Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) | Sci-Fi Saturdays

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Humanity says no more aliens, again!

Independence Day: Resurgence returns to the tried-and-true formula of alien invaders threatening our way of life. Humanity must rise above its petty squabbles to say “no more!” And it’s also a chance for some fun special effects and action sequences. But how does this version fare against the previous installments of the same story?

First Impressions

The aliens have returned in this trailer, which opens with Jeff Goldblum finding new evidence of extraterrestrials. It’s obvious that this is a sequel to the beloved Independence Day film, with appearances by several of the original actors, including Bill Pullman and Judd Hirsch. A voice-over explains that the alien technology has been used to strengthen the planet, but they never expected the aliens to return. Of course, they did, and it’s bigger and badder than the last time. New characters are sprinkled throughout the trailer as the world readies for Independence Day: Resurgence.

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

The Fiction of The Film

Twenty years after the alien battle of 1996, Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman), former President of the United States, has dreams about the return of the alien creatures. At the Space Defense Headquarters at Area 51, in Nevada (the site of the final battle of 1996), dormant alien prisoners begin to come back to life. In Central Africa, a wrecked alien ship powers back on, which is investigated by David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), the Space Defense scientific advisor to the President, and Dikembe Umbutu (DeObia Oparei), a warlord of the region. Dr. Okun (Brent Spiner) awakens from a 20-year-long coma, having received telepathic communications from the aliens.

Near the Space Defense Station on Earth’s moon, a wormhole opens, producing an alien sphere. President Elizabeth Lanford (Sela Ward) orders it shot down, against David’s wishes. Defense Force pilot, Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth), and his partner, Charlie (Travis Tope), steal a lunar tug and fly to Earth to collect David, Umbutu, Dr. Marceaux (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a French psychiatrist and David’s lover, and Floyd (Nicolas Wright), a nerdy Federal assistant to David. They return to the Moon and collect a piece from the crashed vessel, returning it to Area 51. During a celebratory speech by President Lanford, Whitmore collapses from a psychic bombardment from the aliens.

A gigantic alien ship decloaks near the moon, bigger than anything seen in 1996. It is 3,000 miles in diameter and easily destroys the Moon base. Fortunately, ace pilots Dylan Hiller (Jesse T Usher), Rain Lao (Angelebaby), and others are able to flee to Earth. Whitmore and his daughter Patty (Maika Monroe) head to Area 51 to meet with General Adams (William Fichtner). Whitmore releases an incarcerated alien, using it to speak through him. They discover that the Queen alien has returned to finish the job started 20 years ago. David believes that killing the Queen would disable all the other aliens, just like in 1996.

Jake, Dylan, and the other pilots lead an assault on the gigantic ship, which has landed in the Atlantic. Unfortunately, it’s a trap, and many fighters are destroyed. Dylan’s team is stranded inside the mothership as a global EMP knocks out the satellites. The aliens attack Cheyenne Mountain, killing President Lanford and most of the American leaders. General Adams is sworn in as the new President. Dr. Okun has filled the walls of his room with alien writing and then proceeds to cut open the piece of the alien sphere, believing it is from a different civilization than the attacking aliens. Inside, a smaller sentient sphere is revealed that informs the humans that the aliens, called Harvesters, are attempting to steal the molten core of the planet for fuel.

The Queen Harvester has detected the alien sphere and heads towards Area 51. David wants to bait her, the way they were baited into attacking the mothership. They need a volunteer to fly a bomb into a force field in the middle of the Nevada desert. Whitmore volunteers. Meanwhile, David’s father, Julius (Judd Hirsch), who miraculously survived being washed ashore in his boat, is found by a group of siblings who lost their parents in the attack. He drives them, and other abandoned kids, to find his son at Area 51. Back on the mothership, Jake distracts the aliens so Dylan, Rain, and Charlie can steal fighters. A decoy sphere takes off across the desert, drawing the attacking aliens from Area 51, while the real sphere is shielded by a cloaking device.

Whitmore draws the alien ship into a protective force field, and David detonates the bombs, blowing the Queen’s ship up. Julius and a school bus of children he has rescued enter the area just as the Harvester Queen emerges from the wreckage and chases the bus. Jake and Dylan, in two alien fighters, manage to kill the Queen, which stops the drilling into the core with minutes to spare. Umbutu and Floyd finish off the remaining aliens loose in the base. Jake is reunited with his fiancée, Patty, and Charlie gets a date with Rain. As the Harvester mothership departs, the sphere has informed Dr. Okun, who tells the others, that humanity has been picked to lead the alien resistance, and it’s time to kick some serious alien ass.

“On behalf of the people of Earth, happy Fourth of July.” – Thomas Whitmore

History in the Making

Independence Day: Resurgence returns to the well one more time, hoping to attract fans of the original Independence Day in a romp of nostalgia. This film was one of several franchises in the mid-2010s that sought to make a sequel to a long-distant film from the 70s or 80s. These included Jurassic World, Tron: Legacy, Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the following year’s Blade Runner 2049. All these films trade on the nostalgia of their predecessors, while creating new films that elevate the stakes and visual effects in ways that were never before possible. This is primarily due to the people who grew up watching these films now being old enough to make films themselves. If the success of these movies were only due to the amount of nostalgia they fostered, then they would all have been big performers. Fans were excited for each and every one of them, at least excited at the possibilities. However, the realities of the films often left something to be desired. Even as some of these franchises continued, most of these retreads are not critically acclaimed or enjoyed by the entire fanbase. Resurgence is an example of one of those ill-executed movies.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines resurgence as “an increase or revival after a period of little activity, popularity, or occurrence.” This suits the Independence Day sequel both in plot and in reality. It had been twenty years since Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin had brought the epic, modern-day tale of Earth repelling an alien invasion. It was not the only alien invasion film that year, which also included Star Trek: First Contact and Mars Attacks. It was not Emmerich’s first sci-fi film, but probably his most popular (though arguably the Stargate franchise has outperformed this franchise), and the film that led to the resurgence of epic disaster films. In fact, Emmerich is mostly known for his sci-fi disaster films, which have slowly gotten worse over time. These include Godzilla (1998), The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and Moonfall (which is completely ludicrous, but still a fun watch). According to Emmerich himself, the downfall of Resurgence stems from attempting to rework his original script after Will Smith declined to be in the film. The number of writers on films of this magnitude is always a first clue to some of the behind-the-scenes troubles. This film has five different writers, including Devlin and Emmerich, James A. Woods and Nicolas Wright, and James Vanderbilt. It’s such an attempt to include everything that audiences loved about the original, along with roles for the surviving actors (even if it’s a cameo, like Robert Loggia), that it lacks originality, if not plausibility.

Genre-fication

Independence Day is not the first sci-fi disaster film, but it is certainly the modern-day impetus for so many of the films that have been created in the last 30 years. Two early disaster films that have been featured on Sci-Fi Saturdays include When Worlds Collide and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which have elements that remain in the genre to this day. The original Independence Day created the remainder of the modern sci-fi/disaster tropes, as well as featuring a slew of ideas from classic disaster films such as The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, and Earthquake. It just switches up epic natural disasters for extraterrestrial ones. Resurgence takes all of these elements and reworks them into its plot. There are multiple lead characters, all with different backgrounds and stakes. They are all tasked with surviving something bigger than themselves, be that an alien invasion, a rogue asteroid (Armageddon), or the failure of the Earth’s core (The Core). Unfortunately, Resurgence doesn’t quite feel as epic as the first film. It’s not bigger, clocking in just shy of two hours, at least 30 minutes less than its predecessor. It’s not badder, as Will Smith’s energy is lacking, something that a second-tier Hemsworth and Jeff Goldblum can’t capture. And it can’t compete with all of the elements it reuses, which have been done better in other films.

When people discuss genre films (horror, sci-fi, western, etc), they often use the word trope. This is a shorthand for the themes and motifs specific to that particular genre. For example, in horror films, there might be the jump scare, the killer in the woods, and the final girl. These elements are not a slight against a film, since a trope is often a useful inclusion. A Western film that doesn’t take place in the West is not true to the name. Oftentimes, tropes are intermingled with one another, creating new versions of old classics. Star Wars is an example of combining science-fiction with the swashbuckling of pirate films, World War II dogfights, and the fantastical elements of fairy tales. Tropes often get a bad name because it’s usually only when they are noticed that they seem trite, as with the overuse of common elements. It depends on the type and tone of the film, since tropes can be used to an advantage. Here, Resurgence decides to use an alien Queen to lead the invaders. She’s bigger, badder, and smarter than the aliens previously seen. She’s also just like the Queen alien in Aliens, another sequel to a popular sci-fi film. Shutting down the mothership turns off all the other ships, as happened in Independence Day and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. And speaking of Star Wars, as with last week’s The Force Awakens, the inclusion of the older cast members tends to overshadow the introduction of the new actors. Too much of the time is being spent remembering who’s related to whom, and speculating what part they may play. And here’s a weird coincidence: Bill Pullman played the Han Solo-esque character, Lone Star, in Spaceballs. The Force Awakens brings back Harrison Ford’s Solo to have him killed as a sacrificial character in the third act, just as Pullman’s Whitmore does here. Arguably, Pullman has a better death scene and does more for this film than Harrison Ford’s sacrifice does in Awakens.

Societal Commentary

The original Independence Day comes off as a global film about repelling alien invaders, but it is decidedly set from an American point of view. All the main characters are American. The battle is led by the American president. And the rousing speech that Whitmore gives (the core moment in the film) is from an American perspective on the Fourth of July. This film is only a little bit better, including a warlord from the Congo as a secondary character along with Rain (and her Uncle), a Chinese citizen, but it is set during no specific timeframe. The locations are still decidedly American, with the White House/Washington, DC, Area 51, and the Moon base (run by the American-backed Defense Force) as the major locations. There is a bit more of a global feel to the film, but it lacks any of the heart of the original film. Emmerich attempts many of the same beats, including a ho-hum speech from President, nee General, Adams, which, no shade towards Fichtner, has nowhere near the gravitas of the first film. It also features no antagonistic subordinates. William Fichtner’s Adams was the likely candidate, due to his portrayal of unlikeable characters (Strange Days, Armageddon), but he actually is an okay character. The closest anyone comes to a jerk of a character is Patrick St. Esprit’s Reese Tanner, the United States Secretary of Defense, who sours the President’s ear a couple of times before getting killed at the Cheyenne Mountain complex. And the only interpersonal conflict in the film comes from Dylan’s mistrust of Jake (who almost got him killed). Otherwise, all the characters work well together without many issues. Yawn.

The most forward-thinking aspect of Resurgence may be its use of Sela Ward as the female President of the United States. The film was released in 2016 during the campaign for the 45th presidential election, when the Democratic nominee was Hilary Clinton. She lost that divisive race at a time when voters seemed not to be ready for a female President. The following term, Kamala Harris was elected as the first Vice President of the United States, a historic first. She attempted to run for office during the 2024 election cycle, but was also unsuccessful. Female leaders have been popular in fiction and in other countries, but have yet to crack the glass ceiling of the White House here in America. An early silent film from 1924 (The Last Man on Earth) depicted a female President, being the first to do so. Often, a female president has been included in comedic ventures, such as Patty Duke in the 1985 sitcom Hail to the Chief or Julia-Louis Dreyfus in Veep. Sci-fi film Iron Sky depicted a Sarah Palin-esque president. The sci-fi TV series Y: The Last Man featured Diane Lane as the President after a virus wiped out nearly all male mammals. And the sci-fi comedy Don’t Look Up has Meryl Streep as the POTUS. The inclusion of such a character in films and television may help audiences become more comfortable with the real prospect of a country led by a woman. At some point in the 21st Century, maybe America will get a worthy female President for real.

The Science in The Fiction

In the 20 years between the Battle of 1996 and the Resurgence, scientists around the globe have been busy reverse-engineering the Harvester technology in order to beef up the infrastructure of the planet. Helicopters, fighter jets, and moon tugs all utilize new power sources derived from the alien technology. It has allowed the Moon to be colonized and a series of satellites to be created to defend the Earth against any incoming threat. Any threat, except for apparently the same group of aliens that the technology was derived from. While the Earth got ready during this time, so too did the aliens. The real purpose of the creatures, travelling hundreds or thousands of light-years to attack the human population of the planet, was so that they can…do what? Drill into the core of the planet to use it as fuel for their ships? Why do they have to do this on populated planets? Are there not other planets that would suffice? The reasoning ends up being a flimsy excuse to create a rematch between humanity and the vastly superior alien force, which only ends up being defeated because we got lucky.

Cleaning up after these epic alien invasions can be tough. Cities, landmarks, and personal property all get destroyed. People are killed. And the status quo is turned upside-down. Property can be fixed, people can be mourned, and the order of things can be restored. Yet how can a giant hole drilled into the Earth be fixed? Especially when it comes so close to the core of the planet. The end of these types of films is never about showing the repair efforts. It often is just making sure that the main characters have all survived. Here, it’s about making plans to leave the planet and strike back against the aliens that caused the damage. For once, it might be nice to take care of issues locally before attempting to become an intergalactic police force.

The Final Frontier

Independence Day: Resurgence is lacking in many elements that make engaging films. But it does do one thing correctly, and that is to bait even further sequels. The film ends (supposedly with the audience cheering in their seats) as the young fighter pilots pull off the impossible and defeat the Queen. The characters pose for their big moment when the kooky scientist informs everyone that the good alien society has offered Earth a chance, not just to be in the Resistance against the Harvesters, but to lead it! Damn, we’re good! It’s time to take the fight to the bad guys and “kick some serious alien ass,” as they say in the vernacular. Congrats, everyone, we’ll see you in three years for the next film! But that film has yet to materialize, and may never. By 2019, 20th Century Fox, the rights owner to the Independence Day franchise, was acquired by the Disney Corporation. They have set aside many projects that were in the works, meaning that a possible ID4 sequel will never come to fruition. But given the lackluster events in this film, that’s not a horrible proposition. The need for another film in this series is low. There’s nothing that screams out as an unanswered question. As far as franchise possibilities and popularity go, the Independence Day series is not very. While the first film is loved by many, it basically did what it needed to do. It helped launch the sci-fi action-adventure disaster film, which has been going strongly for the last two decades. Maybe it’s time to give up on the aliens and focus a little bit more on the sci-fi possibilities a little closer to home.

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