Independence Day : Resurgence

Next up on the Summer's blockbuster merry-go-round is Independence Day; Resurgence as the aliens return for round two twenty years later...

The film picks up the story after two decades, humanity has stopped fighting itself, adopted alien technology and spent time preparing defences. As the victory of twenty years ago is celebrated another alien ship arrives above the new moon defence base.

It's destroyed despite the reservations of Jeff Goldblum's returning David Levinson who believes it's a ship from another space faring race. Indeed, shortly afterwards a massive ship arrives that very much isn't freindly and the battle to survive begins again....

We then get the scenes of destruction you'd expect from the film in the initial onslaught but this time most damange is done by the alien ship landing rather than it actvily blowing stuff up seeing as it's bigger than an ocean.

Following that we follow a set of hot shot pilots as they attempt to attack the alien mothership, including the children of Will Smith's Cpt Hiller and the daughter of Bill Pullman's President Whitmore as well as the Goldblum and others on the ground who must devise a plan.

A surprise return in a comedic slot is Brent Spiner as wacky scientist Dr Okun and we also get the now common nod to the Chinese market with Angela Yeung Wing's fighter pilot who you suspect as a bigger role in edits for that market.

Everyone pretty much does well enough with what are broadstroke characters although one comedic relief character does fall flat with the nerdy bureaucrat character that gets caught up with events early on.

There are some nice ideas floating around here, like the militia that has been fighting aliens left behind from the first invasion and the second alien species that holds the key to victory (albeit things end suspiciously close to Stargate SG1's setup) although the build up is much less effective than it was in the first film largely as a result of the film's rush to get to the action.

Overall it's very much a silly B-movie with plenty of money spent on wizzes and bangs, but it know's that's exactly what it is and generally keeps the pace rolling along a decent enough crack to cover over it's simplistic writing. Slight, silly, fun.