History YMMV / IndependenceDayResurgence

* SpiritualLicensee: The first trailer is makes this look like the best ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' film ever.

** A desperate ten year war involving an African warlord who must fight the genocidal alien colonizers with no help from the rest of humanity? Nope, no great story ideas there!

* HilariousInHindsight: A comment early in the film about how valuable China's contribution to the space programme has been comes across this way, seeing how China was the market where the film made the second-most money, at $75m; not all that far behind the U.S., where it made $103m.

** Dylan could've filled Jake's role in the film seamlessly, apart from Jake's "cleaning up his own mess" moon scene. Dylan's an established fighter pilot whose skill matches Jake's, he lacked Jake's Glory Hound traits seen in the backstory and his reaction to his mother's death could've been explored more thoroughly. Dylan could also have been the fiance to Patricia rather than Jake; Dylan and Patricia have a history since they met in the first movie at Area 51, their fathers are war hero fighter pilots who passed on their love of flying (this could've led to plenty of opportunities for socialization). If one wants to go in that direction a mixed-race couple [[note]]Charlie and Rain don't even agree to date or kiss until the end of the movie[[/note]] would've been a good statement of how accepting and diverse the world had become; Dylan's arc could've created a deeper story combining him saving the world, a relationship with Patricia and coping with his mother's death.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Steve's enthusiastic "I have GOT to get me one of these!" while flying the attacker becomes a tad less funny after reading that he died while flying a hybrid fighter based on that ship.

** "We're gonna kick some serious alien ass!" As the closing line of the film, it's definitely not up there with "Didn't I promise you fireworks?" Not helped by how Okun effectively looks right at the camera and promises a sequel.

* BrokenBase: Will Smith not being in the movie. Some feel the movie can work fine without him but others feel him not being in it is a major detriment, to the point where some have refused to watch the film because of it (and likely was a problem for this film at the box office). [[TakeAThirdOption Still others]], after the fiasco that was ''Film/AfterEarth'', are ''glad'' he isn't in it. Roland Emmerich, [[OldShame for his part]], feels he should have cancelled development of the film the minute Will dropped out, feeling he had a better script when Will Smith was considered.

* EightDeadlyWords: The ''WebVideo/ScreenJunkies'' crew ''severely'' criticized the film for its lack of compelling characters and interaction. They found it hard to care whether or not the Earth is blown up, unlike the first movie. Heck, some even wish the aliens [[RootingForTheEmpire had succeeded]] if only for the studio to not churn out any more lackluster sequels.

* BrokenBase: Will Smith not being in the movie. Some feel the movie can work fine without him but others feel him not being in it is a major detriment, to the point where some have refused to watch the film because of it (and likely was a problem for this film at the box office). [[TakeAThirdOption Still others]], after the fiasco that was ''Film/AfterEarth'', are ''glad'' he isn't in it.

** Somehow the movie manages to take most of the plot points from the 1992 ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' animated movie ''Clash!! The Power of 10 Billion Warriors'' US release name: ''[[Anime/DragonBallZTheReturnOfCooler The Return of Cooler]]''. An alien invasion where a hive mind comes to steal a planet's molten core in order to power its machines, and is stopped [[spoiler:with the help of a benign alien third party]]. The image of the alien ship is also an almost shot-for-shot remake of the Big Ghetti Star hovering over New Namek.

* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/MckennaGrace plays a girl in the midst of an alien invasion. She would later play [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 the younger version of a character who's half-alien]].

* HarsherInHindsight:
** The first trailer arrived just a week after the death of Robert Loggia, who played General Grey in the first film.
** It turned out to be pretty fortunate that Russell Casse was killed off in the first film, since by the time this one was made and the crew went on their grand campaign to bring back all the actors they could, Randy Quaid was a little busy being an actual crazy person, and hiding out in Canada from charges of animal abuse.
** The film was released a day after Great Britain voted to leave the European Union, a move whose primary supporters liberally quoted the first film's big speech in their arguments. Then the next day the British economy fell into the gutter, at the same time people were watching London getting destroyed in this film.
** Dr. Okun happily declares that they're going to kick alien ass in a sequel, but unfortunately, the film was a financial disappointment, rendering chances for a sequel unlikely (although [[http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/independence-day/44614/independence-day-3-meeting-next-week-tv-now-an-option Roland Emmerich is thinking about bringing the film franchise to television instead]]). Talk about TemptingFate.
** Whitmore's big speech about how all of humanity is able to put race, creed, culture, etc. aside to fight as one against the aliens comes off as rather sad given that these very issues have increasingly divided people to often gruesome levels since July 2016, making the film look like a cinematic version of a WideEyedIdealist. The United States in particular would end up one of the ''worst''-suffering countries during the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic of 2020 because of the unwillingness of much of its population to unite for a common good.

** Whitmore's big speech about how all of humanity is able to put race, creed, culture, etc. aside to fight as one against the aliens comes off as rather sad given that these very issues have increasingly divided people to often gruesome levels since July 2016, making the film look like a cinematic version of a WideEyedIdealist.

* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/MckennaGrace plays a girl in the midst of an alien invasion. She would later play [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 the younger version of a character whose half-alien]].

* HolyShitQuotient:
** The Super Bowl trailer has ''most of Singapore'' gets lifted up from the ground. Also, the Burj Khalifa and what is implied to be '''the rest of Dubai''' comes crashing down on London, raining destruction at a scale that rivals or even tops those seen in the original film.
** In the second trailer it also shows that the Petronas Towers from '''Malaysia''' are also crashing into London, suggesting that '''most of Asia''' has met the same fate.
** Promo material and the second trailer reveal the true size of the ''true'' alien mothership: '''''the entire Atlantic Ocean'''''.