How can Hollywood even conceive of saving the world without the assistance of one Jeff Goldblum? Roland Emmerich’s bombastic paean to American exceptionalism cemented Goldblum as the scientist you can depend on in the face of extra-terrestrial apocalypse. 

Aliens have at last made first contact with humanity, but they’re not looking to phone home. In the face of a galactic hoard hellbent on the extinction of the human race, all we can rely on is post-Fresh Prince Will Smith, Bill Pullman as the most inspiring American president of the silver screen, and of course Goldblum as David Levinson, the man with a plan to take down these intergalactic interlopers.

The film that, so claims The Atlantic, features Goldblum at “Peak Goldblum”, Independence Day is a ludicrous romp that nevertheless embodies pure, simple blockbuster entertainment. There’s no more gleeful joy than watching Goldblum “take ‘em, take ‘em… out, take ‘em down, do your stuff.”

“Taking Hollywood ridiculousness to unscaled heights, this may well be the biggest guilty pleasure of all time, but what a guilty pleasure it is.” – Empire