10 Greatest Sci-Fi Movie Villains Of The 2020s (So Far)

2. President Orlean - Don’t Look Up

The Invisible Man
Netflix

The Oscar-nominated Don't Look Up laid out the various crises facing the Earth in the form of a giant comet.

That comet is meant to represent anything from Covid to climate change to social injustice; a huge disaster just waiting to happen that humanity can all see but are choosing to ignore.

In keeping with the film's allegorical tone, the main villain of the piece is an ignorant right-wing politician who chooses to prioritise profit and her own success over the safety of the world.

We're sure that this movie being filmed during the Trump administration had nothing to do with that...

As President Janie Orlean, Meryl Streep delivers a wonderful interpretation of a deluded world leader with her ambitions in all the wrong places.

What makes her so frightening is just how realistic so much of what she says is and how you can totally imagine a real politician acting in the way she does in this situation.

Some found it a bit on the nose, but this whole film is one big battering ram attempting to knock down the door of ignorance. Streep's character is the main driving force behind it.

Contributor
Contributor

Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.