What is it about?                                                                                                                     20 years after the events of the first Independence Day where aliens attacked Earth, and Capt. Steven Hiller (played by Will Smith) helped in blowing up the alien’s mothership, Earth has advanced in technology by combining alien and human tech. They have been preparing for the alien’s possible return, and soon find out the aliens have done so. Hiller’s son (played by Jessie Usher), along with veteran David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) and Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) must stop the aliens from taking Earth once more. Independence Day: Resurgence is a less-than-mediocre sci-fi flick with impressive visual effects, which is pretty much the only good thing going for it.

How is it? 3.7/10                                                                                                                     Independence Day: Resurgence has great visual effects, but its other flaws drag it down from being nearly enjoyable as the original. It has too many characters, and any major character moment didn’t have enough building up to it, which causes you not to care about what’s happening too much. The acting is nothing special, and it falls under the category of CGI-fest movies that rely too heavily on special effects. Without having seen the original, you’ll understand the plot points, but not care about the characters as much as the movie expects you to. Nonetheless, the action scenes are enjoyable, and if you’re looking purely for visual spectacle, it should be fine. However, during the film, I even found myself thinking about other things and not the movie– its plot is silly, and is more or less a rehash of the last one with better special effects. As Jeff Goldblum states in the movie,”It’s definitely bigger than the last one,” but that’s all it is.

How are the action, special effects, and humor? 6.5/10                                          The action in ID4: Resurgence is pretty good, I must admit, and it is assisted by the spectacular special effects. However, I found myself watching the action not because I was compelled by the storyline, but simply because I wanted to see the special effects. Its attempts at humor do cause a few chuckles, but most of it fell flat and wasn’t too funny. However, I must give it credit for not being too dark and serious (cough, cough, Batman v Superman) and having a lighter tone.

In conclusion, Independence Day: Resurgence is a less-than-decent sci-fi movie that I wouldn’t recommend unless I craved its large-scale spectacle.