"Independence Day: Resurgence" is the sequel 20 years in the making to the classic action flick, "Independence Day," where Aliens attack planet Earth and it's up to humanity to fight back. This sequel sees Jeff Goldblum return as David Levinson and Bill Pullman return as Thomas Whitmore, former president of the United States, which is nice, but unfortunately, you won't be seeing Will Smith in this movie (he opted to be in "Suicide Squad" instead). The new cast members feature Liam Hemsworth, William Fichtner, Jessie T. Usher, and Maika Monroe.
First, let me say that I liked the original "Independence Day" a lot. It's about as silly as an apocalyptic movie can be, and it's all the better for it. Will Smith punching a live alien in the face and saying "Welcome to earth" is about as ridiculous as it gets, but it's something most people remember loving from that movie. You also can't forget maybe the greatest movie speech of all time from Bill Pullman. If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest looking it up on YouTube. Now, onto the sequel. The original was everything you could expect from a '90s action movie, and we love it for it. Now, onto the sequel.
Making a good, cheesy action movie is hard to do. When you decide to go that route with a movie, it's a very thin line between good and bad. It takes the right script, and great casting. I don't know if people would have loved the first "Independence Day" so much had it not been for Pullman, Goldblum, and Will Smith really being perfect choices for their roles. This movie, unfortunately, failed on that level with its new characters and really disappointed me. Liam Hemsworth is definitely the biggest name of the newcomers, and he's not a bad actor, but I did not buy into his character very much in this movie. When he's talking to people one on one, he does a pretty good job, but put him in the field where he is tasked with equipping memorable one-liners, I felt like he really fell flat. Jessie T. Usher was cast to play Will Smith's son, and he was supposed to essentially replace that character. He's fine, but he is nothing compared to Will Smith in terms of his charisma and action chops, but then again, who really is? Goldblum and Pullman both do pretty well in their reprised roles, but Pullman isn't in the movie that much to begin with.
This movie was also kind of a mess plot-wise. There are a lot of character motivations in this movie that go totally unresolved as if the director just forgot about them, and there are quite frankly characters in this movie that just don't really need to be there. It honestly kind of felt like, at times, plot points was made up as they went along. The battle between humanity and the aliens is honestly what saves this movie from being a disaster in my eyes. The invasion itself is pretty cool, and the battle had me pretty entertained from start to finish, but even then sometimes I was really confused about some things and some elements just didn't make sense.
The first "Independence Day" was all about hope, action and adventure, and it was great. "Independence Day: Resurgence" tried its best to keep that formula--this movie isn't doomy and gloomy, thankfully--but ultimately a sloppy script and underwhelming performances hamper the movie from what could have been a really fun sequel.
Final Grade: D+
