Review: Independence Day: Resurgence

After the events of the first film, Earth has integrated alien technology with Earth technology to some good advancements over the last 20 years since the attack. On the anniversary of said attack, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) now working as director of the space defence program, is called upon to investigate something interesting that has turned up in Africa: An alien ship, and it has just lit up. Meanwhile, a new alien ship has appeared near the moon, as encountered by the fly crew stationed on the moon. That crew includes hot-shot pilots and currently not friendly with one another Jake (Liam Hemsworth) and Dylan (Jesse T. Usher), the latter of whom is the son of Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) and the now late Steven (Will Smith, AKA Sir Not Appearing in This Film). And yes, Dylan does get his own groan-worthy ‘Welcome to Erf’-style corny catch phrase at one regrettable point. Jake’s girlfriend Patricia (Maika Monroe) used to be a flygirl too, but now devotes all of her time looking after her mentally troubled father…you may remember him as President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) from the first film. Unfortunately, the close encounter he had with the aliens last time has rendered the former President somewhat frazzled and plagued by terrifying visions. It’s not long before the Earth and its people are once again under alien attack, though this time we might just get a little extra help from an extra-terrestrial of a different, more benevolent kind. Sela Ward is the new American President, William Fichtner a General, Charlotte Gainsbourg plays a shrink who covers cases of supposed ET encounters, and Brent Spiner once again plays a frazzled scientist who has only just awoken from a 20 year coma.

When the original “Independence Day” finally came out in 1996, most of us were a bit underwhelmed. The teaser trailers were truly masterful and the film, although in my view an underrated and perfectly acceptable B-movie on an A-budget, just couldn’t quite measure up to the epic sci-fi classic we’d all imagined in our heads. It was a modern day “War of the Worlds”, before Steven Spielberg gave us the real modern day “War of the Worlds” about a decade later (which is an even more sadly underrated flick). It’s an OK movie, having seen it again not all that long ago, but suffered from the hype and way too much Will Smith gettin’ jiggy wit’ it to the detriment of audience investment in the central drama.

Now comes this 2016 follow-up which reunites the original writer-director team of Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin for the first time in ages. Previously they made “Universal Soldier”, the underrated “Stargate”, and the original “ID4” together, whilst Emmerich directed very entertaining flicks like “The Day After Tomorrow” and the very underrated “White House Down”. While a sequel was inevitable, I think the window for a sequel being anywhere near good probably should’ve closed about 10 years ago. Truth be told, I couldn’t imagine an “Independence Day” film sans Randy Quaid being better than one with Randy Quaid, who was clearly the first film’s highlight beyond the iconic alien imagery. At least, that was my thinking going into the film. Now having seen it…I can’t believe what I’m about to say: It’s actually a better film than the original, and not just because there’s no Will Smith acting flippant and spouting lame hippity hop catch phrases. His absence helps though.

I thought it was interesting that this one takes much more of a sci-fi route than the original by suggesting that Earth has reverse-engineered the alien technology and used it to enhance Earth technologies. Early on I felt like I was watching a late 90s-early 00s “Godzilla” movie, one of the ones with the whole G-Force thing. Or perhaps a little “Pacific Rim” inspired. In no way is this a criticism, as that kind of thing is pretty well up my alley. Meanwhile, Jeff Goldblum is back and early on is in pitch Jeff Goldblum idiosyncratic form. There’s two types of Jeff Goldblum: Serious but idiosyncratic or Funny but idiosyncratic. For the first half of the film, we get the funny “Jurassic Park”-type Goldblum. I love the guy in both of those types though, so that when he seems to switch into more serious mode after a while, it’s not a disappointment (though it’s unfortunate that for a lot of the film he’s saddled with the spectacularly overrated and irritatingly mannered Charlotte Gainsbourg who just plain rubs me the wrong way). He starts to get serious right around the time shit starts getting all Irwin Allen and disaster-y. Holy shit is the devastation and destruction in this impressive. For the most part I tend to enjoy these disaster movies, which this definitely is, even given how same-y they can get after a while. This one adds an extra layer of gravitational trickfuckery^TM that helps add an extra layer of danger to the film. Also adding danger? A returning character being killed off fairly early on. A character death that you might not actually expect, either. The aliens, meanwhile seem a bit more effective and advanced this time around, even as you might think us humans would be better prepared this time out. The first appearance of the alien mothership is also well-done, though obviously not as memorable as in the original.

If any of the cast stand out, this time it’s actually returning cast members Bill Pullman and Brent Spiner. Pullman is actually quite affecting, as his former President character has turned into the Randy Quaid character minus the laughs. You genuinely feel for this man who has clearly been changed by his experiences, and not really in a good way. Pullman can be quite an erratic actor, but he’s good here and probably better than last time where he was mostly all about that one big speech. Also, if you doubt me when I say he has the film’s equivalent of the Randy Quaid role, something he does 1 hour 18 minutes into the film seals it. As for the one and only Brent Spiner, his character has probably been morphed into the comedic side of the Randy Quaid character and is absolutely hilarious. I’ve always felt that Liam Hemsworth was the better and more charismatic of the three Hemsworth acting brothers, but I have to concede that unlike his blocked nose brother Chris (who was well-cast in “Rush”) he’s yet to validate my claim through his work. He has always been solid without standing out, and that proves true here as well. When I heard that Maika Monroe was being cast as the former President’s grown daughter I have to admit I was perplexed. Mae Whitman is now more recognisable than she was in 1996, so unless she didn’t want to reprise the role (and her friend Anna Kendrick’s online questioning of the recasting suggests Whitman probably wasn’t even approached) I see no reason to recast it. That said, whilst Monroe is a couple of years too young for the part, she does…something to me, and I prefer her to Whitman as an actress anyway. She’s fine and charismatic but is given very little to do overall. Sela Ward makes for a perfectly fine President as small as her role is, and she looks a helluva lot less gauzy and botox-y than in other recent appearances. I’ve always found her immensely appealing and an underrated talent. William Fichtner also does a solid job in a rare good guy role, as essentially the Robert Loggia character from the original. As for the late Loggia himself, in what was probably his last role…yeah. I’m not gonna cast any aspersions on the filmmakers for wheeling him in when his health was clearly failing him, as it may well have been something that he and/or his family were very happy to go along with. All I can say is that the Alzheimer’s afflicted veteran tough guy (one of cinema’s best-ever character actors) is a sad sight here. He doesn’t appear to be ‘all there’, and it’s a shame. He will be missed. On the plus side we get Judd Hirsch back as Goldblum’s always kvetching father. In addition to a funny scene where he’s selling books at the old folks’ home, he’s also along with Pullman the chief source of audience sympathy, or at least mine. You worry about him, and want him to make it to the end of the film like last time.

Action and FX-wise, the film’s a winner. Personally I think the screenplay is superior to the original as well. I may be in a very, very small minority on this but not only did I enjoy it, I think this one’s better than the original. By a pretty big margin, too.

Yeah, I’m probably getting flamed for this one but I think it’s really underrated and very entertaining. The screenplay is by the director, Devlin, James Vanderbilt (“Zodiac”, writer-director of “White House Down” and “Truth”), James A. Woods (a debutant) & Nicholas Wright (mostly known as an actor), and is based on a story by Devlin, Emmerich, Woods, and Wright. 

Rating: B-