Independence Day: Resurgence - 8 Reasons It's The Worst Movie Of Summer 2016

At the end of the film we get the big boom; the motherload explosion the final act has been building to. Now destruction is Emmerich's road house, so you can be sure he's got a great shot in store. And what's he do? He cuts away from the explosion after a split second to zoom in on Jeff Goldblum's reaction before cutting back to the aftermath. What?!

This is the culmination of what appears to be a movie-long effort by Emmerich to not create anything approaching iconography. The original movie was full of jaw-dropping moments - the first half is nothing but trailer shots - yet here every time we get what should be spectacle it's empty, poorly presented and unengaging. As with the scale problem, this has some roots in the overpopulated CGI - there's so much going on it's hard to find it striking - but speaks more of a director clearly not trying; not setting up destruction, then cutting away when it happens is a clear sign of phoning it in.

Even the picking up of Asia and dropping it on London, which was spectacularly teased in the trailers, is incredibly flat; it comes and goes so fast you never get to feel the awe of witnessing a whole city destroyed in seconds.