Independence Day: Resurgence Review

"That's... defiantly bigger than the last one"

Independence Day: Resurgence is the sequel to Independence Day (1996) and was directed by Roland Emmerich (the director of the original film). The film is set 20 years after the events of the first film and guess what? ... it features another attempt by the aliens to destroy our world but this time we have got alien technology from the first invasion attempt to help us, does this help us.... well spoilers (wont spoil it for you!!). The film brings back original cast members such as Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson, Bill Pullman as President Whitmore and Brent Spiner as Dr. Brakish Okum and introduces new and grown up version of original characters such as Liam Hemsworth as Jake Morrison, Jessie T. Usher as Dylan Hiller and Maika Monroe as Patricia Whitmore.

I just wanted to start of by saying that I was disappointed with this film, as a fan of the original film I was expecting a lot from this film (maybe I expected too much!) but I came out of the cinema feeling disappointed with what I had just watched. Enough negativity for a while lets start of with what I liked about the film. I really enjoyed the original characters returning from the original film, all the original cast gave some really good performances and created some really good comedic elements in the film especially Jeff Goldblum (come on its Jeff Goldblum!!) and Brent Spiner. The comedic elements in this film was probably one of the strongest parts of the film, as was some of the cinematography, especially when the alien spaceship was entering Earths atmosphere and causing global devastation, it was so visually impressive and really was a spectacle to see on the big screen.

On the other hand I did have some problems with the film which effected the overall film for me. Seeing as this film is based around the aliens trying to destroy our world I never really experienced any fear or any sense of danger that they could possibly achieve destroying the world, the only scene that really for me created any sense of danger was the scene involving the alien ship entering our atmosphere, but apart from that I felt like there was a lacked a sense of danger. Unlike the first film in which I personally felt like the sense of danger was raised, this film felt like it took a step back (by a long way!). This might be down to the fact that in this film the humans had alien technology and were literally shooting alien ships out of the sky straight away (where is the fun in that!) but there was no sense of struggle which made me feel no sense that the main characters lives were at risk at all, and when someone's life was in danger I just didn't feel connected to them (mainly with the new characters in the film).I also felt that the pacing of this film was off as well, it seemed very jumpy to me and would jump to random scenes which personally I felt was a little unnecessary and took away from the sense of danger that I expected from the film, which made the film drag a little in some sequences (not all sequences though!).

Overall as you can tell I was disappointed with this film (trust me I really really wanted to like this film!), if you are a really big fan of the first film and the original characters then I suggest going to see the film but don't expect anything like the first film, but on the bright side the film does hint at the franchise continuing, so lets hope that if they do make Independence Day 3 (and that's an if!) that it is better than Independence Day: Resurgence.

Verdict: 2 out of 5 stars