Independence Day: Resurgence

Independence Day: Resurgence is the sequel to the 1996 summer blockbuster. Where the previous film was a fun and silly movie that invited audiences to shut off their brains and enjoy the action, this sequel feels rushed and lacks all of the charm of the original. The dialogue is laughable, the characters are underdeveloped, and the tone is all over the map.

Twenty years after the events of the Independence Day the world has changed drastically. Victory over the alien invaders has led to near world peace and reverse engineering of the alien technology has led to a revolution in mechanics. Having received the previous invader’s distress call, the alien menace has returned with new weapons searching for an object that could lead to their undoing.

The concept of a peaceful world with almost futuristic technology was very cool. Unfortunately, the idea is squandered since the characters are not well developed and have dialogue that could be found in a comic book. Will Smith is greatly missed, as they seem to attempt to fill the void with characters we do not care about and comic relief that is not funny. The deaths in this movie lack any gravitas and have not earned the dramatic mood they attempted to achieve.

There should have been a twist ending to this movie where it turns out it was all in the mind of a child playing with toys. Instead the audience is treated to sequel bait that nobody could possibly care about with the exception of the actors needing the paycheck. It has all the touches of a Roland Emmerich without any charm and could have been a direct to video movie. The basic concept and some of the effects are fun to watch but without solid acting, a story, or even decent dialogue the film feels like a hollow cash-in.