Independence Day: Resurgence: Bad Movie. Liked It.

Last updated on: June 27, 2016 at 10:57 am by James Ford

Independence Day: Resurgence: Bad Movie. Liked It. 2016-06-27T10:57:23-07:00 James Ford

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Yesterday Jan & I went to see Independence Day: Resurgence. We knew it was supposed to be a bad movie. Of the one hundred and twenty-five professional reviewers counted on Rotten Tomatoes only thirty-four percent liked it. And, indeed, it is a bad movie.

But, the flaw in the reviews could, to my mind, be found in Rotten Tomatoes’ “critics consensus.” “It’s undeniably visually impressive, but like its predecessor, Independence Day: Resurgence lacks enough emotional heft to support its end-of-the-world narrative stakes.” It’s in that panning of the first in what is possibly a trilogy, and could maybe depending on lots of things even make into a franchise that we see what some might be missing. It’s that lacking heft comment. Which seems to miss something going on with both films.

While I found the original 1996 astonishingly weak in many areas, weak plot, bad writing, and wooden acting, it was at the same time the highest grossing film of the year, and was even for a time the second highest grossing film of all time. The critically panned, and justly so, original was as far as box office goes a wild fire success.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not denying the original was a bad movie. And I’m certainly not arguing the sequel is a good movie. Heaven forfend. The first movie was, as several reviewers put it, “dumb fun.” And, those are the magic words. While not as good as the first in the dumb fun movie category, and certainly has too many leaden moments between the good stuff, which I find unfortunate, all that said to my mind Independence Day: Resurgence is enough of a good bad movie to recommend it for a summer evening.

You really have to be in the mood. The plot failures, okay, the question of whether there really was a plot at all after the “high concept” (which I figure was: sequel with more special effects) was cooked up, is a problem. And, the characters are introduced in ways that mostly don’t make you really care about what happens to them. As Brian Raftery tells us in his devastating review “Sorry, Gang. But Independence Day: Resurgence is Really Bad” tells us:

“Resurgence wastes way too much time getting to the Good Stuff, setting up a bunch of new characters who’ll you immediately wish would get obliterated, including President Something-Something (Sela Ward), DeadWillSmithsSon (Jessie T. Usher), and Skipper Dreampie (Liam Hemsworth). None of them register, especially Hemsworth, whose big introductory scene finds him looking sleepy-eyed and wearing a sideways ballcap and undershirt; he looks like a sad, aspiring Australian rapper who’s just found out his Coachella tickets were counterfeit.”

The problem as I see it with the reviews is that they seem for the most part want a good movie and are disappointed. Even Mr Raftery seems to feel it was supposed to be a better movie than it was, even as he exults in the good badness of the original. Yes, the sequel isn’t as good bad as the first film. (Actually he hypothesizes another film alluding to a throw away line about a ten year fight in Africa that I agree would have been a much better movie) But, is it a good enough pop corn stuffer to justify laying out the fifteen bucks it is going to cost? Again, if the moment is right, you bet.

There are good moments in sufficient abundance to go for it. I would particularly lift the hat to Brent Spinner’s reprise roll, which in this movie gives him a meatier part than in the original. And who doesn’t enjoy Judd Hirsch as he settles comfortably into his grumpy old fart with a heart of gold role, or, Jeff Goldblum becoming ever more of the same character he does so well in film after film?

Bottom line? As Jan opined as we walked out of the theater, Resurgence is “corny and cheesy.” And, as she added in a comment on Facebook, “and I loved it!” I agree. Right moment. For us, yes. I’d just returned from a week away at a conference, and it was our dinner and a movie night on a warm Southern California evening. She went on in her comments, “Also loved the egalitarian earth culture – we can only dream. Classic bad aliens, which means they have insectoid/crustacean physiology, with tentacles and mucus. Good aliens are designed by Steve Jobs.” Oh, and lots of things get blown up. With special attention to landmarks.

In short. A good bad movie. A little more bad than the original. Still fun.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 26, 2016

En the Ascetic is Banished

Next Post

June 28, 2016 Such is Life: Ned Kelly is Shot & Arrested

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Christmas Carol Abolitionist African-American Ahmadiyya Alan Watts Aldous Huxley Allen Ginsberg Amedkar Jayanti American politics American Zen Anaheim Zen Sangha Anglican Annie Besant April Fool Armageddon Art and Religion artificial intellegence Atheist Awakening B R Ambedkar Barlaam & Josaphat Beatnik Between Bhagavad Gita Bible biography birthday bodhisattva Bodhisattva Precepts Book burning Book of Common Prayer Book of Mormon Brahmo Samaj Buddha Buddhism Buddhist Buddhist Lord's Prayer Butterflies Calendars cartoons cat ChatGPT Chicken Tortilla Soup choices Christian atheism Christian mysticism Christian origins Christian Science Christian Zen Christianity Christianity and Buddhism christmas Christmas Truce Christopher Isherwood Church of Later Day Saints Cinco de Mayo circus covenant critical thinking culture D. T. Suzuki Dalit Buddhism Daniel Defoe Desert Fathers and Mothers dharma talk Dogen Donald Trump Dongshan's Five Ranks Dorothy Day dream Duty Easter ecology Edwin Arnold emptiness Empty Moon Zen Network Episcopal Church Eternal Now Ethics evolution existentialism Faith fantasy Fathers Day film film review fire Five Ranks Folk music food Form and emptiness Four Seals Francis of Assisi Francis Xavier Free thinker friendship George MacDonald Gerald Heard Glenn Taylor Webb God Good Friday Gospel of Gospel of Mark Gospel of Thomas grace Graduate Theological Unioin Graduate Theological Union Guanyin H R Blyth Hakuin Ekaku Hanamatsuri Hanukkah Harada Yasutani Zen Heart Sutra Henry David Thoreau Hermann Hesse Hinduism History and Religion history of religion Holy Spirit home Hospitality Icon Ides of March Isaac Newton Islam Islamic mysticism Jack Kerouac James Luther Adams Jiddu Krishnamurti Joan of Arc Johannes Gutenberg John Donne joke Judaism justice karma kensho King James Bible koan Koun Yamada Kyoto School Lewis Carrol Liberal Christianity Liberal Religion Life Plan Community Liminal literature Literature and Religion Liturgy Lord's Prayer Love Mahatma Gandhi Mahayana Martin Luther King Jr Mary Baker Eddy Mary Magdelene Mary Oliver Mayflower Compact Meditation memories memory metaphor money money and religioin Mormons Mother's Day movie review mysticism mythic Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church New Thought Nichiren Buddhism Nonduality not knowing Omar Khayyam Pacific School of Religion pagan Palm Sunday Passover peace Pentecost perennialism Phantastes Philip Kapleau philosophy Pilgrimage poetry Poetry and Religion politics Prayer Precepts Printing Press prophecy prophetic spirituality psychology Pure Land Queer religion queering religion Quietism Ram Mohan Roy rebirth recipe Relationships and religion religion religion and history Religious syncretism Resistance Retirement Retreat review Rissho Kosei Kai Ritual Robert Aitken Roshi Robert Ingersoll Rohatsu Romani religion Rosie the Riveter saints samadhi SanboZen Sangha Satyagraha science science and reigion science and religion science fiction seminary sermon Sesshin Sex and Religion Shinran Sikh Sikh tradition silence Social Justice Socially Engaged Buddhism Society and religion Soto Zen soul spiritual community spiritual practice Spirituality Sufism Suicide superstition Taoism Television Teresa of Avila Thanksgiving theological schools Theosophy Thomas Merton Time Transcendentalism Transcendentalist Trinitarian Trinity Uncategorized unitarian Unitarian Christianity Unitarian Universalist Universalism Vajrayana Vedanta Walking war Willa Cather William Ellery Channing wisdom women and religion women in religion World Teacher Writing zazen Zen Zen Center Zen inspired retriement zen meditation Zen Precepts Zen women

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many years from Abraham to Jesus?

Select your answer to see how you score.

1000 years 2500 years 2000 years 1500 years