4) The Day After Tomorrow

3) Deep Impact

2) Independence Day

1) Planet of the Apes

If not for the way it laid waste to the Big Apple, there'd be no recommending the fatuous Godzilla remake at all. However, consider the category. Tough to knock it on that basis.

I might get a few surprised gasps at my number one, but let me defend it.

A) Greatest reveal of the 1960s. Period.

B) I'd say that's a pretty thorough destruction, wouldn't you?

I like the visuals in Day After Tomorrow, as silly as the movie was. Deep Impact has it all over Armageddon in terms of destruction. Hey, at least people died in that one. And Independence Day, which I just caught on cable again a few weeks back, is probably the best planetary destruction perpetrated by aliens.