Plot
Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind's new space defenses be enough?
Release Year: 2016
Rating: 5.6/10 (31,692 voted)
Critic's Score: 32/100
Director: Roland Emmerich
Stars: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman
Storyline
We always knew they were coming back. After 'Independence Day' redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global spectacle on arn unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens' advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.
Writers: Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods
Cast: Liam Hemsworth -
Jake Morrison
Jeff Goldblum -
David Levinson
Jessie T. Usher -
Dylan Hiller
Bill Pullman -
President Whitmore
Maika Monroe -
Patricia Whitmore
Sela Ward -
President Lanford
William Fichtner -
General Adams
Judd Hirsch -
Julius Levinson
Brent Spiner -
Dr. Brakish Okun
Patrick St. Esprit -
Secretary of Defense Tanner
Vivica A. Fox -
Jasmine Hiller
Angelababy -
Rain Lao
Charlotte Gainsbourg -
Catherine Marceaux
Deobia Oparei -
Dikembe Umbutu
Nicolas Wright -
Floyd Rosenberg
Trivia:
According to Box Offic Pro, "with over twenty years passing since the first film [Independence Day (1996)], this is not a sequel - which has a lot going for it in terms of momentum." See more »
Goofs:
It was said that the drilling that happened 20 years ago in the first movie stopped when the mother ship (the queen) was destroyed. However, the aliens never did any drilling in the first movie. See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 3/10
TL;DR: It was actually boring. There was a story here that had
potential but it was let down by terrible acting, bad dialog, no story
or character development at all and, ultimately, no soul to this one.
3 points for above average special effects, -7 for just an awful movie.
Netflix this one.
Edition watched: 3D IMAX
In 1996's Independence Day, Bill Pullman's speech hit you emotionally
somewhere. Even if that emotion was disgust, you had a reaction. All of
Will Smith's one liners made you cringe or laugh. No matter how much
you may deny it publicly, Randy Quaid's end put a lump in your throat
the first time you saw it. There was soul to that movie, even though it
was an ensemble cast, characters were developed, the story progressed
and there were heroes you cheered for and aliens you despised.
None of that was present in 2016's Independence Day. All the new actors
were either bad or terrible. I didn't care if the aliens won or lost.
Not only were the new actors bad but some of the dialog they were
forced to work with was just terrible. Jessie T. Usher's character has
a few key lines that are supposed to hearken back to those emotional
one liners from Will Smith in 1996, such as: "Welcome to Earth!". Yet
Usher delivered those lines in such a deadpan, soulless way that made
me wonder if he thought he was supposed to be playing an emotionless
android. Then you have my favorite emotionless android actor Brent
Spiner, who is someone I know to be a quality actor, yet the dialog and
scenes with him were so bad I had to wonder for a second if all his
previous work was done by a twin.
I could go on, but the acting and dialog were just parts of the
problem. There was no character development at all. They simply tried
to cram too much into this movie. From the constant pandering to a
Mainland Chinese audience (unnecessary scenes that should have been
used for any kind of plot or character development) to Vivica A. Fox's
minuscule screen time, there was too much shoved into this 120 min
movie which ended up making it a big mess that went nowhere. In the
end, I formed no attachment to any of the new characters and was
detached from old characters that I once cheered for.
The most damning thing though is, despite all the explosions and this
alien invasion, there was no excitement. I was bored. There was a girl
in front of me texting and using FB messenger and I found myself
involuntarily lifting my 3D glasses and reading her text chain and
messenger thread till I caught myself and put my glasses back on. Her
inane chatter about how boring this movie was, her cat, the guy she was
sitting next to and so forth were more interesting to me than the movie
on the huge IMAX screen was.
As a huge fan of alien invasion movies, I walked out feeling like this
was such a huge opportunity wasted. If you told me the basic story of
this move yesterday, I would've been ecstatic to see a trilogy. Now I
hope the 3rd one dies in production and they put the money to a Battle
Los Angeles 2.
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