I vividly remember the experience of seeing the first INDEPENDENCE DAY. I had just turned 13, and to celebrate my official arrival to teen-dom, my father took me to see INDEPENDENCE DAY (which opened July 3). I remember feeling like this was the first “event” film I’d ever been to. It had a mystique about it, since it wasn’t a sequel or related to any other known property. The trailers had built it up to be this one-of-a-kind cinematic event that had to be seen in theaters, and I imagine I had an experience similar to the folks that lived through the first-ever “summer blockbuster,” JAWS in 1975. 

The theater was packed. People were excited. When the lights went down, and the action began, you could feel a communal sense of awe. Remember, while these kinds of wide-scale destruction are commonplace these days, back in 1996 to see an alien ship hover over the White House and obliterate it with a laser beam was rather shocking. Combine that spectacle with likable characters, funny dialogue, and a rousing speech by a fictitious president calling for all of humanity to come together as one, and INDEPENDENCE DAY was one hell of a ride for 13 yearold me. 

I wasn’t alone, of course. INDEPENDENCE DAY which was made for- by today’s standards- a pittance ($75 million. You know, a little more than that “low budget” DEADPOOL movie)- made $817 million worldwide. The movie was a big deal, and it inspired countless other blockbusters that came after it. 

Director Roland Emmerich and co. are back at it again, with INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE. The film will come out almost exactly 20 years after the original on June 24. That anniversary is an integral part of the plot of the film, which shows an earth coming together to commemorate 20 years since the “War of 1996.”

There’s a new trailer for the blockbuster sequel, and it throws everything- including 2,378 kitchen sinks- at you. It’s an extended trailer with a duration of 4:45, and it really leaves very little to the imagination. Similar to other recent trailers that gave away damn near everything, this one includes all kinds of key sequences. Therefore, I suggest you only watch it if you’re someone who doesn’t mind going into the theater knowing a ton about the movie.

If you’re someone like me, who would rather walk in fresh, skip it!

But here you go:

I, unfortunately, didn’t heed my own warning. I watched this trailer mainly because I wasn’t yet sold on the sequel. Despite my warm feelings towards the first film, INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE hasn’t really been on my radar. That’s perhaps a product of too many ripoffs of Emmerich’s work degrading the thrills that this one seems to promise. So I watched it and, while I’m disappointed to now know so much about the movie, I can say I’m now interested.

How about you?

Side Note: This cast has aged really, really well. Judd Hirsch and Brent Spiner are seemingly ageless after two decades. Sheesh! Oh, and I got a kick at Emmerich making fun of himself (“They like to get the landmarks.“).

SOURCE: Fox