Given the rate news is coming in right now, there's little point in writing about our EU exit just yet, so let's talk about that other "Independence Day".
20 years ago, Roland Emmerich delivered a big, blustering, spectacular modern take on the classic b-movies of old. Decent script, great performances, incredible special effects: it was the epitome of a summer blockbuster, the likes of which wouldn't be matched until The Avengers (the Marvel one).
Rumours of a sequel circulated almost immediately, and continued to do so for 2 whole decades, during which time, Emmerich made the likes of Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012. Hardly a glowing resumé, but at least they were fun for what they were (though I acknowledge it's awful, I am one of the few living entities on the planet who actually quite enjoyed Godzilla).
And now, finally, we have Resurgence...
*sigh*
It's difficult to pin down why this film doesn't work. Yes, the writing's awful, the story's stupid and the new (and semi-new) characters are one-dimensional caricatures, but the same's true of a vast number of blockbuster b-movies that still manage to be big dumb fun. Just look at Jurassic World. In the best of these films, it's entirely possible to detach oneself from the glaring issues, and just enjoy the spectacle. Even the first Transformers - woeful though it was - wasn't entirely without fun and excitement.
Part of the problem for me is the setting. The original was set in our world: it was tangible and recognisable, resulting in a genuine impact to all of the destruction wrought in the initial attack. Resurgence, on the other hand, is set in an alternative present day, replete with alien propulsion systems and weapons, floating TVs and gleaming, futuristic architecture. It's all phoney and detached, and there is no impact to seeing it destroyed.
That detachment extends to the majority of the characters. While Bill Pulman and Jeff Goldblum return, and add some gravitas to proceedings, the rest of the cast are given nothing to do but fill their archetypal roles: handsome white maverick hero; handsome black by-the-book hero; plucky lover-interest; nerdy sidekick; token Asian. Every one of them is as bland, vapid and unconvincing as the setting.
In terms of plot: a MacGuffin lands on the moon just ahead of the return of the previous invaders, who are answering a distress beacon, and chasing said MacGuffin...and looking to harvest the Earth's core, which is their usual plan, apparently, but last time they didn't seem too fussed about that...except that they were, and they tried it; it just wasn't mentioned before, possibly because they tried it in some random African state, rather than somewhere sensible, like a fault-line, so no-one really took it seriously.
Speaking of that African state; the populace there were engaged in a ground war against a bunch of the aliens, in the aftermath of the previous attack, which sounds cool, but we don't actually get to see any of it.
Always frustrating to be teased, in an exposition dump, with a plot far more interesting than the one you're sitting through.
And exposition is pretty much the entirety of the script, which dumps character and post-ID4 history on us, in the brief interludes between action scenes. No one is given room to breathe or develop, and whenever there is the possibility of a character having to deal with something, it's brushed aside with a shrug and an 'It's all good': the new status quo accepted with as much emotional impact as finding out there's no ketchup for your hotdog.
At one point...
*MILD SPOILER*
...a returning character dies, a teary speech is given about revenge, and they're never mentioned again for the subsequent 90 minutes.
*SPOILER END*
Later on...
*LESS MILD SPOILER*
...we see the start of an attack on the president's bunker, only to cut away to another location where we're told she was killed in the attack, and the new president is sworn in, in a five-second ceremony that has zero impact on anything as he was pretty much running things anyway.
*SPOILER END*
We're also threatened with an even sillier sequel.
FIVE people wrote the script for this thing!
In terms of the action, it's all pretty enough (though the 3D is abysmal), the emergence and landing of the new ship is impressive, and the climactic sequence with a giant alien is the one interesting and moderately original set-piece in the entire film, but the dogfights - which were done brilliantly in the first film - are such a mess, it's difficult to tell which side's which.
It's clear that all effort has gone into the set-pieces, with the connective tissue thrown together as an afterthought, and while that's a perfectly reasonable approach to constructing brainless, high-concept popcorn fair - I've little doubt a similar approach was taken to the first film - there needs to be something for the audience to get their teeth into.
Sadly, two decent performances and a couple of good set-pieces aside, Resurgence is a thin, messy, poorly paced, lazily plotted, bloated shadow of the original.
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