Welcome to Earth!
It's been twenty years since the first Independence Day. If you're like me, you're constantly kept awake at night wondering what happened in the Independence Day world and Hollywood has finally answered the question.
Twenty years has gone by since the aliens first invaded Earth. Our technology has increased exponentially as we integrate alien technology with our Earth technology. Our ships have similar shields like the aliens had, we have a moon base with big lasers, and new guns. The aliens also gave mankind a common enemy so we haven't had war in these twenty years. Then...the aliens return!
We follow a couple of different groups around. We have Dylan Hiller (Jessie T. Usher), the son of Steven Hiller (Will Smith in the first movie) as a hot shot pilot along with Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth). We also have David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) investigating another new alien signal to figure out if the aliens are coming back (Spoiler, they are) and how to fight them.
This time around, there is a ton more action. We have ourselves another giant mothership but unlike the first movie, we have some ground fighting with soldier on soldier combat. While the first film spent a long time with the aliens intentions in the dark (for the characters at least), the characters already know exactly what they're dealing with here and don't pull their punches as they know that what they have showing up is hostile. In general, this action is pretty good and looks pretty good as well as things explode and then more things explode and then for good measure, a couple more things explode.
Unfortunately, the plot is so full of holes that you could fly that giant alien spacecraft through the movie without coming anywhere near the sides. I was only paying so much attention and I saw two major "That doesn't make any freaking sense" moments, with many other tiny "Are you people serious?" moments as the movie gets kind of silly. I'm normally not someone who nitpicks plot holes but good God they are hard to ignore with how blatant they are here.
While the first film had a few funny little quips, this one seems to have amped the quips up a notch. Jake is a smartass who constantly mocks the situation (pretty similar to Will Smith's Steven Hiller in the first movie), David mocks the politicians for focusing on the celebrations and politics more than the possible incoming threat, and just in general, the movie makes more jokes. It doesn't save the movie but it certainly helped.
Overall, it's not a great film but it's not awful either. If you have the ability to shut down your brain and just enjoy the fireworks, the movie does enough right that it can be entertaining. Things explode and people make chuckle-worthy jokes while making things explode. If you're bored and it shows up on TV and the remote is waaaaay over there, you could do worse for a time killer.
7.0/10; It isn't as good as the first one was (though that could just be nostalgia talking here) but if you want to see the world blow up, you could do worse.
Last Review: "X-Men Apocalypse [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.944429-tippy2k2-tells-you-what-to-think-X-Men-Apocalypse]"
It's been twenty years since the first Independence Day. If you're like me, you're constantly kept awake at night wondering what happened in the Independence Day world and Hollywood has finally answered the question.
Twenty years has gone by since the aliens first invaded Earth. Our technology has increased exponentially as we integrate alien technology with our Earth technology. Our ships have similar shields like the aliens had, we have a moon base with big lasers, and new guns. The aliens also gave mankind a common enemy so we haven't had war in these twenty years. Then...the aliens return!
We follow a couple of different groups around. We have Dylan Hiller (Jessie T. Usher), the son of Steven Hiller (Will Smith in the first movie) as a hot shot pilot along with Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth). We also have David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) investigating another new alien signal to figure out if the aliens are coming back (Spoiler, they are) and how to fight them.
This time around, there is a ton more action. We have ourselves another giant mothership but unlike the first movie, we have some ground fighting with soldier on soldier combat. While the first film spent a long time with the aliens intentions in the dark (for the characters at least), the characters already know exactly what they're dealing with here and don't pull their punches as they know that what they have showing up is hostile. In general, this action is pretty good and looks pretty good as well as things explode and then more things explode and then for good measure, a couple more things explode.
Unfortunately, the plot is so full of holes that you could fly that giant alien spacecraft through the movie without coming anywhere near the sides. I was only paying so much attention and I saw two major "That doesn't make any freaking sense" moments, with many other tiny "Are you people serious?" moments as the movie gets kind of silly. I'm normally not someone who nitpicks plot holes but good God they are hard to ignore with how blatant they are here.
While the first film had a few funny little quips, this one seems to have amped the quips up a notch. Jake is a smartass who constantly mocks the situation (pretty similar to Will Smith's Steven Hiller in the first movie), David mocks the politicians for focusing on the celebrations and politics more than the possible incoming threat, and just in general, the movie makes more jokes. It doesn't save the movie but it certainly helped.
Overall, it's not a great film but it's not awful either. If you have the ability to shut down your brain and just enjoy the fireworks, the movie does enough right that it can be entertaining. Things explode and people make chuckle-worthy jokes while making things explode. If you're bored and it shows up on TV and the remote is waaaaay over there, you could do worse for a time killer.
7.0/10; It isn't as good as the first one was (though that could just be nostalgia talking here) but if you want to see the world blow up, you could do worse.
Last Review: "X-Men Apocalypse [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.944429-tippy2k2-tells-you-what-to-think-X-Men-Apocalypse]"
