When news came out that Will Smith would not have anything to do with Independence Day: Resurgence, my enthusiasm for the flick bottomed out. Sure, I always intended to check out the film, but it was so low on my list that I practically forgot about it's existence and rightly so. This is yet another prime example of Hollywood suits thinking they can move on from a Star that carries the film and trying to replace him or her with someone else (see Fast and the Furious and The Borne Identity films for proof that you can't). Will Smith would have helped the movie for sure, but I don't think he would have been able to do anything about the bad writing though. Some really awful dialogue scenes peppered throughout the movie makes this somewhat of a chore to sit through. Some very questionable editing left me scratching my head as well. Sure, the movie has some impressive Special FX eye candy, but honestly, who the f*ck cares when you don't have anyone to cheer on. That's why Will Smith's presence was needed. I'd say this is a Skip, unless you have a Home Theater setup that you want to show off. The ending is clearly setup for another ID ride. But unless they get Will involved, I may sit that one out.

So I tried popping this again. Not sure what I was hoping for. Nothing changed. Just an incredibly bad film.

I was thinking, did Will Smith see the script and decide... no? Did they change the script once Will Smith declined?

I thought I remember Smith declined regardless. Maybe way before any script?