Written by Logan J. Fowler and Justin Matchick
Release Date: June 24th, 2016
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Liam Hemsworth, William Fichtner, Judd Hirsch, Sela Ward, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner
Director: Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, White House Down, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012)
Pre-Trailer Thoughts: Back in 1996, Independence Day released, and it took the world over. Assembling a great cast and utilizing amazing practical effects, the movie was a really entertaining adventure falling under the disaster movie genre. 20 years later, the sequel has managed to get back most of the main players, although I have to say that not having Will Smith return kind of hurts the effort. On a further note, did we really need a follow up? The original felt like lightning in a bottle, and to recapture that again is going to take some hard work -LJF
Pre-Trailer Thoughts: The first Independence Day is one of the biggest blockbusters of all time so it’s only natural that it gets a sequel now, in the age of Hollywood dredging up old IP’s and giving them sequels with their favorite characters instead of remakes with entirely new casts. By bringing back some old characters and actors who played them in the first film, it somehow gives the movie an air of legitimacy whereas a straight-up reboot of Independence Day would have been met with scorn. It’s a shame that Will Smith has decided not to revisit the movie that catapulted him into super-stardom, but with Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman still on board I’m interested to see where this goes. – JTM
Rate the Trailer: 2.5 out of 5. I can’t help but find the trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence engaging at points, but that’s mostly in the scenes featuring Goldblum and Pullman. I don’t care enough about Will Smith’s son, and Liam Hemsworth just acts like he’s in another Hunger Games movie. The special effects do look really good though, so there’s that. In any case, not bad. -LJF
Rate the Trailer: 3 out of 5. I think that in the 20 years since the first film I’ve become numb to these sort of “disaster porn” movies. Part of this is director Roland Emmerich’s own fault, as his movies like The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 were so overloaded with scenes of entire cities and countries being decimated that I’ve become desensitized. The sight of massive alien ships hovering over the ocean and entire cities being ripped apart just doesn’t have the same effect on me as it might have when I was younger. Parts of this trailer almost look like Emmerich is parodying his own overzealous focus on widespread destruction. Goldblum and Pullman look to be the biggest draws of the movie for me. They were great in these roles the first time around and they look to have settled right back into them with ease. – JTM
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? Rent. I know that the movie will have such a scope that a theater viewing would make more sense, but there’s not enough shown so far that will get my butt in a cinema seat. However, a couch seat? Sounds good to me. -LJF
Theater, Rent, Undecided, No Thanks? Undecided. It was odd this weekend when the newest trailer came out and most people seemed to be excited by the prospect of an Independence Day sequel and all I felt was apathy. If friends were insistent on seeing this in theaters I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to going. But otherwise I really don’t feel any urgency to see this on the big screen or even seek it out when it comes to streaming services later on this year. – JTM
Independence Day: Resurgence sets off the fireworks June 24th, 2016
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