Here’s my review – Independence Day: Resurgence. Even though all the reviews of Independence Day: Resurgence have been less than stellar I was still really looking forward to seeing the sequel to Independence Day. If you liked the original movie you’ll probably see this one no matter what I say or other reviews say.

It wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen

I saw ID4 – 2 at the Mall of America on the opening weekend (Saturday). It was 95° in the Twin Cities and the mall was packed, and there were maybe 15 people in the theater to see Independence Day: Resurgence.

Listen, this movie was no more improbable than the first one. In fact, it’s the exact same plot with some of the same people. Unfortunately they left out a few people that might have made the movie just a little bit better.

Will Smith’s character, Steven Hiller, has been killed out of the movie franchise (yes, they have two more in the works, let’s hope the next two are better). There are a lot of stories floating around about why he wasn’t in this sequel – bad timing, Will was demanding $50 mil to name a few – but if he was smart it was because he read the script and realized it sucked. This is apparently what Susan Sarandon did when offered the part of President Lanford, it was a smart move.

Will Smith could have brought some much needed comic relief to the movie, instead that task fell to Brent Spiner who plays Dr. Brackish Okun. Spiner actually did a pretty remarkable job and carried a good part of the movie. His storyline was certainly the most interesting and nuanced.

Another person sadly missing from reboot was Mae Whitman. She played the daughter of President Whitmore in the original movie. While her character is in the sequel, they brought someone else in to play her. It’s too bad because Mae Whitman would have been a better choice. They should have brought back Harvey Fierstein, but his character died in the original.

Other returning actors include Judd Hirsch, Jeff Goldblum and Vivica A. Fox. I’m not really sure why they were brought back as their stories were a bit convoluted and confusing.

Actually most of the movie was convoluted and confusing

The most confusing part was the introduction of William Fichtner’s character General Adams. Confusing only because he played Colonel Willie Sharp in Armageddon, a very similar character.

Which got me thinking, Independence Day: Resurgence could have been a much more entertaining movie, especially because the script was contrived of just about every great action/adventure movie from the 90s – Jurassic Park, Armageddon, Terminator, Alien (ok, this one was 70s and 80s), if it had taken itself less seriously – I don’t know maybe make a parody of the genre like the Naked Gun and Airplane movies?

Jeff Goldblum could have played dual roles as both David Levinson and Malcolm. Hell, he could have thrown Seth Brundle in there too (to be fair, they are all the same neurotic character, just with different names). Instead of sending Bill Pullman up the alien ship to detonate the nukes, Bruce Willis should have been brought in – for just that task. It would have been funny, trust me.

Instead, we are left with this movie that really needed a few more years marinating before being brought to film.

I don’t regret seeing the movie, for $6 it was worth it to sit in a cool theater looking at Liam Hemsworth on the big screen. Hopefully they’ll either can the next two or figure out how to make them work.

Have you seen Independence Day: Resurgence? If so, what did you think?