Independence Day: Resurgence

***Independence Day: Resurgence*** is a 2016 American science fiction action film directed by Roland Emmerich, written by Emmerich, Dean Devlin, Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods, and James Vanderbilt. A sequel to the 1996 film *Independence Day*, it stars an ensemble cast featuring Jeff Goldblum, Liam Hemsworth, Bill Pullman, Maika Monroe, Travis Tope, William Fichtner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Judd Hirsch. The film takes place twenty years after the events of the first film, during which the United Nations has collaborated to form Earth Space Defense, an international military defense and research organization. Through reverse engineering, the world has fused the power of alien technology with humanity's and laid the groundwork to resist a second invasion.

## Plot

Twenty years after the war against alien invaders in 1996, the United Nations has founded the Earth Space Defense (ESD), a global defense and research program that reverse-engineers alien technology and serves as Earth's early warning system against extraterrestrial threats. Civilization has been restored and relative peace among nations exists following the humanity's victory over the aliens' attacks, and major cities around the world including Washington, D.C. were rebuilt and modernized with amalgamated technologies. After establishing Area 51 as its headquarters, the ESD set up bases on the Moon, Mars, and Rhea, and orbital defense satellites above Earth, as fortifications against future invasions.

ESD Director David Levinson meets with Dr. Catherine Marceaux and warlord Dikembe Umbutu in the isolationist African state the National Republic of Umbutu. Dikembe had summoned Levinson and Marceaux to investigate an intact alien city destroyer, which landed in 1996 and was drilling until it stopped following the aliens' defeat; the ship remained dormant and foreigners were forbidden to study the ship enforced by the country's government, until it is suddenly reactivated. They discovered that the aliens had long sent a distress signal to their home planet before their defeat. It is revealed that people such as former U.S. President Thomas Whitmore, Dr. Brackish Okun, and Umbutu are telepathically linked to the aliens' collective consciousness, following personal encounters with aliens, and have recurring visions of an unidentified spherical object.

An unidentified spherical ship emerges from a wormhole near Earth's Moon. Levinson is convinced that it belongs to a different extraterrestrial race that is benevolent and urges the world's government not to attack. However, the UN Security Council including President Elizabeth Lanford unanimously ordered the ESD to destroy the ship. Defying orders, American pilots Jake Morrison and Charles Miller collect Levinson, Marceaux, Umbutu, and U.S. federal controller Floyd Rosenberg on a space tug. They head for the wreckage of the ship in the Van de Graaff crater, where they recover a large container. During the middle of the 20th anniversary celebrations honoring the War of 1996, a massive alien mothership, responding to the distress call, and proceed to destroy much of Earth's defenses before making landfall on the planet. Levinson's group are caught in the mothership's gravitational pull, which also lifts buildings and structures from most of Asia. The debris falls over Europe where Morrison manages to pilot the tug to escape, as it passes over London, before heading on to Area 51.

The mothership lands over the North Atlantic Ocean, destroying several cities in the process, including Washington, D.C. Captain Dylan Dubrow-Hiller attempts to rescue his mother, Jasmine, but she dies when the mothership's landing strut makes impact with the hospital she works at. The mothership begins drilling downward to Earth's molten core for fuel that will destroy Earth's magnetic field in the process and eradicating all life on the surface.

Thomas Whitmore, Levinson, and U.S. General Joshua Adams' groups interrogate one of the aliens held in captivity at Area 51's prison facility from the war. They learn that the aliens exist in a hivemind and that one of their colossal Queens is commanding the invasion. Levinson hypothesizes that if they kill the supervising Queen, her forces will cease drilling and go dormant. ESD forces, led by Dylan, stage a counter-attack but are caught in a trap within the mothership that disables their weapons and wipes out most of the squadron. Dylan, along with Jake and fellow pilots Charlie Miller and Rain Lao, are the only few survivors.

In Area 51, Dr. Brackish Okun wakes up from his twenty-year coma. He proceeds to open the container from, which releases a giant white sphere of artificial intelligence. The sphere reveals that it was sent by a party of refugees to help evacuate humanity to a planet of refuge from the aliens, whom she calls "Harvesters", and unite them with other survivors to oppose the Harvesters. Seeing that its activity has alerted the alien queen to its presence, the sphere tries to convince the ESD to destroy it in order to prevent the aliens from getting the coordinates to the refuge planet. Meanwhile, the ESD survivors in the mothership manage to escape by hijacking alien fighters. Dylan, Jake, Charlie, and Rain navigate two Harvester fighters to pursue the Queen's personal ship, which is heading to Area 51 to extract information from the sphere.

Knowing that the Harvester Queen has become aware of the sphere's location, the ESD conduct another attempt on eliminating the Queen; they hid the sphere in an isolation chamber and use a decoy in a space tug to lure the Queen's ship into a trap; in a secluded area outside Area 51 laid with cold fusion bombs. Against his daughter Patricia's wishes, Whitmore volunteers to pilot the space tug on a suicide mission. During the subsequent battle, Whitmore leads the Queen's ship to the trap and detonates the bombs, sacrificing himself and destroying the ship with the Queen still inside.

However, the Queen survives by using an energy shield on her exoskeleton and a battle ensues. Initially, the ESD soldiers' weapons cannot penetrate the Queen's shield, but after the Harvester Queen lowers her shield to fire her own weapon, a critical hit by Whitmore's daughter Patricia deactivates her shield. This allows Dylan's party, which arrives just in time, to kill her before she can take the sphere.

With the Queen dead, all the remaining alien fighters are rendered inactive, while the mothership stops drilling and retreats to space. Okun reveals to the ESD that the sphere has asked humanity to lead her resistance and has offered them new technology in preparation for a potential assault on the Harvesters' homeworld.

## Cast

* Liam Hemsworth as Jake Morrison
* Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson
* Bill Pullman as former U.S. President Thomas J. Whitmore
* Maika Monroe as Patricia Whitmore
* Jessie Usher as Dylan Hiller
* Sela Ward as U.S. President Elizabeth Lanford
* Travis Tope as Charles Miller
* William Fichtner as General Joshua T. Adams
* Charlotte Gainsbourg as Dr. Catherine Marceaux
* Judd Hirsch as Julius Levinson
* Brent Spiner as Brackish Okun
* Vivica A. Fox as Jasmine Dubrow-Hiller
* Angelababy as Rain Lao
* Robert Loggia as General William Grey
* John Storey as Milton Isaacs
* Chin Han as Chinese Space Squadron Commander Jiang Lao
* Nicolas Wright as Floyd Rosenberg
* DeObia Oparei as Dikembe Umbutu
* Joey King as Samantha Blackwell
* Gbenga Akinnagbe as Agent Matthew Travis
* Patrick St. Esprit as Secretary of Defense Tanner