Independence Day: Resurgence

I have a vague sort of history with 1996’s Independence Day. I begged my dear mother to take me to see it opening week, and she was kind enough to agree. Years later, it was one of the first movies — thanks to the film’s silly climax where the aliens are defeated because their spaceship is Windows compatible — that I realized was actively stupid. And I remember my mother bringing me home a copy of Starlog magazine that included an interview with writer-director Roland Emmerich and his co-writer Dean Devlin where they said they hated sequels and would never make one to Independence Day.

Now, after 20 years, a 10,000 BC (2008), a 2012 (2009) and an Anonymous (2011), it looks like Emmerich is ready for that Independence Day sequel. Thankfully, for the reboot-exhausted of us out there, this is a true sequel, one that takes place two decades after the events of the first film. There’s a fair amount of world-building at play here. With the alien menace defeated, the countries of Earth — finally with one common Other to go to war with — work together to defend one another. They’re flush with alien technology in the form of laser guns, spaceships and even a moon base (although people still drive station wagons that run on gasoline for some reason and use iPhones). The original’s protagonist, played then by Will Smith, has been killed offscreen in the meantime, while the bulk of the characters remain. There’s some thought put into this, with President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) tortured by psychic visions and scientist David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) put in charge of building up the planet’s defenses.

The plot of Independence Day: Resurgence kicks in when a 3,000-mile-wide alien mother ship arrives and parks — in a big display of CGI destruction — in the middle of the Atlantic. The film follows the basic arc of the original, with our eclectic cast of scientists, politicians and Air Force pilots racing against the clock to figure how to defeat this alien menace. Somehow, all of this is overtly sillier than Independence Day, with Emmerich awkwardly snaking his way through the exposition (most of which is told through dialogue) and the rest of the plot built upon ideas that make zero sense when closely examined, from either a scientific or logical standpoint.

This hardly matters, since this is an inherently dumb sort of movie, one that’s not supposed to be examined, but it does fail in some other ways. There doesn’t seem to be much scope this time around besides some giant monsters, and the film is in desperate need of a stronger lead. I’m no Will Smith fan, but he’s miles ahead charisma-wise when it comes to the one-two punch of horse tranquilizers that is Liam Hemsworth and Jessie T. Usher. There’s such a discrepancy between the younger cast and the veterans like Goldblum (who’s really just asked to be Goldblum, which is good enough) and Charlotte Gainsbourg (wait, why is Charlotte Gainsbourg in this?) that much of the film feels off-kilter. Add in Emmerich’s usual brainless, big-budget nonsense and you get a film that’s watchable, but little else. Rated PG – 13 for sequences of sci-fi action and destruction, and for some language.

Playing at Carmike 10, Carolina Cinemark, Epic of Hendersonville, Grail Moviehouse, Regal Biltmore Grande, UA Beaucatcher.