We always knew they were coming back. After INDEPENDENCE DAY redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global catastrophe on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens' advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.
© Fox
Rating: PG13 (for sequences of sci-fi action and destruction, and for some language)
Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Roland Emmerich
Written By: Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods, Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich, Jamie Vanderbilt, James Vanderbilt
In Theatres: Jun 24, 2016 wide release
Runtime: 119 minutes
Rating: PG13 (for sequences of sci-fi action and destruction, and for some language)
Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Roland Emmerich
Written By: Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods, Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich, Jamie Vanderbilt, James Vanderbilt
In Theatres: Jun 24, 2016 wide release
Runtime: 119 minutes
Aw, man.
I so wanted to like this, you guys! The blockbusters most people have been looking forward to this year seem to be Ghostbusters and Suicide Squad, but, for me, it was Independence Day: Resurgence. I love a good, big budget, disaster film with city-wide destruction, yet also some sass and humour. Twenty years ago Independence Day nailed those criteria, so you can imagine my hopes for the new one.
I gotta tell ya, I'm so bummed.
The original 1996 film, Independence Day, was epic for its time. The sheer size of the spaceships that blotted out the sky took your breath away (back then).
The characters were interesting, witty and though the subject matter was serious –
it was potentially the end of the world, after all – the characters didn't necessarily take themselves too seriously.
Though the mothership in Resurgence is supposedly 3,000 miles long, when it took up the breadth of the cinema screen, I was left unimpressed. I practically shrugged and said 'meh'. In 2016, we've seen it all before, over and over again. Mammoth, technologically sophisticated spaceships don't impress anymore.
It would have been alright if the story line had been fresh, but it was same ol' same ol', with fighter jets taking down spaceships and men in jumpsuits hollering like bros, fist pumping the air and patting themselves on the back when they make things explode. The patriotism of Independence Day isn't what brought audiences – at least not international ones – to the original. It's something we just grin and bear as a cheesy device Hollywood seems to love to overuse.
Had the acting been nuanced, it would have been fine, instead there were wooden performances clunkily delivering lines of cheestastic dialogue, so much so that I sorely wish the script had gone through another pass.
Independence Day: Resurgence tried to pull at the heartstrings with a melodramatic score, underpinning heartfelt moments between underdeveloped characters not given enough screen time together to make the audience care, not even when about already familiar characters from twenty years ago. Jokes fell flat and the charisma and charm Will Smith brought to the leading role in its predecessor film were sorely missed.
Several times throughout, I had the eye rolls and it makes me so disappointed.
But, there was one super-shining light in Independence Day: Resurgence.
I so wanted to like this, you guys! The blockbusters most people have been looking forward to this year seem to be Ghostbusters and Suicide Squad, but, for me, it was Independence Day: Resurgence. I love a good, big budget, disaster film with city-wide destruction, yet also some sass and humour. Twenty years ago Independence Day nailed those criteria, so you can imagine my hopes for the new one.
I gotta tell ya, I'm so bummed.
The original 1996 film, Independence Day, was epic for its time. The sheer size of the spaceships that blotted out the sky took your breath away (back then).
The characters were interesting, witty and though the subject matter was serious –
it was potentially the end of the world, after all – the characters didn't necessarily take themselves too seriously.
Though the mothership in Resurgence is supposedly 3,000 miles long, when it took up the breadth of the cinema screen, I was left unimpressed. I practically shrugged and said 'meh'. In 2016, we've seen it all before, over and over again. Mammoth, technologically sophisticated spaceships don't impress anymore.
It would have been alright if the story line had been fresh, but it was same ol' same ol', with fighter jets taking down spaceships and men in jumpsuits hollering like bros, fist pumping the air and patting themselves on the back when they make things explode. The patriotism of Independence Day isn't what brought audiences – at least not international ones – to the original. It's something we just grin and bear as a cheesy device Hollywood seems to love to overuse.
Had the acting been nuanced, it would have been fine, instead there were wooden performances clunkily delivering lines of cheestastic dialogue, so much so that I sorely wish the script had gone through another pass.
Independence Day: Resurgence tried to pull at the heartstrings with a melodramatic score, underpinning heartfelt moments between underdeveloped characters not given enough screen time together to make the audience care, not even when about already familiar characters from twenty years ago. Jokes fell flat and the charisma and charm Will Smith brought to the leading role in its predecessor film were sorely missed.
Several times throughout, I had the eye rolls and it makes me so disappointed.
But, there was one super-shining light in Independence Day: Resurgence.
Enormous in scale, the mothership had its own gravity pull, so on its descent skyscrapers, aeroplanes, cars, ships, houses, people and even oceans were sucked toward the sky.
It looked pretty freaking cool.
So yes, for some of it, Independence Day: Resurgence satisfied the basic necessity of an action blockbuster on the big screen: to look cool. But sadly, that was about it.
It looked pretty freaking cool.
So yes, for some of it, Independence Day: Resurgence satisfied the basic necessity of an action blockbuster on the big screen: to look cool. But sadly, that was about it.
Images via Fox.