UNFURL the flags, fire up the barbecue, and punch an alien square in the face because it’s Independence Day... resurgence!

Witness the Goldblum in the sequel to possibly the biggest guilty pleasure in all of cinema. Roland Emmerich’s 1996 blockbuster about aliens trying to wipe out the human race during the fourth of July weekend is as riveting as it is ridiculous but who really cares when it features Will Smith punching an alien, Judd Hirsch’s dry-as-a-bone delivery, and THAT Bill Pullman speech. Furthermore, what British individual doesn’t get a guilty thrill at seeing the White House blown to smithereens in an explosion even Michael Bay would be proud of. “That’s what you get for seceding from the empire, you slippery Whigs!” Let’s just hope our Houses of Parliament don’t get the same treatment for trying to secede from the EU…

Two decades have passed since the first Independence Day invasion and the citizens of Earth have not been idle in the intervening years. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. Now, the next epic chapter delivers global catastrophe on an unimaginable scale, mankind’s defenses will be put to the ultimate test and, as was the case 20 years go, only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of destruction.

With an all-star, all-American line-up featuring: Sela Ward; Vivica A. Fox; William Fichtner; Liam Hemsworth (yes I know he’s Australian, but that jawline speaks for itself); the aforementioned and irascible Judd Hirsch; Bill Pullman as the U.S. president every U.S. president dreams of being; and finally, the closest thing we’ll ever have to a Jewish superhero, Jeff “checkmate” Goldblum.

We Brits may not celebrate American History (on the contrary, we suppress it) but we can all celebrate the message that Independence Day: Resurgence has to offer – we have one home, we are one people, and we are strongest united. One never knows where and when the next alien attack will come from…

Jack Hanson