THEY’RE back!
That’s right, those nasty multi-tentacle aliens we all know and love are back after a two-decade hiatus to finally wipe out collective humanity in the gripping sci-fi sequel … “Independence Day: Resurgence.”
The first time around in 1996, every major and secondary city on Earth (including Manila) was turned into charcoal and it was by sheer luck that mankind survived.
In the two decades since the pesky little alien creatures terrorized the Earth—an entire generation has grown up with all-new technology—blending the best the aliens left behind with human ingenuity. The Moon has been colonized and Earthlings have spent these years gearing up for a
rematch.
So have the aliens.
Independence Day is back with a vengeance and so are series regulars Bill Pullman as the living legend, former US President Whitmore as well as David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), the ex-cable TV repairman who saved the Earth in 1996 by planting a computer virus inside the orbiting “Mother Ship,” thereby allowing the US Military to explode a thermonuclear device from within.
But that was then.
This time, the aliens, honing in on a distress beacon set in 1996, are hell-bent on sucking dry all of Earth’s natural resources. The remnant of the original alien fleet, left dormant for decades, starts powering up as the “rescue” aliens arrive in a massive spaceship the size of the entire Atlantic Ocean. They have anticipated every possible Earth defense and shred their way right through.
And this time Planet Earth does not have Will Smith (“Bad Boys”) around to defend it.
Smith, who made his global movie fame in the wisecracking role of Air Force Captain Steven Hiller (“Welcome to Earth”), declined to return for this sequel and his character has been killed off in an air training mishap.
Instead it is the children of the 1996 film who have grown into adulthood and play a pivotal role in “I.D.: Resurgence.”
Enter Maika Monroe as Patricia Whitmore (the young daughter of the US President in the first “Independence Day” film) who is completely devoted to her lover/ boyfriend Jake Morrison, played with aplomb by Liam Hemsworth, himself an ace US Air Force pilot.
Character actor Jessie T. Usher is Hiller’s now grown son Dylan, who also is a US Air Force pilot. Both Usher and Hemsworth play key roles in Earth’s desperate space defense of the attacking aliens.
The monument cities of rebuilt London, Washington D.C. and even Singapore are completely flattened as the giant invading spaceship is so large that it creates its own gravity, pulling buildings off their foundations only to hurtle them back down again.
While every major city on Earth is again being brutally crushed and the feeble human defenses start to crumble, it is only the ingenuity of Goldblum’s Levinson and the macho Hemsworth that save the day.
Originally this sequel was to be a two-parter in which the first film in 2016 would end on a “cliffhanger” and the 2017 follow-up would tell the tale of the struggle of the remaining humans; but the film studio 20th Century Fox had “cold feet” and instead green-lit this solo follow-up.
The director/writing team of Ronald Emmerich and Dean Devlin who created such mayhem in the first Independence Day also return to helm this great continuation film.
With familiar characters, a cutesy little romance, fabulous special effects and green ray beams galore, “Independence Day: Resurgence” hits all of the right hot buttons for a great summer “popcorn” movie.
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