We always knew they were coming back. Hirsch. Fox. Goldblum. Goldblum’s glasses. Pullbeard. They’re all back… for Independence Day: Resurgence, which stars Maika Monroe (taking over Mae Whitman’s role from ID4), Jessie Usher (the son of Will Smith’s character) Liam Hemsworth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sela Ward, William Fichtner, Brent Spiner, and someone named Angelababy. No, really.
Goofy moon stuff aside, this doesn’t turn my stomach. I like the idea that humans have incorporated alien tech into their everyday lives. The trailer definitely looks and feels like only a post-Transformers global disaster film can, with some obvious touches of Interstellar. It looks ludicrously huge in scale; one of those movies that makes you wonder just how big movies can get, and if that bigness really means anything anymore. You can barely make a megabudget blockbuster these days without putting the entire planet in doomy-gloomy peril (though there are exceptions, like Jurassic World). But just how big and VFX-heavy can these movies get and still mean something? It all comes down to character. If IDR can make these characters come alive on screen (which seems exceedingly difficult when the actors are reacting to a greenscreen for much of the running time), I think it’ll be perfectly watchable.
Independence Day: Resurgence arrives in theaters on June 24, 2016.