Independence Day: Resurgence Review

Big, loud, and dumb, with dumb characters doing dumb things, Independence Day: Resurgence is the (long waited?) sequel to the 1996 hit, augmenting the career of Will Smith and cementing Jeff Goldblum as a bonafide unlikely action hero. Twenty years later, Will Smith is too expensive, and Mr. Ian Malcolm is, well, no longer staring in big-budget films, for better or worse. This movie proves why he should be, though.

The film, who's plot is an excuse for excessive CGI-explosions and chase sequences, is serviceable, especially when the original's was nothing unique. Among the returning characters are David Levinson, his dad (Judd Hirsch), the now former president of the United States (Bill Pullman), and the wacko scientist who is in need of a nice comb or hair cut, Dr. Okun (Brent Spiner). There are others, some played by the same actor from the first, some by a different actor, but the film is more interested in its brand-new characters.

Liam Hemsworth, the less famous brother of Chris Hemsworth, plays our hero here, who spends most of his time looking smug and yelling "wahoo" when flying his aircraft. Lacking any of the nuance or subtlety of the former film's hero, it proves that Thor's younger brother in real life, and his younger brother in the Thor movies, is little more than a pretty face with a distinct chin. Jessie Usher plays Will Smith's son, looking the part, sure, and outside a few surprisingly calm moments, tries far too hard impersonating the wonderful actor. Two other young actors are involved, rounding out our pentamerous group of generic youngsters. One is a boy, and the other is a girl; the boy likes the girl and flirts and asks her out; she says "no;" then the aliens die, and she says "yes;" oh, spoiler alert.

But little time is spent wasted on either the old or new characters, and for good reason, because the plot allows the camera to zip from explosion to explosion, introduction of a returning character, funny line, then explosion then explosion. Its breakneck speed leaves you little to think of the many mistakes, or at least, oddities, because it is either think or wait in suspense for Jeff or Brent's characters to say something goofy. The latter is the most fun.

The finale, ripped right out of James Cameron's Aliens, complete with a certain "mother" character, is fun and spectacularly stupid, a sort of SyFy Original Movie with big name stars onscreen alongside the silly looking monster. But all of the action is filmed with fluidity, slow camera pan allows for you to see what is happening, save for a few egregious moments of quick cuts and pans.

When the film, who is shorter than the original, and certainly feels like it, comes to an end, and our new characters walk into the camera ripped right out of the first movie, which, honestly, ripped it right out of Top Gun, but there is a distinct lack of cigars. I'm a little disappointed they weren't "vaping" here.