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There's at least one movie you watch in your youth that takes on a special significance to you that few others will ever quite understand. The 1996 blockbuster Independence Day was that movie for me.
I was nine years old in the summer of 1996 when I went to the theater with my friend Mike, his family, and friends of his siblings. There wasn't a set movie in mind upon arrival, but once the few adults in the group had conferred, the choices us kids had were The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Independence Day. I was still pretty all about Disney at the time; the previous summer I'd laughed my ass off when A Goofy Movie came out and the year prior to that was the thorough amazingness that was The Lion King. Though I had no particular desire to see Hunchback, it seemed right in my comfort zone and I probably would have selected it in a vacuum.
However, Mike brought another one of his friends from our school with whom I was not as comfortable around nor necessarily on friendly terms with. As a rising fifth-grader, I had no desire to look like a dweeb by picking the kiddie movie. I knew nothing about Independence Day other than that it was rated PG-13 (and would become the first PG-13 movie I'd see in theaters), but social pressures being what they were, when given the choice, I selected it without hesitation. Can't show 'em weakness.
When waiting for the movie to start, I asked Mike if he knew what it was about and he told me "aliens". Wait. Aliens? Really? The film was called "Independence Day". Surely this was some sort of mistake. Nothing in the title remotely implied that this would be some sort of extraterrestrial thriller. Having been scarred by the Alien component of The Great Movie Ride at Disney World a couple years before, I became nervous and asked the incredibly silly and unmistakably dweebish question, "Um, you mean like scary aliens?"
I hoped his other friend didn't hear me.
In any case, I pretty much held it together during the movie and really became enchanted by it towards the end. President Whitmore's speech really fired me up and I cracked up hysterically when Jeff Goldblum delivered his perfect, "Forget the fat lady, you're obsessed with the fat lady. Drive us out of here!" It was an epic film unlike any my nine-year-old self had ever seen before.
Of course, several times over the next few months I went to sleep worried about an alien invasion of Earth.
When the movie came out on video. I told my dad that I'd seen it in theaters and since I knew he had some interest in Star Trek and the like, one night I encouraged him to watch it with me when we were trying to figure out something to do. My dad became a pretty big fan of it as well, and other than Christmas movies, it's probably the film we've watched together the most. Since I knew what to expect the second time around, I was much better able to appreciate the little one-liners, character ticks, and understand how the various plot pieces fit together. From that point forward, at least until I became old enough to appreciate movies with more depth to them, Independence Day was my favorite movie.
A few years (and quite a few views of Independence Day) later, I'd become very good friends with a guy named Gino who could quote Independence Day for hours on end just like I could. Independence Day was therefore more to me than a sci-fi adventure film, it was a bonding experience between me and my dad as well as me and Gino.
I recently Googled what reviews of Independence Day were like and most of them contained a heavy dosage of the word "cheesy". When you're 1996 Roger Ebert and are accustomed to reviewing films like Braveheart, Forrest Gump, and The Shawshank Redemption, I could see how Independence Day might fit under the "cheesy" label. But when you're nine-year-old The Pat Hatter, you have little-to-no concept of "cheesy". The film had already taken up a special place in my heart before I'd become mature enough to pick up that perspective. I think it's fair to say that I look at Independence Day through a much different lens than most.
There was little question that on opening weekend, Gino and I would see Independence Day: Resurgence together. Saturday was the much-anticipated night. Prior to seeing this film, I naturally checked out what the reviews were like and most of them were not positive. I therefore went in fully expecting a film full of strange plot devices, corny dialogue, and weak characters. I got all three.
So, with that out of the way, Gino and I agreed that the film was thoroughly entertaining. The two of us have a heavy dose of bias and it's a clear step down from its 1996 predecessor, but for us, it was plenty of fun.
Jeff Goldblum reprises his role of David Levinson and in the absence of Will Smith (conveniently written out as deceased from a training exercise, because apparently Steven Hiller is talented enough to deftly fly an alien craft in the first movie on the first try but can't survive a training exercise) he's very much the star of the show. Jurassic Park and Independence Day both allowed Goldblum to showcase his excellent delivery in the 90s and that ability of his hasn't declined whatsoever with age.
Other favorites from the first movie return, including (now former) President Tom Whitmore (Bill Pullman), stripper-turned-doctor (???) Jasmine Hiller (Vivica A. Fox), the ever-quotable Julian Levinson (Judd Hirsch), and Dr. Brakish Okun (Brent Spiner). Okun's reappearance was actually pretty surprising, as he was presumed dead after a confrontation with an alien in the lab during the first movie. The writers apparently fell in love with the quirky scientist because he received an unexpectedly large amount of screen time for a guy who was just a bit player in the first movie. His "death" was written off as a 20-year-long coma. That didn't make any sense to me because they appeared to check his pulse in the first movie and conclude he was dead, and he'd have a pulse if he were in a coma. But whatever! I'm not here to judge! (Okay, maybe I actually am, but I'd rather have a film with Okun than a film without Okun.)
The new cast includes Liam Hemsworth, who portrays a fighter pilot whose parents were killed in the first invasion. He's romantically involved with Whitmore's daughter Patricia, who's unfortunately played by the completely milquetoast Maika Monroe. If I had to pick one (of several) complaints about this movie, it's that the very talented Mae Whitman was not asked to reprise her role as Patricia Whitmore, ostensibly because of height and not fitting the "Liam Hemsworth Love Interest Archetype". He teams up with Dylan Hiller (Jessie T. Usher), Steven's son, during many of the movie's visually impressive action scenes.
One of the reasons this film falls short of Independence Day is that the 1996 film did an excellent job of conveying a sense of desperation and hopelessness among the survivors before the winning idea was eventually conjured. In this film, we have several utterances in the vein of "shit, we're not going to win this time", an idea that packs much more of a punch when the audience feels it without it having to be said. The sense of urgency picks up late in the film, but before then, we're not given many reasons to worry or even care if the humans are able to fight off their alien rivals. I guess part of that's to be expected when we take it as a given that the film will retread some old ground, but that aspect of it was disappointing.
Nonetheless, there's plenty of enjoyment to be had and while popular perception seems to be that the film is a money grab (strongly reinforced by the suggestion at the end of the movie that there will be another sequel), that doesn't mean that it can't be fun along the way. Goldblum, Hemsworth, Hirsch, and Spiner in particular are very fun to watch on screen and the film's action scenes and special effects are top-notch. Independence Day: Resurgence will likely continue to get panned by reviewers, and understandably so. But for true fans of the first movie, there's enough here to appreciate in callbacks and familiarity alone that the flaws can be accepted and two hours' worth of enjoyment can be had.
Rating: 5 / 10
Rating: 5 / 10
