ROB KNOWLES
Independence Day: Resurgence with Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum and William Fichtner, directed by Roland Emmerich.
3.5/5
HAVING looked forward to this sequel for some time, perhaps fans of the original movie (despite its portrayal of the USA as the only nation able to defend the planet) are probably going to be disappointed with an uninspired plotline behind Independence Day: Resurgence.
It is 20 years since that fateful day on July 4 1996 when far more technologically advanced aliens began conquering Earth but were eventually beaten by human ingenuity. A lot has changed. Through blending captured alien and human technology gravity has been conquered and new laser weapons and space travel are the norm.
Humans have also built a defensive grid of orbital weapons to repel any invaders as, at the end of the first movie, it was clear the aliens would one day return. There is also a base on the moon and several others throughout the solar system.
When the Saturn base is mysteriously destroyed and a spacetime anomaly spits a strange craft close to the moon’s surface, US President Lanford (Sela Ward) orders it be shot down.
At the same time alien captives from the first attack at Area 51 wake from their catatonic state and began jabbering among themselves. It is then that former US President Whitmore (Bill Pullman), who led the initial attack in ’96, along with anyone else who had had direct mental contact with the alien hive-mind, begins to hear the screeches of the aliens in their heads. We discover the aliens are not afraid but are rather celebrating the return of their fellow plunderers and are anticipating their imminent arrival.
Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) lost his family in the first attack and is now a pilot for a private company. He was taken out of the Earth Defence Force when, through his competitive nature, he almost killed another pilot, the son of Captain Steven Hiller (played by Will Smith in the first movie). The young Dylan Hiller (Jessie T Usher) is now the leader of the defence force pilots, and travels to the moon investigate the mysterious alien object they have shot down.
It is then that an enormous 3 000 mile-wide alien spacecraft appears and lands on Earth, straddling the Atlantic Ocean in its bid to drain the heavy metal core of our planet.
There are a lot of personal subplots intermingled with the action of the main plotline, and the 3D CGI is really pretty cool. However, as for a story, it all seems just a little too off-pat. Anyway, the movie will be popular among those who really liked the first movie, but don’t expect to walk away with the same feelings of camaraderie and goodwill to all mankind.
