Independence Day: Resurgence Review Roundup: Is the Sequel as Good as the Original?

The movie stars returning actors such as Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Brent Spiner, as well as newcomer Liam Hemsworth

Will Independence Day: Resurgence smash as many box office records as its predecessor or will it go quietly into the night?

Because reviews by critics are pretty mixed.

Roland Emmerich's film is the follow-up to his hit 1996 blockbuster and stars returning cast members Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Brent Spiner and Vivica A. Fox as well as newcomers such as Australian hottie Liam Hemsworth. The film is set 20 years after aliens invaded Earth, killed millions of people and were defeated, mostly due to their human-built computer illiteracy. In the new movie, surprise! They're back.

Independence Day: Resurgence is set for release Friday. Check out what five critics said about the movie.

1. The Independent's Christopher Hooton gives the film three out of five stars.

"It's a real shame that Will Smith was too busy being an Important Actor to return for the sequel, and his charisma is sorely missed in the film—replacement trigger happy upstart Liam Hemsworth doesn't come even close—but fortunately Jeff "My door's not just open, I've torn the door" Goldblum is back and on great form as ever, saving the world in his idiosyncratic distracted way," he writes.

"2001: A Space Odyssey it ain't," he adds. "2016: A Space Tomfoolery it is."

2. IGN's Lucy O'Brien gives the film a score of 8 out of 10.

"A silly, cheesy, spectacle-driven blockbuster with heart, Independence Day: Resurgence is a refreshing antidote to the grim and the serious sentiment we've seen trending in sci-fi flicks of recent years," she says. "While its plot is messy and it's stuffed with too many characters, I dare you not to leave the theater with a guilt-free smile on your face."

3. Jake Wilson of the Australian outlet The Age gives the film two out of five stars.

"As things stand, the scenes of destruction are so overblown and cartoonish it's impossible to get emotionally involved—and much of the exposition is simply dull," he writes. "A product of the period following the end of the Cold War, the first Independence Day seemed to float free of allegorical implications, generating an almost abstract euphoria. In the 21st century, such blithe jingoism feels unavoidably less innocent, and perhaps Emmerich and his team should have left well enough alone."

4. Empire magazine's Dan Jolin gives Independence Day: Resurgence four out of five stars.

"As spectacular as you'd hope from a sequel to the 1996 planet-toaster, and as amusingly cheesy," he writes. "You'll enjoy yourself enough that you won't even miss Will Smith."

5. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gives the movie one out of five stars and calls it "the most planet-smashingly boring sci-fi sequel in history."

"The first film was a creature of the pre-digital age when the spacecraft on screen were mostly physical models, but it can't be entirely the fault of our digital age that this film has no real sense of excitement and awe," he writes. "It's a movie that is going through the intergalactic motions."