Independence Day: Resurgence
Director: Roland Emmerich
Talent: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Jessie T. Usher
Release Date: 24th June
Independence Day: Resurgence, the belated sequel to the 1996 blockbuster, is an old-fashioned movie, pretty much exactly like its predecessor. Plastic characters spouting wisecracks and pseudo-scientific nonsense? Check. Very large explosions, usually involving landmarks? Check. Bill Pullman squinting and Jeff Goldblum looking perpetually befuddled? Check.
And yet, rather than feeling tired and overly familiar, almost everything here works. The intervening 20 years have wrought some startling but believable changes to the planet. Mankind has set its differences aside and reversed engineered the alien technology in preparation for the inevitable second wave of the invasion, and the new characters are by and large a likable bunch. Roland Emmerich, too often perfunctory in his direction of disaster epics, seems reinvigorated by the chance to revisit material for which he has clear affection, orchestrating several inventive action scenes and maintaining a commendably light tone throughout, despite the billions of fictional lives lost in the carnage. Much better than what you would’ve expected, and certainly superior to most of this summer’s other big releases, this is accomplished escapist fare. All that’s missing is Will Smith.
Words: Felipe Deakin
