20 years ago, Independence Day came out. It became a movie event and made a superstar out of Will Smith. Resurgence doesn’t quite measure up to the heights of its predecessor, but I still found it to be one of the most ridiculously, bombastically entertaining movies of the summer.
There is no Will Smith again this time around, but we do get the likes of Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman returning as David Levinson and former President Thomas Whitmore. Pullman’s character is suffering from nightmarish visions of the aliens and believes that they’re coming back. Goldblum’s Levinson is now the head director of the Earth Space Defense, a program that monitors extraterrestrial life. They have also used the alien technology to strengthen Earth.
In Smith’s absence, we get Liam Hemsworth as Jake Morrison, a pilot for the ESD. His parents were killed in the invasion of the first film and he’s also Pullman’s daughter’s fiancé. Jessie Usher stars as Smith’s stepson all grown up and a fellow pilot himself. Sela Ward costars as the first female President whose role amounts to little else except giving speeches commemorating the war of 1996. In this case, is her role prophetic or an odd coincidence?
This sequel doesn’t find time for humor before or after the resurgence of the aliens, but Judd Hirsch as Goldblum’s father does get some moments as does the returning Brent Spiner who plays Dr. Okum, the mad scientist from the first film now awakened after being in a coma the last two decades.
Director Roland Emmerich once again showcases his usual OTT visual style and he’s obviously good making sure things blow up, but the special effects still have a kind of “been there, done that” approach and it doesn’t resonate with the wow factor the first film had. Resurgence is much more interested in giving us characters who aren’t entirely memorable and focusing on elaborate action sequences that could have fit right at home in Star Wars.
However, despite the flaws, the movie does develop some equally intriguing plot elements that actually makes me curious about the future of this franchise. Even though I missed Smith, the movie works well without him and we are given a couple of nods to him, so it’s not like he’s completely absent.
As a solid, well-crafted spectacle, it delivers sensationally as expected. It needs more humor and a plot with better clarity, but as a silly, fun, popcorn extravaganza, you will get your money’s worth and that’s all you can expect.
Grade: B+
(Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and destruction, and for some language.)
