Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) Review

"They like to get the landmarks." 

Just in case one wasn’t enough, the creative minds behind invasion epic, Independence Day, are back with a new instalment: Independence Day: Resurgence. Directed by Roland Emmerich and set 20 years after the original events, the UN has created the Earth Space Defence (ESD), a type of early warning system, with the base in Area 51, while forces are assembled on the Moon, Mars and Rhea. Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) is a pilot serving in the ESD, whose fiancée is Patricia Whitmore (Maika Monroe), the former First Daughter and skilled aviator. Serving alongside Morrison is Dylan Dubrow-Hiller (Jessie Usher), the stepson of deceased war-hero Steven Hiller (Will Smith), and other pilots, Charlie Ritter (Travis Tope) and Rain Lao (Angelababy), the latter who is the niece of the Chinese Squadron Commander, Jiang Lao (Ng Chin Han). Familiar faces, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pulman), and Dr. Brakish Okun (Brent Spiner) are back, as the scientist/computer expert, former President and excitable formerly comatose scientist, respectively.

In this war between alien invaders and earthlings, it’s unclear as to what sort of tone the film is going for. The first half of the film is overwhelmingly ‘doomsday’ and severe, but quickly migrates into the galaxy of comedy, with some random ramblings from characters, pointless technical jargon (seems to be a staple of this type of movie) and uneven segments of humour that detract attention away from the clearly colossal devastation the entire world is experiencing. One minute, you’re watching the entire London Bridge come crashing down, killing millions of people, and the next you’re watching Dr. Okun running around without any pants on, spouting intelligible nonsense, doing his best Rick coma awakening impression from The Walking Dead. Even the characters themselves seem to have no idea what direction the movie is going in, so these disastrous images will often be spliced in between scenes of David and Julius having a tiff or moment, or the latter making some school friends and proceeding to lead a bus full of minors into a war zone. Logic; no one’s got any. Even the scene where the alien is chasing after the school bus is so bad, it’s actually hilarious – and once you accept the bizarreness of everything, you might find some enjoyment in this film as a sort of parody of itself.

However, there are certain elements of Resurgence that are unforgiveable: characterisation, for instance. The film does its best to make you feel – in this case, anything – so, for what can only be presumed as dramatic effect, goes to great lengths to kill off family members of main characters in the most ludicrous and haphazard fashions. As if this wasn’t enough, it then proceeds to have the affecting family members spend about 30 seconds looking sad at a photograph and then moving on as if nothing has happened. Usher’s Dylan is a victim of this, alongside Rain and Patricia, although all put in a valiant effort to make their familial losses seem convincing, but they are not given nearly enough material or written dialogue to work with. Ultimately, they are forced to go into Twilight-mode, communicating only in solemn stares, with the occasional solitary tear chucked in for good measure.

Unsurprisingly, Goldblum’s David provides rare moments of joy and actual intrigue, as Goldblum showcases his charismatic ability and commanding screen presence, even when given very little to actually work with. Meanwhile, Liam Hemsworth is actually a rare delightful addition, adding a bit of spark and determination to a film that seems uncharacteristically lazy. Unfortunately, all characters suffer from cheesy, superfluous dialogue that adds nothing to the production other than taking away valuable minutes of your time, and is predictable and inundated with 4th of July puns.

Whilst there are few redeeming factors of the film, it is not wholly ‘average’, and the visual effects and technological advancements are used to the film’s advantage, with space scenes reminiscent of Guardians of the Galaxy or The Force Awakens; you can tell this is where a large amount of the budget has been spent, and it pays off. As monstrous spaceships collide with historical landmarks you can’t help but feel in awe at the mass and craftsmanship of this spectacle, and this may be useful to distract your attention away from the content of the film.

Ultimately, whilst Resurgence isn’t a “bad” film, per se, it’s just unequivocally average, and that’s not something any blockbuster should strive to be, especially when it has such acting talent and financial capital available to it. This film could be considered to be a combination of good movies and styles, if these ‘good films’ were sucked into an alien gravitational field and then the broken, leftover pieces fell back to earth, and were subsequently haphazardly super-glued back together. It’s sort of the same product, though, just poorly made and lacking any of the original’s charm.