The demolition of cities and landmarks has been a well-loved trope of sci-fi and disaster films. It was a way to connect to the events happening in a movie even though they were happening to inanimate objects and to give importance to said events. In the days of practical and CGI effects reaching peak synergy around the mid-90s and early millennium, Hollywood laid waste to the world in fantastic fashion.

And then came the sterile look of CGI dependent films. We no longer marvel at the destruction, it’s just business as usual for films that would rather create these scenes in post-production rather than blowing some actual shit up. (Say what you will about Michael Bay, but I appreciate someone who will actually buy an $8 million dollar mansion just to blow it up. Respect.)

Which leads me to “Independence Day” and the most recent trailer of its sequel. The 1996 original stood out from the pack since it was a benchmark for its visual effects; no one had blown the world up before so convincingly. “Independence Day: Resurgence” is a victim of its predecessor’s success. Since every other action/sci-fi/disaster film that followed in the twenty years since with their own version of ‘blowing up the White House’ the trailer for this film makes it look like, well, just another “Independence Day” knockoff.

Don’t get me wrong, it’ll probably be an above average knockoff but this trailer could’ve been elevated if it was intent on showing us a world that had to be rebuilt after its brush with global annihilation. We have to care about what’s happening on the screen and we already have a pretty good reason not to care with the absence of Will Smith and the addition of a bunch of new characters that I’m afraid will just read as “collective stand-in for Will Smith”.

This movie is still going to get my money but that’s more to see how well (or not) this movie can overcome its own problems.

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