Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind's new space defenses be enough?

Director:

Roland Emmerich

Writers:

Nicolas Wright (screenplay by), James A. Woods (screenplay by)

Stars:

Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman

3 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Liam Hemsworth	...	Jake Morrison
Jeff Goldblum	...	David Levinson
Jessie T. Usher	...	Dylan Hiller
Bill Pullman	...	President Whitmore
Maika Monroe	...	Patricia Whitmore
Sela Ward	...	President Lanford
William Fichtner	...	General Adams
Judd Hirsch	...	Julius Levinson
Brent Spiner	...	Dr. Brakish Okun
Patrick St. Esprit	...	Secretary of Defense Tanner
Vivica A. Fox	...	Jasmine Hiller
Angelababy	...	Rain Lao
Charlotte Gainsbourg	...	Catherine Marceaux
Deobia Oparei	...	Dikembe Umbutu (as DeObia Oparei)
Nicolas Wright	...	Floyd Rosenberg

Storyline

Two decades after the freak alien invasion that nearly destroyed mankind a new threat emerges. This Alien mothership is more than twice the size as the last one and once again, the world's armies must band together to save the world. Do they have enough firepower or will this battle change and will aliens take over?

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Plot Keywords:

chinawoman | almond eyes | thin attractive woman | chinaman | mothership | 

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Taglines:

They want only one thing . . . DESTRUCTION!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG - 13 for sequences of sci - fi action and destruction, and for some language

Details

Official Sites:

20 Years of Evolution Independence Day 2

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

24 June 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

ID Forever Part 1

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$165,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$41,039,944, 26 June 2016, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$103,144,286

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$389,684,482

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, TSG Entertainment, Centropolis Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Surround 7.1 Dolby Atmos 12-Track Digital Sound (IMAX 12 track) DTS (DTS: X)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Liam Hemsworth turned down the role of Jerôme in Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013) and Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013), which would have had him play the love interest of Charlotte Gainsbourg. They would eventually go on to appear together here.

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Goofs

When David sits next to Jake in the Tug (at 30 min and 10 seconds), Jake goes from putting on his seat belt to having his seat belt fastened and headset on within a second (after Jake says, "I haven't crashed in a couple of days").

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Quotes

President Lanford: [rehearsing her speech] The countless lives that we lost in the war of '96 did not perish in vain. They inspired us to rise from the ashes as one people of one world. For 20 years the world has seen no armed conflict. Nations have put their petty differences aside. United, we rebuild our families, our cities, and our lives. The fusion of human and alien technology not only enable us to defy gravity and travel with unimaginable speed, it also made our planet finally safe again.

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Crazy Credits

Dedicated to actor Robert Loggia, who died in 2015.

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Alternate Versions

An extended version of the movie exists and will be released later after its initial theatrical release. Director Roland Emmerich has said: "It's only about seven minutes longer. It's interesting for fans to see which scenes we cut, although I like it when movies are short." A longer special edition of the original Independence Day was also released, which ran almost two-and-a-half hours at 145 minutes with the extended cut running for 154 minutes.

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Connections

Referenced in Midnight Screenings: Independence Day: Resurgence/Free State of Jones (2016)

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Soundtracks

Traveling Africa
Written by James Parkey
Courtesy of Pennybank Tunes Profiles
Under license from 5 Alarm Music

User Reviews

You're gonna need a bigger movie

I recently re-watched the first film and was surprised at how robust its shelf life is. Again, it is undeniably cheesy and jingoistic, but done suitably well, I can have a ball with any material. In "Independence Day: Resurgence", set and finally released 20 years after the events of the first film, the aliens get medieval on us with an even bigger mothership.

There's a lot of heroics here by many a character who do their equal part to stop this new alien menace, having already made a stuffed calzone of the Earth's crust comprising from London all the way to Singapore. There's also a refreshingly silly undertone which sets it apart from the grim and serious blockbusters of today, and with added Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsch who return as the Levinsons, and "Star Trek" alumnus Brent Spiner as the eccentric Dr. Okun, Emmerich and his co-writers, including returning scribe Dean Devlin, certainly did not skimp out on the comic silliness.

Unfortunately, that is where the similarities end. The sins of sequelitis has been bestowed upon this sequel to his 1996 smash hit, and Emmerich is to blame, either for his laziness to phone it in out of frustration to fulfill the fans; or bucking in to studio demand to condense the film into a mere 2 hours. Sure, lots of things happen in the film, including stuff and cities going kablooey in high style, and high-tech aerial dogfights to give "Star Wars" a run for its money. Even Liam Hemsworth as the new hero Jake Morrison did not annoy me as much as I expected, though Hemsworth is still a far cry from Will Smith's "Elvis has left the building!" persona.

However, as slick as the modern CGI is, giving a sleeker look to the tech shown in the original film, it never quite gels together as a cohesive film - no momentum, no suspense, no catharsis when it does end. Bill Pullman's returning ex-President Thomas Whitmore is utterly wasted, as per his daughter Patricia (Maika Monroe, not doing her rep from "It Follows" any favours). It is not their fault; I feel that there is a lot of footage Emmerich was forced to excise by the Fox bigwigs to get more butts into cinema seats. Perhaps an extra half- hour of more cataclysmic destruction and character motives, but I may be asking for a bit too much at this point.

Things are very rushed indeed, with no payoff even when there's lots of characters doing their fair share to save the day. Goldblum and Hirsch, however, are still naturals, and they steal every scene they're in, and lift the movie up from near tediousness. Nevertheless, the special effects are fantastic, and are most certainly worth the price of admission alone.

It's kind of sad. This new one promotes global equality, with a female U.S. President (Sela Ward) celebrating world peace, and with everyone from across the globe giving it their all to kick E.T.'s ass. The action is fine and dandy without any of those annoying shaky-cam and quick-cut edits. And yet, the film suffers from awkward pacing, rushed dynamics, and especially a lack of cities exploding into fireballs. It even has sequel-teasing in the laziest manner possible in its final moments.

To quote Marvin the Martian, "Where's the kaboom? There's supposed to be an Earth-Shattering Kaboom!"