Biggest Plot Holes In Independence Day: Resurgence

Will Smith signed up for Hancock, Men in Black II, and Wild Wild West, so we should've gotten worried when he passed on Independence Day: Resurgence. Based on initial reviews, it looks like the Fresh Prince was right to skip out on Roland Emmerich's sequel. There are more plot holes in this movie than the Earth's surface had after the last alien invasion, and we're breaking them all down for you here. Be prepared for some close encounters of the spoiler kind.

Celebrating anniversaries is important and everything, especially when the world was almost lost 20 years ago, but this just takes the cake. President Lanford, her advisers, and the Earth Space Defense team encounter their first alien presence in 20 years...and arbitrarily blow it up with a laser, despite it not being hostile. The worst part—they didn't even bother to check the wreckage.

Even though this machine turned out to be an AI construct from an extinct alien race trying to help us, you'd think that we'd still be on Defcon 3. This thing teleported to the moon from out of nowhere, and it could've been a scout for an invading space army. Yet the President and her staff proceed to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the first film's victory like nothing happened.

You would think that if an alien mothership sent dozens of borough-sized ships to destroy most of Earth's major cities, the survivors would've thoroughly checked to make sure each one was destroyed. It's safe to say that technology in 1996 allowed us to scan and monitor for each of these ginormous aircraft, and we would've noticed if one hadn't been destroyed. Instead, one landed in Africa, started drilling for the Earth's core, and no one noticed except the locals—who fought them on the ground for years without anyone else hearing about it. The Earth Space Defense team went full Dr. Evil and turned the moon into a Death Star to ward off invading alien ships, completely oblivious to the one left in their back yard.

With an African militia and group of UN workers at their disposal, only a couple of soldiers escorted warlord Dikembe Umbutu, David Levinson, and Dr. Catherine Marceau to explore the fully intact and recently powered-up alien ship, not knowing if there were any hostiles inside. Even if Umbutu's platoons cleaned out the aliens during their numerous battles, the reactivation of the ship should've kept them on high alert. Way to play it safe, guys.

While it's sad to see Dylan Hiller's mom, former-stripper-turned-hospital-administrator Jasmine, die saving a patient, we just don't buy David's dad surviving all the calamity he encountered—again. Even towards the end of the movie, he was still oblivious to the chaos around him. We get it—he's a comic relief character, but he survived a tidal wave that wrecked his boat and presumably killed millions of people, with no survivors for miles save for a few orphans.

Julius drives a bus filled with children across the desert to Area 51 and just happens to find his son in the midst of his big plan to kill the Alien Queen. We can buy the mothership stopping a few feet short of destroying the new White House, but we can't buy David's dad Mr. Magoo-ing his way through yet another alien invasion without dying, let alone randomly finding his son in the middle of a desert.

President Whitmore was one of the big heroes of the last war, but it was a little too easy for him to figure out what was going on this time. Whitmore's daughter quit training to be an ESD pilot in order to help with his worsening psychological condition. While he wasn't fully debilitated during the whole 20-year gap, we doubt the former-President-turned-shut-in would happen to know the key codes to Area 51's alien prison cells, or that he could easily pass security without being stopped. His sacrifice towards the end of the film was noble, but how did he know how to fly a space tug? It's a space utility vehicle, completely unlike any of the fighter planes he'd flown in the past. Maybe Bill Pullman was just tapping into his inner Lone Starr.

Umbutu certainly earned his stripes fighting aliens in his homeland, but we doubt the ESD would just let him roam Area 51 unchecked. Sure, he arrived with Jeff Goldblum—but so did the Brundlefly, and look how that turned out. He's the leader of a militia armed with alien weaponry. Even with a second invasion going on, we doubt they'd let him roam the halls of Area 51.

If you thought Area 51's security policies were flawed, wait until you see the chain of command for its research and development team. Dr. Brakish Okun, the kooky scientist from the first movie, was in a coma during the entire 20-year gap between movies. He wakes up because of the new alien presence and experiences zero muscle atrophy. What's even crazier is that he basically takes charge of Area 51's science team right off the bat without any rhyme or reason. Why didn't anyone object?

"Oh, that's the guy from last time? He just woke up from a decades-long coma and knows nothing about our current technology? He still thinks our computers run Windows 95? Okay, let's see what he wants to do."

The emotions ran deep while everyone was fighting the Alien Queen—about as deep as this plot hole. After President Whitmore died suicide bombing the Queen's vessel, we were all sorta/kinda/not really surprised to see her emerge unharmed. The Queen was Godzilla-sized in her battle suit, which also came with a giant "laser" (that's two Dr. Evil references, for those keeping count). Unfortunately, she ended up not using the gun at all while Patricia attacked her by herself, which makes no sense. That thing could level multiple ships with one blast, yet the Kaiju Queen was swatting away at Patricia's jet like she was King Kong.