INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE

US, 2016, 120 minutes, Colour.
Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Maika Munro, Jessie T. Usher, Sela Ward, Bill Pullman, William Fichtner, Judd Hirsch, Brent Spiner, Vivica A.Fox, Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Directed by Roland Emmerich.

Back in 1996 when the first Independence Day film was released, we were reassured that, with all the heroics led by Will Smith and urged on by President Bill Pullman and scientist Jeff Goldblum, that the world was safe after this particular example of War of the Worlds.

Little did we know – or little did the screenwriters know until they put their minds to it – that the aliens hadn’t gone at all, that they had settled here on earth, especially in North Africa with an enormous cavity in the earth and an enormous spaceship, and that they were plotting and planning and developing their technology. Which is just as well because it offers the opportunity, 20 years later, to refight Independence Day.

Needless to say, the special effects are quite spectacular, especially the spaceship – and the new one is 3000 miles across! Then there are whiz-bang battles – although the aliens themselves look stereotypically familiar, ugly looking creatures, slimy and sinister, with the Queen operating with her minions like a hive.

One of the things that we all may have missed in the 20 years since 1996 is that travel to the moon is so quick and seemingly inconsequential, up and down at will. Up on the moon, there is a crack squad of fighters, led by Liam Hemsworth, who do training, risk each other’s lives, have a sense of bravado.

Meanwhile in Africa, Jeff Goldblum is exploring the alien presence, confronting a warlord and a scientist friend from the past, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg. With the threat of an alien invasion, the moon soldiers rescue them and bring back to headquarters in Nevada, under the care of William Fichtner, and at the urgings of the new president, Sela Ward, sounding more than a little like Hillary Clinton – or via the old president, a scruffy bearded Bill Pullman, who comes to celebration and exercises more than a few heroics by the end of the film.

One of the bright pieces of the film is the character of the old scientist who has been in a coma for 20 years, played by Brent Spiner, who wakes up and immediately goes to work, encountering a friendly sphere from the galaxies, allies who have suffered under the aliens and are willing to help the humans.

So, there you have it, more or less (the more including a touch of romance between the pilot and the presidential attache, the former president’s daughter, who is no mean pilot herself). Oh, increasing the age range and interest, the scientist’s father (Judd Hirsch) gets into the act after trying vainly to publicise his biography to residents of a home for the elderly, and a group of schoolchildren trying to escape the aliens.

It is all enjoyable in the Saturday matinee kind of fashion, although the plot gets preposterouser and preposterouser as it goes on. The screenwriters have already given some consideration to a sequel, indicating at the end that the friendly sphere from space should combine with the humans who will take the attack on the aliens into the galaxies…

1. The first film, the atmosphere of 1996, popularity? The overtones of War of the Worlds? Alien invasions? Science fiction? Audience response?

2. The US president, advisers, scientists, the air force, the battles and the conquering of the aliens?

3. The sequel 20 years later, the title and Resurgence?

4. The plot, what happened during the 20 years, the ageing of the characters, the development of the technology, the alien technology, their plan, human response again?

5. Washington, the ordinary sequences? But the significance of the effects, for destruction, the cities, around the world, London…, Asia…? The battles and action? The atmospheric score?

6. The characters from the first film, familiarity, their roles? The new characters, new generation?

7. The situation, the visit to Africa, the enormous spaceship, the hole? The scientist, the encounter with the warlord and his men? The nerdish assistent? Catherine and her work, presence? The designs and her interpretation? The later sequences with Catherine and the warlord and their interpreting the signs and language?

8. 4 July, the new president, the female president and echoes of Hillary Clinton? A rousing speech? The old president, age, appearance, collapse, coming to the celebrations, the memories?

9. The news of the new attack, the spaceship 3000 miles long, the East Coast instruction, London and Asia? The spaceship spreading over the Atlantic? The issue of the earth’s core, to mine the energy? The history of this kind of ravaging of the planets and down to earth?

10. Sequences on the moon, the seeming ease of travel, the pilots, the exercises and training, their energy, personalities, the clash between Jake and Dylan, the risk in the training, Dylan punching Jake? Charlie, his work, the bond?

11. Jake, the presidential assistant as his fiance? Being a pilot? Jake’s decision to go to Africa, to rescue the scientist and the group? Taking them to Nevada?

12. Nevada, the plant, the officer in charge – and his later having to take the oath and being president? Contact with the president and her advisers? The commands in Nevada, the experience of the destruction?

13. The eccentric scientist, in a coma for 20 years, his contact with the alien Queen, his waking, the assistant in their discussions, his going into action? The shooting down of the sphere thinking it was enemy, the fact that it was friendly, the sphere, the voice, the explanation of the aliens and the other planets? Prepared to support humans? The scientist and his touching the sphere, the communication?

14. The destruction and the death of the president and her entourage? Nevada, the warlord, the nerdish assistant, their clashes, his wanting to fight, the machete, the guns?

15. The hive theory and the control of the Queen? This becoming the target? But the shrewdness of the alien Queen, drawing the fighters into the vehicle, trapping them inside,
the ingenuity and getting out? The determination to deceive the alien Queen, her wanting to destroy the friendly sphere? The old president, his wanting to go, his daughter, the plan to destroy the shield and the hive? The president, the decision to go in, his daughter protecting him? The destruction of the shield and the Queen?

16. The scientist’s father, his book, in the old people’s home, wanting sales? Buying the boat? The youngsters, the death of their parents, in the car, rescuing him? Driving
inland, Las Vegas? The bus and the petrol? Driving to the centre, in danger from the aliens?

17. In the Atlantic, the crew wanting the gold, making contact, offering to monitor the spaceship and the core, the split timing, able to report that all was safe? The millions for them?

18. Jake, his fiance, the romance, the rescue? Charlie and the Chinese pilot, romantic potential? Charlie and his friendship?

19. Catherine, the past relationship with the scientists – and to continue?

20. The collaboration between humans and the visiting alien in the sphere – and the plan to take the attack against the aliens into space?