I’ll never stop being mad at Independence Day: Resurgence. Of all movies to make a terribly sequel to… why defile Independence Day, the greatest of all 90s action movies?
If you’ve never seen it, don’t. Just rewatch the original. And I’ll tell you why.
Like many people, the first Independence Day was an emotional experience for me. I was 14 and saw the movie twice n the theaters; the first time in opening weekend in San Antonio, the second at the theater in Tinker Air Force base. Both times, the audience was made of military families and veterans, which made it all the better.
There was laughter, there were tears, there was raucous cheering at several points. The cheers were so loud, in fact, that my father's non-American friend actually asked him if the audience understood that the movie was not real. But here's the thing—in a way, Independence Day was real to us. It was real not just because of the awesome special effects or the tightly written plot, but because of the characters. So before I deconstruct what made the sequel awful, let's reflect on what made the original great.
Captain Steven Hiller — Will Smith brought Steve Hiller to life as a great pilot and a great American. He was funny, he was loyal, and he was a strong friend, father, and soon-to-be husband. He was engaged to a stripper, something heavily frowned upon by the conservative military culture, particularly for officers with NASA aspirations.
But Steve didn't care. He loved Jasmine. And based on her quick thinking in the face of absolute disaster combined with her kind heart and protectiveness of total strangers, we can see why. We were rooting for the Hiller family from 'kick the tires and light the fires' to his 'fat lady sings' cigar. He promised us fireworks, and he did not disappoint.
David Levinson — Not all heroes are soldiers. David is the nerd in all of us, the good man who works hard and does right. He is smart, he is driven, and he will not allow lesser minds to bully him into silence. He is divorced from a woman he loves, and who loves him, because she simply didn't understand what was in his head.
We can all relate to that moment when his ex-wife asks him, "Didn't you ever want to be a part of something special?" He slams down his bottle and quietly responds, "I was doing something special." And we, the audience, know that. We know it was David who saved the president and his daughter from death and who knows how many other people. And now his ex-wife knows it too. She finally sees what was there all along.
Russell Case – PTSD-afflicted veteran, problem drinker, and loving father who can't quit get his shit together. Russell is the guy we hope we will never be. The one who loves and feels so deeply and reacts wrongly in almost every situation.
His children are sick to death of not being able to rely on him, sick of being the parent. But when it all goes to hell, when it really matters, Russell is there. He gets his drunken ass in gear and protects his children. He helps a wandering Marine get to Area 51. And then he saves the entire planet, giving his life in the process, knowing that for once... his children will be proud of him.
These characters were the heart and soul of the movie, as were the supporting characters like Judd Hirsch as David's father who rediscovers his Judaism and helps others with humor and with spiritual guidance; Harry Connick Jr. as Hiller's friend and fellow Marine with his loyalty and ridiculous levels of charm; Robert Loggia as the bad-ass General who will do what it takes to get the mission done; even the under-utilized Adam Baldwin as the steady, stoic Major Mitchell who ran Area 51 like a boss. These people, some with only a few lines, made Independence Day the great movie it is.
Now let's look at what the sequel included. Before I get to the characters, let's address some other issues:
For starters, the plot was AWFUL. They spend the first part of the movie establishing that thanks to reverse engineering alien technology, we have great stuff now. We have a moon base. There are pilots there. We have lots of cool stuff. You would not believe how much time they devote to this.
We also have a lady president played by Sela Ward. They do nothing with her, but they just want you to know we have a lady president.
There was one bright spot, and frankly, I think this was the movie they should have given us. Apparently, one of the alien ships managed to land successfully in Africa after the destruction of the mother ship. Of course we know, the alien ships were the size of cities, so the ship was chock full of aliens.
So for ten years, I repeat... 10 years... the people of this unidentified section of Africa lived their lives fighting aliens, seemingly without outside assistance. We hear all this when David Levinson goes to speak with Dikembe Umbutu, a warlord who has spent the last decade being an alien-killing machine and setting up his own kingdom.
The fact that these Africans had to fight off these aliens alone, without benefit of the really awesome stuff shown earlier in the movie, and without the new planetary unity spoken of so many times, is confusing to me. Also confusing to me is why I had to spend more than two hours looking into the vapid, empty stare of the less handsome Hemsworth brother instead of following Dikembe's story and that of his dead brother and crazy ass father. Seems like it would have been a better movie.
Instead, we followed the “main” characters who were given a poorly written script to try to salvage and, in some cases, the actors themselves couldn’t quite pull it off.
If the story is good enough, honestly I can forgive a poor performance. I can see in my head the way it should have been, so I can still enjoy a good movie staring a blank-eyes plank of wood.
Unfortunately, Independence Day Resurgence was NOT well-written.
All art—movies, music, even paintings—are designed to evoke emotion. This movie failed at its mission, spectacularly.
It did not make us feel good to be human and/or American.
It did not remind us that our weird family members are actually the cornerstones of our lives.
It certainly did not make us believe that, in a similar circumstance, we too could rise to the challenge, come together, and protect our lives and our way of life.
The original did all that and more, and I never tire of watching it.
Hey Kristin, I’ve heard of Independence Day, but never saw it. Your synopsis is really making me want to watch the original! Especially since it has so many great actors in it! But I feel like there’s a lot of inauthenticity to a lot of the sequels being made today. I feel like they’re surviving off nostalgia rather than giving us a great plot and interesting characters. Most sequels are money grabs to me and I feel like the only good or mediocre sequel I’ve seen was Incredibles 2, haha. Thank you so much for posting this! :)
Independence Day was an absolute classic. As always, you break down the whos, whats, wheres and whys expertly. Thanks for sharing.