Goldblum To The Rescue, Again
‘INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE’ TRAILER REVIEW BY METRO CREW
Jumping on the current trend of ‘90s nostalgia, Independence Day: Resurgence hits theaters 20 years after the original. In the intervening years, countries throughout the world have united on a global defense program to ward off future attacks. But when the aliens return for revenge, it looks like Earth is not quite as prepared as it thought. A number of stars from the first film return, including Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman, joined by new cast members led by Liam Hemsworth and Jessie Usher. While we appreciate certain aspects of this much-later sequel, we’re not sure how it will compare to the first.
Independence Day: Resurgence opens in wide release June 24.
NICOLE: Something tells me this is just going to be another one of those end-of-the-world movies — War of the Worlds, Skyline, Reign of Fire, 2012. I have a hard time distinguishing between most of them because all of the plots kind of blend together. Resurgence looks like every other trailer for every other apocalyptic movie. I don’t think it will be terrible. I just think it will be mediocre. Like its predecessor, I think this will be another popcorn film with just enough action and snarky commentary to make it OK.
PAIGE: My opinion is that movies should try to avoid big words like “resurgence” or “resurrection” or “genesis” in their titles. Can you think of one movie that busted out a three-syllable tagline that wasn’t kind of a bust? Sometimes the simple titles resonate better.
JAIMIE: Eh. EH. I am all for revisiting the past, but if I am going to wait 20 years for a sequel, it had better be damned good. I couldn’t even bring myself to feel remotely interested in this trailer. At this very moment, I can’t even recall what I enjoyed so much about the first Independence Day. Maybe it was because Will Smith wasn’t so Will Smith yet? Maybe I just didn’t know any better? I have very positive emotions and memories tied to the first one that I’m just not getting here.
PAIGE: It’s kind of amazing how little charisma Liam Hemsworth has compared to his brother. He comes off as intensely generic even if he’s got basically the same face as Thor.
NICOLE: But hey, Jeff Goldblum, you silver fox, you.
JAIMIE: Not even Jeff Goldblum can save this one.
CHRISTINA: Let’s get one thing straight: Jeff Goldblum can save any movie. I seriously cannot wait — I have been looking forward to this since I first heard about it. I admit, though, that this is about 90 percent because I have been madly in love with Jeff Goldblum since I saw the first movie 20 years ago.
PAIGE: I also really like that DEAD WILL SMITH is a big part of this trailer. “We couldn’t get the star back! Let’s kill him really conspicuously so it looks like we’re very cognizant that audiences will notice he’s missing.” That’s how they handled it in G.I. Joe: Retaliation when Channing Tatum got replaced by The Rock. They literally blew him up in the trailer so the audience had no ambiguity that this was a WHOLE NEW BALL GAME. (Again, note the three-syllable title for a bad sequel here.) I think that this will not be a bomb, but not having Will Smith and replacing him with Generic Hemsworth Brother No. 2 is going to keep this from being as big as it could be.
CHRISTINA: OK, I admit that apart from Goldblum, honestly, I am not sure I would really care about this movie that much. It does just kind of look like another generic action flick.
