About the trailer
U.S. Release Date - December 13, 2015
Runtime - 2 minutes, 21 seconds
Official Synopsis - Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.
Director - Roland Emmerich
Primary cast
Liam Hemsworth - Jake Morrison
Vivica A. Fox - Jasmine
William Fichtner - General Adams
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Dr. Catherine Marceaux
Bill Pullman - President Whitmore
Jeff Goldblum - David Levinson
Angelababy - Rain
Sela Ward - President Lanford
Brent Spiner - Dr. Brakish Okun
Judd Hirsch - Julius Levinson
Garrett Wareing - Bobby
Grace Huang - Lin Tang
Ryan Cartwright - Officer Ryan Collins
Review
Today we saw the release of the trailer to the much anticipated sequel to Independence Day. Much to my delight, they did not go with the standard sequential numbering for sequels but gave it an actual name along the lines of the Star Trek The Next Generation films. We see in the trailer that the aliens have returned with bigger ships and newer technology but earth is not without its defenses. The nations of the world came together to use the technology from the last alien attack to upgrade defenses and weaponry in the event the aliens came back.
The trailer begins with the humans finding something somewhere which seems like a desert on earth. After this sequence we learn that earth spent 20 years waiting for the aliens return and then get the revelation that the aliens are infact returning. An audio overlay occurs with a retake of the presidents motivational speech from the first Independence Day and fighting action sequences from the film, The trailer closes with Jeff Goldblum noting to Liam Hemsworth that the spaceship is larger than the first one from what appears to be the moon.
Overall the trailer seems like the film will be a standard sequel in that the aliens come back with a bigger force to try and overwhelm earth again though the synopsis and trailer dont give enough way to determine if the humans win and what defense is actually mounted that is different from the first time (I presume the back door from the first movie has been fixed and wont work again). It does seem like they are able to take down an alien ship so it will definitely be intriguing to see if that is the final win by the humans or a minor victory in the scope of the film. The notable aspect to the trailer is that we do not see Will Smith. Since he is not listed in the IMDb cast, it is possible that he is not in the film but one can hope that the director is pulling a Star Wars The Force Awakens and surprising us Luke Skywalker style as he might be such an integral part of the plot to not want to give away in the trailer. On the flip side, a trailer could be released between now and when the film is released that gives it away like Terminator Genysis so time will tell but if Will Smith ends up being in the film, I hope that his role is kept secret until the film is released.