Today’s quick review: Independence Wars: Insurgence. When an alien ship appears over California and broadcasts a signal that starts turning people into zombies, Bruce Kramer (Brian Lally) coordinates the government’s response from a nearby base. Meanwhile, his daughters Kelly (Marlene Mc’Cohen) and Sara (Kinga Rosen) fight their way to safety alongside Kyle (Toby Maka), Kelly’s boyfriend, and Roxy (Genna Mc’Cohen), Sara’s girlfriend.
Independence Wars: Insurgence is a budget sci-fi action movie about an alien invasion. Independence Wars tries to put a zombie twist on the genre, giving the civilians something to do by having the aliens turn ordinary people into bloodthirsty monsters. Unfortunately, the movie never finds anything interesting to do with this premise. Instead, it falls prey to unlikable characters, weak acting, and a half-baked plot.
Independence Wars has a hard time conveying a sense of scale. Nearly every discovery in the movie is made in Kramer’s bunker, delivered in the same tone by the same three scientists and technicians. The world outside the bunker hardly receives any more development. California is almost entirely deserted, and the only threats Kelly, Kyle, Sara, and Roxy face are ones that come from taking needless risks around the infected.
More importantly, Independence Wars does a poor job with its characters and its overall presentation. The main characters are flat, the supporting characters are irritating, and none of the acting feels sincere. The zombie gives the movie an opportunity for real drama as characters are forced to make hard choices and say goodbye to loved ones, but Independence Wars brushes those moments off in favor of weak quips and misplaced humor.
All in all, Independence Wars: Insurgence is a movie with very little to offer. The alien zombie premise, while contrived, could have been exciting in the right hands. However, the movie squanders that potential. It bites off more than it can chew in terms of the scale of the invasion, and it fails to make up for it with either the characters or the story. Most viewers will want to give it a miss.
For a bigger budget movie with a similar name and premise, check out Independence Day. For a movie with a similar name and premise and only a slightly bigger budget, try Independents’ Day. For a more horror-oriented budget sci-fi movie about aliens revisiting Earth, try The Recall. For a budget alien invasion movie in a similar vein, try Horizon, Alien Uprising, or Attack of the Unknown.
[1.7 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5083736/). I give it a 3.0 for low production quality and a barely adequate story.