INDEPENDENCE DAY 2 & 3

When talk begins regarding movies that are dearest to my heart, I start getting worried. I don't think there has ever been a movie I was more excited for than Independence Day. I remember first seeing the standee for it at Carmike Cinemas when I was in third grade and I was praying it would be PG-13 so I could see it. Then once the trailer came out I was hooked. I remember it was supposed to open July 4th, but they moved it up a day due to the hype. Me and my dad stood in a line wrapped around the theatre to see it and I was pissed because my sister decided to go see The Cable Guy instead of Independence Day....who does that?

Anyway, with as much money as it made, I am very surprised that they never made a sequel for it. There has been talk every couple of years about it, but nothing ever comes of it. But now Roland Emmerich has said that he has two sequels written out for it and today there are rumors that Will Smith has signed on for both of them.

Growing up I was always conflicted as to whether or not I wanted a sequel. It is an awesome stand alone film and I really don't want anything taken away from it with a crappy sequel. But then again, if the sequel is as good as the first then why not?

My problem is Roland Emmerich. The guy started off with some pretty good movies, Universal Soldier, Stargate and Independence Day were all good. Then we have Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, 10,000 B.C. and 2012 which were all very average movies AT best. The only other film he has done that I liked since Independence Day is The Patriot.

So what can they do to make these sequels a hit?











First you have to bring back the cast. When I watch this film, sure I love the alien side of it and the action, but what makes the movie is the characters. Not just Smith, Goldblum, and Pullman but Robert Loggia who played General William Grey, Judd Hirsch who played Julius aka Goldblum's dad (one of my favorite characters), Margaret Colin who played Constance aka Goldblum's ex wife and especially Adam Baldwin who played Major Mitchell. You need to try and get them all back on board and trust me besides Adam Baldwin, none of them are very busy. I'm not really worried about Vivica A. Fox because I wasn't crazy about her character, but we can bring her back anyway. The cast is where I do put faith in these possible sequels, because it seems Emmerich likes big casts in his films. In all of his movies there are always lots of characters, each normally having their own storyline....which sometimes is not such a good thing.

Secondly, the story has to be right. The two things I have kept hearing over the past fourteen years is that they are either going to take the fight to the alien planet or their will simply be a second wave. Now with them doing these films back to back, it could very easily start with a second wave and then end with the third film heading to the alien planet.

They have a lot of story potential with these sequels so here are some of my personal ideas for the sequels. When the first one ended, there were like a hundred crashed ships on the planet and a lot of them were still pretty intact, so they should have a ton of information on the alien technology and possibly their home world. This would cause me to make Area 51 a huge part of the films. I would have it relocated in the mountains of Utah somewhere, and just make it a massive base. Instead of three bodies, they now have around fifty intact and pieces of hundreds of other bodies. Instead of one hangar with one ship, they now have tons of hangars with big ships, little ships and hybrid ships. I would put Goldblum as the new head of Area 51 and I would put Smith as the head of an Area 51 military group, which would open up some roles for some cool new characters kinda like the marines from Aliens. I think there is a lot of story potential with Pullman's role. Fourteen years have passed which doesn't mean that is when the story should necessarily pick up, but I would have a new President in the film and maybe make it ten years later. I like the idea of a second wave coming to take revenge on Earth for destroying them all the first go around, and when this happens, the new President makes some bad decisions and then everyone turns to Pullman to take over making decisions. Or maybe make him the head of NATO now where he makes decisions for multiple countries. Like I said, there are a couple of different ways to go with his character.










With all the alien technology they have now, that can open the door for some really cool stuff in the film. In the first film, they had jet fighters. Now they can have some kind of alien ship/jet hybrid. They could also have some advancements in weaponry. But on the flip side, I would have the aliens have some cooler stuff in this one as well. In the first film, when Smith and Goldblum enter the mothership, one of my favorite scenes was how they teased us with an invasion. You saw all those aliens lined up, ready to go, but was stopped before they could invade Earth. I want to see that in the sequel. I want the aliens loose on the planet fighting at least in a few scenes, but that could be tricky. You can't go and change the look of the aliens from the way they looked in the first film, but it would be hard to have them just running around because of the way they were designed. But maybe you could have a new breed of aliens in this one to where you have the old kind and the new kind. If you remember, the aliens were in suits, so they could very easily have a few different kinds of suits and it be believable to the viewer.

I'm not sure how you could do that story alone for two films, so it looks like they would take the fight to them at their planet for the third film. That is where the story would get too complicated for me. I mean you could probably get away with saying that a way was discovered using their technology to travel at the speed of light so you could get to the planet easier and quicker and there is a tracking beacon on all the ships so they know how to get there, but I can't picture a cool looking alien planet. I mean they are obviously intelligent lifeforms so there should be cities and things of that nature in my opinion. I just can't imagine Smith and Goldblum running around an alien planet.

Bottom line is this. If Goldblum isn't back on board, I wouldn't do it. I don't think the fans really care about Smith's character alone. I realize they would bring in new characters if this were the case, but I don't think anyone would be nearly as interested.

If this all turns out to be rumors and sequels never happen, I would be fine and never lose sleep over it. But I have a feeling that the sequels are eventually coming. These two films could be epic films, but they have a better chance of being a disaster. Either way, I'll be there opening day. So any ideas of what to do with these films? Comment me and let me know.