An apocalypse can certainly be a very interesting topic to cover in a film or a game; from the massive potential for action, mayhem, and impressive CGI to the thought-provoking implications concerning our treatment of the environment, our fear of the unknown (e.g. War Of The Worlds), our fear of mortality and death et cetera, apocalyptic films offer fertile ground to explore ourselves and where we stand when we start losing the world as we know it.
However, these films can very easily fall flat and succumb to clichés of the genre if they do not find the nuance behind the destruction.
10 SUCKS: Scorched Earth (2018)
Gina Carano is a brilliant athlete and martial artist, but the problem here is that… she cannot act very well. In Deadpool she was good, but that was because her role as Angel Dust was the strong and silent type. Admittedly, in this film, she was not given some brilliant material, to begin with.
In this movie, the earth’s atmosphere has become almost unbreathable and the water has been contaminated, so the currency is purifying silver (for the masks) and tablets for the water. Gage (Carano) is a bounty hunter who goes after the tyrannical leader of a town for the reward, but also for more personal reasons.
9 GREAT: Escape From New York (1981)
This classic 80s apocalyptic action film by John Carpenter transports us to a universe where an enormous increase in crime forced the USA to turn Manhattan into one massive maximum-security prison, while the members of NATO are engaged in war with the Soviet Union.
When Air Force One is hijacked and the president ends up in Manhattan, the only one who can rescue him is former Special Forces soldier and convict Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell). He is blackmailed into agreeing and enters the most dangerous zone of the planet for this impossible rescue mission. The film is regarded amongst Carpenter’s best.
8 SUCKS: End Of Days (1999)
It is so unfortunate that Arnold Schwarzenegger somehow manages to keep proving that he can act (with films like Total Recall, The Terminator, and True Lies) and then disprove it with films like Junior and, well… this.
At the beginning of the film, the end of days is prophesized because of the vision of the birth of a girl that will be the mother of Satan’s child. Years later, Jericho Cane, a suicidal former police officer in New York is dragged into the affair due to a priest’s attempted murder of a man possessed by Satan. Exactly.
7 GREAT: Snowpiercer (2013)
This Korean-Czech production was directed by the celebrated South Korean director Bong Joon-ho (famous for The Host and more recently the Academy Award-winning Parasite) in his English-language debut. After a catastrophic attempt to reverse climate change through climate engineering, the earth is left frozen and uninhabitable.
The last remaining humans live on the Snowpiercer, a train circling the planet. The people are separated by clear class distinctions: the poor are forced to reside cluttered on the back, while the rich live extravagantly at the front. Curtis (Chris Evans) leads a rebellion from the back and as the poor move along the train, they discover more and more disturbing truths.
6 SUCKS: Doomsday (2008)
This English production by Neil Marshall takes place in a future post-Apocalyptic Scotland that is on lockdown due to a deadly pandemic. A wall separates it from the rest of the world and that extreme measure pushed the UK on the margins of world relations.
Years after the lockdown, traces of the virus are detected in London. Believing that now a cure may exist in Scotland, the prime minister sends Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) to find a medical researcher that was left within the walls. This is definitely not the worst "sucks" film (it's probably the best of the 5). It's derivative and outrageous, but weirdly enjoyable if you can get past the plot-holes and some lapses in editing.
5 GREAT: 28 Days Later (2002)
This post-apocalyptic horror movie by Danny Boyle (director of Trainspotting, 127 Hours, and Slumdog Millionaire) was praised for reanimating the zombie genre (that worked well) as well as for its atmosphere, the superior acting, and the on-point action.
After 28 days in a coma, bicycle messenger Jim wakes up in a deserted and wrecked London after a deadly virus that makes people rage-filled and animalistic was unleashed. After being rescued from infected people by a group of survivors he embarks with them on a journey towards a possible safe place. The film received -amongst others- the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film.
4 SUCKS: After Earth (2013)
After The Sixth Sense, it is safe to say that M. Night Shyamalan made some poor films. Amongst them was this. It is also the second film starring Will and Jaden Smith as father and son (which is a pity, considering that the first one -The Pursuit Of Happyness- was so beautiful). In the film, humans left the earth 1.000 years ago and settled on the planet Nova Prime.
Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith), the son of Ranger Commander Cypher (Will Smith), must prove his worth to his father when a mission lands them on dangerous and uninhabitable earth. Critics disliked the main duo's performance and posited that Shyamalan appeared like he did not care (which seemed to be the case).
3 GREAT: Children Of Men (2006)
This brilliant film by Alfonso Cuarón was based on the homonymous novel by P. D. James. The human race's continuous infertility has brought the world to its knees, with the UK the sole country with a functional government where immigrants are desperate to be let into.
Theo Faron (Clive Owen), a disillusioned civil servant, must help a refugee girl who may hold the world's last hope. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and won two BAFTAs and one Saturn. It was the 13th film in BBC Culture's list of The 21st Century's 100 Greatest Films.
2 SUCKS: 2012 (2009)
This apocalyptic disaster film by Roland Emmerich was unfortunately literally a disaster film. One would think he is the ultimate expert after Independence Day, but examples like this and 10,000 BC would prove them wrong. The plot is confusing and cluttered, but let us give it a shot.
In 2009 a geologist finds out that the earth's core is heating up and essentially the world's end is predicted to arrive in 2012 (something that is later confirmed by Charles Hapgood's displacement theory and some catastrophological theories). Jackson Curtis, a writer/chauffeur, tries to save his family and simultaneously reconnect with them amidst the general chaos.
1 GREAT: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
What can we possibly say to do this movie justice, except WOW? The fourth in a franchise of incredible films (some of the best and first in post-apocalyptic cinema), this movie by George Miller follows Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) and soldier Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) as they are forced to cooperate in their efforts to save the "Five Wives" (concubines) of tyrannical cult leader Immortan Joe (Furiosa's former boss) in a post-apocalyptic Australia.
The film was highly praised for its feminist elements that were realized in the role of Furiosa, a female dominating in a male-dominated world.
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