Things I Learned While Watching Independence Day: Resurgence
Roland Emmerich can no longer be trusted
this movie suffered from both a lack of story and too much story
meaning that we were given too many characters and not enough information on any of them
the focus either should have been mainly on characters we saw in the first movie, or characters that had nothing to do with the first movie.
introducing a bunch of new characters while trying to focus on the nostalgia of old one was too much
and the fact that they ignored/killed off returning characters was disappointing. what was the point of bringing them back, then?
like Jasmine became a doctor??? that’s awesome
what happened to Constance?
what happened to Adam Baldwin?
and Miguel and Alicia and Troy? Why didn’t we follow up with Russell Casse’s kids??
and it was very clear they were setting up for a sequel
(why does Roland Emmerich love Joey King so much???)
but the ~too many new characters~ thing could have been easily fixed
hear me out. there are actually a couple of options here, if Emmerich was going to insist on having a white male lead
Jake could have been Troy, which would make him a little older than Dylan and Patricia, but would draw in the returning character theme
(or Miguel? Oscar Isaac should have been in this)
him knowing Dylan and Patricia makes sense, and would imply that they’d grown up together, and that the Casse kids were taken care of by the President, if not the entire world
it would also make his reckless flying style make sense, in a courting danger flirting-with-death, my dad died this way way
he’d be one of those “legacy” kids
(they’re all legacy kids)
he’d stay with the Whitmores. he’d stay with the Hillers, he’d stay with his siblings, he’d stay with the Levinsons
OF COURSE he and Dylan were going to become pilots, OF COURSE Patricia was, too
because his dad was a hero
so he has to be a hero too
Jake should have been the son of Capt. Jimmy Wilder, aka Harry Connick, Jr., aka Capt. Steve Hiller’s best friend
WHICH IS ALSO GREAT because that means that Steve and Jasmine took Jake in and helped raise him
it means he and Dylan grew up together
it means that Steve would have told Jake all the time how brave and funny his dad was
and every July Steve would make sure people remembered the first brave few who were killed in the invasion of ‘96, including Jake’s dad
it means that when Steve died it would be like losing his dad all over again
Steve Hiller’s legacy wouldn’t be blood but it would be his sons all the same
and Dylan and Jake would be friends all through flight school
Dylan and Patricia and Jake would have all grown up together
and they’d never let Uncle David or their mom know they took victory cigars with them (Steve gives them one, looking each of his kids in the eye as he tells them, “Not until the fat lady sings.” All three of them are utterly serious as they reply, “Not until the fat lady sings.”)
(Jasmine still isn’t sure how she and Constance became mothers to like. seven kids. but they’ll manage)
but Jake has lost two fathers to flight. so he’s reckless. he cuts turns too short and waits til the last second to pull up, and it’s fine when he and Dylan fly together because Dylan went the other way, he went calm and analytical, overcautious, far less likely to be reckless or guess
and in either of these options Dylan and Patricia interact more
nobody ever gets how close Patricia and Dylan are. no one ever can
they were scared kids. they might never see their dads again. she’d just lost her mother. they huddled close while war waged around them
they call or text at least once a day when they aren’t close enough to actually see each other
see how easy that was, Roland?
the retcon of Okun being gay was good tbh
Okun absolutely unphased by a 20-year coma
emmerich failed to fully tap into the awesomeness that this could have been
President Whitmore should have said “you’re a pilot, you belong in the air,” to his daughter
Dylan should have been able to save his mom, only she would have been like “your father always liked to make an entrance too”
basically more callbacks to the original
tbh i thought Jake might have been David’s son
I needed David to be a bigger part of Dylan and Patricia’s lives
David and Steve really bonding after ‘96, Connie and Jasmine bonding
and Whitmore too after his last term
and how hard it was for all of them when Steve died
and how the world would have mourned him
clearly i would have done a better job with this movie
