Independence Day: Resurgence (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

“Independence Day:  Resurgence” Marks Return of Aliens

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

You’d think those alien buggers would get the message. You can’t invade the earth and win. We’ve proved it in movie after movie.

One in particular stands out as testimony to that fact: “Independence Day,” that 1996 patriotic epic in which a fighter pilot (Will Smith) and the US president (Bill Pullman) lead a counterattack against alien invaders on July 4th -- roughly the same date that the movie opened.

Being that this was a summer blockbuster, Jeff Goldblum was a member of the cast. He was considered “good luck” for such films.

Of course, we kicked those aliens’ little green butts.

Now, two decades after that first invasion, the aliens are back in a new movie called “Independence Day: Resurgence.”

Several familiar faces from that first movie -- Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner, and Judd Hirsch -- are back. Along with Jeff Goldblum, needless to say.

For continuity, Jessie Usher will play the Will Smith character’s stepson. The studio wouldn’t pony up the $50 million Smith demanded for two more movies in the series. So they killed him off in a crash while test-piloting an alien hybrid fighter. Bummer.

Both movies are the brainchild of director Roland Emmerich and his sometimes collaborator Dean Devlin. Together, they have given us such megahits as “Godzilla,” “Stargate,” and not-so-big-a-hit “Eight Legged Freaks.”

This week “Independence Day: Resurgence” is carrying the battle to the Tropic Cinema.

As President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) patriotically says, “Today, you will once again be fighting for our freedom...”

Aliens or ISIS, movies like this make us want to defiantly declare (to quote Pullman’s character), “We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our ...” … well, you know.

srhoades@aol.com