INDEPENDENCE DAY : RESURGENCE - Friday 24th June 2016.

'INDEPENDENCE DAY : RESURGENCE' which I saw on Friday evening is the sequel to 'Independence Day' which opened in July 1996 and went on to take out the highest grossing film of 1996 worldwide, grossing US$817M, and by September of that year ranked as the sixth highest grossing film of all time. Now 20 years later, it sits at the #55 spot. Made for US$75M back then and Directed by the 'Master of Disaster' himself Roland Emmerich and Co-Written by him too, that film propelled Will Smith into the stratosphere (literally) together with his other co-stars that included Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, Judd Hirsch, Vivica Fox and Mary McDonnell. Along the way the movie picked up an Oscar for Best Visual Effects and 32 other award wins and another 33 nominations. And now twenty years later, in terms of real time, and movie time, the long awaited sequel has arrived. Made for US$165M and released worldwide just last week, Roland Emmerich is once again in the Director chair with a Co-Producer and a Co-Writer credit too, and, with a number of that original line up returning again with their cans of 'whoop-ass' to thwart them pesky alien Mo-Fo's out of the sky and into oblivion . . . maybe! The film has so far taken US$143M over its opening weekend worldwide.

This time Jeff Goldblum is back as is Bill Pullman, Brent Spiner, Judd Hirsch, Vivica Fox and Robert Loggia (who died after filming wrapped, and to whom the film is honoured), joined by Liam Hemsworth, William Fichtner and Charlotte Gainsbourg but alas no Will Smith. Smith's character in the first film, Steven Hiller, we learn was killed nine years ago when testing a new experimental fighter jet designed using alien technology. Now hailed a national hero, his memory lives on, and manifests itself in the film through his son Dylan Hiller (Jessie Usher) - also an acclaimed pilot and captain of the Earth Space Defence (ESD) which rose out of the events of the 1996 attack.


It seems that 20 years ago when the invading aliens were wiped out, they sent a distress signal to their other fleets in deep space before finally succumbing to the might of Uncle Sam, and secreting themselves away elsewhere around our fragile green planet. Over those intervening years, The United Nations has rebuilt itself and created the ESD programme based at Area 51 using recovered alien technology as an early warning system and as its defence against future alien hostilities. Earth now also has early warning bases on the Moon, on Mars and on Rhea - one of Saturn's moons.

With the advent of global celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of that 1996 alien attack the now President of the USA Elizabeth Lanford (Sela Ward), orders an attack and destroy directive on a vast spherical ship that appears through a worm hole over the Moon Base. However, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) now Director of ESD is not convinced that this spherical ship is hostile, having boarded a fully intact downed alien ship laying dormant in Africa and come to the realisation that it sent an intergalactic distress signal back to its home world 20 years before. But, the President blows it into oblivion before any form of contact can be made choosing to shoot first, and ask questions later.

Almost simultaneously, the ESD report that its base on the Saturn Moon has gone . . . . without a trace, and before you can say 'Uncle Sam' a space ship measuring 3,000 kms in diameter emerges and wipes out the Moon Base killing all and destroying everything in its path on its journey toward Earth. Before doing so however, Levinson and ESD pilot Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) in the latters space tug, retrieve a vital container from that downed spherical ship which they take back to ESD HQ at Area 51. Here ex-President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) and Dr. Brakish Okun (Brent Spiner) who has just woken from a twenty year coma, have been experiencing visions of alien logograms since their close encounters with the alien kind of twenty years ago and set about trying to interpret these and decipher their meaning - with some success.

In the meantime, the 3,000kms wide alien spacecraft enters Earths atmosphere with is own gravitational force and begins to devastate much of Asia with Singapore getting flattened. With its own gravity many buildings and structures are lifted high into the air, and as Levinson comments 'what's goes up, must come down' . . . and it does - on London, in spectacular fashion! When the alien super ship comes to rest it does so over the Atlantic Ocean and much of the USA with further widespread death and destruction, all delivered with Emmerich's trademark gravitas. It promptly begins drilling mid-ocean with the aim of sucking out the Earth's core to harvest the heat source to power its own vessels, but in so doing will throw out our planets magnetic fields, which in turn will destroy us. Levinson had seen earlier evidence of this in the African ship he boarded, but at the time did not understand the significance of that activity which mysteriously halted when the attacking aliens were thwarted twenty years earlier.

Back in Area 51, Dr. Okun cuts open the container retrieved by Levinson and Morrison and out rolls another spherical orb of artificial intelligence that is able to communicate directly, and advise that it is friendly and had come to warn Earth of the attack now happening and help evacuate humanity to a refuge planet. The sphere tells its own story of how it is the sole survivor from a world also wiped out by this aliens now attacking the Earth, and that their Queen is now coming to wipe it out too once and for all, knowing that the sphere is the last threat to their existence. And so Hiller is tasked with a counter attack on the Queen with the full and unrelenting force of ESD, but this attack doesn't go quite according to plan resulting in the bulk of the attack squadron being wiped out . . . except our heroes of course.

The Queen now rapidly advances to retrieve and destroy the sphere now locked inside an isolation chamber within Area 51, believed to be safe and secure. A decoy mission is quickly planned and rapidly executed to sidetrack the Queen out into the open and therefore exposed to attack using ground and what's left of the air forces. The Queen however, is not the Queen for nothing and when she's pissed you don't want to get in her way, as many find out to their ultimate cost. Whitmore, bows out with his final salute to Uncle Sam and flies the space tug loaded to the gunnels with nuclear warheads into the Queens space ship and destroys it, destroying himself in the process. The Queen escapes and quickly tramples on everything and everyone and breaks through to the isolation chamber and the sphere. But in the heat of the desert and with the force of her own gun ships piloted now by Hiller, Morrison and Whitmore's daughter (also a trained fighter pilot conveniently), the Queen is destroyed, and with it the Atlantic drilling is halted with minutes to spare before our core is punctured, and the mother ship begins its retreat.

Strap yourself in for death and destruction writ large as only Roland Emmerich knows how to deliver, but beware, this does not equate to a great movie by any means. Yes, it's big on spectacle and this is handled well, but really, there is nothing new here that we have not seen before in other large scale disaster epics, alien or otherwise, over the last two decades. As for the story - it's a bit muddled, hurried and convenient, and you need to suspend belief as to the geography and science behind some of what we are being led to believe here . . . even with Hollywood's poetic license! This film lacks the emotional gravitas delivered so well by Will Smith twenty years ago and the grounding of the real world as it was back then, opting for a parallel world of 2016 with over zealous fantasy and seriousness. It is also served up with a good dose of cheese too throughout, and particularly in the closing scenes where Uncle Sam whips ass with the help of a token African War Lord and a Chinese female fighter pilot, an attempt at another rousing speech by ex-President Whitmore as they go once more into the breach, and an outed Scientist (Dr. Okun) who proclaims that with the help of what the sphere can teach us we'll take the fight to the aliens uniting the galaxies across the cosmos, in what will be 'Independence Day 3'. See it at your local Odeon for the big screen experience, but you can easily wait for the big screen experience in your own home too.

 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 23rd June 2016.

The curtain fell on the 62nd Sydney Film Festival on Sunday evening 19th June, and with it the winners of those films in competition were duly announced. In official competition were twelve films from around the world as highlighted previously, with the AU$63,000 prize money going to Brazilian film 'Aquarius' Directed and Written for the Screen by Kleber Mendonca Filho. Based in the seaside town of Recife in Brazil, the films tells the story of 65 year old retired music critic Clara (Sonia Braga) who is the last resident in the beachside two-storey built in the '40's Aquarius apartment building. All other apartments in the block have been acquired by a development company with new plans for the site. Clara refuses to sell - politely at first making various counter offers, but as the developers become more and more aggressive and hostile, so a battle of wits erupts between both parties sat on opposing sides of the fence. Meanwhile life goes on for Clara, and in it we see her intellect, her family, her friends, her sex life as she reflects on her life - past, present and future. The five judges were unanimous in their decision to award the top prize to this film, with Jury President, Simon Field stating 'Aquarius is a compelling and relevant statement about contemporary Brazil and the power of an individual standing up for what she believes'. Screened in competition at Cannes this year, and successful in Sydney where the film had its Australian Premier, the film is scheduled for a wider release later in the year . . . one to watch out for!

Coming to a cinema near you in the week ahead then, are four new films that kick start with another alien invasion of epic Biblical proportions that threatens our fragile planet after we have come to terms with the last one twenty years earlier. Just as we thought it was safe to look up to the skies once more, our worst global destruction nightmare has come back to whoop Uncle Sam's backside in this sequel of big, bad, mean, ugly, no good alien types - bring it on! Next up and coming back down to Earth but in the Palaeolithic Period is another sequel and the fifth instalment in this successful animated franchise that sees a bunch of familiar characters trying to escape a natural disaster that may have far reaching implications on our planet, and along the way having themselves another adventure. Then a sports comedy period piece set against a backdrop of 1980 college baseball, guys, booze, girls, more booze, drugs, hi-jinks and pranks, more booze, wild parties, pot, booze, male bonding, girls, booze, rituals, and booze and all over a three day lead up to the start of semester. And wrapping things up a foreign language offering of five teenage sisters growing up fast when their world suddenly changes and their individual and collective determination, resilience and loyalty to each other is tested.

With such a diverse offering of new cinema content you'll just have to get out to a theatre in the week ahead to catch a new movie. When you have done so, remember to share your movie going experience here at Odeon Online with your fellow readers by leaving a Comment below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, enjoy your film!

'INDEPENDENCE DAY : RESURGENCE' (Rated M) - when the original film 'Independence Day' of which this is a sequel opened in July 1996 it went on to take out the highest grossing film of 1996 worldwide, grossing US$817M, and by September of that year ranked as the sixth highest grossing film of all time. Now 20 years later, it sits at the #55 spot. Made for US$75M back then and Directed by the 'Master of Disaster' himself Roland Emmerich and Co-Written by him too, that film propelled Will Smith into the stratosphere (literally) together with his other co-stars that included Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, Judd Hirsch, Vivica Fox and Mary McDonnell. Along the way the movie picked up an Oscar for Best Visual Effects and 32 other award wins and another 33 nominations. And now twenty years later, in terms of real time, and movie time, the long awaited sequel has arrived.

Made for US$200M and released worldwide this coming week, Roland Emmerich is once again in the Director chair with a Co-Producer and a Co-Writer credit too, and, with a number of that original line up returning again with their cans of 'whoop-ass' to thwart them pesky alien Mo-Fo's out of the sky and into oblivion. . . or will they? This time Jeff Goldblum is back as is Bill Pullman, Brent Spiner, Judd Hirsch and Vivica Fox, joined by Liam Hemsworth, William Fichtner and Charlotte Gainsbourg. It seems that 20 years ago when the invading aliens were wiped out, they sent a distress signal to their other fleets in deep space before finally succumbing to the might of Uncle Sam, and secreting themselves away elsewhere around our fragile green planet. Over those intervening years, The United Nations has rebuilt itself and created an Earth Space Defence programme based at Area 51 using recovered alien technology as an early warning system and as its defence against future alien hostilities. What us mere mortal Earthlings didn't count on however, is that those aliens would be back - bigger, badder and more pissed off than ever, hell bent on wiping us out once and for all! Strap yourself in for death and destruction writ large as only Roland Emmerich knows how to deliver.

'ICE AGE : COLLISION COURSE' (Rated PG) - the first film in this hugely successful animated franchise launched in 2002 with 'Ice Age' from Blue Sky Studios and it returned US$383M from its US$59M outlay. Since then there has been 'Ice Age : The Meltdown' in 2006, 'Ice Age : Dawn of the Dinosaurs' in 2009, 'Ice Age : Continental Drift' in 2012 - all increasingly well received. The first four films were made for a combined US$324M and have collectively returned US$2.81B with 'Meltdown' sitting at #93 in the all time highest grossing movies list, 'Continental Drift' at #45 and 'Dawn of the Dinosaurs' at #42. Not a bad effort it must be said. This time around largely the same voice cast return as Scrat continues his search for the elusive acorn which sends him on a trajectory outside of Earth's atmosphere where his actions inadvertently set in motion a series of potentially Earth altering events. To save themselves Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), Diego (Denis Leary), Ellie (Queen Latifah), Buck (Simon Pegg) and Shira (Jennifer Lopez) amongst others, leave their home land and embark on a journey to new and distant lands to save themselves - along the way getting up to all sorts of (mis)adventures, scrapes and challenges, and meeting up with a whole new bunch of characters.

'EVERYBODY WANTS SOME !!' (Rated MA15+) - Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Richard Linklater for US$10M this college sports comedy is set back in 1980 at the fictitious Southeast Texas State College on the cusp of a new semester - three days and 15 hours before to be exact, so plenty of time for freshman Jake (Blake Jenner) to get to know his new college buddies, check out the chicks, score some weed and get drunk! Moving into his new house with other members of the Southwest Texas Cherokees college baseball team, he quickly gets acquainted with Billy (Will Brittain) whom Jake will share a room with, Plummer (Temple Baker), Roper (Ryan Guzman), Dale (Quentin Johnson), Finnegan (Glen Powell), Brumley (Tanner Kalina), Jay (Juston Street) and Willoughby (Wyatt Russell). And what better way to get acquainted than to head out drinking, meet some girls, party hard, play some pranks, and then do it all over again tomorrow, and the next day. Praised for its simple, smart storyline; its faithful reproduction of the era; its soundtrack and the good old dose of nostalgia this serves up, this could almost be seen as a follow-up to Linklater's 1993 'Dazed and Confused' tribute to the last day of school for a bunch of 1976 high school graduates.

'MUSTANG' (Rated M) - this Turkish language film has received much critical acclaim for Writer and Director Deniz Gamze Erguven, and in the process picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, along with 38 wins and 46 other nominations. The story is set in a rural northern Turkish community and on the last day of school five sisters (all non-professional actors chosen deliberately) frolic around on the beach with some male classmates. Overseen by a nosey interfering neighbour who reports the orphaned girls antics to the domineering Aunt and Uncle, the surrogate parents instantly confiscate 'all instruments of corruption' such as close fitting clothes, mobile phones, computers, make-up, magazines and all the trappings enjoyed by mid-teen years girls almost everywhere. As a consequence, the girls are quickly taught life lessons in good housekeeping skills and how to prepare for marriage as they become prisoners in their own home, and marriage is prepared with would-be local male suitors. With fierce determination, safety in numbers, a strong resilience and a overwhelming sense of loyalty toward each other will the sisters overcome the fate that awaits them?

Four films once again that couldn't be more different in their themes, genres, and target audience. That said, coupled with those films still doing the rounds and out on general release, there is something that is sure to suit almost all styles, tastes and age groups. So, get out amongst it to your local movie theatre and enjoy your movie of choice. I'll see you, at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-