INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE REVIEW

Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind's new space defenses be enough?

Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, and Bill Pullman

Directed by: Roland Emmerich

Written by: Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods, Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich, and James Vanderbilt

  After watching “Independence Day” a million times since its release, it always seemed inevitable that there would be a sequel. Well it only took the aliens 20 years to decide to attack Earth again in “Independence Day: Resurgence.” This time mankind is more united, and prepared with alien technology. However, that doesn’t stop the aliens from mounting another impressive attack.

Some of the same faces from the original are back to defend the planet. President Whitmore (Bill Pullman), who seems a little crazy, is back to give another patriotic speech, and put his life on the line. David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) is also back to give his advice on the aliens, and make a few wise cracks. Really, they did exactly what they did the first time around.

So in an attempt to add something new to the movie, there are also some new faces looking to fight the aliens. There’s Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth), who is a skilled pilot that apparently isn’t afraid to break the rules. Then there’s Dylan Hiller (Jessie T. Usher), who’s another great pilot, and also the son of Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith). Both these characters seem like they are created to fill the void of Will Smith’s character not returning, and neither character really stands out. Both are given moments to shine, but maybe the movie should have just picked one, and let them be the true hero.

One of the more enjoyable things this time around is that the audience gets to see a lot more of the aliens themselves. In the original, the aliens are more hidden behind their technology. This time alien fighters are actually on the ground fighting the humans. Of course, there is another battle around the alien ship much like the original, and it still doesn’t beat what audiences get in “Star Wars.” The biggest thing that stands out is the mother alien, who happens to be the biggest alien of them all. She puts on quite a fight in the ending scene.

In order for “Independence Day: Resurgence” to truly work, it needed to add something different to the story. While it tries, it ultimately is too much of the same. Some of the original characters come back, and do the same thing. The new characters can’t fill the void of Captain Hiller’s heroics in “Independence Day.” It’s nice to see the humans using more alien technology this time, but they don’t do anything special with it. There’s one small twist in the story, which turns out to be pretty interesting. It might also lead to more sequels in the future. Overall, I give it 2 stars.

  HorrO