Independence Day: Resurgence

An absolute disaster of a sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence follows an assortment of characters as they must contend with the arrival of the first movie’s vicious aliens (who are now bent on revenge and total destruction). It’s clear immediately that Independence Day: Resurgence‘s most obvious problem is the ineffectiveness of virtually all of its new protagonists, as filmmaker Roland Emmerich has populated the proceedings with a host of almost astonishingly bland figures that remain unable to earn sympathy or interest from the viewer. (It doesn’t help, certainly, that these roles have been filled by talented yet charmless performers, including Liam Hemsworth, Jessie T. Usher, and the ludicrously named Angelababy.) The less-than-engrossing atmosphere is compounded by a tedious, repetitive narrative and an emphasis on larger-than-life action sequences, with, in terms of the latter, the decision to rely entirely on computer-generated effects transforming high-octane moments into an exhausting and indecipherable jumble of random images. (The dogfights, which feature thousands of ships in battle, fare especially poorly.) It doesn’t help, either, that Emmerich and cinematographer Markus Förderer have infused the entirety of Independence Day: Resurgence with drained-of-color visuals that are, to put it mildly, lifeless, with the movie’s thoroughly unappealing appearance a constant reminder of its hopelessly misguided, poorly-conceived-and-executed nature – which, when coupled with an endless climax devoid of thrills, confirms the film’s place as a seriously disappointing (and shockingly inept) followup.

* out of ****