I will readily admit that I did actually have a bit of fun with 'Resurgence,' it was diverting destructive entertainment for a couple hours, but I can't avoid a level of cynicism when describing this thing. So, the three of them at some point are going to have to come together in order to save the day because the aliens are sending a big momma Queen alien to destroy the planet. Then there is Liam Hemsworth as the rogue astro-pilot Jake Morrison who is in love with Patricia but at odds with Dylan because of a training accident. Usher as Dylan Hiller son of Captain Steven Hiller because Will Smith didn't want to reprise his role from the first film. They're all pretty much there to do all of the running and jumping because presumably, the original cast is now so old now they run the risk of breaking a hip.Īt the front end of this show, we have Maika Monroe filling in for Mae Whitman as former President Whitmore's fighter pilot daughter Patricia. The problem is, this younger generation doesn't really add anything to the show. They're the familiar faces we want to see at a reunion of this sort while providing a franchise handoff to the younger generation. All of these people are here to remind the audience of the good old days. Even Robert Loggia drops by long enough to give everyone a hearty salute. Bill Pullman's former President Whitmore has gone loony from his encounter with the aliens, and Brent Spiner's Dr. Old friends like Jeff Goldblum's David Levinson and his dad played by Judd Hirsch are back. Humanity fights back, and from there you can pretty much guess the rest. As we're building a vast interplanetary defense system, the aliens come back to harvest the earth's magnetic core to kill us all. It's 20 years after the first film, humanity is at peace, and we've successfully integrated alien technology into our culture. 'Resurgence' is essentially the first film all over again with some little new spins on some old tropes in an effort to bridge towards future installments. As you've no doubt seen the original 1996 ' Independence Day,' you're basically all caught up. Truth be told, there is very little to recap, or at least, not very much material to make the effort worth it. While not an altogether terrible film, 'Independence Day: Resurgence' proves you can have too much of a good thing - especially when nothing new is brought to the table.Īfter finishing what is now my second viewing of 'Independence Day: Resurgence,' I realized how completely pointless it is for me to offer up my traditional one to three paragraph story recap. Some films panned out and were halfway decent, others were woeful miscalculations that crashed and burned. From a remake of ' Ghostbusters' to a near mute Matt Damon in ' Jason Bourne' to a fun but flawed reunion with the ' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,' the summer of 2016 dumped as much nostalgia onto audiences as humanly possible. In 2016, Hollywood officially overdosed on Nostalgia. Like most things in life, you can overdo it. Every once in awhile, it's fun to go back and breathe in those vapors, but it's important not to take in too much. It's nice to take a step back and remember the good old days of yesteryear when your favorite movies were fresh and new.