Independence Day: Resurgence

This movie has an amazing cast. Boy did I miss seeing Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Sela Ward, and so on! It begun okay. The script could have been better Kinda lost some interest towards the end. If you like the genre, like myself, it is worth watching. It has its classical lines, funny moments, the excitement (not the best but there). Just don't expect a masterpiece.

They made the first film again, with a few more and bigger bangs, unoriginal boring aliens you've seen the like of so many times before and an even more cheesy script than the first movie. Most of the cast just went through the motions, many of the younger ones ought to be seeking other forms of employment. The CGI was epic in scale but not in originality,the story hackneyed and clichéd. OK it's not a film to be taken with any sort of seriousness, but this was just poor.

On the opening afternoon there were just 5 of us in a 200 seat theatre - but it was a dull day and I guess most people were out voting in the EU referendum (or working!), but maybe the mediocre press reviews had an effect.

They shouldn't bother to resurrect the aliens unless they can bring something a bit more original to the screen. I wish I'd have joined the rest of the family in the screen next door for The Jungle Book rehash, which they said was very good.

I recently re-watched the first film and was surprised at how robust its shelf life is. Again, it is undeniably cheesy and jingoistic, but done suitably well, I can have a ball with any material. In "Independence Day: Resurgence", set and finally released 20 years after the events of the first film, the aliens get medieval on us with an even bigger mothership.

There's a lot of heroics here by many a character who do their equal part to stop this new alien menace, having already made a stuffed calzone of the Earth's crust comprising from London all the way to Singapore. There's also a refreshingly silly undertone which sets it apart from the grim and serious blockbusters of today, and with added Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsch who return as the Levinsons, and "Star Trek" alumnus Brent Spiner as the eccentric Dr. Okun, Emmerich and his co-writers, including returning scribe Dean Devlin, certainly did not skimp out on the comic silliness.

Unfortunately, that is where the similarities end. The sins of sequelitis has been bestowed upon this sequel to his 1996 smash hit, and Emmerich is to blame, either for his laziness to phone it in out of frustration to fulfill the fans; or bucking in to studio demand to condense the film into a mere 2 hours. Sure, lots of things happen in the film, including stuff and cities going kablooey in high style, and high-tech aerial dogfights to give "Star Wars" a run for its money. Even Liam Hemsworth as the new hero Jake Morrison did not annoy me as much as I expected, though Hemsworth is still a far cry from Will Smith's "Elvis has left the building!" persona.

However, as slick as the modern CGI is, giving a sleeker look to the tech shown in the original film, it never quite gels together as a cohesive film - no momentum, no suspense, no catharsis when it does end. Bill Pullman's returning ex-President Thomas Whitmore is utterly wasted, as per his daughter Patricia (Maika Monroe, not doing her rep from "It Follows" any favours). It is not their fault; I feel that there is a lot of footage Emmerich was forced to excise by the Fox bigwigs to get more butts into cinema seats. Perhaps an extra half- hour of more cataclysmic destruction and character motives, but I may be asking for a bit too much at this point.

Things are very rushed indeed, with no payoff even when there's lots of characters doing their fair share to save the day. Goldblum and Hirsch, however, are still naturals, and they steal every scene they're in, and lift the movie up from near tediousness. Nevertheless, the special effects are fantastic, and are most certainly worth the price of admission alone.

It's kind of sad. This new one promotes global equality, with a female U.S. President (Sela Ward) celebrating world peace, and with everyone from across the globe giving it their all to kick E.T.'s ass. The action is fine and dandy without any of those annoying shaky-cam and quick-cut edits. And yet, the film suffers from awkward pacing, rushed dynamics, and especially a lack of cities exploding into fireballs. It even has sequel-teasing in the laziest manner possible in its final moments.

To quote Marvin the Martian, "Where's the kaboom? There's supposed to be an Earth-Shattering Kaboom!"

I was looking very much forward to it, since I'm a fan of the original (nostalgia based). 15 minutes into the movie I just knew it was going to be bad.

Made by the same director that made the movie 2012, it has the same terrible drama and completely transparent storyline. I'm not even sure if there even is a storyline to this movie.

The worst part, aside from all the crying scenes based upon long distance relationships, unresolved father issues and what not, was in fact that the aliens are more primitive than us.

You would think that a race with such insane technology have evolved beyond petty and shortsighted impulse driven emotions. It's when you realize that the Queen of the aliens suddenly gets a personal vendetta against a yellow school bus while fighter planes are bombarding her, that the manuscript was written in half an hour in a coffee shop.

I really went into this with open eyes and was completely set for loving it, but no. The movie is just pure garbage. I'm sorry...

The 1996 "Independence Day" is a funny and entertaining film of alien invasion despite the silly melodramatic subplots. But every fan of sci-fi genre certainly watched this movie.

The 2016 sequel raised great expectations in the fans. But it should have never been made. The story of an alien arrival to destroy the planet twenty years after the unsuccessful invasion is lame. The characters are silly and the dialogues and situations are ridiculous. Eleven guys writing the story and screenplay probably for morons so stupid most of the situations and jokes are. In the end, only the great CGI is worthwhile watching; the rest may be forgotten. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Independence Day: O Ressurgimento" ("Independence Day: Resurgence")