Earth unprepared for attack in ‘Resurgence’

So far, 2016 has been the summer of sequels that no one has really asked for. "Now You See Me" was a light lark, but were audiences truly yearning for further exploits from the merry magicians? Was there a huge calling from retirement communities for another "My Big Fat Greek Wedding?" And who in the hell is clamoring for fifth "Ice Age" chapter?

And now we have been given a sequel to the 1996 blockbuster "Independence Day," with "Resurgence," a film that makes for the perfect continuation of the marginally entertaining original...if it was released in 1997, perhaps.

As it stands, we have a two-decade span between them, in which the Earth has been threatened/attacked/destroyed too many times to mention (the list of alien invasion films released in that time span alone reaches more than a dozen) resulting in countless scenes of encroaching city-leveling threats.

Director Roland Emmerich also wiped out parts of the planet on film several times since the first "Independence Day": by ice ("The Day After Tomorrow"), by ancient Mayan predictions ("2012") and ill-conceived nuclear-radiated lizards (1998's "Godzilla"). Here, he manages to get most of the band back together: Dr. Levinson (played by Jeff Goldblum), former President Whitmore (played by Bill Pullman), zany scientist Brackish Okum (played by Brett Spiner), and Levinson's crusty pop (played by Judd Hirsch). But the notable omission is Will Smith, whose fee was reported far too high for this outing.

And while that is like having the Stones on stage without Mick Jagger, the filmmakers used it as a platform to introduce a fresh-faced crew members to fill the void Smith left behind. Now, we have his son, Dylan (played by Jesse T. Usher), another hotshot fighter pilot who is sadly missing his father's charisma chromosome. His onetime flyboy-buddy Jake (Liam Hemsworth), is apparently his rival after pulling some "Top Gun" shenanigans in the academy, but who quickly learn they must work together. And if the incestuous nature of all the main characters wasn't close enough, we also have Patricia Whitmore (played by Maika Monroe), who not only is the President's daughter, but also Jake's main squeeze and a fellow pilot with both him and Dylan.

Of course, they are all mere insects on the anthill when the 3,000-mile-long spaceship actually arrives (complete with its own gravitational pull!). So, yeah, all those advances in that 20-year gap -- Jetsons-like cars, a permanent operational mood base, cool laser guns -- and Earth was once again woefully underprepared for this attack, just like the first film. This is one of the many areas in which "Resurgence" fails to take advantage of its absence.

We are forced to follow a number of nominally interesting threads of plot while we watch the world threaten to burn once again. There does not need to be an astounding level of complexity on the story, mind you, but don't slap a pat of butter on the leftovers and call it a new meal. And while the impending doom is often punctuated with "stirring" speeches and wacky one-liners, none of it feels as though there was effort to do anything but make things bigger. 
And even in doing that, it's really hard to replicate the iconic White House-blasting scene from a ship that essentially reduces the entire east coast to the size of a Lego block by comparison.

The returning actors appear to be here out of duty and the new actors out exposure to a larger audience. But based on the sparse crowd that attended my viewing, I'm not sure that a large audience is something they will ever receive with "Independence Day: Resurgence."