A Lot of Dumb Fun

Rating: 4/10 (15 January 2020)

I might be called crazy for saying this but if I had to choose between this or Emmerich's more popular film, Independence Day, I'd choose this one every time. That's not to say that this film is without its issues, however.
There are a number of problems with this film. There are a number of characters who we know for almost the whole movie, or a significant amount of it, that are killed off for either no reason at all, or to make room for another character. The biggest example of this is Gordon Silberman. We know his character for the whole of the film. At first we are led to believe that he might have a character arc where he is able to establish a stronger connection with his girlfriend Kate until he's killed off at the end. It seems so bizarre that he would die and it seems like the only reason he did was because the writers wrote themselves in a corner and needed to find a way to get Jackson back with his ex-wife who just so happens to be Kate. His death is probably the most jarring of all of them. Tamara's death is also a bit strange mostly because we don't have a reason to feel one way or the other about her death. Maybe she could have ended up with Gordon at the end since they already knew each other and Tamara's boyfriend, Yuri, very readily left her for dead? Her being killed off seemed to be played up to be more significant than I think her character had any right to be.
What was probably the biggest missed opportunity in this film, however, was the ideological conflict between Carl Anheuser and Adrian Helmsley. Both Oliver Platt and Chiwetel Ejiofer put on some of the best performances in this film, but it's really unfortunate that their conflict never really gets anywhere. Anheuser always comes off a a D.C-type jaded misanthrope who only cares about the government and his own political career. He does have a moment of humanity where he speaks with his mother over the phone for the last time. This does not last, however as the scene is cut off by Anheuser doing a 180 saying "we need to bring people who can contribute." He's framed to be something of a villain in this film and I think it's a bit unfair to his character since, while yes he does have some social Darwinist views, he does have an important role in saving whatever he can of humanity- just the same as Helmsley. Maybe instead of being a callous person through the end, maybe he could have been slowly swayed to see things in the more optimistic light that Helmsley sees it, or maybe a more nuanced debate through the film could have taken place between them and they both convince each other to finding a middleground between them. While, yes, not everything Helmsley touches in the film is always the 100% correct thing, Helmsley is always more level-headed and empathetic whereas, despite being sometimes right, Anheuser is always angry or yelling which makes his character much less sympathetic despite the near-equal fallibility between both himself and Helmsley.
There are also some weird lines in the film. This is particularly so with Lily. When she sees the house collapsing in the huge earthquake that takes out LA, she yells "My house!" Despite seeing the house collapse and seeing the whole destruction of the city she lived in, she asks her dad, Jackson "When are we going home?" Granted, I'm not an expert on child psychology, but I think a kid her age would be smart enough to know, after going through all she has, that she would know that the "home" she knew is long gone. And then after that she whispers "no more pull-ups" as if that aspect of her character was something that was important. Is that supposed to be her character arc?
Something I also noticed about the film, in a broader sense, is that I found myself enjoying the first two thirds of the film significantly more enjoyable than the last third. Once the Antonov crash lands in China, the film begins to lose my interest. I guess it's much more difficult to follow up the action sequences in the first two thirds of the film- the escape from LA, Yellowstone, and Las Vegas- that the action sequence in the hydraulics chamber of Ark 4 is much less thrilling or interesting.
Some of the comedy in this film can hinder the tension of a scene or action sequence. A good example of comedy in this film is when Jackson is driving away from the eruption of the Yellowstone volcano in Charlie's RV and he tells Lily to look at him and ask her if he looks scared in a way to make her feel better, only for her to nod "yes" that he does look scared. That was genuinely funny. Then there's the scene where Jackson, while attempting to save Gordon, Kate, and his kids at the beginning of the first big earthquake, he backs into Gordon's Porsche and knocks it down a ravine that formed in front of the garage. Gordon looks at Jackson in the same way Josh might look at Drake in the TV series Drake & Josh when Drake does something stupid. That joke had me laughing at the movie at how ridiculous it is. Then there's the scene where they are trying to escape the Antonov and they all get into the Bentley. Jackson can't start the car with the key so Yuri tells everyone to stop yelling (shut up) and says "engine start" to which the car immediately responds by starting the engine. That felt like an ad for Bentley and led to a moment where there was no real tension at all which hurt the sequence considerably.
The character whose arc I found to be the most surprisingly well-thought-out was Yuri's. Yuri is played up to be a cold, callous businessman that only cares about his own self-preservation. When he receives the notification to commence the boarding process, he immediately leaves behind his favorite boxer and his girlfriend so he can begin getting ready to make the escape for his life. He keeps everyone around him except for his two sons in the dark as to where he's going and what his plans are until there is no longer any need to do so. He strings his girlfriend along because he knows about her relationship with Sasha (his pilot) so that he can have an easier time getting away. Once Sasha dies and thusly outlives his usefulness to Yuri, he immediately ditches everyone, including his girlfriend whom he had not bought a boarding ticket for and leaves with his sons to board the Arks. On the surface, his character seems to be another villain, but as it turns out all of his actions are recontextualized as the only reason he was willing to shell out the 3 billion Euros for Ark boarding tickets was to save his sons. The giant mob he leads the charge for Ark 4's gate ends up being so that he can ensure the survival of his sons. This is sort of foreshadowed on the Antonov where he talks with Jackson about how much his sons mean to him, asking Jackson if he would do the same for his own kids. He then sacrifices himself in the end to save his second son, tossing him up to the closing gate of Ark 4 and subsequently falling to his death.
As I alluded to before, I found the over-the-top action scenes to be quite enjoyable save for the one at the end. They are fun, thrilling, and nice to look at.
Not all of the CGI has aged so well, especially with the large drill tower at the US Army location at Yellowstone. It looked incredibly fake back then and has only aged worse over time.
For some reason, I really enjoy the segment at the beginning of the film where it builds up to the title card. It provides a sense of urgency and the level of the stakes of the situation that is about to take place. There's also a bit of foreshadowing in the opening shot of the film that, having seen the film so many times, I find in-your-face, but is actually quite subtle.
I also enjoyed every scene that featured the conspiracy nut, Charlie. Every time he offers Jackson a pickle or a beer, I laugh. Woody Harrelson's partrayal of Charlie is excellent. Charlie is crazy in a likable way and he really steals every scene he's in. At the end of the day, his only function in the film is to spout exposition but the way it is handled is done so surprisingly well. There is a point where Jackson offers Charlie to come with him, but Charlie decides to stay and watch the volcano erupt from up close. While I find his character likable enough to wish he took Jackson up on his offer, I'm also glad they decided to kill him off there since he had nothing else to add to the film. I'm not sure if it was done intentionally, but they did this character very right.
There is so much I could say about this film, but I've gone on for so long already. There are a lot of problems with this film that I didn't cover in this review that make it, objectively, a below-average one. But I still believe there is a lot of value in the character banter and the action sequences that make this film still a fun one to watch. Whenever I think about a "popcorn film" this is the first one I think of. Maybe Independence Day is a better-made film, but I found myself enjoying this one much more. That's why I recommend it for anyone who is interested in just putting on a fun movie for a family movie night or a movie date or something.