Independence Day: Resurgence

“They like to get the landmarks.” Though it would have been good for it, Emmerich’s new movie doesn’t contain many more similarly prescient lines, and it does show any awareness of its own bullshit. The gravity with which the subject matter, reminiscent of a 1950s sci-fi B-movie, is handled gives one an idea of what Starship Troopers would have looked like if Verhoeven had taken it seriously. With a guilelessness that’s as endearing as it is disturbing, the new Independence Day turns the message of the Cold War-era The Day the Earth Stood Still on its head. A more advanced civilisation is not here to warn humanity of the risk of self-destruction, but to help it destroy the enemy. The purpose of war is not for people to learn from it, but to better prepare themselves for the next war, because without warfare the military-industrial complex would logically collapse. Solutions other than military force are not even considered and the effectiveness of using hard power (even against an ally) is not in any way questioned by the film’s message. It doesn’t explain why society was divided, but mainly shows that society was united by waging war. Military conflicts thus essentially have a positive effect, even if they usually result in a few major cities getting wiped off the face of the earth. Even though I am disgusted by the ideology that the film expresses (not to mention the character of the exceedingly incompetent president), and though its sentimentality and patriotism sometimes exceed the tolerable limit, I enjoyed the second Independence Day as much as I did the first one. In terms of composition, it is a perfect summer blockbuster in which every motif and every character has its own justification (and the extended exposition thus bears fruit later in the film). The multitude of characters allows Emmerich to change the point of view as needed and thus share with us information that is necessary to keep us in the picture while wanting to know more (by the time we get to the climax, we sense that there will be a snag, as all of the plot lines have not been resolved yet). The film is brilliantly paced throughout, including at the level of individual action scenes. The deadline that we are continually warned about comes ever closer, the aliens get bigger and stronger, the number of important characters in peril increases. The $200 million budget is evident and the battles are massive, but neither would matter if the action wasn’t a solid part of the narrative, helping to move the story along by eliminating certain obstacles and creating others. If you are going to make a big, dumb and not very original sci-fi flick, then do it with the storytelling skill found in Resurgence. 80% (06/21/2016)

I only regret three things - that the writers didn't pay as much attention to the new characters as their colleagues who wrote Star Wars: The Force Awakens, that the film is not longer (this could have solved the first problem) and that Will Smith did not want to, although he could have easily done what William Fichtner did. That’s too bad. Otherwise, the second Independence Day is exactly what I hoped it would be. Monstrous, funny, surprising and knowingly simple, with the promise of an even more monstrous third installment. I won't blame Roland Emmerich for not using miniatures, but everything is digital, because if everything could have been done digitally twenty years ago, he certainly wouldn't have bothered to build a plaster white house. In short, times have moved on, and during 2012 he figured out that he can do absolutely anything he wants to Mother Earth. And so he does it to her, too. Of the returning cast, no one disappointed me; on the contrary I was very pleased with Brent Spiner, who was given much more space than I had hoped for, and of course Jeff Goldblum is a classic and his scenes with Judd Hirsch still have that hundredth of a second comedic timing from years ago. ___P. S. The film is actually in the same position as its soundtrack, which consists of completely new but somewhat familiar music by Kloser and Wanker, in which one can hear hints of the well-known Arnold motif here and there as time passes, which returns in full force only in the last quarter of the album. And then it's regular Independence Day with everything that it encompasses. (06/24/2016)

Emmerich remakes his own work while managing to rip off about ten other films, sprinkles in cheesy lines, pathetic speeches, and huge monumental action that casually outdoes every orgy of destruction from any action film of the last three years (which is a major asset!). It’s really just 1990s stuff. But! Christ, did the first half-hour of introducing new characters really have to be that long? And the callous treatment of protagonists from the past? At a time when the studios allow 140 minutes for whatever, Emmerich's two hours are too tight, and his weakness is shown to be the lack of finesse in his shortcuts. But the monumental epic wins in the finale. Although it’s tight and quite ineffective, I've forgiven Emmerich for worse things. PS: When I want to think back to it two days later, all I can pull from my memory are high-five planets and new interplanetary ships. (06/23/2016)

What more can I say? An old liberal, all of whose ships have already sailed, but who miraculously continues to knead his overpriced anachronistic visions united by states of love and tolerance. It's half scandalous and half terribly contagious. When two old gays heartbreakingly say goodbye on the screen or Bill Pullman is pulling humanity together with another speech just after a brain collapse, it reminds me why I love Roland so much. He brought the over the top principle very over the top. He doesn't understand the business as much as Michael Bay, so even a meeting of a Chinese sexy wonder, an American yuppie, an Australian surfer, a Jewish morose and an intergalactic ball on the autopsy table looks like a magical mistake, which is a bit unknown to the viewer. The film is best described by two scenes - old Levinson, who sells a discounted book How I Saved the World to comatose retirees, and Dr. Ocun, who immediately begins to kick alien ass after waking up from a 7,300-day coma. This is exactly Independence Day 2. (I'd really need to see part three, btw) (06/29/2016)

Fans of the first and opponents of the second may be annoyed, but I have to say that I enjoyed Independence Day 2 as much as the first. Admittedly, in this case it's like a magnifying glass, so there's more of everything, everything is bigger and more apocalyptic and so on. But I had fun, just as I did with the first one. Roland Emmerich works the same way, so you could count on bombastic effects, a few WTF scenes and the blatant heroism of the main characters, and I didn't expect anything more than that. I went to the cinema mainly expecting to watch an audiovisual orgy of monstrous proportions, where I would have the power to switch off and not have to think too much, and that's exactly what I got. In short, a popcorn flick with all the trimmings that can evoke both a sense of nostalgia and a sense of outrage, and in my case it was a nicely made (if slightly silly at times) respite. (07/16/2016)