Why is this movie so bad?

A couple of points just off the top of my head:

- Absolutely no suspense. The original knew how to build up and pay off.
- No emotional core. Most of the characters that die do so unceremoniously and with little consequence.
- Ignores the legacy of the original movie (What happened to Goldblum's wife? Killed off in a prequel novel!)
- Returning cast members are mishandled (Judd Hirsch in a pointless role, Vivica in the movie for 3 minutes after her original scenes got cut out)
- Someone thought the Lesser Hemsworth could carry a movie in Will Smith's absence. His character is grating and his wingman is even worse.
- Someone thought writing Dylan Hillard without an ounce of Will Smith's charisma was a good thing. He has the personality of a wet rag and he's mostly just there.
- The movie tries to go bigger and better but doesn't deliver. The destruction scenes are more spectacular in scale and scope and yet they lack the 'oomph' the original had. The mothership is so large it hugs a portion of the Earth but the actual camera shots and CGI make it hard to even orient a scale.
- China pandering.
- The kids. The bus. Why.
- This one hurt the most...the movie spends a lot of time bringing up interesting things we'll never see (guerilla warfare against the aliens in Africa for the past 20 years, could have been its own movie) or spends a lot a time setting up sequels that might not happen. I like the idea of expanding the ID4 universe, but not at the expense of the movie itself.

It lacks the suspense and buildup that the original one had. The actors are also doing a surprisingly poor performance.

The original movie had a lot of stuff going on in the shadows and smoke and then one big "destroy the mothership" scene.
This one has everything happening in broad daylight, 3 attacks on the mothership, and then the end fight with the queen.
They tried to cram too much into it. Bill pullmans character practically died for very little reason. He sacrificed himself, and the only results was that the queen came out.

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The actual writing itself was some of the worst for any blockbuster film I've ever seen and the performances were also very bad, particularly from the character who is Will Smith's son, the new president, the asian girl, Goldblum's love interest, and Hemsworth's love interest. The action also had a surprisingly low amount of weight, possibly because the ship's lasers are so quiet, but there was just no tension in the scenes.
The movie had a few interesting ideas like the ship having its own gravity and the little sphere thing showing up in a worm hole but the actual execution of the film was very poor.

You cannot be serious AND over 16

Twenty minute into it and I'm sooooo irritated with everyone.
The bad acting wouldn't bother me too much, but the writing is horrible also. Why does almost everyone act so smug? Characters trying to crack jokes in almost every situation.
Seriously, an angry African with a gun shouting at you for papers and your co-worker waves papers in the air says, "It looks like this."

I thought the intro was terrible. No character introduction... therefore no reason to care. Action and special effects make it passable... I give it 33%

Cardboard Box is the Future.

i respect that you enjoyed it and i wish i had also because i am a big fan of the original but sadly i didnt. For me the problem is that it felt really choppy and didnt feel that excitement of the predecessor. Btw forgot to say that the visuals were amazing but at the same time the actors infront of the green screen looked really fake.