Independence Day. Resurgence. Roland Emmerich, dir. Great special effects, driving score, but sloppy screenplay. Theme: The older generation passes the baton to the younger. Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) is the cocky, arrogant main character—hard to figure out whose son he is, but I’m guessing he’s the son of the alcoholic UFO nut in #1. His main squeeze, Patricia Whitmore (Maika Monroe), is the daughter of ex-Pres Whitmore (Bill Pullman), who helped save the world in #1—a repeat performance here, sort of. #1’s Will Smith character flyboy Hiller’s son has a long-standing feud with Jake. And so forth. You get the idea.

It’s 30 years after #1 (1996 to 2026 in this parallel universe), so the united people of Earth (not so united, or peaceful, considering the aggressive warlord and friends at the beginning) have combined military tech with ET military tech. They think they’re well prepared for the next invasion. Ha! The ET bad guys are a lot more visible here and see a lot more action, thanks to the progress of special effects, enough to please all the space opera fans. The ubiquitous hive concept of classic sci-fi (see Ender’s Game, for example), is used to make the ETs seem, well, more alien, but the queen reminded me too much of Sigourney Weaver’s nemesis in Alien.

There are many superfluous characters and parallel story threads: Julius Levinson (Judd Hirsch) and the kids he picks up on his way from his beached boat to Area 51; the African warlord and the nerdy white guy he ends up calling a warrior; and the whole boatload of treasure hunters. I never could figure out what the latter were doing out there watching an alien ship drill into the Earth’s mantle (where’s the EPA when you need them?)—their contribution to the defense of Earth didn’t seem worth that cool hundred million Washington offered them (“united Earth” still means the Yanks are in charge, I guess—more arrogance).

Confusing? You bet! Insanely sappy at times too. Don’t look for logic AKA reasonable scientific extrapolation in this nod to the 50’s B-movies about alien invasions, or the earlier “War of the Worlds.” I suspect later summer sci-fi extravaganzas or the new Bourne movie will be much more interesting.  And don’t forget that forgetful fish and prehistoric squirrel.  But a good time was had by all watching Independence Day #2.

***

In libris libertas….

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