‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ Buzz: Does Roland Emmerich’s Sequel Sink Or Soar?
A few days ago news broke thatIndependence Day: Resurgencewould not screen for criticsuntil Friday — the morningafterthe film hits theaters for the general public. That did not seem to bode well for the movie. Generally speaking, if a studio is working that hard to keep critics from reviewing a movie, it’s because they expect the reviews will be terrible.
But those reports were only half true. While American critics won’t seeIndependence Day: Resurgenceuntil Friday, journalists in other countries have already seen the film. The first reviews have started to trickle out, and you may get theIndependence Day: Resurgencebuzz below.
Luke Lancaster at CNET:
Dan Jolin at Empire:
Helen O’Hara at GQ UK:
Robbie Collin at The Telegraph:
Tom Eames at Digital Spy:
Lucy O’Brien at IGN:
The big surprise here is thatIndependence Day: Resurgence… actually doesn’t sound half-bad. It may not be a masterpiece — or even a genre fave on the order of the first film — but it sounds like if you lovedIndependence Day, you’ll probably like the sequel. So why is 20th Century Fox keepingIndependence Day: Resurgencefrom American critics?
Well, it could just be that they’ve decided it’s not worth the risk.Independence Day: Resurgencecomes with built-in appeal for audiences who liked the first film. Those fans aren’t necessarily waiting for a glowing review to tell them to seeIndependence Day: Resurgence, but might be discouraged from going by a bad review. And 20th Century Fox has recently had some not-so-great experiences with critics. We don’t know how much ofX-Men: Apocalypse’s limp box office can be attributed to tepid reviews, but they surely didn’t help. And critics absolutely savaged last year’sFantastic Four, which went on to become a massive flop.
Then there’s the fact that the domestic box office matters less than it used to, in terms of a film’s overall gross. Just look atWarcraft, which is technicallythe most successful video game movie of all timedespite earning next to nothing at home. If a few Americans skipIndependence Day: Resurgencebecause they haven’t seen any good reviews, it’s no big deal — the film can still make back that money overseas. As an expensive, effects-driven, sci-fi action spectacle,Independence Day: Resurgenceis exactly the kind of film that translates well for non-American audiences.
It’s still odd that a giant summer movie — which by most accounts is perfectly fine — isn’t screening for critics until after its U.S. theatrical opening. But it’s not proof of certain disaster, at least in this case. Will you seeIndependence Day: Resurgencethis weekend?
