“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?”
Independence Day Resurgence, a twenty year belated sequel to the classic 1990s science fiction film, Independence Day, is a long awaited film directed by Roland Emmeric, which sees the return of iconic characters as they join the fight in defending Earth once again from an extraterrestrial attack.
Since the defeat of the alien invasion twenty years ago, a lot has changed in the world. Citizens of Earth now live in a state of peace and are united. Technology and weaponry have developed at a rapid rate, now with the ability to track alien activity and hurt them with laser guns. The two decades of learning, analysing and developing ways in which to protect the Earth and mankind from future attacks appeared to be significant and powerful enough. How wrong they were.
Independence Day Resurgence delves straight into the crux of the film right from the get go. With the 20th Anniversary celebrations in the United States underway, celebrating the world’s win over the alien invaders, we are quickly introduced to a host of new characters, namely a new President (Sela Ward), a highly ranked fighter pilot, Captain Dylan Hiller (Jessie T. Usher), the son of the hero of the first film, Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith), another talented pilot, Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) and the former President’s daughter, Patricia Whitmore (Maika Monroe). It is during these celebrations that unusual activity began to take place around the Moon, to which, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) jumps at the chance to investigate. During this investigation, David and his team come across a mother ship much bigger than the one he had come face to face to twenty years ago. This is where the film truly takes off.
The one thing I enjoyed about Independence Day Resurgence is that it doesn’t divert and detract too much from the previous film and sticks to the conventions of a science fiction film. The coming of the mothership, covering a large portion of the Earth’s atmosphere, causes insurmountable chaos and destruction, which drives the United States military forces to take action. Like in the first film, these attempts at defence, fail miserably, almost as if the people hadn’t truly learnt much from their previous war with these alien creatures.
However, David certainly learnt and so did the one man who had united all his people in the fight to defend the world they live in, President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman). His iconic speech in the first film was played through during the beginning scenes of this film as homage to the twenty year old film that many still enjoy today. What I thought was slightly funny was that President Whitmore was rather sickly and unstable throughout the first half of the film but upon seeing the aliens once more, President Whitmore made a miraculous recovery long enough to deliver yet another inspiring speech (yup, he makes another great speech), that will most likely be used in a sequel to this film, should there ever be one. The unstable President Whitmore recovered so well, it was almost as if he became another person upon shaving and gearing up to fly.
The visual effects and technologies used in Independence Day Resurgence were incredible. The colours of the laser blasts, the design of the alien guns and even the pods that were used to fly around in space; all these things together made for one of the most visually stunning sequences I’ve seen so far. As someone who has a strong interest in technology, The modern advancement of technology seen in this film truly captivated me. I can’t wait for all the new technologies that we are currently developing.
The character interactions too were remarkable. I’ve always loved the way military men and women address each other with such respect. Though I do miss that sass that Will Smith’s character brought in Independence Day. The closest to Will that we possibly have in this film would most likely be Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth’s character), though Liam is nowhere near the level of sass and brilliance that Will displayed.
Independence Day Resurgence is very much a film that follows the key themes and plot of the original film, with some minor changes, such as older characters and technological advancement. In keeping to the same formulas used in Independence Day, Independence Day Resurgence provides almost no surprises, which allows for the predictability that some viewers may appreciate. The action sequences, especially those in the air, were spectacular and very impressive.
To sum up, Independence Day Resurgence is exciting, fun, thrilling and has great space related action sequences. If you loved the classic first film, you’ll definitely enjoy this film. Go watch it. For Humanity!!
Rating: 4 out of 5 Aliens