Weak sci fi sequel (see 'remake') of 96's half decent Independence Day where the aliens are bigger, the guns louder, and the CGI shinier.
I'm not entirely sure why, beyond profit, Hollywood thought this film was ever necessary. I mean technically I guess I've just answered my own question, but even then, this was a truly pointless exercise in movie-making which might not have been diabolical, but truly was an average affair in story telling and a dreadful one in acting (more on that later).
In short those alien dudes are back. Only this time it's actually...for the exact same reason as before with some idiotic mumbo jumbo about another alien race. A great deal of returns are seen, with huge cheques clearly waved in aging faces with reprises of Goldlum's Levinson, Hursh's 'his dad', Pullman's president, Spiner's Okun, while the marquee name of Will Smith had much better things to do so they got Chris Hemsworth to be the 'underated hero'.
The above do their best to try to take this rubbish seriously and in all fairness make a fair fist of it, but it's the curious decision to cast art-house 'legend' Charlotte Gainsbourg in the role of 'Jeff Goldblum's ex' which puzzles the most. Her style of delivery may work in the subterranean world of abstract cinema, but in this epic it was like watching a child struggling with an ongoing stroke - the woman could barely deliver her lines, speaking slower than someone with a genuine impediment, completely at contrast with the furious pace Emerich's direction was going at and that of whatever poor fool she was playing opposite in any given scene was. It was painful and it absolutely destroyed every moment she spoke.
Jessie T Usher was the replacement 'token black guy to replace Will Smith' and he actually did a reasonable job of not being too jingoistically goofy but was betrayed by an atrocious 'close encounters' 'gag'.
Special effects were pretty good, but with the budget thrown at this that's not surprising, and the thinly fleshed subplots (two enemy heroes become friends, nerd becomes warrior, other nerd tries to get the girl, and creepy old man takes in a group of 15 year olds for no apparent reason) both strain and plain confuse.
And yet for all the patent rubbishness of the plot, the acting, the forced nonsense before us which is basically Independence Day 2016, it is still weirdly quite entertaining. Emerich's aforementioned direction is fast, slick, and does a good job of keeping our attention while those shiny CGI this and thats entertain our eyes if not our brain.
In terms of substance, this is a zero. It's is horrendous. But it's stylish silly substance which may have absolutely no brain and barely a believable heart but it has lungs and eyes which somehow make it work.
It's Hollywood blockbuster nonsense by the numbers yet somehow it works. Just.
I'm not entirely sure why, beyond profit, Hollywood thought this film was ever necessary. I mean technically I guess I've just answered my own question, but even then, this was a truly pointless exercise in movie-making which might not have been diabolical, but truly was an average affair in story telling and a dreadful one in acting (more on that later).
In short those alien dudes are back. Only this time it's actually...for the exact same reason as before with some idiotic mumbo jumbo about another alien race. A great deal of returns are seen, with huge cheques clearly waved in aging faces with reprises of Goldlum's Levinson, Hursh's 'his dad', Pullman's president, Spiner's Okun, while the marquee name of Will Smith had much better things to do so they got Chris Hemsworth to be the 'underated hero'.
The above do their best to try to take this rubbish seriously and in all fairness make a fair fist of it, but it's the curious decision to cast art-house 'legend' Charlotte Gainsbourg in the role of 'Jeff Goldblum's ex' which puzzles the most. Her style of delivery may work in the subterranean world of abstract cinema, but in this epic it was like watching a child struggling with an ongoing stroke - the woman could barely deliver her lines, speaking slower than someone with a genuine impediment, completely at contrast with the furious pace Emerich's direction was going at and that of whatever poor fool she was playing opposite in any given scene was. It was painful and it absolutely destroyed every moment she spoke.
Jessie T Usher was the replacement 'token black guy to replace Will Smith' and he actually did a reasonable job of not being too jingoistically goofy but was betrayed by an atrocious 'close encounters' 'gag'.
Special effects were pretty good, but with the budget thrown at this that's not surprising, and the thinly fleshed subplots (two enemy heroes become friends, nerd becomes warrior, other nerd tries to get the girl, and creepy old man takes in a group of 15 year olds for no apparent reason) both strain and plain confuse.
And yet for all the patent rubbishness of the plot, the acting, the forced nonsense before us which is basically Independence Day 2016, it is still weirdly quite entertaining. Emerich's aforementioned direction is fast, slick, and does a good job of keeping our attention while those shiny CGI this and thats entertain our eyes if not our brain.
In terms of substance, this is a zero. It's is horrendous. But it's stylish silly substance which may have absolutely no brain and barely a believable heart but it has lungs and eyes which somehow make it work.
It's Hollywood blockbuster nonsense by the numbers yet somehow it works. Just.