Everyone and anyone who is familiar with the movie Independence Day knows what a big day it was to see the first teaser of the new sequel that just hit the multiplexes today.
The banners and posters with Jeff Golblum and Liam Hemsworth in that space suit, just reminds every fan, of the scene from the original with Jeff and Will Smith all geared to kick some alien ass(I heard the fat lady sing).
Director Ronald Emmerich has shown, or rather proved that time can make everything so real and big. With new tech, toys and new era, the Master of Disaster is back with his triumph and he really let it rip. Well, the teasers tell you that story is not different than what we had seen before. The same alien invasion trying to wipe out the Earth or maybe Earth from the Solar system, completely. Here’s where heroes come into action and the play begins.
David Levinson(Jeff Golblum), our saviour from first part, is now leading Earth Space Defence. In 20 years of time elapsed, they have learned the alien technology and made use of it to make futuristic innovations such as overhead monorails and big flying cars. They not only used to make life convenient, but also used to make some surreal and greener artillery.
The ex-president Whitmore is now old with grey hair and troubled with premonitory dreams of the alien invasion. Brakish Okun, the scientist with the craze for aliens and long grey locks, is in coma, apparently since a long time. The movie takes you to Central Africa who had fought “war” against aliens as it is the site for one of the biggest spaceship sites. They are led by Dikembe(Deobia Oparei), the place plagued with occult warnings.
Talking about the younger generation, Jake(Liam Hensworth) radiates the dull role of a pilot who has quarrels with his fellow pilot Dylan Hiller(Jesse T. Usher), the son of Steve Hiller(Will Smith). Jake is in love with Patricia Whitmore(Maika Monroe) who is daughter of ex-president and an ex-pilot(why should just boys be the heroes).
Everything begins when the new-age aliens are summoned by a distress beacon from one of the original ships. This time the ship is bigger than before, that has its own ecosystem, like a gigantic Interstellar Centre Parcs. It is really able of the disasters that can Emmerich can cook up using tech-wizardry. It can pick up buildings, like Burj Khalifa that was uprooted from Dubai and use it to kebab London Tower Bridge in slo-mo, just makes your face make ‘O’ and then a thud. It was something like Ronald picked from 2012, sabotaging the buildings as he goes by. To this David rightly says, “They like to get landmarks”(remember, White House in the original).
The aliens have “queen bee” with gigantic tri-clawed feet and oh yeah, is of the size of “Godzilla”(got me thinking if there are some more BIG things to see). Without the queen and her guiding consciousness can make the whole flotilla go phut, like a battalion of smartphones losing Wi-Fi.
The movie is definitely written and scripted as per today’s time and generation. 20 years ago what most of us enjoyed has now been transformed to a better creation, all thanks to CGI wizardry, its making everything get so simple and miraculous.
The main thing any of us would go for is the worth-the-buck movie and Resurgence does it successfully. Just 120-minutes movie, but director Emmerich and his knack for fist-pumping moments, vast-scale destruction and common jocularity remains undiminished.
Well, said all this, on a broader consideration, Independence day: Resurgence is not as effective as the predecessor, as it stands out from other sci-fi adventures. Starting the movie at the world that is so different than ours somehow makes the alien arrival in the past less effective. Also, rotorless helicopters, anti-gravity tugs, space jets and not forgetting about the whole heap of world exposition, I never got that feel which builds-up to destruction. It was like I was witnessing annihilation of some other planet and not our’s, that is really distracts from the main storyline. I guess that is why the movie requires Golblum, Pullman. And Judd Hirsch and Spiner, of course, for reliving ’96 makes you believe more.
This script is definitely on new line for newer generation, the storyline remains the same but the actors have aged and replaced(Oh! I so badly missed Will Smith and his fat lady). This movie is definitely to be enjoyed on a bigger screen for all the newness that Emmerich has brought into the film. The technology is at its peak and when I say this, it has to be witnessed and not read.