What will they blow up next?
Our best guesses as to what the aliens have planned for Independence Day sequel
Those pesky space aliens of Independence Day didn’t leave much room for a sequel when they first attacked Earth in 1996.
They trashed an estimated 108 of our planet’s cities, including many of the major ones: New York, Washington, D.C., and London among them.
They also knocked down iconic edifices across the globe, including the Statue of Liberty, the White House, Big Ben and the Taj Mahal.
“They like to get the landmarks,” says Jeff Goldblum’s scientist character David Levinson, who is fond of stating the obvious in the many trailers, teasers and clips for Independence Day: Resurgence, opening Friday.
Yes, director Roland Emmerich somehow found a way back into his invading-E.T. story from two decades ago, even with the absence of Will Smith, the breakout star from that blockbuster.
There have been no press previews for Resurgence, which is never a good sign.
But we can guess at least a few of the targets of destruction from what glimpses we have been given, including the goofy new alien strategy of using one city to bash another.
Here’s what we think we know of what the space critters are up to:
Military moon base Since the last attack, we Earthlings have figured how to use alien antigravity technology and to build new weapons and even home appliances — including “a heck of a good vacuum,” as Levinson enthuses.
We’ve also built a military base on the moon, which is likely where we’ll first spot the returning E.T.s. And they’ll likely trash the place en route to Earth, if they follow standard sci-fi movie procedure.
Atlantic Ocean Levinson’s gnarly dad Julius (Judd Hirsch) also returns for the sequel, and he seems to be in charge of handling a lot of the exposition.
“It’s touchdown over the Atlantic!” he yells, when the aliens make Earth contact.
“Which part?” somebody yells back.
“All of it!”
London again . . . and also Dubai and Kuala Lumpur What, blowing up London again? Yes, luv.
But it’s not just Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament getting splintered this time. Those dastardly space thingies have a new trick up their sleeve.
They scoop up Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Twin Towers and use that to destroy London Tower Bridge.
Then they take Dubai’s needleshaped Burj Khalifa tower, the tallest structure in the world, and poke it into (or near) the London Eye, a giant Ferris wheel on the south bank of the River Thames.
Maybe this visual gag is their payback response to the “middle finger” image we sent when we blew up their mother ship in ’96?
Singapore Hard to figure out all the cities getting walloped in the new Independence Day, but one of them stands out: Singapore.
Specifically, it’s the Asian citystate’s Marina Bay Sands waterfront resort, which Wikipedia describes as “the world’s most expensive standalone casino property.” It was developed by Las Vegas Sands — remember how the aliens trashed Vegas last time? Bet on them doubling down on their casino carnage this time.
Washington, D.C., redux? The most famous image from Inde- pendence Day was of the alien mother ship blowing up the White House.
Can Emmerich resist revisiting that? Maybe not. The trailers show the U.S. Capitol building being surrounded by what appear to be both Earth and alien attack ships.
If a fight over D.C. breaks out, how would you rate the chances of the Capitol building to remain standing? Not good, we’d say.