Monday, July 18, 2016

Independence Day: Resurgence Review












Independence Day: Resurgence


Release Date: 23rd June 2016 - Australia


Production Companies
Centropolis Entertainment
TSG Entertainment
20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Distribution
20th Century Fox Australia


Genre: Sci-Fi

Rating: M

Runtime: 129 minutes


Budget: $165,000,000

Box Office Gross: $389,681,935 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
Twenty years after the alien invasion of Earth had almost destroyed its beings, the world has used the recovered alien technology to fuse with the technology of humanity. And its nations have collaborated on an immense space defence program to defend the planet from another alien attack. But nothing could prepare
them for the new threat
of extraterrestrial invaders,
as their mothership was
twice the size of the last
one they'd destroyed. This
time, a few brave men and
women must band together
to save the world, but
will they have enough
firepower to take down
the invaders, or will this
battle change, and will
the aliens take over and wipe out humanity before all hope is lost?


Cast
Liam Hemsworth - Jake Morrison
Jeff Goldblum - David Levinson
Jessie T. Usher - Dylan Hiller
Bill Pullman - Thomas J. Whitmore
Maika Monroe - Patricia Whitmore
Sela Ward - President Lamford
William Fichtner - General Adams
Judd Hirsch - Julius Levinson
Patrick St. Esprit - Secretary of Defense Tanner
Brent Spiner - Dr. Brackish Okun
Vivica A. Fox - Jasmine Hiller
Angelababy - Rain Lao
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Catherine Marceaux
Deobia Oparei - Dikembe Umbutu
Nicolas Wright - Floyd Rosenberg
Travis Tope - Charlie Miller
Chin Han - Commander Jiang
Gbenga Akinnagbe - Agent Travis
Robert Loggia - General Grey
John Storey - Dr. Isaacs
Joey King - Sam
Jenna Purdy - Sphere (Voice)
Garrett Wareing - Bobby
Hays Wellford - Felix
Mckenna Grace - Daisy
James A. Woods - Lt. Ritter
Robert Neary - Captain McQuaide
Joshua Mikel - Armand
Joel Virgel - Jaques
Arturo del Puerto - Bordeaux
Travis Hammer - Jeffrey Fineman
Lance Lim - Camper Kevin
Zeb Sanders - Camper Henry
Donovan Tyee Smith - Camper Marcus

Crew
Based on Characters/
Story/Writer/Producer/
Director - Roland Emmerich
Based on Characters/Story/
Writer/Producer - Dean Devlin
Story/Screenplay - Nicolas Wright and James A. Woods
Screenplay - James Vanderbilt and Carter Blanchard (Uncredited)
Executive Producer - Ute Emmerich
Executive Producers/Unit
Production Managers - Larry
J. Franco and Carsten H.W. Lorenz
Producer/Music - Harald Kloser
Co-Producer/Visual Effects
Supervisor - Volker Engel
Co-Producer/First Assistant Director - K.C. Hodenfield
Co-Producer - Marco Shepherd
Casting - John Papsidera
Production Designer - Barry Chusid
Conceptual Artwork/Concept Illustrator -
Johannes Mücke
Concept Illustrators - Daren Dochterman,
Mark Yang, Fausto DeMartini, Steve Burg,
Jim Carson and Christian Scheurer
Concept Illustrator/Visual Effects
Art Director - Michael Maher
Production Illustrator - Sean Hargreaves
Vehicle Art Director - Ron Mendell
Supervising Art Director - Patrick M. Sullivan Jr.
Art Directors - Caty Maxey, Christa Munro,
Eric Sundahl and Clint Wallace
Creature Designer - Patrick Tatopoulos
Set Decorator - Jay Hart
Assistant Set Decorator - Kevin Krupp
Property Master - Brad Einhorn
Costume Designer - Lisy Christl
Director of Photography - Markus Forderer
Additional Photography - Robby Baumgartner
Stunt Coordinator - John Stoneham Jr.
Special Effects Coordinator - David Greene
Senior Visual Effects Supervisor: Weta Digital -
Joe Letteri
Senior Visual Effects Supervisor: Cinesite -
Holger Voss
Visual Effects Supervisor: Weta Digital - Matt Aitken
Visual Effects Supervisor: MPC - Sue Rowe
Visual Effects Supervisors: Scanline VFX -
Bryan Grill and Mohsen Mousavi
Additional Visual Effects Supervisor - Douglas Smith
Additional Visual Effects Supervisors: Cinesite -
Christian Nickel, Eamonn Butler,
Etienne Daigle and Stephanie Paris
Visual Effects Producers - Marc Weigert,
Terry Cloutiax and Katharina Salinger
Visual Effects Producer: Scanline VFX - Robert E. Evans
Visual Effects Producer: Digital Domain - Steve Won
Global Head of VFX: MPC - Greg Butler
Digital Effects Supervisor: Cinesite - Aymeric Perceval
Animation Supervisor - Conrad Murrey
Animation Supervisor: Weta Digital - David Clayton
Animation Supervisor: MPC - Matt Kowaliszyn
Animation Supervisor: Image Engine -
Jason Snyman
Supervisors: Digital Domain - Dean Broadland,
Jan Philip Cramer, Michael Melchorre
and Hanzhi Tang
Film Editor - Adam Wolfe
Additional Editors - David Brenner,
Joe Hutshing and Mitchell J. Glaser
Re-Recording Mixer/Sound Designer/
Supervising Sound Editor - Paul N.J. Ottosson
Re-Recording Mixer - Michael Minkler
Foley Artists - Gary A. Hecker and
Michael Broomberg
Music - Thomas Wanker


Review
1996, the first Independence Day movie made a massive impact on audiences. It had the money shot of the alien spaceship destroying the landmark of the White House. History is about to repeat itself with the latest sequel produced as a visual extravaganza but is dumber and huger than the original blockbuster. I wasn't sure INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE would succeed without Will Smith returning as one of the main leads from the original. This new movie would have been heavier on nostalgia if Smith had reprised his role, but unfortunately, he was too expensive for the sequel. With the absence of Smith, his character is no longer essential to the storyline in the director's favour. RESURGENCE is still colourful and fully action-driven, but more is needed to compensate for the unwarranted aspects like uninteresting new characters and awkward pacing.

Fans will miss the presence of Will Smith but are thankful for the returns of Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman, whose roles stayed the same for twenty years. Even Brent Spiner had a blast returning as the eccentric and mad scientist Dr. Okun and has more screen time than the first. The new actor Liam Hemsworth has tried to be better than Will Smith but is a cliche and carbon copy of that character.

The 90s are still over, but RESURGENCE isn't only trying to relive its past. It is trying to evolve into the modern era from which the technology of VFX has changed a lot. Unfortunately, the film's scriptwriting hasn't improved. That's why I thought RESURGENCE was an average sequel.

Star rating: (5/10) Average

2 comments:

  1. Good review! Too bad they couldn't make this one work. I feel like it probably still wouldn't have been very good even if Will Smith had been in it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, at least it tried to be and it didn't match the standards of the original either.

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