Twenty years have passed since Will Smith saved mankind from the alien threat. In those two decades, he decided against signing up for the sequel.

Which is the biggest problem with Independence Day: Resurgence. It's not more far-fetched or improbable than the first one. The special effects are just as good. The plot - the aliens return, shock horror - isn't much different and even the sometimes-cringy dialogue is back in spades.

Take Will Smith's on-screen presence out of a film like this, and despite plenty of returning faces from the original, you go from having a pretty sure-fire Hollywood blockbuster to something approaching a B movie.

Great action sequences, but not much else, to be honest. I was disappointed, as the original sets a high bar.

I recently re-watched the first film and was surprised at how robust its shelf life is. Again, it is undeniably cheesy and jingoistic, but done suitably well, I can have a ball with any material. In "Independence Day: Resurgence", set and finally released 20 years after the events of the first film, the aliens get medieval on us with an even bigger mothership.

There's a lot of heroics here by many a character who do their equal part to stop this new alien menace, having already made a stuffed calzone of the Earth's crust comprising from London all the way to Singapore. There's also a refreshingly silly undertone which sets it apart from the grim and serious blockbusters of today, and with added Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsch who return as the Levinsons, and "Star Trek" alumnus Brent Spiner as the eccentric Dr. Okun, Emmerich and his co-writers, including returning scribe Dean Devlin, certainly did not skimp out on the comic silliness.

Unfortunately, that is where the similarities end. The sins of sequelitis has been bestowed upon this sequel to his 1996 smash hit, and Emmerich is to blame, either for his laziness to phone it in out of frustration to fulfill the fans; or bucking in to studio demand to condense the film into a mere 2 hours. Sure, lots of things happen in the film, including stuff and cities going kablooey in high style, and high-tech aerial dogfights to give "Star Wars" a run for its money. Even Liam Hemsworth as the new hero Jake Morrison did not annoy me as much as I expected, though Hemsworth is still a far cry from Will Smith's "Elvis has left the building!" persona.

However, as slick as the modern CGI is, giving a sleeker look to the tech shown in the original film, it never quite gels together as a cohesive film - no momentum, no suspense, no catharsis when it does end. Bill Pullman's returning ex-President Thomas Whitmore is utterly wasted, as per his daughter Patricia (Maika Monroe, not doing her rep from "It Follows" any favours). It is not their fault; I feel that there is a lot of footage Emmerich was forced to excise by the Fox bigwigs to get more butts into cinema seats. Perhaps an extra half- hour of more cataclysmic destruction and character motives, but I may be asking for a bit too much at this point.

Things are very rushed indeed, with no payoff even when there's lots of characters doing their fair share to save the day. Goldblum and Hirsch, however, are still naturals, and they steal every scene they're in, and lift the movie up from near tediousness. Nevertheless, the special effects are fantastic, and are most certainly worth the price of admission alone.

It's kind of sad. This new one promotes global equality, with a female U.S. President (Sela Ward) celebrating world peace, and with everyone from across the globe giving it their all to kick E.T.'s ass. The action is fine and dandy without any of those annoying shaky-cam and quick-cut edits. And yet, the film suffers from awkward pacing, rushed dynamics, and especially a lack of cities exploding into fireballs. It even has sequel-teasing in the laziest manner possible in its final moments.

To quote Marvin the Martian, "Where's the kaboom? There's supposed to be an Earth-Shattering Kaboom!"

How stupid do the script writers think the viewing audience is?

If the movie were made for four year olds, it would be an insult to their intelligence....

Great first 10 minutes or so then we are expected to leave logic and believability behind...

Making no sense doesn't seem to bother the director and producers...

The sphere can set up a planet to teach all other civilizations how to defend against the bad aliens...and it's credentials for doing so? Their planet got wiped out by said aliens and even the lower intelligence earthlings, using replicated, imitated weapons ripped from the bad aliens can shoot it down over the moon...yeah...great teachers they'll be...

The Queen can survive a fusion bomb blast but her shield falls under minor weapon fires...

The Queen can control all the alien ships but yeah, let the two hero's craft shoot at her for fun before taking over control...

And having all her fighters surround her...I guess to offer her protection...but they just kept flying round and round like an amusement park ride when the two rogue fighters decide to attack her...

An ex president's daughter who no longer flies can just commandeer a fighter...to fly alongside her father, who couldn't walk properly in the beginning of the film but can still fly a new age jet...all the air forces around the world obviously overdoing their pilot screening a tad...

The list goes on and on...I can't be bothered to write them all down or I might be writing an entire new script or story line...

I want my time and money back...as well as compensation for ruining my fond memory of the first film...