‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ — Even Liam Hemsworth And Jessie T. Usher Can’t Save This ‘Mindless Spectacle’ From Bad Reviews

Independence Day: Resurgence seems to have been a huge disappointment despite the best efforts of the cast, a huge budget, and an unprecedented amount of Earth-destroying special effects. Based on the reviews, it sounds like it’s more funny than serious. It is unintentionally funny, according to Encore Pub.

“What saved “Resurgence” was humor—not actual humor. Every attempt at a joke falls flatter than a pancake in a hydraulic press operated by a tone-deaf A-Cup. The unintentional humor on the other hand… I laughed my way through this screening, much to the chagrin of those sharing the theater. There’s a death scene early on that is so unintentionally hilarious I couldn’t stop laughing for a solid 10 minutes.”

Liam Hemsworth and Jessie Usher tried, but their characters were apparently not developed well enough within the weak plot. These guys are good at what they do, and Jeff Goldblum is a superb actor, but they were equally lost in this script. Ordinarily, the cast could have been great, but is the lack of a cohesive plot that ruins it for them. Encore Pub says something very un-Goldblum about the veteran actor.

“Jeff Goldblum sleepwalks through every scene…”

Independence Day: Resurgence has a 20-year plot hole for most characters. The background of the past 20 years is sketchy. This film was all about explosions and a curtain call for a 20-year-old movie. It is not about acting, the script, or the cast. It is influenced least of all by the new film’s virtually non-existent plot. The movie is all about the action and special effects, and while the action is great, it needs at least a thread of cohesion in the story to make movie-goers care if characters live or die.

Gulf News reports on the senselessness of the plot.

“This is the mindless spectacle we’ve been waiting for.”

Liam Hemsworth and Jessie Usher are cute, but they are not allowed to be more than eye candy. They could have saved the picture, but without a plot or script, what can an actor do?

Independence Day: Resurgence is so bad it’s good, though. Just relax, critics recommend. Eat popcorn while making fun of the plot because it’s good for a laugh. Gulf News recommends watching it with lots of popcorn, somewhere that movie-goers feel free to make noise.

“So grab some popcorn, turn your brain off, and hoot and holler along with the crowd.”

With Liam Hemsworth reduced to just looking good, Jessie Usher hoping for much better, and Jeff Goldblum uncharacteristically sleepwalking through his scenes, who acts in this film? Only film director Roland Emmerich, who singlehandedly blew up planet earth.

News Ledge gives a scathing report of his destructive abilities.

“Roland Emmerich has a disdain for our planet that rivals no other. Give him the budget and the man will wreak untold havoc on the planet. Typically, it works out to a great popcorn movie. It won’t win any awards, but it’s the type of movie you flip past on HBO and say: ‘Sure, I’ll give it another watch.”

Independence Day: Resurgence is just bad, according to Encore Pub.

“I’m perplexed as how something this bad exists. ‘Resurgence’ is a typical summer blockbuster movie made with hundreds of millions of dollars and a pretty standard alien-invasion plot. It has been played out hundreds of times.”

Liam Hemsworth hasn’t talked much about the film, but Jessie T. Usher is keeping his poker face and is not admitting defeat. He was really pumped about making the sequel to a movie he loved as a kid, and he’s not going to let a few bad reviews sour his experience.

He told Fox News Magazine how excited he was to be in the Independence Day sequel.

“When I got the call that I had booked ‘Independence Day: Resurgence,’ it was like … it was kind of hard to wrap my head around the idea. To be attached to one is almost surreal.”

Independence Day: Resurgence is not so bad for people who cannot remember the first Independence Day movie, according to the Japan Times.

“If you’re one of the so-called millennials who gets excited about “Star Wars” but hasn’t gotten around to watching “Independence Day” just yet, relax. You can enjoy “Resurgence” as the kind of summer blockbuster that goes so well with caramel popcorn, cold beer, and your three-day stubble. Lucky you — you’re unencumbered by the realization that when it comes to sequels, like reunions, 20 years may be too long a wait. A lot can change, and generally not for the better.”

Not everyone found Independence Day: Resurgence meaningless, though. This Week writer Lili Loofbourow found the movie and the reactions to it deeply meaningful and offered some insight into why this film isn’t going to fly after 20 years. In essence, not only is the film different, people are far different than they were 20 years ago. It may be the pessimism and cynicism that has engulfed this century, more than the movie itself, that makes the follow-up laughable.

“And despite its impressively horrific footage, Independence Day was a fairy tale about humanity’s ability to unite and stave off catastrophe. Since then, the “staving off” part has dwindled and died. We no longer believe technology will save us. We’ve instead become anxious and expert consumers of apocalyptic fictions. Between The Walking Dead, Last Man on Earth, The Leftovers, Under the Dome, The Strain, The Hunger Games, and others, we’ve conducted so many collective thought experiments on global collapse that perhaps we’ve stopped fantasizing about preventing it. Global warming will not spare us. The apocalypse is a given and the Death Stars just keep getting bigger. Today, everything is out of balance. We’re feeling outmatched.”

Liam Hemsworth and Jessie Usher cannot save us this time. Will Smith is dead in this flick, Jeff Goldblum is giving up and the world is going under, so why pretend? Is that the major flaw after all? To believe we could fend off aliens when we can’t even shake our own economic problems is a bit laughable.

“It fails so completely to address that anger — because it works so hard to externalize the cause of our crises — it feels like what it is: a throwback.”

Independence Day: Resurgence is not doing so well, but not just because of a weak plot. The sequel isn’t fitting in well with the angry, defeated mindset that has stricken this century, according to This Week. The best solution is apparent. Watch the movie while drinking a lot of beer and eating popcorn. Make some jokes at the exuberantly optimistic actors who apparently have no idea the human race has already ruined the planet with no help from aliens at all.

Independence Day: Resurgence, starring Liam Hemsworth, Jessie Usher, and Jeff Goldblum, isn’t just a disappointment, as people are already so disappointed.

[Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images]