentacles, being chased by fighter planes, fails to provide any real thrills, just like the movie’s strained attempts at humor. Ho-hum....