The movies have seen us attacked by aliens, thwarted by machines and plagued by zombies. Theyโve also seen the Earth pummeled by floods, fires and disasters from space of the less alien kind. Weโre talking, of course, about natural disasters. While aliens, machines and zombies are certainly calamitous, they usually present some manner of fighting back. Nature, on the other, hand is not so easily tamed.
With that in mind, we look at ten of the top disasters to hit the planet in these movies.
1. 2012
Roland Emmerich is the master of disaster, having brought destruction to Earth in the form of aliens in Independence Day and an irradiated lizard in Godzilla. In 2012, he brings about the end of days with a solar flare that heats the Earthโs core, resulting in a special effects extravaganza of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and megatsunamis.
Watchย 2012 on Thursday 18 August at 20:00 on M-Net Movies Action+
2. Armageddon
Itโs Bruce Willis to the rescue in this Michael Bay movie that sees an asteroid barreling towards Earth. NASA decides the only way to beat this chunk of rock is to send a screwball team of deep-sea oil drillers into space to blow up the asteroid before it collides with Earth.
3. Danteโs Peak
When he wasnโt sipping martinis and eyeing the ladies as James Bond, Pierce Brosnan was trying to outrun volcanic eruptions in Danteโs Peak. As volcanologist Dr. Harry Dalton he travels to Danteโs Peak to to investigate seismic activity, only to encounter a cataclysmic deluge of fire, fumes, lava and gas.
4. Deep Impact
It was the year of disaster in 1998, with both Armageddon and Deep Impact released in cinemas. With a comet hurtling towards Earth, promising extinction, Deep Impact shared more than just Armageddonโs year of release. However, the former fared better with audiences. Hailed as the more scientifically accurate of the two, infused with better acting and direction, and featuring Morgan Freeman as president, itโs easy to understand why.
Watchย Deep Impactย onย Saturday 13 August at 16:20 on M-Net Movies Action+
5. San Andreas
In San Andreas, disaster strikes repeatedly as San Francisco is racked by a series of devastating earthquakes. Luckily for our hero Ray Gaines, heโs a pilot with access to a plane โ and when said pilot is played by Dwayne โThe Rockโ Johnson, you know youโre in safe hands.
Watchย San Andreas, your Sunday night movie on 14 August at 20:05 on M-Net and 20:30 on M-Net Movies Premiere.
6. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Starring Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, a dog named Sorry, and an incoming asteroid, this film stands apart from the rest on the list, due to its focus on the build-up to disaster rather than the disaster itself.
7. The Day After Tomorrow
Roland Emmerich is at it again with this disaster flick that pommels viewers with a series of natural disasters. Extreme weathers events are unleashed upon Earth due to global warming, engulfing the characters in floods, storms and tornadoes.
8. The Impossible
Depicting the horror of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, The Impossible is a brutal emotional rollercoaster. Based on true events, it harrowingly shows the devastation wracked by the disaster, as it recounts the experiences of a woman trying to find her family.
9. Twister
With a screenplay co-written by Michael Crichton (the man behind novels such The Andromeda Strain, Congo and Jurassic Park), you know it will be well-versed in the entertainment of terror. The terror in this case is of the twisty kind, as Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton battle a particularly nasty tornado-filled storm. Hunt, as a storm-chaser and meteorologist, is testing a nifty data-gathering device during the storm, a plot device based on actual research projects.
10. Volcano
Like Armageddon and Deep Impact, Danteโs Peak had an explosive rival at the box office, in the form of Volcano. Neither did particularly well commercially or critically, but at least Danteโs Peak tried to be a little more original with its title.
Check out more disaster movies on M-Net Movies Action+ this August. Click here for the highlights.