- Disc Format: AC-3, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen, 3D
- Language: English (DTS 5.1)
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
- Dubbed: French, Spanish
- Region: Region A/1
- Number of discs: 2
- Rated: PG-13
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Release Date: October 18, 2016
- Run Time: 120 minutes
I didn’t have
many expectations for Independence Day:
Resurgence, and I think that greatly improved my ability to enjoy the pure
spectacle of the film. My opinion of the franchise had already been diminished
after re-watching the original film, which does not hold up nearly as well as I
had imagined it might. So, by direct comparison, there were not very large
shoes to fill in the creation of a new film. It also helped that I had heard
endless criticism of the film, from fans and critics alike, lowering my
expectations to the point that disappointment was unlikely.
I went in expecting to hate this
film, and instead filled my eyeballs with distractingly colorful imagery and a forgettable
re-treading of the same material. If nothing else, this is the same mediocre
film rehashed with new special effects for another generation, though the same
could be said of The Force Awakens
and any number of other franchise revivals in recent years. These movies are
safe, and that ends up being their greatest asset and simultaneously their
Achilles heel.
Although Will Smith refused to return
to this franchise, they get around that by simply killing off his character and
replacing him with his son, Dylan (Jesse T. Usher). This also allows for other
young actors to fill in roles as fighter pilots, often making this feel like
another in the long string of young adult apocalypse narratives. Jake Morrison
(Liam Hemsworth) is one of these characters as a hotshot pilot in a longtime rivalry
with Dylan. In case that was not enough of a connection, Jake is somehow also
inexplicably dating the former president’s daughter, Patricia Whitmore (Maika
Monroe). Despite all of the effort to bring back original cast members, the
casting of Monroe was shamefully done in order to replace Mae Whitman with a
prettier blonde actress, which is far more despicable than the decision not to
include Will Smith because of his $50 million paycheck.
President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) has
lost his mind since the first film, somehow mentally affected by his close
encounter with the aliens even though David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) was far
closer to them and appears as clever as he ever was, providing most of the
film’s successful humor. This mental connection also allows Whitmore to
anticipate the return of the aliens, whereas Levinson comes to the same
conclusion through scientific discovery. The younger cast then takes over the
narrative to do the fighting in place of these veterans.
When the aliens do come back, they
arrive in a ship that is large enough to make the scale of the narrative seem
ridiculous at times. Even with all of the thoughtful consideration of an
alternate timeline in which all of the countries of Earth are joined in a
common goal, Resergence is
consistently dumb. This is how much of this sequel plays out; just enough done
right to make the flaws that much more noticeable.
Shorter in length than the original
film, Resurgence takes less time
building up to the action, instead sprinkling the entire run-time with a decent
balance of humor and spectacle throughout. Considering director Roland Emmerich
has made a name for himself in the disaster movie genre, it is actually
surprising how much restraint that he often shows. Even the final showdown is
broken down into stages and is inter-cut with the journeys of each new
character collected along the way, so that it is not just an onslaught of CGI. That
doesn’t necessarily make up for all of the other shortcomings, but there are
certainly worse ways to pass the time.
The 3D Blu-ray combo comes with a 2D
Blu-ray disc and a Digital HD copy of the film. The 2D Blu-ray also comes with
over an hour of special features and a director’s commentary track. Extras
include a four-part making of documentary, deleted scenes (just over 8 minutes
worth) with optional commentary from Emmerich, a gag reel, concept art, and a
faux news segment about the events within the film. The 3D itself is fun in a
few different sequences, though a number of the space sequences will only be as
effective as the size of your television allows.
Entertainment Value:
7.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6/10
Historical
Significance: 3/10
Special Features: 8.5/10
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