Review: ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ is a disappointing disaster of a movie

Posted on July 1, 2016

By MARK VIOLA

Twenty years ago, “Independence Day” blasted its way into theaters, blowing up half the world in the process, along with making Will Smith an action star and giving us the best presidential speech in film history.

To this day, it is still one of my favorite summer popcorn flicks of all time, and serves as archaeological evidence that Roland Emmerich can deliver films better than the bloated disaster movies he’s given us lately, such as “The Day After Tomorrow” and “2012.”

Unfortunately, after a 20-year wait, “Independence Day: Resurgence,” the much anticipated sequel, is yet another bloated disaster movie from Emmerich.

I really, really wanted to like this movie. I went in hoping, albeit not hopeful, that Emmerich could do the original film justice. Sadly, what we get is a sequel that features everything we’ve come to expect from bad sequels coupled with everything we’ve come to fear from bad Roland Emmerich movies.

I did try to like it. I really did. Leaving the theater, I did my best to come up with things to like about it, but aside from a few of the action sequences and the return of Jeff Goldblum’s character David Levinson from the original–the only one to get a decent treatment–there really isn’t much else to like.

And that’s because nothing about this movie makes sense. The story doesn’t make sense. The characters’ decisions make even less sense. The physics in this movie has no bearing on reality. And even if you accept this ludicrous version of physics, it’s not even consistent from one scene to the next.

Even though I knew the odds of this movie being good–and I’m not even saying a truly great movie, but solid summer entertainment–were pretty low, I can rarely remember leaving a theater more disappointed. While the original film is a prime example of how a movie can provide two hours of pure enjoyment, “Independence Day: Resurgence” is a tarnished example of how the same director and the same writer–I’m not blaming the actors here because they frankly weren’t given anything to work with–can also turn out a bloated monstrosity that provides almost zero entertainment value whatsoever.

The movie is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and destruction, and for some language.

(This is a abbreviated version of the full review available in our printed or e-edition papers.)

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