They're back! The aliens that attacked Earth 20 years ago have regrouped and come back for vengeance after their defeat. With some original cast members returning, this film charters familiar territory. Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park, The Grand Budapest Hotel), Judd Hirsch (A Beautiful Mind), Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and a few others return as their characters from the original film. New actors including Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games), Jessie T. Usher (When the Game Stands Tall), and Maika Monroe (It Follows, Labor Day) also join the veterans on screen. Similarly to Independence Day, the sequel does not have any real character focus and feels disjointed and disorganized. With so many iconic actors, the film just feels like a giant waste of time and money. I cannot help but feel bad for Hemsworth who just can't find a role that suits his acting caliber. Why would you cast so many actors and not create any sort of emotional connection for the audience?
The sequel does add a new factor of excitement with its updated special effects, but still underwhelms the viewer with a lack of attention to quality. The new alien abilities were cool to see, such as gravitational pulls and more mind control, but the aliens themselves look awful. I think I like the aliens in the newest Indiana Jones more than in this film. The original film barely showed any aliens, but this one relies heavily on the alien design. I wish they never even showed me the aliens, because they only detracted from the experience. Of course there are plenty of explosions and destruction scenes that are much more authentic than in the original film. New technologies have created this authenticity and realistic approach to film-making, but most of the technology is poorly used in this one.
Furthermore, it seems Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow) suffers from poorly written storylines. There is no real reason to care about anything in this story. The aliens are given a dumb background and the humans are so un-relatable. At least in the sequel the aliens are given a reason to attack Earth, but the reason has been used before. There is nothing new about this story. At this point, Emmerich is beating a dead horse and the franchise will most likely continue to beat the dead horse. It looks like there will be a sequel, which is probably going to continue down the disjointed path that the franchise has already started. Yipee...
The Bottom Line: Old actors and old stories combine to make this franchise about as stale as week old bread.
Score: 5.5/10
Image credit: http://cdn2-www.comingsoon.net/assets/uploads/gallery/independence-day-resurgence/independence_day_resurgence_ver12.jpg
The sequel does add a new factor of excitement with its updated special effects, but still underwhelms the viewer with a lack of attention to quality. The new alien abilities were cool to see, such as gravitational pulls and more mind control, but the aliens themselves look awful. I think I like the aliens in the newest Indiana Jones more than in this film. The original film barely showed any aliens, but this one relies heavily on the alien design. I wish they never even showed me the aliens, because they only detracted from the experience. Of course there are plenty of explosions and destruction scenes that are much more authentic than in the original film. New technologies have created this authenticity and realistic approach to film-making, but most of the technology is poorly used in this one.
Furthermore, it seems Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow) suffers from poorly written storylines. There is no real reason to care about anything in this story. The aliens are given a dumb background and the humans are so un-relatable. At least in the sequel the aliens are given a reason to attack Earth, but the reason has been used before. There is nothing new about this story. At this point, Emmerich is beating a dead horse and the franchise will most likely continue to beat the dead horse. It looks like there will be a sequel, which is probably going to continue down the disjointed path that the franchise has already started. Yipee...
The Bottom Line: Old actors and old stories combine to make this franchise about as stale as week old bread.
Score: 5.5/10
Image credit: http://cdn2-www.comingsoon.net/assets/uploads/gallery/independence-day-resurgence/independence_day_resurgence_ver12.jpg
