Independence Day: Resurgence
Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind’s new space defenses be enough?..
Cast
Liam Hemsworth – Jake Morrison
Jeff Goldblum – David Levinson
Bill Pullman – Thomas J. Whitmore
Maika Monroe – Patricia Whitmore
Jessie Usher – Dylan Dubrow-Hiller
Brent Spiner – Dr. Brakish Okun
Judd Hirsch – Julius Levinson
Invisible Visuals
I was so excited to see Independence Day: Resurgence. I’d seen the trailer with London’s Tower Bridge being smashed up by a space craft, as well as other landmarks along the River Thames being whacked as the sky turned firey dark orange.. it looked incredible. I couldn’t wait to indulge in these visuals.
..in just under 1 minute of visuals.
That’s right, if you’re looking forward to a hearty dose of spectacular graphics – don’t. London appears, gets smashed, and vanishes in just under 55-60 seconds. Added to this is the fact the scenes are too dark and animated to see much. For how much you do see, the graphics were good – but the scenes happen too fast to absorb it all.
Total disappointment on this scale.
Towards the end of Independence Day: Resurgence the whole thing becomes like Star Wars. Space crafts and jets swooping through skies, lasers being fired back and forth, aliens invading Earth, homes being destroyed.. none of it is stuff you’ve never seen before. In fact, 90% of this movie echoes Star Wars, Guardians of The Galaxy, and many other sci-fi adventures from the last few years. Not a lot about this movie is refreshing unfortunately, and my excitement concerning the visuals was firmly shat on.
Homosexual Extraterrestrial
I was baffled by the undercurrent of homosexuality during Independence Day: Resurgence. The producers use a few male actors to ooze homosexual tendencies during the movie, but the thing is – they just weren’t funny. Or inspiring. And came across as unnecessary. In fact, it made me cringe to watch one of the lead characters declare his affection for his doctor.
Dr. Brackish Okun (Spiner) wakes up after being comatose for the last twenty years following a Harvester’s attack. And it was brilliant to see the old boy back on screen; very rarely do sequels bring back the original cast, so it heightened the atmosphere nicely by having Spiner return as the unkempt doctor. Points scored here for authenticity.
Points lost for what came next..
During one of the final scenes when the battle between man and alien is in full force, Dr. Okun is saved from an explosion by his ‘colleague’ Dr. Milton Isaacs (John Storey). There is a brief pause as the pair lay on the floor holding each other, before they get up and Dr. Okun delivers a “you saved me” speech. He does this as the men stand looking dearly into each other’s eyes.
I blinked.
Looked slightly to my left.
Right.
Back to the screen.
“surely not…” I thought. And then the pair’s conversation continued with them declaring their support for each other, with the line from Dr. Isaacs, “..who’s going to put your pants on for you?”.
I blinked again.
What in THE FUCK was this?
I have absolutely no issue with gay characters being gay myself, but there’s a time and a place – and this was far from it. What made it even more irrelevant was how the men’s affections were displayed for a matter of seconds, before the movie continued to the next scene like none of it ever happened.
And then in the final few moments of the movie, two soldiers (not the two doctors) stand looking relieved at the end of the human-alien battle. One turns to the other and says, “..you saved my life”. The other stares into his eyes deeply.
All this homosexual undercurrent was completely unnecessary and just plain bizarre. Perhaps some of the tentacle-sucking tendencies of the more fruity of alien had rubbed off on a few of the humans, who knows. But Christ knows why director Roland Emmerich decided to spice things up with a bit of ‘pink pepper’.
Acting Up, Talent Down
Some of the acting in Independence Day: Resurgence is appalling. Cheesy and over-exaggerated, it looked as though most of the cast were just there to have fun. I’m sure movie making is fun, but this was different.
Hemsworth and Usher roll around the set like two teenagers on holiday, delivering some of the most immature one-liner’s. When it comes to facing the aliens and spaceships, they’re like two little boys playing with toys. And to add to the immaturity, Morrison (Hemsworth) pulls down his flies and urinates over a spaceship’s surface at one point. It was dull and very unfunny to watch.
Former First Daughter Patricia (Monroe) seems to get limited screen time given her relationship with Morrison. I guess this isn’t a bad thing though, considering the actress speaks constantly as though she popped her retainer in on “ACTION!”. Monroe’s lispy voice isn’t the deciding factor for me, in general she just doesn’t make a great First Daughter. She appears a bit too old for the role also.
Some dialogue was eye-rolling stuff. Julius Levinson (Hirsch) on his boat for example; when he tries to outrun a gargantuan alien spacecraft whilst in the middle of the sea. As well as threatening to crush him itself, the craft sends up massive waves which roll towards Levinson at full force. Suddenly he utters the line, “why did I buy this boat?”.
I blinked.
Appalling.
Independence Day: Resurgence is one of those classics Hollywood brings back to salvage a sequel from, but fails spectacularly. Where they should have just left it at one movie. Where there was no point doing a second. Where Rotten Tomatoes gives it 30%.
That’s right – 30%. Sums up what you’re dealing with here.
Give this one a miss, it’s not worth your time or money.
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