Independence Day: Resurgence

[Dan]

Fox surprised folks today with an unexpected launch of the first trailer to Independence Day: Resurgence, the sequel to the mega-hit from 1996. Director/Producer/Writer Roland Emmerich and Producer/Writer Dean Devlin reunite (they haven't worked together since 2000's The Patriot) along with original stars Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, Vivica A. Fox, and Brent Spiner. New to the cast include Liam Hemsworth, Jessie Usher (taking over the role of Dylan Dubrow-Hiller from Ross Bagley), Maika Monroe (taking over the role of Patricia Whitmore from Mae Whitman), Sela Ward, and William Fichtner.

Release date is June 24, 2016, days shy of both July 4th and the 20th anniversary of the first film's release.

[EricJ]

Thus spoiling the Jurassic World/Mad Max theory that sequels that take 20 years to finally reach the screen are "retro 90's fun".
(As a matter of fact, Dean Devlin hasn't worked at all on the big screen since 2000's "The Patriot"...)

The absence of Will Smith, however, is conspicuous and appreciated.

[Dan]

(As a matter of fact, Dean Devlin hasn't worked at all on the big screen since 2000's "The Patriot"...)

Um, actually he has. Just nothing on the grand scale like Emmerich. Devlin produced Cellular (the hostage thriller with Chris Evans, Jason Statham, and Kim Basinger) and Flyboys (the World War I drama with James Franco). He also produced shows for TNT such as Leverage and The Librarian series.

[Vernadyn]

No David Arnold composing the score=what minuscule interest I had going out the window. Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander's scores for previous Emmerich films have all been bland, so I'm not expecting much from this one. Say what you will about Stargate, the original Independence Day, Godzilla, and The Patriot, but they all had sensational music. (Arnold did the first three and none other but John Williams did the last.)

[Dacey]

Maika Monroe (taking over the role of Patricia Whitmore from Mae Whitman)

Which, unfortunately, is probably only because Mae Whitman doesn't look like Maika Monroe.

Still, trailer is VERY cool. Love the use of Bill Pullman's speech over it.

[Dacey]

Man, I really, really wanted to love this one. The original (along with National Treasure) has become something of a 4th of July tradition at my house, the sort of grand event film that truly feels like an "event" that Hollywood doesn't seem to make very often anymore.

Too bad the "sequel" is nothing but set-up for an Independence Day 3 which will never get made.

Oh, there's some fun to be had, sure. Jeff Goldblum is still enjoyable, as always, as are Brent Spiner and Judge Hircsh. But even though the movie is full of action, there are very few action sequences. Those shots of worldwide destruction from the trailers are pretty much the only ones you get in the actual movie, and many scenes seem to end before they even get a chance to begin. That shot of the President shooting at the aliens in the preview? Well, that's the whole scene! We are later told she "apparently didn't make it" and that's the last we ever hear or see of her (yes, no one seems to care at all that the President of the United States is presumed to be dead). That shot of Goldblum dodging alien fire on the moon? The next shot is him safely hopping aboard a spaceship. The film is full of scenes/situations like this.

Then there's Bill Pullman, who everyone treats like he's gone insane for believing that the aliens are coming back (the President actually orders for him to delay his press conference on the issue because she doesn't want anything to get in the way of the celebration of the 20 year anniversary of beating the aliens last time). Why is everyone treating him like he's the Randy Quaid character in the first film when everyone knows that aliens not only exist, but that they nearly destroyed the entire planet?!?!

Oh, and don't get me going on the re-casting of Mae Whitman with Maika Monroe, which seems to have been done only because Whitman doesn't have the so-called "sex appeal" that Monroe does (her final scene in the film has her in a tank top drenched in sweat). That's despicable, of course, but seems to be the only reason behind it. Will Smith's character being dead? It's maybe mentioned once. No one seems to care. Jeff Goldblum's wife? Never seen, and never mentioned.

I really would've been fine if the movie had just been a more or less straightforward remake of the original, as lame as that may sound. But it turns out the aliens aren't actually coming back to Earth for revenge, as the trailers indicate, they are coming here because...they are after another advanced race of aliens who knows how to destroy them. And they wanted to come to Earth and tell us how to do so, but the idiotic President decided to just blindly shoot their ship down. But, no matter, fortunately these aliens aren't the grudge-holding type, and also know how to communicate with us via...a giant telephone ball? Anyway, the movie abruptly transforms from Roland Emmerich's Independence Day into Roland Emmerich's Godzilla when the Alien Queen--who is gigantic--shows up at Area 51 to try to collect the ball phone. Or something. None of it really matters, though, because again, nothing is resolved, and everything is just set-up for a third film (which, again, will never get made with how this one's been performing) which promises to send everyone to outer space!

I could go on, but I don't want to spoil the movie anymore than I already have. But while last year's Jurassic World was a fun and exciting tribute to the first film while still being able to breathe on its own, this movie...isn't.

[Randall]

ID:R met my very low expectations. It had a little fun, but was rather a mess. And nearly boring, at that. Boring and ridiculous.

Maika was a poor choice. Not tough enough for action, and frankly not pretty enough to serve as a "babe" if that was the intention. If she was really cast for her looks, then I'd say that was a fail. Just go with a strong actor, and in this case one who seems like she could fight. I couldn't figure out why she was cast, as she brought nothing to it. When she screamed in her girly voice while shooting down aliens, it was laughable. No charisma, either, just like the other young actors. But at least Liam Hemsworth and Jessie Usher look like they could actually fight, though I missed Will Smith's charm. Thank goodness for Jeff Goldblum for bringing a little presence. Judd Hirsch was welcome, though his storyline with the kids got silly. Silly is okay, though, as ID the First was certainly silly. But no one was saving this turkey.

[Ben]

Shorter than the first but felt longer, and twice as big but felt smaller.

Unintentionally hilarious, though, from the bad exposition every time a character walked in, to the embarrassing performances. Charlotte Gainsbourge sounded like Dory speaking Whale the whole time!

[ShyViolet]

What if President Whitmore gave his famous speech today?

/one profanity

https://youtu.be/0q1GetC83ec

[EricJ]

Good, but not as funny as when the movie came out in '96, and sour old Bob "Where's the Outrage?" Dole was losing double-digit poll numbers as the Republican to Bill Clinton's re-election (and the Bill Clinton era is probably one of the historical-zeitgeist reasons we liked the first movie so much, that you can't make happen again).
And Bill Maher summed up the ridiculousness of both the movie and Dole's grumpy get-angry campaign with "What if Dole gave the president's speech?":

"I know we've got a lot of people in the media, trying to scare us with stories about aliens with death rays--I'm not going to get into the arguments about death rays, gonna leave that to the scientists. All I know is, this wouldn't have happened if the Star Wars Missile System had been in place. I voted for that on the Senate floor, the vote was 84 against, maybe some of you remember...Well, we don't have that now. Now we've got the aliens coming in--And when they do get here, I know they're going to tax-and-spend just like the Democrats did for eight years..."

[jislein]

Good, but not as funny as when the movie came out in '96, and sour old Bob "Where's the Outrage?" Dole was losing double-digit poll numbers as the Republican to Bill Clinton's re-election (and the Bill Clinton era is probably one of the historical-zeitgeist reasons we liked the first movie so much, that you can't make happen again).
And Bill Maher summed up the ridiculousness of both the movie and Dole's grumpy get-angry campaign with "What if Dole gave the president's speech?":

"I know we've got a lot of people in the media, trying to scare us with stories about aliens with death rays--I'm not going to get into the arguments about death rays, gonna leave that to the scientists. All I know is, this wouldn't have happened if the Star Wars Missile System had been in place. I voted for that on the Senate floor, the vote was 84 against, maybe some of you remember...Well, we don't have that now. Now we've got the aliens coming in--And when they do get here, I know they're going to tax-and-spend just like the Democrats did for eight years..."

Pretty cool and awesome. Love this.