Apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic are some of my favorite genres. One discusses the pathway to our impending doom, the other discusses the aftermath of such doom.
Many apocalyptic movies start out with the beginnings of the end and end with the Earth-shattering events that cause the doom. A great sub-set of these types of movies are what I like to call "Impending Apocalypse" movies. These are movies in which the cause of the world's doom is discovered and we fight back to try and save everyone and everything - and we're successful! These are usually pretty cheesy blockbuster films that give us thrills and chills until the climactic cheer-inducing finale. In this list I tried to stay away from films that were mainly on the destruction of Earth and focused more on films that were about how we fought it and won.
Below are my top ten Impending Apocalypse movies and why:
1: ARMAGEDDON (1998)
Yes, I know this one is pretty cheesy, but it came out at
exactly the right time for me to really enjoy it. I was in high school and this film had all the big stars (Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler) and it had the biggest soundtrack of the day (Aerosmith, come on!) Another good reason to like it, is that one of the co-writers is none other than our lovable JJ Abrams! That man is indelible.
(This is the worst/cheesiest poster I could find of the movie)
2: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951)
This is not the Keanu Reeves one, it's the better one (oh!) This film is interesting because it is first and foremost an alien invasion movie, but we then get to know about the impending apocalypse through the super creepy Klaatu. It's a great premise - if we don't knock it off and play nice, aliens are going to take the world from us and give it to the more deserving. A great call to peace and understanding.
3: DR. STRANGELOVE, OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964)
This is an all-time classic. Not only because of the amazing director - Stanley Kubrick, and not only because of the amazing cast including the multi-talented Peter Sellers, but because of the hilarious situations and outlook on the whole Cold War era. It's a treat especially at the end when things go absolutely wrong and we are left to wonder about the outcome.
4: CHILDREN OF MEN (2006)
Alfonso Cuarón is certainly a great talent of a director. This film is super stylized and wonderfully paced. It's technically a mind-blowing viewing experience. The interesting premise of this film is that we as a people on Earth are no longer able to produce offspring. Everyone on Earth is over thirty years old or so. It presents some really great ideas about survival and what is really important in life. A beautiful and haunting film.
5: TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991)
I just love this idea - a post-apocalyptic future is in the balance and travelers from that time come back to our time to try and influence it. This one is cheating a bit because as we know the apocalypse is unpreventable in this world. The thing they are fighting about is the possibility of saving the human race with a resistance force in that future. I think the reason this one is so effective is not only the fast-paced action, but the whole attitude and style of the entire film. Also the new model of terminator droid is freakin' impossible to kill!
6: INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996)
This is a classic. How can you not like this one? Alien invasion to the fullest extent! The great thing about this film is how Jeff Goldblum's character is able to figure out the plot of the alien invaders and through his brilliant scientific mind is able to prevent the disaster from destroying all civilization. This one is cheating a bit too because most of the world is indeed destroyed, but I feel that it has such a strong resistance and 'fight back' mentality that it deserves a mention.
7: DEEP IMPACT (1998)
This film is a more intelligent look at the same phenomenon as in
Armageddon. Because it is more psychological, it is more about the drama of such an event. Also, the big difference between them is in
Deep Impact there is no recovering from the disaster. The fact that it doesn't really have much action is probably why it didn't do as well as
Armageddon (since they came out the same exact year - don't you love how Hollywood does that?) Either way, it is still a very fun and enjoyable movie. This is under the 'let's just hide out the apocalyptic event' style rather than fully fighting it, but it's still valid for the list.
8: KNOWING (2009)
This film could have been so much better. Well, it was pretty great I would say until the very end. Still, it's a really cool idea and the director Alex Proyas does a great job of creating a crisis mood for the characters. What if we could know the exact date of the end of the world? An interesting way of fighting the apocalypse - figuring out the date and preparing for it. Overall this movie suffers from a lot of incongruousness and unimportant elements thrown in for no reason, but it makes for fun viewing if you're interested.
9: END OF DAYS (1999)
This movie came out at the right time for apocalyptic movies - just before the Y2K disaster! This film is a lot of fun. Not particularly an intelligent film by any means, but good Arnold Schwarzenegger action madness. This is honestly Schwarzenegger's last good movie (before he became the Governator). Gabriel Byrne is totally badass and he plays a great devil. Seriously, don't go into this thinking too much or it will be ruined, but believe that it is a lot of fun.
10: MILLENNIUM (1989)
I would say that this film is more of a time travel movie than an Impending Apocalypse one, but it still has bearing because of the crisis that humans face and the way in which they deal with it. You have to love the cheesy 1980's costuming and dialogue. This one's a gem and I'll be posting a more in-depth review of it later this week. Definitely worth a few hours of your time on Netflix Streaming.
I purposefully didn't add some movies on this list because I haven't seen them yet (i.e.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, etc.), but what do you think? What did I miss? Do you have any favorite Impending Apocalypse movies?
