Movie Review: Independence Day: Resurgence

Independence Day: Resurgence

Directed by: Roland Emmerich.

Written by: Nicolas Wright & James A. Woods and Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich and James Vanderbilt based on characters created by Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich.

Starring: Liam Hemsworth (Jake Morrison), Jeff Goldblum (David Levinson), Jessie T. Usher (Dylan Hiller), Bill Pullman (President Whitmore), Maika Monroe (Patricia Whitmore), Sela Ward (President Lanford), William Fichtner (General Adams), Judd Hirsch (Julius Levinson), Brent Spiner (Dr. Brakish Okun), Patrick St. Esprit (Secretary of Defense Tanner), Vivica A. Fox  (Jasmine Hiller), Angelababy (Rain Lao), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Catherine Marceaux), Deobia Oparei (Dikembe Umbutu), Nicolas Wright (Floyd Rosenberg), Travis Tope (Charlie Miller), Chin Han (Commander Jiang), Joey King (Sam), Jenna Purdy (Voice of Sphere). 

 

In some circles, the original Independence Day is seen in much the same light as Spielberg’s Jaws and Lucas’ Star Wars are – not a timeless masterpiece (although, there are some people who look at the original through nostalgia covered glasses from when they first saw it when they were 10 who claim it is) – but as a film that signaled a shift in Hollywood Blockbuster culture. As much crap as something like Jaws gets, it has been noted – over and over – that were that film, which kickstarted Blockbuster culture in Hollywood, were to be released today, it would be an art house genre flick – much more It Follows than The Avengers. When Roger Ebert reviewed Jurassic Park in 1993, he noted how much faster Spielberg introduced the special effects in that film compared to Jaws – and it’s true, he did – but when you compare Jurassic Park to Jurassic World, you realize that it’s gone even faster today than it did all those years ago. The turning point may well be Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day which was big, loud and dumb in 1996 – but also a hell of a lot of fun (especially if you didn’t think about its plot too much), had great special effects, which were used to create iconic images of the time, and was sold to an eager audience on the basis of spectacle alone. I remember seeing this film in the theater with my mother during a time when she didn’t go to the movies very often – but she had to see Independence Day. In the 20 years since, Hollywood has tried – with more success than I ever would have dreamed of – of making more and more films into those events – ones you had to see.

 

The original film wasn’t a great movie – hell, it’s not even a very good movie – but it delivered what it promised – spectacle and entertainment value. You may feel guilty for enjoying Independence Day after it’s over – but admit it, you had fun while it was playing. The 20 years in the making sequel doesn’t do that. In an odd way, the film feels somewhat smaller than the original film – it is shorter (thankfully), but it doesn’t feel like it has the same scale as the original. The original film felt HUGE –perhaps because of the way it destroyed landmarks – especially the White House – which is was the most iconic image of the first film, and even with all the advances in special effects in the past 20 years, more impressive than anything in this film. Perhaps it is because in 1996, some of what Independence Day was doing felt new (at least to me). The sequel feels warmed over and played out – it’s another giant, CGI laden spectacle, whose big special effects sequence once again, involve a lot of crap crashing into a lot of other crap. As Brian De Palma said in the excellent documentary about his career out now, many CGI sequences come pre-visualized by the effects houses, not the directors, which is why they all feel the same. When a bunch of crap floats around and crashes into other crap this time, it feels exactly as it did in X-Men: Apocalypse or countless other films. When London is destroyed, it happens so quickly, it barely registers. The aliens look, of course, like the aliens in the last film – which were just a not too original clone of the aliens in Alien and that franchise – but with more tentacles. The other thing about those scenes of mass destruction that is missing from this sequel, that wasn’t in the original, is the sense of real death. The convention of destroying whole cities, which would undeniably kill thousands, millions, billions of people may have started with the original – but that film was unafraid to deal with that death – and show it, not just brush by it. Like most movies today that contain those sequences though, in the sequel that is precisely what they do.

 

The movie also lacks the human element that made the first film more enjoyable. I’m not going to argue that the original film was well written, nor that any of its stars deserved Oscars for it, but the performances were likable and engaging. The original, after all, made Will Smith into a movie star – as it gave him his first chance to show off that effortless movie star charm and swagger he has perfected over the years. Smith wisely decided against coming back, and the sequel tries to fill that hole with not one, but two characters – Liam Hemsworth as Jake, a rebellious pilot with the same attitude as Smith, and Jessie T. Usher playing Dylan, the grown up version of Smith’s son from the original. Between them, they still don’t have half the charm of Smith – and when Liam Hemsworth, who is no Chris Hemsworth, is the far more charming of the two, you know you’re in trouble. Bill Pullman is back as the now former President Whitmore, but he spends most of the movie in pain, as he has a connection to the aliens, which make him seem crazy – the film does try, briefly, for a similar type speech as the first film gave him – with far lesser results. Maika Monroe stars as Whitmore’s daughter, and Jake’s fiancé, taking over the role originated by Mae Whitman, presumably because in Hollywood, the beautiful, talented charming and funny Whitman is considered too normal looking to land a hunk like Hemsworth. This isn’t a shot at Monroe – who I loved in The Guest and It Follows in recent years, but the film really doesn’t give her anything to do – she spends most of the movie on the verge of tears, either for her fiancé or father, who are both in danger – although at least it doesn’t keep her on the sidelines for the entire movie. Sela Ward is now the President, but again, there isn’t much for her to do – and really, given the decisions she makes, she seems rather incompetent. The two performances that work best are by Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson and Judd Hirsh as his father Julius, both obviously returning for the original. Even if they have to shoehorn Julius’ subplot into the rest of the film, Hirsh’s performance still works – and Goldblum’s is even better, I think, because neither of them are taking any of this seriously, know how inherently silly the film is, and embrace it (Goldblum gets the film’s best line – an aside “You’re going back for the dog? I guess so”).

 

Director Roland Emmerich catches a lot of crap from critics – and to be fair, much of it is earned. His films are all big and dumb – but quite often, they are also a lot of fun. In addition to the original film, he also made the weather panic film The Day After Tomorrow, which I found ridiculously entertaining – even if my entire country of Canada is left north of the death line, and White House Down, which was even better (seriously people, how can anyone prefer the dour and violent Olympus Has Fallen to the ludicrously entertaining White House Down, which has Channing Tatum at his movie star best, and features Jamie Foxx doing a Barack Obama impression and firing a bazooka? What’s wrong with you people)? Emmerich doesn’t do small, even when he should, but he has also never embraced the kind of rapid fire editing and shaky camera work that mars far too many action movies today.

 

As is standard for a film like this now, the end of the film isn’t really an ending, but rather a cliffhanger for the next movie in the series – which judging on the attendance of the 10pm Thursday before opening screening I attended, won’t happen (seriously, I go to these Thursday shows quite often, and I have never been in such an empty theater before – not even the time I stupidly went to see Selma on a Thursday night in the middle of a snowstorm). The setup for the next movie really should have been the plot for this movie – which essentially repeats the plot of the first movie, with the aliens coming back – but this time with more firepower, with the exception that this movie features a giant talking sphere.

 

Independence Day: Resurgence isn’t a good movie on any level. Did it hold my attention, and give me a few isolated moments of pleasure? Sure. But oddly for a film that took 20 years to make, and has five credited screenwriters, the film doesn’t feel very thought out or planned. In all honestly, it plays more like those direct-to-video sequels of big hits that studios churn out to make a quick buck (seriously, how many Starship Troopers sequels are there?). I find the wave of nostalgia for the 1990s – the era in which I grew up – to rather tedious and boring – and the film is a good example as why that is. The bar for a sequel to Independence Day shouldn’t be a very difficult one to clear – you just got to remember three things – big, dumb and fun. In this case two out of three is very bad.

Movie Review: White House Down

White House Down
Directed by: Roland Emmerich.
Written by: James Vanderbilt.
Starring: Channing Tatum (Cale), Jamie Foxx (President Sawyer), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Finnerty), Jason Clarke (Stenz), Richard Jenkins (Raphelson), Joey King (Emily), James Woods (Walker), Nicolas Wright (Donnie the Guide), Jimmi Simpson (Tyler), Michael Murphy (Vice President Hammond), Rachelle Lefevre (Melanie), Lance Reddick (General Caulfield), Matt Craven (Agent Kellerman), Jake Weber (Agent Hope), Peter Jacobson (Wallace), Barbara Williams (Muriel Walker), Kevin Rankin (Killick), Garcelle Beauvais (Alison Sawyer), Falk Hentschel (Motts), Romano Orzari (Mulcahy), Jackie Geary (Jenna), Andrew Simms (Roger Skinner).

There is a difference between an ordinary stupid movie and a gloriously stupid movie, and I cannot think of a better example to highlight the difference than comparing two 2013 films – Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down. Olympus Has Fallen is an ordinary stupid movie – a group of terrorist take over the White House for their own nefarious purposes, and a lone Secret Service agent takes them out one at a time on route to rescuing the President. White House Down is a gloriously stupid movie with the same basic premise – the only difference being that the lone man is not a Secret Service agent yet, and he actually teams up with the President to take down the terrorists. Both movies essentially want to be Die Hard in the White House. But Olympus Has Fallen is just a regular stupid movie – a mildly diverting action movie that is okay while you’re watching it, and then completely forgotten. White House Down on the other hand is a gloriously stupid one. Director Roland Emmerich throws everything imaginable at the audience through the over two hours the movie runs, and while it’s impossible to take a moment of the movie seriously, I also found it impossible to resist. If you want to call White House Down a stupid movie, I won’t argue with you. But it’s gloriously stupid because it goes for broke at every moment. I left the theater grinning from ear to ear.

The basic setup is simple. John Cale (Channing Tatum) works on the security detail for the Speaker of the House (Richard Jenkins) – but his dream job is to be a Secret Service agent on the President’s protection detail. He is divorced, and has an 11 year old daughter Emily (Joey King), who is obsessed with politics, and idolizes President Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). So Cale pulls some string, gets an interview with the head of the President’s details – Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and brings Emily along so she can see the White House. The interview doesn’t go well, but the two of them join a tour, and things seems to be going well – that is until a group of terrorists coolly, calmly and efficiently take over the White House. They need the President – what for, you’ll have to wait to find out – and somehow Cale ends up saving the President, and the two of them hide in the White House while trying to find a way out – and taking out the terrorist’s one at a time. Oh, and Emily – who was separated from Cale, of course – gets herself into a lot of trouble with the terrorists, by not being the dumb kid they think she is.

As a director, Emmerich has no subtlety in him – he deals strictly in this type of huge, bombastic action movie. Even when he tried a more serious movie – with the Shakespeare was a fraud drama Anonymous – the result was a bloated mess of a movie. He has his share of those on his resume – Stargate, Godzilla and 10,000 BC chief among them. But when he hits it just right – like Independence Day and parts of The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 – the result can be a ridiculously good time at the movies. White House Down certainly fits the bill on that level.

The movie works so well for a few reasons. The first being Emmerich can direct action, and thankfully, he has not gone with the trendy hand held camera and rapid fire editing approach to the action sequences. The action sequences are clear and well shot – you’re never confused about what’s going on, unlike so many other action movies.

Perhaps the bigger reason why the film works though is the performances. Tatum and Foxx have a nice chemistry together – they are essentially doing buddy action movie shtick, but it works well. Both have effortless charm and humor, and that keeps the movie afloat no matter how ridiculous things get. I also appreciated that they didn’t make Foxx some anonymous, no politics President like they did with Aaron Eckhart in Olympus Has Fallen – he’s clearly modeled after Barack Obama, and he’s clearly a Democrat (even if the word is never uttered). It may have been even more interesting to make him a Republican, but I’m not going to nitpick too much. The supporting cast – from Gyllenhaal to King to Jenkins to  James Woods and Jason Clarke as two of the bad guys to Michael Murphy as the Vice President to Nicolas Wright, as a tour guide, all have nice moments as well.

I’m not trying to argue that White House Down is a great movie – it isn’t. But it is a great guilty pleasure experience. So many of the blockbusters this summer – both good and bad – have taken themselves very seriously. It’s somewhat refreshing to see such glorious, ridiculous stupidity on full display in White House Down.

Movie Review: Anonymous

Anonymous **

Directed by: Roland Emmerich.

Written by: John Orloff.

Starring: Rhys Ifans (Earl of Oxford), Vanessa Redgrave (Queen Elizabeth I), Sebastian Armesto (Ben Jonson), Rafe Spall (William Shakespeare), David Thewlis (William Cecil), Edward Hogg (Robert Cecil), Xavier Samuel (Earl of Southampton), Sam Reid (Earl of Essex), Jamie Campbell Bower (Young Earl of Oxford), Joely Richardson (Young Queen Elizabeth I), Paolo De Vita (Francesco), Trystan Gravelle (Christopher Marlowe), Robert Emms (Thomas Dekker), Tony Way (Thomas Nashe), Julian Bleach (Captain Richard Pole), Derek Jacobi (Prologue), Alex Hassell (Spencer), James Garnon (Heminge), Mark Rylance (Condell), Helen Baxendale (Anne De Vere), Paula Schramm (Bridget De Vere), Amy Kwolek (Young Anne De Vere), James Clyde (King James I).

For the sake of fairness, I must admit that I have not read any of the actual research done that proclaims that the Earl of Oxford was the real genius, and not William Shakespeare. I was aware before Anonymous that such a theory exists – and that the Earl of Oxford isn’t the only other “alternate Shakespeare” that has been suggested, but I never quite cared enough to explore it any deeper, and when I heard a new movie about the theory was coming out, I wanted to go in fresh. Why let the truth get in the way of a good story? After all, if you do any reading about it, you will find out that Mozart wasn’t the goofball or that Saleri wasn’t the villain that Amadeus would have you believe – but that doesn’t mean Milos Forman’s film, or F. Murray Abraham’s performance, aren’t among the best in history. So I was more than willing to give Roland Emmerich’s film a chance on its own terms. Emmerich apparently believes in the truth behind his film strongly – he is even making written materials about the research available to schools because he doesn’t think its right to lie to children in school. After watching Anonymous however, I find that Emmerich is probably going to do more harm to his cause than good. The film seemed wholly unbelievable to me to the point of ridiculousness – but not because it suggests that someone other than Shakespeare wrote the plays we know, but because all the behind the scenes stuff revolving around Queen Elizabeth I struck me as silly and unbelievable. It certainly doesn’t help that Emmerich (whose previous films include Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, 10,000 BC and 2012) directs his costume drama with the subtlety of a sledge hammer to the face, and tries to make this into an action packed blockbuster. It didn’t work.

The film opens with the great Shakespearian actor Derek Jacobi taking the stage to tell us that the story we are about to hear is true. We then flashback to the time of Shakespeare and Elizabeth I. Played by Vanessa Redgrave, Elizabeth is about as far away as you can get from Judi Dench’s portrayal of her, at the roughly the same period of her life, in Shakespeare in Love. Rather than a sharp as a tack older lady, Redgrave’s Elizabeth is one step above a doddering old fool. She seems incapable of even remembering anything, let alone running England, which according the movie is pretty much in the hands of the evil Cecil family (led by David Thewlis’ William, her top adviser). Cecil knows that Elizabeth won’t be around much longer, and if he wants his family to remain in power, he needs to convince her to name King James of Scotland as her successor. Elizabeth seems to be leaning more towards the Earl of Essex (Sam Reid), one of her supposed bastards, instead. Essex is supported by the Earl of Southampton (Xavier Samuel), who trusts the word of the Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans) more than anything. Oxford has essentially been shunned by the Royal Court for most of his adult life, and is the constant source of disappointment to Cecil, his father in law. He loves Southampton however, and feels he has a way to help him – with his writing. Knowing that someone of his station could never be seen to write something as lowly as a play, he calls on Ben Jonson (Sebastian Armesto) to do it for him. He gives him a copy of Henry V and tells him to have it performed under his own name. Not wanting to disgrace his reputation, Jonson lets a drunken, illiterate fool of an actor take credit instead. His name is William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall). Soon Shakespeare in the toast of the theater scene – with one masterpiece seemingly following another and another to the stage.

If you think I’ve given away the whole plot, don’t worry I haven’t. All of this is essentially established in the first half hour or so, and what follows is a series of double and triple crosses, flashbacks and flashbacks inside of flashbacks, lots of intrigue and lust, jealously and anger and even incest. Oh, and a few battle sequences, in the film mainly, I think, because Emmerich cannot conceive of a movie without battle sequences. Things come to a head when Richard III is performed, with the daring decision to make Richard a hunchback – much like Richard Cecil, who has succeeded his father as Elizabeth’s top adviser.

I found watching Anonymous to be a rather exhausting experience. Everything in the film is made to seem larger than life – the sets, the costumes, the music and the performances. There is no room for subtly here, and for a movie that is largely about people talking, the film seemed to be filled with noise. Emmerich is used to directing action movies, and he directs this movie the same way, and it simply does not work. This is a costume drama for people who don’t like costume dramas – and I like costume dramas.

The one element in the movie that I wholeheartedly loved was Rhys Ifans performance as the Earl of Oxford aka the Real Shakespeare. He seems immune from the bombast that surrounds him, and at times, he seems to be acting in a different, better movie than the one he is stuck in. When he was onscreen, the movie just felt different, and it comes from the confidence he exudes. It’s an excellent performance in a bad movie.

Overall, I can’t say that I liked Anonymous, and it didn’t really make me want to find out the “real story” behind Shakespeare. To quote him “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”. Call it blasphemous if you want to, but I really don’t care who gets the credit for Shakespeare’s work. His plays are masterpieces, and nothing will ever change that.

Movie Review: 2012

2012 **
Directed By: Roland Emmerich.

Written By: Roland Emmerich & Harald Kloser.

Starring: John Cusack (Jackson Curtis), Amanda Peet (Kate Curtis), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Adrian Helmsley), Thandie Newton (Laura Wilson), Oliver Platt (Carl Anheuser), Thomas McCarthy (Gordon Silberman), Woody Harrelson (Charlie Frost), Danny Glover (President Thomas Wilson), Liam James (Noah Curtis), Morgan Lily (Lilly Curtis), Zlatko Buric (Yuri Karpov), Beatrice Rosen (Tamara), Alexandre Haussmann (Alec), Philippe Haussmann (Oleg), Johann Urb (Sasha).

At this point I think it’s safe to assume that everyone out there correlates the name Roland Emmerich with big, stupid disaster movies like 2012. In Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and now this film, Emmerich takes joy in destroying many landmarks that people hold dear, killing thousands if not millions (and in this case, probably billions) of people and then somehow coming up with a happy ending. The movies follow the same basic pattern: A family in crisis in brought together by the impending disaster, and despite the fact that many people die, they come out stronger for it. A brave junior member of the government tries to get people to take the impending doom seriously, and is mocked. Disaster strikes, people die, and then there is a happily ever after for the people left alive.

2012 is no different. Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) and his wife Kate (Amanda Peet) are divorced. They have two kids, Noah (Liam James), a smart alecky son on the verge of adolescence and Lilly (Morgan Lily), an 8 year old girl with a perchance for hats. Kate has moved on and is living with Gordon (Thomas McCarthy), a plastic surgeon, although she still loves Jackson in her way. Jackson has the kids for a weekend camping trip in Yellowstone National Park, when things start to go wrong in California. Massive earthquakes keep hitting, and for some reason the army is in Yellowstone. Jackson meets Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), a paranoid guy with his own radio show that he broadcasts from Yellowstone who is issuing dire warning about the fate of humanity, and how everyone better get right with their Jesus, because the Apocalypse is coming. Jackson dismisses him as a lunatic, but we know better.

That is because at this point, we have already seen Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejifor), a young geologist travel to India to talk with his friend who tells him that they are seeing unprecedented activity in the earth’s core, brought on by things going wrong with the sun. He takes his concerns to Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), an aide to President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover), who initially mocks him, but then takes him seriously. Wilson brings up his concerns at the G8, and a plan is hatched. They start building something in China to prepare for coming doom.

All of this happens in the first 45 minutes or so in a movie that clocks in at more than 2 and half hours. The rest of the movie is made up of one frantic chase after another, as Jackson and his family try and escape for the massive craters that are forming in the earth, first in a high speed chase in a limo, then in a small engine plan, and finally in a much bigger plane, as they head for China – there only hope of salvation. We flash between the family being tested, and scenes of Adrian as he tries to convince Carl to go public with the information to give people at least a chance to survive, but Carl is so focused on getting to China, and being safe, that he refuses. Adrian even has time to start a tentative romance with Laura (Thandie Newton), the daughter of the President, during this time. They are bonded by the fact that they are the only two people who seem to care about the rest of the country (other than the President, who bravely decided to “go down with the ship”), and because as the only two black people in the movie, they have to fall in love, right? Intercut with these scenes are scenes of the world literally falling apart. We see the White House and the Vatican destroyed among other things, and massive tsunamis that wipe out millions at a time.

If we could take the movie seriously, all of this may seem to be in bad taste at best and truly offensive at worst. Manhola Dargis commented in her review that Emmerich seems to be trying to punish his audience as if you do not flash to 9/11 several times throughout the movie than Emmerich would be disappointed. Personally, I think that’s giving Emmerich too much credit. I think he just likes to blow things up real good, and doesn’t even think about anything too seriously. There is certainly nothing as interesting as Spielberg’s 9/11 allegory in his underrated War of the Worlds. Emmerich is just having fun.

And I suppose, if you go with the movie than perhaps you will too. Emmerich certainly knows how to use special effects. It really does appear like the White House and the Vatican are destroyed, and the scenes of exploding lava and tsunamis are also quite convincing. If you do not expect any sort of logic in the film, you may actually enjoy it.

I did enjoy the film, to a certain extent. True, it is horribly written. When you get actors the caliber of Cusack, Peet, Ejifor, Glover, Platt, Harrelson and Newton and even they cannot sell your horrible dialogue, you know you are in trouble. While I am certainly no scientist, even I had a hard time believing much of the science they try and pass off as real during the course of this movie. During the parts of the movie where I was able to turn off my brain, I did kind of like what I saw. It’s only when I started to think – which I did far too often in this film, unlike say Independence Day which is no more logical, but a hell of lot more entertaining, that I got into trouble.

I kept thinking of things that the filmmakers probably didn’t want me to think about. Like why America would trust all the ships construction to China, even to the point where all the ships are in China. Are they all of a sudden friends? And did Danny Glover’s President actually run a full on campaign to win re-election in 2012, which is of course an election year, or did he not even bother knowing that the world would end when he was still President anyway? And what the hell George Segal was doing in the move?

I’m sure to a certain audience, 2012 will provide just what they are looking for: a few hours of escapist fun. I certainly was not bored by the movie, despite its horribly long running time. But that doesn’t really mean that the movie is good. If you enjoyed Emmerich’s other disaster films, then you’ll most likely enjoy this one as well. But if you demand any sort of intelligence with your entertainment, then stay away.