Twenty years after Independence Day, Roland Emmerich fills the screen with clichéd characters, attacks by ridiculous aliens who ramble around like insects, and blown-up bodies, cars, and building debris which instead of falling down float upward into the sky. If you can get excited or pumped up by these ingredients of this bloated bore, welcome to it!
The finale of the 1996 film was its presentation of one Fourth of July when instead of rallying around the flag, Americans were shown celebrating the concerted efforts of people all around the world to save the planet. In this sequel, American military leaders and a war-loving woman President (Sela Ward) blow a long sojourn of peace with an erroneous and aggressive first-strike attack on an alien spacecraft. All the so-called heroes on screen are warmongers including two gung-ho pilots ( Liam Hemsworth and Jesse Usher), the ex-President's daughter (Maika Monroe) who is a Top Gun-like fighter, a military big-wig (William Fichtner), and an African warlord (Deobia Oparei).
The film ends not on a high note of peace and freedom but on a low note of continued warfare when the American fighters decide that they will take the fight to the enemy even if it means going to far galaxies.