Bluray Review: Independence Day: Resurgence

Independence Day: Resurgence bombs larger than a “cold fusion bomb”

Independence Day holds a special place in all of our hearts. It is the quintessential 90s action-disaster movie. Yet Independence Day: Resurgence bombs larger than a “cold fusion bomb”.

Let’s be honest, most of us were not expecting this movie to transcend boundaries. And let’s be even more honest, we really weren’t expecting much considering Will Smith isn’t even in the movie. Which means I came into this movie with rather low expectation. Apparently they should’ve been lower.

First, let’s focus on what’s good. You get explosions, obviously. You also get plenty of ham-fisted cameos and stars from the original. Which means if you’re looking for some sweet 90s nostalgia, you’ll get it. And granted, it is a mindless summer blockbuster, which means you will get easy, cheap action – which we all secretly love no matter what we say come Oscars season.

But all of that just isn’t enough to hold this movie. Resurgence lacked focus and direction – and worst of all, it just lacked any stakes. It seemed like all the character arcs and backstories were tacked on as an afterthought, but then they focused far too much screentime focusing on all these storylines neither we as the audience nor apparently the writers really care about. Which means I really didn’t care about what happened to anyone on screen (barring the characters from the first film… but I don’t think this film can take any credit for that).

Which brings us to the action: lame. I think they literally took footage from 2012 and just stuck it on screen expecting no one to notice. I get it – it’s a disaster movie. But Resurgence lacked any substance with its action. They just gave us explosions for the sake of giving us explosions. None of it felt real or interesting. It was just there to prove that their budget had to go somewhere since the writers were obviously not seeing any of it.

On top of it, it was just cheesy. Worst of all, it was cheesy and it wasn’t intentional or self-aware. I kept finding myself rolling my eyes or shouting at my partner what I thought was going to happen next… and then it would happen. I kind of craved a little camp with the movie, but they layered it on too thick and in all the wrong ways.

Overall, if you liked Independence Day, I find it hard to believe that you would like this movie. It lacked most of charm that the original had and just seems to drag on. If you like explosions, you’ll find them better served elsewhere. If you like a good plot or Sci-Fi story, don’t even try. Just go watch Pacific Rim for a far better sequel to the original Independence Day.

2 out of 5… and that’s only because of the nostalgia

What would I have changed? (Spoilers)

Click here to read what I would Change

Clearly Will Smith would have come back. Worst part of the movie for me was how all these people were “connected” to the aliens. There are multiple characters, the former president and the main character from Transparent cameo in particular, who just seem to know all this stuff about the aliens that makes no sense and serves no purpose for them to know. Additionally, they have this “rival” alien-robot thing that is trying to fight the evil aliens as well. It honestly serves no other purpose other than to set us up for an even worse sequel. They really should have just kept to their roots. I get you cannot just rehash the original, but I think keeping things more focused and smaller-scale (so we actually care about these characters) would have really kept the movie together.

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Johnny (Contributor) was born and raised in San Diego. He's been a fan of films the majority of his life. He enjoys the feeling it invokes and the power it has to take you to another place.