INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE

INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE picks up 20 years after the original, with a united Earth facing another invasion from the evil alien monsters who were defeated in the first movie. Not quite as put together or exciting as the original, INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE nevertheless manages to stir up plenty of thrills, excitement and laughs to deliver the goods, but the movie’s positive, morally uplifting, redemptive worldview is mitigated by a couple politically correct multicultural moments and too much foul language, including several gratuitous strong profanities that should have been left on the cutting room floor.

As noted above, the movie opens 20 years after humans, led by the President of the United States and what was left of the American military, defeated a race of alien invaders. The humans have had 20 years to take the alien technology left by the invaders to rebuild Earth’s major cities. Humans have even built a base on the moon and an outpost near Saturn as sort of an early warning system should any other alien invaders decide they want to attack Earth. According to the new female president, the nations of the Earth have set aside their differences to work together.

However, the former president, Whitmore, is having nightmares about a new alien invasion. He and others who personally encountered the aliens are having visions of a large alien globe with a slit in it.

Sure enough an alien spaceship carrying such a globe shows up at the moon base. Whitmore tells the new president to wait and see what the aliens driving the ship want, but she decides to fire at the ship anyway, and it crashes. Jeff Goldblum’s character from the first movie, Dr. David Levinson, goes to investigate the alien ship in an Earth spaceship piloted by Jake, who happens to be the fiancé of Whitmore’s daughter. They retrieve a smaller globe from the apparently uninhabited spaceship and bring it to Area 51 to study.

Meanwhile, a 3,000-mile wide alien spaceship also shows up and parks itself over the Atlantic Ocean, Britain and the American East Coast, taking out London and almost completely destroying New York City again. The spaceship releases another ship, which starts drilling to the Earth’s core to take the core’s energy. This would, of course, destroy the planet and everyone on it. The humans only have a few hours to devise a plan to destroy the alien invaders and kill their giant queen.

RESURGENCE has several subplots to go along with this main story.

David’s rabbi father, Julius, ends up stranded on his boat in New York. He’s picked up by a family of teenagers and children driving their car inland, away from the destruction. Julius takes over and has them drive him toward Area 51 to be with his son.

Jake takes part in an attack on the alien mothership that doesn’t go so well. He and the surviving pilots, including his rival, the son of Will Smith’s character from the first movie, must work together to get back to Area 51.

Finally, the quirky Area 51 scientist from the first movie, Dr. Okun, played wonderfully once again by Brent Spiner, wakes up from a 20-year coma. He’s tasked with studying the alien globe, which may hold the key to defeating the alien queen and her minions.

Director Roland Emmerich, who co-wrote the screenplay, manages to keep most of these balls floating smoothly in the air, but the script is a little more diffuse and less cohesive compared to the first movie. The new characters don’t register quite as well as the old ones that show up in this sequel. Brent Spiner almost steals the show this time around with his fun, quirky performance as the newly awakened Area 51 scientist. This is good, but it sort of leaves Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsch’s immensely likeable father-son team by the wayside. They’re still fun to watch, as is Bill Bullman’s presidential character, who gave the first movie such patriotic gravitas.

Despite its limitations, including some corny moments, INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE delivers the thrills, excitement, spectacle, and comic relief viewers should expect from a blockbuster sequel. The bloom may be off the rose a little bit, but this sequel still gives viewers their money’s worth.

RESURGENCE has a strong moral worldview stressing heroism, duty, family, sacrifice, camaraderie, helping others, and coming together and putting aside differences to fight a ravaging, predatory enemy. Also, the American military and government are still seen in a positive light, though they’re working internationally against the aliens from outer space. In fact, the Americans discover the evil aliens have a “hive mind.” This is reminiscent of the 1950s anti-communist science fiction movies of the past. Finally, the movie also contains some positive, though vague, redemptive references to prayer and faith.

Sadly, these positive elements are diminished by too much gratuitous foul language, including several strong profanities misusing the Lord’s name in vain. Also, one scene contains a humanist comment that human resolve, not God, is the reason the humans were able to defeat the aliens in the first movie. There are also a couple scenes that reflect a Romantic, liberal, politically correct attitude celebrating multiculturalism. For example, in one scene, the American leader, broadcasting to the world, asks for prayers from all humans, no matter their creed, race or nationality. Thus, the sequel’s revelation that Earth has become a peaceful place where humans have been able to totally set aside their differences strikes MOVIEGUIDE® as a Romantic, liberal, multicultural fantasy. People are really only one in Christ, according to the New Testament documents (see Romans 12:5 and Galatians 3:28). And, even that has proven difficult at times.

Ultimately, however, it’s the foul language in INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE, especially the gratuitous profanities, that warrants the biggest caution from MOVIEGUIDE®. MOVIEGUIDE(r) reports; you decide.