On July 4, 1996, humankind fought back against seemingly hopeless odds and defeated the alien invasion, by giving their command structure a computer virus. With their shields down, the alien ships became vulnerable and the humans were thoroughly victorious.
Twenty years later, by backward engineering alien technology, humans have advanced themselves greatly, and are nearly ready to take to the stars. Before they can get there, a second wave of nasty aliens will have to be outsmarted.
We say, “It’s so much like the original there’s little point in seeing Independence Day: Resurgence.”
TAYLOR: To be fair, the title is Resurgence and this is another surge of the same activities that occurred in this universe and on our screens 20 years ago. Perhaps the title is a warning. The biggest news is that Will Smith’s character is dead in this film, but his son’s there, so I guess it’s nearly exactly the same. I can’t say that the film offended me. It certainly didn’t annoy me, but after a while I felt like Roland Emmerich intended to make the same movie.
HOWE: But you do get to see the aliens themselves up close this time rather than behind a smoke-filled room. The aliens looked pretty cool, yet when you see the mother, she does have an uncanny resemblance to the creature out of the Godzilla movie. I will agree with you, ID2 does look and feel like the original, even down to using the same actors, minus Mr. Smith. It didn’t give me the excitement that the first did. There is nothing special or new about it and it seemed to just plod along.
TAYLOR: The most interesting part of the film was this “other life” that was there to impart wisdom and fill in the blanks in the story. I can’t give too much away, but I think this intelligence appearing in the film and the ending itself, are markers of things to come. In the ID universe, humankind is about to become a space-faring soldier species. Expect more movies, maybe a TV series.
HOWE: I don’t know about a TV series, but they have definitely set it up for a part three. Is this a good thing or is it another cash grab? I guess we will have to wait and see. By the way, I thought that this Independence Day movie was meant to be a worldwide collective fight for survival. How come only the Americans turned up?
TAYLOR: The film is patriotic and tries to rely on these sorts of sentiments to affect audiences, much as the original did. That cheese provides some of the more pleasant flavour in ID2, the lighter moments. Really, all anyone going to a Roland Emmerich movie wants to see is the earth shattering destruction. Even there you will find not exactly disappointment, but familiarity. Nothing to see here.
– Howe gives Independence Day: Resurgence 2 Motherships out of 5.
– Taylor gives it 2.5 wide angle lenses out of 5.
Brian Taylor and Peter Howe are film reviewers based in Vernon. Their column, Reel Reviews, runs every Friday.
