<i>Independence Day: Resurgence</i> Review – A Literal Sequel 20 Years Later

This is not a reboot. Let’s get that off the table straight away.

Independence Day: Resurgence (or ID:R) is a straight-up sequel taking place 20 years later, with that very ingrained mentality in mind.

“I am the sequel of a hugely successful film, therefore I must perform the same as that film, if not better.”

And so if you apply the function that this movie is a sequel that was made in the same time period, then it is a great follow-up!

But if you insist on realizing this film was made 20 years after the original in 2016…then it’s a different story…

As the Fourth of July nears, the Director of Earth Space Defense, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), investigates a 3,000-mile-wide mother ship that’s approaching Earth. Fortunately, 20 years earlier, nations across the world started to use recovered extraterrestrial technology to develop an immense defense program. When the alien invaders attack with unprecedented force, the U.S. President, teams of scientists and brave fighter pilots spring into action to save the planet from a seemingly invincible enemy.

If you approach ID:R like it’s going to be some transcendent experience like ID:4 then you are not going to have a good time.

It’s both admirable and unfortunate the way they execute the film, with it being some form of displaced 90’s sequel in 2016. While it’s fine for any follow-up film to pick up from the former, when it does so in such a manner that disregards the developments that have occurred in real life during its hibernation, then it loses its place in time.

The return of much of the original cast does well to pinch at the audience’s nostalgia nerve, but that can’t save it from the decidedly dodgy script drawn right out of the past. The new cast do well to take the torch, but they don’t so much as run away with it, but rather wonder which line to carry it toward. Come the films crescendo that’s parts Cloverfield and parts-original Independence Day, the film cuts away with a scene so overconfident in their return for another film that you feel you have to wait around for a post-credits scene to see if that’s the joke (it’s not).

I’m sure we will see the Aliens return again after having just returned…but I just hope they bring back some of the flair the original had that made it such a cult classic.