Movies about the End of the World: Natural Disasters

Disaster movies almost always become instant blockbuster hits. The suspense and the breathe-taking special effects are some of their impressive elements that audiences love to watch them again and again. Some of these films deal with the extinction of humanity, and one style of ending the world is through the random actions of the universe and of nature. With their unpredictable and unstoppable rage, forces from outside and within Earth break loose. Here are five movies about the destructive force of the universe and nature.

Deep Impact

Deep Impact  was released in May 8, 1998 by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks. It was directed by Mimi Leder and stars Elijah Wood, Morgan Freeman, Téa Leoni and Robert Duvall.

The movie follows the effort of humanity to destroy a comet due to strike Earth. It begins with teenage amateur astronomer Leo Biederman, and consequently professional astronomer Marcus Wolf, discovering an unusual object, which is actually a comet, near the stars Mizar and Alcor. A year later, the President of the USA announces that a 7-mile-wide comet named Wolf-Biederman is approaching Earth and it is large and strong enough to end humanity. The USA and Russia launches the spacecraft Messiah with a mission to destroy the comet with a nuclear weapon. The mission failed and the comet is instead split in two smaller rocks – Biederman (1.5 miles wide) and Wolf (6 miles wide). With this failure, governments around the world established building underground shelters.

 

The smaller rock, Biederman, impact Atlantic Ocean, creating megatsunamis and devastating Atlantic coasts of many countries. The bigger rock, Wolf, would impact western Canada and create a cloud of dust that will block out the sun for two years, enough to destroy all remaining life. With their last ounce of courage, crew of the Messiah undertakes a suicide mission and saves the world.

Deep Impact opened with an overwhelming success, grossing at least $349 million overall on a $75 million production budget. In Rotten Tomatoes, 46% of critics enjoyed the film, giving the film a rating of 5.7/10. On the other hand, Metacritic gave it a score of 40 out of 100.

Armageddon

Two and a half months after Deep Impact opened, Armageddon was released in cinemas. It is directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and released by Disney’s Touchstone Pictures. The movie has an amazing casts, featuring Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Owen Wilson, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, and many others.

The movie opens with a meteor shower destroying a space shuttle and parts of New York City. Immediately, NASA finds outs that a huge asteroid will collide with Earth in 18 days. NASA then plans to implant a nuclear device 800 feet inside the asteroid which, when ignited, will divide the asteroid in two that will fly past the Earth. To accomplish this, NASA hires Harry Stamper, the best deep-sea oil driller in the world, and his team. They undergo training and then deployed inside the shuttles Independence and Freedom. After one shuttle fails and an inaccurate landing on the asteroid, they realize they lose their entire driller. Meanwhile on Earth, fragments of the asteroid destroy Shanghai and Paris. The team is left with a backup plan – to ignite a nuclear weapon on the surface of the asteroid. But the triggering mechanism is damaged, and in a heart-breaking ending, team leader Harry Stamper takes a last bold step to detonate the bomb and split the asteroid.

Armageddon is deemed to have more scientific inaccuracies than Deep Impact, just like the idea that NASA can really do something about a major catastrophe like that in a very short time. However, Armageddon bested the other in the box office. With its budget of $140 million, it grossed a total of at least $553 million, making it as the highest-grossing film of 1998. It received a rating of 41% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 42 on Metacritic.

Knowing

Knowing is a science fiction directed by Alex Proyas and stars Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, and Lara Robinson. It was released in 2009 by Escape Artists and Summit Entertainment.

Knowing blends science fiction and popular religious beliefs. It begins in year 1959 and young Lucinda Emery, a lonely girl who hears whispers, writes a page full of random numbers and places it inside a “time capsule” designed by the school. The capsule is buried underground, to be opened only after fifty years. Later, Lucinda is found in a closet with her hands bloody from scratching the numbers into the door. Fifty years hence, 2009, the time capsule is opened and sketches are given arbitrarily to all students. Professor of astrophysics at MIT Jonathan Koestler is there in the ceremony whose son Caleb happens to receive Lucinda’s page of numbers. Jonathan notices the number sequence 911012996 on the page and realizes it refers to the date and number of deaths from the September 11, 2001 attacks. Jonathan further makes similar discoveries with the other numbers – all reference to major disasters in the world. Jonathan looks for Lucinda and founds out she has died from a drug overdose. Instead, he meets Lucinda’s daughter Diana and granddaughter Abby, who like Lucinda and Caleb, also hears whispers. With the predictions in the page, Jonathan bears witness to two disasters. And what is more shocking is that the world will end by October 19. In his laboratory, Jonathan discovers that a massive solar flare will soon reach Earth and burn everyone else. As the movie ends, the voices that the children hear are actually “angels”. Along with the other “chosen ones” Caleb and Abby are taken into a beautiful and safe new world, while Jonathan and the rest of the world face the final disaster.

The movie received mixed to negative reviews. 33% of critics in Rotten Tomatoes gave a positive review with an average score of 4.7 out of 10. Similarly, Metacritic gave it a score of 41 out of 100. Though the movie is not a critical success, it was a huge box office hit as it opens #1 in March, 2009. (See full review)

The Day After Tomorrow

The Day After Tomorrow is a 2004 science fiction disaster film. It stars Dennis Quaid, Emmy Rossum, Iam Holm, Jake Gyllenhaal, and many more. The movie explores the deadly effects of global warming which will consequently lead to a new ice age.

While drilling for ice core samples on an expedition in Antarctica, paleoclimatologist Jack Hall and his colleagues Frank and Jason makes a startling discovery. Later, he presents his findings on global warming at a United Nations conference, but several diplomats are unconvinced with this. However, Professor Terry Rapson of the Hedland Climate Research Center in Scotland believes in Jack’s theories after he observes a massive drop in the ocean temperatures. He contacts Jack whose weather model show climate changes caused the first Ice Age and can predict what will happen. Sadly, their model shows global freezing in seven to ten days. In the following days across the world, violent weather cause mass destruction, including a massive snowstorm in New Delhi, a hailstorm destroying Tokyo, Japan, and a series of devastating tornadoes in Los Angeles. Worse, a huge system spanning the northern hemisphere develops into three massive hurricane-like superstorms, with their eyes holding super-cooled air that instantly freezes anything it comes in contact with. Knee-deep floods in a mix of rainwater, saltwater, and sewage drowned many urban cities in the northern hemisphere, including New York City. It is a deep freeze and lead characters survived by taking shelters in abandoned spots. In the end, most of the northern hemisphere is covered in ice and snow.

The Day After Tomorrow is a huge blockbuster hit, becoming the sixth highest grossing movie not to be #1 in the US box office. However, Rotten Tomatoes rated the movie only at 45%, with an average rating of 5.3/10. Moreover, Yahoo! Movies listed the film as one of the Top 10 Scientifically Inaccurate Movies in 2008. It was criticized for its idea of a series of catastrophic atmospheric occurring over a course of hours, instead of several decades or centuries.

2012

2012 is a 2009 science fiction disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, and many others.

The movie starts in 2009 with some scientists discovering that neutrinos from a massive solar flare are causing the temperature of the Earth’s core to increase. In 2010, international leaders begin a secret project to guarantee humanity’s survival. Approximately 400,000 people are chosen to board “arks” constructed at Cho Ming, Tibet, in the Himalayas. In 2012, Jackson Curtis, a science fiction writer in Los Angeles, takes his children Noah and Lilly camping in Yellowstone National Park. There Jackson meets a radio show host who tells him that the theory of polar shifts and the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar predict that the 2012 phenomenon will occur. He also learns about the ark project. The family returns home as seismic activity increases along the west coast of the United States. After surviving the earthquakes and eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera, the family, along with some friends and people they meet along the way, manages to arrive at the arks in Tibet. They stow away on the ark, and soon, megatsunamis approach the site. There is chaos as the ark’s gate fails to close up, rendering the ship unable to start its engines. Some of them are killed, while others emerge as heroes. In the end, as the floodwaters from the tsunami recede, the arks journey to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

The movie is a great financial success. In 2009, it became the 5^th highest grossing film in that year and the 35^th highest grossing film of all time worldwide. However, Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie an average rating of 6.1/10 with 39% of its critics giving positive review. In Metacritic, it only received a score of 49 out of 100.

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Cloverfield

Cloverfield is a 2008 disaster film produced by J. J. Abrams and directed by Matt Reeves. It stars young Hollywood stars Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, T. J. Miller, Odette Yustman, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, and Ben Feldman. The movie is distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Plot. The film begins with a disclaimer that the footage is from a case called “Cloverfield” and was found in the area “formerly known as Central Park.” Hence, what the audience will see is a video segment from a personal camera recovered by the United States Department of Defense. The video consists of the events taped on the night of May 22 and the morning of May 23. Occasionally, flashes from the older video dated April 27 is seen as those new segments are actually taped over the older one.

On the night of May 22, Rob’s brother Jason and his girlfriend Lily prepare a farewell party for Rob who will be moving to Japan. A friend named Hud uses the camera to film testimonials for Rob. There in the party, the main casts for the movie are introduced. After an argument, Rob’s girlfriend Beth leaves the party. Then suddenly, an apparent earthquake strikes and New York City suffers a brief power outage.

A devastating explosion ensues and the party-goers immediately evacuate the building. The head of the Statue of Liberty crashes in a nearby street. Amidst the dusts, Hud records what appears to be a giant hand of a creature several blocks away. Jason, Rob, Lily, Hud and Marlena attempt to escape the city on the Brooklyn Bridge. A huge tail then destroys the center of the bridge and many people are killed, including Jason. The rest are forced to flee back to Manhattan.

Rob finds out from a call that Beth is trapped in her apartment and unable to move. The four then sets out to rescue Beth. Along the way, they encounter several small spider-like creatures in a subway. Marlena is wounded and consequently dies as her body inflates and explodes. The three soon find Beth’s apartment and then free her from the rubbles that trap her. The four make their way to Grand Central Station where they meet the gigantic monster again. There are military forces around and Lily is raced into a departing helicopter. Rob, Beth and Hud then embark another helicopter and while in air, they witness U.S. Air Force bomb the monster. Suddenly, the monster attacks their helicopter and crashes into a grassy clearing in Central Park.

The three survives the crash and the film restarts in the morning of May 23. From the helicopter’s radio, it is announced that Hammerdown protocol will begin in 15 minutes and that anyone who hears the siren is within the blast zone. The three hurry up, but when Hud returns to recover the camera, he encounters the monster again and attacks and kills him. Rob and Beth grab the still-recording camera and take shelter under Greyshot Arch in Central Park as air raid sirens begin to blare and bombers to blast. Rob and Beth take turns in recording their last testimonials of that day as the bridge crumbles and debris covers the camera.

Review.  Cloverfield is a very suspenseful disaster film. Unlike others, the film gives more personal feeling to the audience. It is like picking up a camcorder along the street and viewing somebody else’s footage on it. It is very crude, and though we do not know the persons inside the film, we feel their terror and helplessness. We breathe with them, flee with them, and even seem to “die” with them. With this accept, Cloverfield has achieved believability, originality, and creativity.

The movie also succeeds in its desire to create another memorable monster in the movies. Cloverfield monster is not like King Kong or Godzilla which many love. It is the exact opposite; we dread and fear this gigantic monster and wish to end its menace and evil.

Reception. Cloverfield is both commercial and critical success. It was the first film in 2008 to gross over $100 million. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 76% of its critics gave a positive review. In Metacritic, the film received a rating of 64 out of 100.

Rating. Overall, I find the movie to be very fresh and exciting. Though it lacks good moral lessons to teach, it succeeds in gaining deep emotional attachment to viewers as suspense and drama are built wonderfully throughout the film. For this, I will give the move four stars out of five.

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Knowing

Knowing is a 2009 American science fiction-disaster film directed by Alex Proyas. It stars Nicolas Cage, Chandler Canterbury, Lara Robinson, and Rose Byrne. It was originally written by novelist Ryne Douglas Pearson, and released by Escape Artists and Summit Entertainment.

Plot. The movie opens with a 1959 scene where a school makes a time capsule to be opened fifty years hence. Lucinda Embry, a girl who hears mysterious whispers, writes a page full of numbers and places it inside the time capsule. Later, Lucinda is found in a closet, her hands bloody from scratching the numbers into the door. The movie moves forward to 2009, and the time capsule is opened for the school’s eager students. Caleb, son of astrophysics professor Jonathan Koestler (played by Nicolas Cage), receives Lucinda’s page of number. Caleb is dismayed but Jonathan is intrigued, more when he notices the number sequence 911012996. He realizes that is a reference to the date and number of deaths from the September 11, 2001 attacks. Then he makes similar discoveries with the other numbers – major tragedies that struck the world for a long while. With what he learns, Jonathan finds Lucinda’s daughter, Diana, and granddaughter Abby, and reveals them his interest in Lucinda. But there are more revelations to come as Jonathan becomes witness to some disasters as predicted by the numbers. And the final tragedy will come by October 19 with the letters “EE”, meaning Everyone Else. In the MIT laboratory, Jonathan discovers that a massive solar flare will soon reach Earth – the final disaster. The voices that Caleb and Abby previously hear now have faces, being the deliverers of the “chosen one”. Both kids, along with the other chosen ones, are brought to a new world, while Jonathan and the rest of humanity face the final end.

Review. For me,  Knowing is a beautiful disaster film. It combines elements of a science fiction, family drama, and suspense thriller. The storyline is clear and just like the title indicates, audience would know why and how things happen. There are mysteries but they are unambiguously answered. The film is very exciting and scenes after scenes will leave audience breathless and amazed. The film also effectively mixed science and religious ideas. In the movie, the end of the world is portrayed as a result of a huge solar flare that will burn the Earth. Yet, not everyone will die since “angels” will come and take the “chosen ones” to a new world – fresh, beautiful, and unharmed. The “vessels” somewhat represents Noah’s ark that will take pairs of humans and even animals to a safer world. The revelation in the film about the new world is sudden and unexpected that audience will find it somewhat absurd and incredulous. It is really kind of funny and the scene where children are running in the new world is quite cheesy. However, the movie still succeeds in being entertaining, engaging, and convincing.

Actor. Nicolas Cage always manages to be great and brilliant in all his films and Knowing is not an exception. The movie is actually over serious and his character as a deep, humorless “nerd” father  is very far from his jolly, energetic and tough personas in other movies. Still, Cage is plausible for his performance here.

Unforgettable Scenes. The tragedies in the subway and the airplane are really the most haunting and mesmerizing part of the movie. In particular, the train disaster is very well-created that anyone will really feel the horror and drama in that scene. The end part is also really cool where the “chosen ones” are embark inside the “vessels”. This is one of the most creative things I have seen in movies.

Reception. Knowing received mixed-to-negative reviews. 33% of the critics in Rotten Tomatoes gave positive views with an average score of 4.7 out of 10; however, in the site’s community, it received a rating of 48%. At Metacritic, the film received only a score of 41 out of 100. Yet, the movie performed so well in the box office. In opened as #1 in March 20, 2009 and has then grossed tremendously.

Rating. I actually love the movie so four and half stars for it. I feel it did not fail in bringing out something new to the table, in being visually engaging, in being fresh and original, and in being provoking and entertaining. Plus, the idea of combining science and religion, though very ambitious and seems impossible, is executed very well by the movie.

2012

I regret not seeing this movie on the wide screen. It was shown in all cinemas last year for several weeks but I had not found the time to watch it. Instead, I just copied a download from my sister and watched it in my computer summer this year. Too bad, the movie is really good. Wide screen would have made it much exciting. Well, here is how the movie goes…..

In 2009, Dr. Adrian Helmsley, an American geologist, visits astrophysicist Dr. Satnam Tsurutani in India and learns that neutrinos from a massive solar flare are causing the temperature of the Earth's core to increase. Adrian informs White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser and United States President Thomas Wilson this will trigger a catastrophic chain of natural disasters. In 2010, Wilson, along with other international leaders, begins a secret project intended to ensure humanity's survival. Approximately 400,000 people are chosen to board ships called "arks" that are constructed at Cho Ming, Tibet, in the Himalayas.

In 2012, Jackson Curtis is a science fiction writer in Los Angeles who works part-time as a limousine driver for billionaire Yuri Karpov. Jackson's ex-wife Kate and their children Noah and Lily live with Kate's boyfriend, plastic surgeon and amateur pilot Gordon Silberman. Jackson takes Noah and Lily camping in Yellowstone National Park, where they meet Charlie Frost, who hosts a radio show from the park. Charlie references a theory that suggests the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar predicts that the 2012 phenomenon is going to occur. He has a map of the ark project. The family returns home as seismic activity increases along the west coast of the United States. Jackson grows suspicious and rents a plane to rescue his family. He collects his family and Gordon as the Earth crust displacement begins, and they escape Los Angeles using a Cessna 340 as the city slides into the Pacific Ocean.

As millions die in catastrophic earthquakes worldwide, the group flies to Yellowstone to retrieve Charlie's map, escaping as the Yellowstone Caldera erupts. Learning the arks are in China, the group lands in Las Vegas. They meet Yuri, his twin sons Alec and Oleg, girlfriend Tamara and pilot Sasha. The group secures an Antonov 500 aircraft and departs for China.

Arriving in China in a crash landing, the group is spotted by the People's Liberation Army. Yuri and his sons, possessing tickets, are taken to the arks. The Curtis family, Gordon and Tamara are picked up by Nima, a Buddhist monk on his way to the arks. They stow away with the help of Nima's brother Tenzin. As a megatsunami approaches the site, an impact driver becomes lodged between the gears of the ark's hydraulics chamber, preventing a boarding gate from closing and rendering the ship unable to start its engines. In the ensuing chaos, Yuri, Gordon and Tamara are killed, Tenzin is wounded and the flooding ark is set adrift. Jackson and Noah dislodge the impact driver and the crew regains control of the ark, preventing a collision with Mount Everest.

After flood waters from the tsunamis recede, the arks set sail for the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa where the Drakensberg Mountains have risen in relation to sea level and become the tallest mountains in the world. Jackson is reconciled with his family. The Earth is shown from space, revealing a drastically changed landscape.

According to what I have read, the movie is based on a non-fiction book which is based on the prophecy of the ancient Mayan civilization that the end of the world will be by 2012. It is really confusing; so many disaster films have been released about the destruction of the earth – Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon, Deep Impact, War of the Worlds, and The Day The Earth Stood Still, to name a few. So how will the world end? By alien attacks? By astronomical catastrophe? Or by man’s negligence? There are really several ways “to kill a cat”. LOL!

One movie critic said that 2012 is “the mother of all disaster movies”, which I totally agree. 2012 is an epic masterpiece. It is a two-and-a-half-hour heart-stopping drama. There are scenes of disaster one after another. I was amazed and shocked when the US west coast cracked and plunged into the sea, like biscuit broken and dipped in coffee (LOL, forgive me if you think the analogy is bad). The special effects are excellent, making me admire how Hollywood invest so much resource and labor to realize the film. Too real that it gives you goose bumps.

Despite the magnificence of creation, the movie has no emotional depth for me. Except for the part that only the rich were the chosen passengers for the ark, the rest of the movie has no drama and somewhat shallow. Even the reconciliation of the characters as one family is not touching at all. Yes, there were exciting and suspenseful moments; yet, they were not due to the storyline but mainly because of the destruction scenes. 2012 is a very entertaining film, enjoyable and satisfying, but not something everyone can relate to.

But I truly love the film. It is better than all the other disaster films I enumerated. In fact, this is the best for me in that particular genre. Still, two thumbs up for the movie.