20th Century Fox released the official trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence, and while everything looks grand and epic in proportion – the first thought that popped into my head was – Really? Do we NEED another Independence Day movie? Maybe it’s just me, an old school movie fanatic ranting away, but considering the way the Independence Day ended, I really believed, it brought some sort of unsaid finality to the story.
True, it would be interesting to see how the world has rebuilt itself over the past 20 years (or since the last ID4 invasion), but nonetheless, it just opened up a new can of worms which should have just stayed in the can.
The plot summary is fairly straight forward – 20 years ago, Aliens invaded us, we chased them away and used all their tech to better ourselves and our defenses…but according to Jeff Goldblum, it may not be enough. Watch the trailer below:
Now, coming to what I said earlier – did we really need another Independence day movie? There are so few movies or so few good movies, that never had the need to continue a story line or expand on an existing done, I always thought Independence Day would be one such movie – but nope – they went and released the trailer for Independence Day Resurgence.
I’m not overly opposed to the movie, heck, there may be some good moments, and movie technology has evolved so far, that its certain to be a visual treat – but is it going to be able to recreate the magic that ID4 created? I don’t believe so. The scale, the concept and even the plot has been done so many times in so many different movies, my worry, is what is #IDR going to offer?
Bigger alien ships? Seen that
Newer alien lifeforms? Seen that
Jeff Goldblum acting whiny? Seen that too
It’s never a good thing for any movie which has left a lasting legacy such as ID4 to sort of go back to the drawing board and try and expand a genre that’s been stretched to the hilt. You may as well make this an Avengers movie without the Avengers in it. I’m still excited to see what they offer, but I can feel it in my gut that it’s not going to be much.
One could argue that it’s the same with other sequels – what more could Terminator offer in sequels? Yet, Terminator 2 ended up being the best sequel ever, similarly, what more could Jurassic Park offer in it’s sequels that went on to make 4 movies? The difference is…plausible expansion – I just don’t see that in IDR. Sure they’re back – bigger and badder and what not, but really, when you think about it, it might just be a reason to build on the franchise – build on a franchise that possibly doesn’t have any room for anything fresh. When you take a genre defining movie such as ID4 – and the countless movies similar to it that released in the past 20 years – you’re not really giving your audiences anything new. If you outline the premise of ID4 – it was essentially Aliens + Global Destruction + Human Triumph. This formula has been used so much either in combination of 2s and 3s – that I’m honestly quite sick of it.
Movies like, 2012, Godzilla, Battleship, The Day After Tomorrow, War of the Worlds, Mars Attacks, After Earth, Pacific Rim and Armageddon to name a few, have used this formula and used it well. Ok, maybe not After Earth, but the point is clear. True, there’s a certain mass appeal to these kind of movies, and there’s no denying that the movie will do well, will have some rave reviews on the CGI – but the fabric of the story is stretched so thin, that it leaves nothing to the imagination.
In conclusion, I really hope they do something good with the movie and it turns out great. I’m still excited for it – but I’m not holding my breath.
Cast: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jessie Usher, Maika Monroe and Sela Ward.
Independence Day: Resurgence lands in theaters June 24, 2016.