First Take: Independence Day Resurgence- the summer blockbuster season begins here

SYPNOSIS: Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind’s new space defenses be enough?

Roland Emmerich is a director who truly knows how to frame a great alien invasion shot, and it’s safe to say that Independence Day Resurgence is a film that is worthy of opening up a summer of big budget releases- and it’s a rare one too, clocking in at just under 2 hours.

Emmerich has been wanting to revisit the 1996 classic for years, and it definitely shows in the script he has crafted with collaborator Dean Devlin, as the very well written return of Jeff Goldblum just makes audiences remember the nostalgia of the original film. The performances from Goldblum and new cast members Maika Monroe, Liam Hemsworth and Jesse T Usher are very finely tuned, with the CGI delivering some stunning moments that are literally jaw dropping due to their realism. Marcus Förderer’s cinematography really shows the scale of this new invasion, and it works well for 3D viewers, and considering the fact that the film was converted for 3D exhibition, the effect is very strong and adds something else to an already great film, especially during the first sighting of the mothership- a sequence that just needs to be seen on a huge screen with big sound. However, for casual viewers, some of the plot won’t make sense purely due to the reliance of narrative exposition from the first film, but this is addressed throughout as loose ends are tied up from almost 20 years ago.

THE VERDICT

Emmerich has just nailed it, as he delivers a 2 hour film that’s packed with lots of action, very well developed characters and of course a tonne of alien ass-kicking, but the reliance on the original film may detract from the experience for selected viewers.

RATING: 4.5/5