Independence Day: Resurgence

The original Independence Day is one of those movies that every action movie fan holds in high regard. But a lot of the charm and excitement of that movie is severely lacking in this reboot, with only the crazy destruction remaining. Is that enough to make this movie great? Not when you're dealing with the legacy of the original movie.

Twenty years after the world united against the alien invasion, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) is in charge of alien research at Area 51 in Nevada. As the world is starting to prepare for the anniversary of the invasion, a spherical alien ship appears near the moon's space defence station. A decision is made by the global council to shoot it down in case of it being another invasion attempt. But it ends up not being a real threat at all and a bigger one is on its way. An alien harvester ship with a queen on it lands across the Atlantic Ocean (as in it's the size of it) and its up to a small team of pilots led by Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) and Dylan Hiller (Jessie T. Usher).

This movie really doesn't offer much past the action. There is no real tension or high stakes. Yes there is a countdown that the good guys have to go up against to win, but there's no underdog story that was present in the original. Where the humans were going against the aliens with our old technology, in Resurgence, they are fighting with alien technology. So there's no real tension in two equally matched enemies fighting one another with no exciting underdog story to speak of. There is the introduction of the alien queen, but she is so similar to the queen from Aliens, it's unbelievable. At least she's a different colour.

What's really disappointing is that none of the characters stick out in a distinct way. In the original, you had the diverse personalities of Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Randy Quaid and Jeff Goldblum. While both Goldblum and Pullman both return, they are a shadow of their former selves. Even Goldblum, who is known for his eccentric performances, actually gives the first normal performance of his life. None of the new actors offer anything special either. Liam Hemsworth is normally good in an action flick, but it feels like he's relegated to the background. Jessie T. Usher, playing Will Smith's son is equally boring. Travis Tope plays Liam's pilot partner and I was just waiting for him to be killed off, which he isn't. As for the leading ladies of Charlotte Gainsbourg and Maika Monroe, they're both fantastic performers and don't belong in this movie. As for Nicolas Wright (or American John Oliver, you'll know what I'm talking about), his character just baffled me.

All told, Resurgence occupies a weird limbo in the exact centre of the triangle made up of action, sci-fi and 20th anniversary reboot. It's not good enough for everyone to go crazy about, but it's not terrible enough to hate. It just is.