Definition of Disaster Movie: Any film which puts the world or large civilisation at risk from natural disaster, plague or invasion. The film has to seriously put a large number of people or at the extreme, human civilisation at risk.
Before I go into what is probably my favourite movie genre, I need to explain that a good disaster/world destruction/Mother Nature attacks movie has a very specific set of criteria that makes it work. Without these criteria (and the addition of 'Photoshop' special effects), the movie becomes a C-grade telemovie the likes of Category 7 (which was so unspeakably bad, even I turned it off!)
CRITERIA 1: A large area, city or the world itself is under threat from a cataclysmic event such as a natural disaster, plague or threat from an outside predator. The state of the area must seem hopeless and put large numbers of people at risk.
CRITERIA 2: The hero (or in some cases, heroes or heroines) is an expert in a useful area, or an expert in specific field that links to the disaster, and is therefore useful in helping saving the world by lending that expertise.
CRITERIA 3: Said hero or heroine is often suffering from trauma relating to friends or family (i.e. family tragedy, marital breakdown, separation etc) which spurs on their motivation to contribute to the fixing of the problem. They will often have a strained relationship with one or more family members and there will be conflict there.
CRITERIA 4: There is a love interest presented early on, sometimes a previous love from whom the hero has separated and they must be reunited at the end. That love interest will be often put in danger in the 2nd or 3rd act in order for the hero to get all 'heroic' in an effort to save them.
CRITERIA 5: There is a 'comic relief' character, who often will meet a dodgy end (not always) and will joke right until the end.
CRITERIA 6: One or more villains - often of great influence politically or in a business sense - will try to hamper the efforts to save the world for their own selfish purposes. They will either die, lose their jobs, or realise the error of their ways - usually the former two.
CRITERIA 7: Important character sacrifices themselves for the good of the world or research - in a couple of cases, this is a popular character who was instrumental in the fight against the disaster.
CRITERIA 8: Finally, the hero or heroine saves the day by doing something remarkable and dangerous in order to help. So, with that said, here are my top 10 favourite Disaster Movies. :)
10. Independence DayID4 was one of the biggest hits of 1996 and I think this is partially due to Roland Emmerich's ability to really tap into the genre. He is a master at what he does and this is why I enjoy his big blockbuster movies so much. ID4 meets pretty much all the criteria:
Criteria 1: World is threatened by a hostile alien race intent on stealing the Earth's resources and wiping out mankind.
Criteria 2: Hero A (David) is a technological nerd who discovers the alien signal and is able to anticipate the aliens' next move and therefore able to use this knowledge to save the world and participate in their downfall. Hero B (Steve) is a fighter pilot who has the skills and knowledge to fly the alien craft into the mother ship to save the day.
Criteria 3: Hero A was married to Heroine A but were divorced. Hero B struggles in his relationship with Heroine B and the nature of her job.
Criteria 4: Hero A and Heroine A, despite their previous marital issues, are brought together by the heroic nature of Hero A, leading to their reconciliation. Hero and Heroine B are married due to the intensity of the situation leading to commitment.
Criteria 5: Comic relief character is introduced in Harry Connick Jr, the cheerful joking sidekick of Will Smith. He unfortunately meets a sticky end at the end of first act.
Criteria 6: The Secretary of Defense, the unpleasant 'bad guy' withholds information from the President and therefore is fired. The other 'villains', the aliens, of course bite the dust!
Criteria 7: Russell Casse, the drunken 'alien abductee' sacrifices himself for the good of the world, by flying his nuclear armed plane into the laser beam of the alien ship, in true heroic style.
Criteria 8: Hero A and B disarm the mother ship, giving the air forces of the world the opportunity to take down the alien ships and save the world.
9. 28 Days LaterThis is actually a very cleverly made film, very dark and brooding with a genuine creepiness not usually found in Hollywood blockbuster disaster movies. Cillian Murphy is totally convincing as the shell-shocked hospital patient in a deserted England and whilst it doesn't address all the criteria, most of the criteria is met, albeit more subtly that some others.
Criteria 1: England (and potentially the world) are affected by a violent and instant virus which possesses the infected with 'rage' and renders them zombie-like and lethal.
Criteria 2: Heroine has learned to survive and is able to fight off the infected quickly and swiftly. However, against the criteria, the hero is totally unequipped for the disaster.
Criteria 3: The hero's parents have died (committed suicide) and presumably the heroine's parents too in the viral attack. The younger heroine loses her father partway through the film.
Criteria 4: The spiny heroine and gradually coping hero are brought together in the end, despite the heroine's hard exterior.
Criteria 5: Whilst no real comic relief characters, the lighter-hearted guys in the army blockade do provide short bursts of comic relief and as a result, have to meet an end with the virus infecting them.
Criteria 6: The villain, who turns out to be trying to trap women at the blockade for 're-population', dies when the infected man he has been keeping captive, kills him. Just desserts.
Criteria 7: The father travelling with the hero and heroine is infected but attempts to save his daughter from the same fate before he is killed. Whilst he doesn't do this for the good of the world, he does it for the good of his family. It sort of meets the criteria.
Criteria 8: The hero, and two heroines manage to survive and get rescued. They live to continue civilisation. Whilst it doesn't stop the virus, it allows life to continue, while the infected starve to death.
8. VolcanoVolcano was a typical Hollywood blockbuster that decided that people really wanted to see a rich, indulgent city like Los Angeles crumble at the drop of a hat. I like the idea of the Le Brea Tar Pits becoming ground zero for lava. It's a fun yarn. It also meets pretty much all the criteria.
Criteria 1: The City of Angels is turned into one giant volcano when lava explodes up into the streets from underneath the Le Brea Tarpits. The whole of Los Angeles and its entire population is threatened by molten rock incinerating everything it touches.
Criteria 2: The hero is the head of the Office of Emergency Management sector of Los Angeles, and therefore has the ultimate control in decisions made to control the disaster.
Criteria 3: The hero is divorced with a less-than-perfect relationship with his teenage daughter who happens to be visiting at the time of the disaster.
Criteria 4: Although not consummated at the conclusion, there is an implication of sparks between the geologist heroine and our hero.
Criteria 5: Comic relief character is Don Cheadle, although he does not die, but instead takes over the job of the hero at the end.
Criteria 6: The villain, the mean husband of a well-meaning doctor, although he doesn't die, has his prize building that he had just built destroyed to save the city. Assumed downfall.
Criteria 7: Not one but two characters sacrifice themselves to save others: the first is the subway manager who sacrifices himself to save an unconscious train driver and the second is a friend of the hero who sacrifices himself in order for a building to be toppled on time, even though he is trapped underneath, therefore allowing the hero to save the day.
Criteria 8: The hero's idea to topple a building and channel the lava into the ocean saves the day.
7. Dante's PeakDante's Peak is sometimes so bad, it's actually good. Pierce Brosnan is not a good actor - but I really enjoyed this film and the scenery is lovely. It also meets all the criteria, in most areas. :)
Criteria 1: A volcano in the US's unanimously voted '2nd best place to live', a town called Dante's Peak, threatens the lives of all the surrounding residents.
Criteria 2: The hero, Pierce Brosnan, is a volcanologist sent to monitor the mountain on what is really a hunch but turns out to be founded in evidence.
Criteria 3: The hero is damaged goods - his girlfriend was killed earlier by volcanic lava bombs. The heroine is divorced and struggling with her relationship with her children's paternal grandmother.
Criteria 4: The hero and heroine are brought together by the intensity of the situation and are united at the end - one big happy family.
Criteria 5: The comic relief characters, although all live, are the hero's work colleagues (except his boss) and continually provide the lighter moments for the film.
Criteria 6: The wicked mother-in-law, who treats the heroine with no respect and refuses to listen, dies while trying to escape the volcano.
Criteria 7: Although it didn't really serve to save the day, the hero's boss drives the car that gets his workmates to safety but then is killed himself while trying to get across a flooded river.
Criteria 8: The hero manages to discover the problems of the volcano with enough time to evacuate the town and again, manages to save himself and the heroine and her children by using his initiative when trapped.
6. OutbreakI think this is one of my favourite action movies, in general, as I think it has all the tension in the world and it's a real edge of your seat flick. I also love Kevin Spacey and Rene Russo so it's got an added edge on the previous ones I've mentioned. The scene with the monkey in the garden is truly nerve-wracking. And scarily close to home - when this film came out, it was perfectly timed with an outbreak of the Ebola virus in northern Europe. Life imitating Art? The criteria is mostly met here:
Criteria 1. A Californian town (and by extension, the greater US) is threatened by an extremely deadly and fast-working African haemorrhagic fever which kills faster than any other viruses.
Criteria 2. The heroes and heroine are an US Army virologist and CDC worker dedicating their lives to the study of Level 4 deadly contaminates.
Criteria 3. The main hero and heroine are a divorced couple who have separated themselves when the heroine takes a job elsewhere. They fight over their two dogs.
Criteria 4. The hero and heroine, bonded by the intensity of the situation, are reunited in the closing stages of the movie.
Criteria 5. The comic relief character, the hero's sidekick, provides many of the jokes of the movie but is killed by the virus halfway through the film.
Criteria 6: The villain, responsible for withholding the anti-viral serum from the hero, is relieved of his position when his actions are discovered.
Criteria 7: The comic relief character could be considered to have sacrificed himself for the good of the research when he is infected with the virus. The hero also infects himself with the virus to get closer to his wife, in the hope that the serum he has found will be successful.
Criteria 8: The hero and his partner place their chopper in front of a plane about to drop a bomb on the town in order to stop the army from killing everybody to contain the virus. This saves the town and allows the serum to work against the virus, therefore saving the day.
5. TwisterI still remember going to see this movie when I was in Year 12 and loving it. I am a big fan of Helen Hunt and I think she was very good in this film. The effects, while a bit dated now, were good for the day and it has a sense of tension throughout, not to mention some great one-liners ("Cow...." Ha ha ha ha)
Criteria 1: An unprecedented number of tornadoes are predicted to hit the United States, including larger storms than usual, and risking many lives.
Criteria 2: The hero and heroine are storm-chasers - tornado experts who follow tornadoes in order to put a patented scientific machine in the tornado pathway in order to study the funnel.
Criteria 3: The hero and heroine are a divorced couple, and the hero is about to be re-married to another, who happens to be with him when he comes to get divorce papers signed. This provides much emotional tension throughout.
Criteria 4: The hero and heroine, bonded by the intensity of the chase of the tornadoes, are reunited when the hero's new fiance leaves him, citing it was all too much for her, and encouraging his reconciliation with his ex.
Criteria 5: The comic relief character of Dusty, although he doesn't pass away in this film, provides a lighter relief to the intense action, but also reinforces the 'good old days' when the two leads were still married and working together, heightening the emotional intensity.
Criteria 6: The villain, a fellow storm-chaser with more corporate intentions (rather than the good of research) meets a disastrous end when he doesn't listen to the hero and heroine's warnings and is killed by the F5 twister.
Criteria 7: Although nobody sacrifices themselves for the good of the world in Twister, one of the characters who is very important to the heroine is injured by a tornado ripping through her house and therefore spurs the heroine to continue her fight, when she is about to give up.
Criteria 8: The hero and heroine risk their lives to put the scientific machine in the pathway of the deadly tornado at the end, having success in the process, and allowing the world to better understand the nature of the storm and in turn, better scientific research surrounding tornadoes and the warning systems designed to help communities. They 'save the day'.
4. Deep ImpactDeep Impact was one of those disaster movies that had quite a large human element to it. Throughout, you were reminded that the people at risk were family, friends, husbands, wives, mothers.... it drilled the personal sacrifices into you. It was also quite a realistic scenario - what if this does happen? What would the government do? I really enjoyed it and it, in some way, had a 'deep impact' on me. :) The movie, for the most part, meets the criteria, sometimes in more than one way.
Criteria 1: The earth is threatened by a comet, discovered by a high school astronomy club member, which is poised to hit the planet and destroy all life on Earth - an extinction level event.
Criteria 2: There are several heroes involved in this film - Heroine 1 is a news reporter who learns of the pending disaster by mistake and therefore has a huge hand in letting the public know. Hero 1 is a young boy who discovers the comet (in conjunction with a later deceased astronomer). The other heroes are the astronauts flying a spacecraft set to destroy the comet with nuclear devices. All lend expertise in one way or another to help save the day.
Criteria 3: Heroine 1 has a strained relationship with her father, who has remarried a women her age. She is reunited with him, due to the intensity of the situation, after her mother commits suicide in the lead-up to the disaster.
Criteria 4: Hero 1 and his friend are married in order for her to be allowed to save herself.
Criteria 5: The comic relief character doesn't really exist in this film, mainly because it features a number of heroes and heroines who all take an equal part in the telling of the story.
Criteria 6: Again, there is no real villain in this film, due to the number of heroes and heroines required to tell the story. It has a real human element with everybody having flaws and strengths.
Criteria 7: Several members make sacrifices of their own lives to help others and to save the day. Heroine No 1 gives up her seat on the plane taking her to the Ark in order to let another lady and her child live. Secondly, the astronauts on the space shuttle, after initially being unsuccessful at destroying the comet, work out a way to destroy the larger comet but it meant killing themselves in the process. So they sacrifice their own lives for the good of the Earth.
Criteria 8: Whilst the smaller comet does hit the earth and kill many people, the larger comet is destroyed by the self-sacrificing astronauts and therefore, the world is saved.
3. The CoreAs bad as some of these disaster movies are (and how ridiculously unrealistic some of them can be), I love them and the Core is one of those that is just so far-fetched, it makes perfect Hollywood cinematic sense. It is actually surprising that actors of such calibre as Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank would lend themselves to this but I really enjoyed it. And it meets pretty most of the criteria.
Criteria 1: The Earth's core has stopped spinning, leaving the Earth subject to catastrophic radiation levels and a complete destruction of the world's electro-magnetic field. The world has become one giant microwave.
Criteria 2: The hero is an expert in geology and is brought in to discuss the implications of losing the Earth's electro-magnetic field. He is an integral part of the solution and action to drill to the core of the earth to restart it.
Criteria 3: The heroine loses her partner and friend in an accident throughout the film. And the hero loses his friend later in the film in a similar accident. Other than that, there is little else to fit this criteria.
Criteria 4: The hero and heroine, although not actually consummated in the film, have a clear attraction that we assume would be developed in the future.
Criteria 5: The comic relief character isn't exactly present in this film, as every character has its lighter moments, although the hero's Russian friend provides some of those moments and is killed midway through the film.
Criteria 6: The villain, the professor who instigates the DESTINI project which caused the problem and subsequently hampers the effort to fix the problem, dies when he is trapped with the nuclear weapon, in a separate compartment of the tunnelling machine they are in.
Criteria 7: The designer of the tunnelling machine sacrifices himself in order to manually deactivate a safety switch in a excruciatingly and unbearably hot environment, dying from the extreme temperatures. He therefore allows the mission to continue and therefore, helps the remaining people save the world.
Criteria 8: The hero and heroine are the only ones to survive the mission, which they are responsible for, and they are successful in setting off the nuclear devices which are in turn, successful in starting the core. They save the day.
2. The Day After TomorrowAgain, Roland Emmerich knows his market and he does the genre so well. I liked this movie for the effects - the freezing cities were very clever and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. And The Day After Tomorrow pretty much meets all the criteria.
Criteria 1: The northern hemisphere is threatened by an imminent Ice Age, due to polar ice caps melting and disrupting the North Atlantic Current's temperatures. Everyone is in serious danger of freezing to death, even inside a warm building.
Criteria 2: Hero 1 is a climatologist who discovers that the world is verging on a new Ice Age. It is his recommendation that allows many people to save themselves by being evacuated to a safer area in the South.
Criteria 3: Hero 1 is an absent father who has a less-than-perfect relationship with his son, due to his work commitments. This is also a source of a bit of tension between Hero 1and his wife. This relationship between father and son, and husband and wife, are restored due to the intensity of the situation.
Criteria 4: Hero No 2, the son, has a crush on a girl throughout the film. He is united with this girl in the end.
Criteria 5: The comic relief character, Hero 1's sidekick workmate, provides many of the lighter moments during the film. He is with Hero 1 right until the end.
Criteria 6: The villain, the Vice President, who attempts to ignore Hero 1's fears of global warming, is forced to admit his shortcomings at the end when he discovers that Hero 1 was right about his findings and that the world is indeed too caught up in financial matters to realise the damage being done to the Earth by mankind.
Criteria 7: Hero 1's colleague falls through glass sheeting and risks pulling all the group to their deaths. He sacrifices himself by cutting the rope, killing himself but saving his friends, leaving them alive and well to continue their quest. Hero 2 also risks his life in order to save the girl who is very ill with septicaemia by going out in the dangerous cold to fetch medicine.
Criteria 8: Whilst nothing can be done to prevent the disaster, Hero 1 manages to find and rescue his son and the others with him after the freeze happens. Hero 2 manages to rescue a small number of people by warning them of what was to come and whilst many died, some survived due to his help. Finally, the Vice President admits the error of his ways (and the Government's ways) which assumes that things might be done differently to protect the earth from further global warming damage.
1. 2012The reason I have put 2012 as number one is because it has ALL the ingredients required for a good disaster movie and Roland Emmerich has put it together into a real Judgement Day extravaganza. He has said himself that he will make no more disaster movies (and I don't know how he could as this pretty much destroys the earth entirely!) but I think this was well put together with great special effects, it destroys several landmarks in the world (the Sistine Chapel, Yellowstone National Park...) and it is just one big fireball of fun! Here's the ultimate criteria to make a good disaster movie!
Criteria 1: The world is about to end, due to the neutrinos given out by the largest solar flares in human history, and according to the Mayan calendar, on Dec 21st, 2012. The earth will crack open, volcanoes will erupt, oceans will rise and everyone is going to die.
Criteria 2: Hero 1 is a geologist who learns from his astrophysicist Indian friend that the world is going to end. He becomes a large part of the saving of thousands of people and ultimately saving civilisation. Hero 2 is a writer who learns this information from a crazy conspiracy junkie and goes about to save his family, and ultimately thousands of peoples' lives
Criteria 3: Hero 2 is divorced and his ex-wife now has a new man, successful and wealthy. Hero 2's children are really attached to the new boyfriend and Hero 2 struggles with his relationship with his children.
Criteria 4: Hero 2 is reunited with his wife at the end, when her boyfriend is killed, and she realises that she still loves her husband. Hero 1 and the president's daughter are united in the final stages of the movie also.
Criteria 5: The comic relief character, the Crazy Conspiracy Junkie, provides many of the amusing moments of the first half of the film. He is killed when Yellowstone Park explodes into one massive super volcano.
Criteria 6: The villain, a Russian billionaire who thwarts Hero 2's chances of getting on the ship that will save them is killed when he tries to get on the boat secretly. The other villain, the White House Chief of Staff, is ultimately outvoted by the masses of heads of state when he tries to sail the ships without helping the thousands of people struggling to survive outside.
Criteria 7: Two characters sacrifice themselves for the good of others. The first is the Russian pilot who saves the lives of Hero 2 and his family by landing the plane that ultimately kills him. The second is the Heroine's boyfriend who dies while trying to help his family, Hero 2 and others board the boat.
Criteria 8: Hero 1 is instrumental in convincing the heads of state to let the thousands of struggling people outside come on to the boat and live. He saves many peoples' lives. Hero 2 saves the day by helping to un-jam the door mechanism and risking his life to do so in flooding compartments. This allows the boat to power up and move against the flooding waters, saving the thousands of people on board and ultimately, enabling the re-population of the world!
Honourable mention goes to Cloverfield. It was the ultimate in shaky camera movies - to the point where a friend of mine actually threw up as he felt so sick watching it. I really enjoyed this film - it had a lot of tension, partly because it felt like you could only see what the characters saw which made it all the more shocking. And for some areas, it meets the criteria of the great disaster movie (although missing in a few key areas which explains its lack of position in the top 10 list). However, the producers had the right idea.
Dishonourable mention goes to Armageddon. Whilst it meets pretty much ALL the criteria, I just can't bring myself to include it due to the presence of the 'always the same' Liv Tyler and the horrible cheesy profession of love ending by Ben Affleck to Bruce Willis which was just too much for me to bear.
Miranda Hobbes and Steve Brady - Sex and the City
For all of the blood and gore and death and heartbreak in this show, Maggie and Glenn were a beacon of light. It's such a sweet relationship that grew from nothing. I love the slow burn that happened with them - very realistic. It was heartbreaking to see that destroyed in Season 7 and realise that Maggie was going to have to raise their child in this horrible environment by herself, with literally none of her family left. :(
This relationship is so sweet. The best releationships are built on friendship and that is at the heart of Natalie Manning and Will Halstead's relationship. I like this coupling so much that I'm actually getting ahead of myself. They are not even officially a couple yet but this is one of my biggest TV ships so far (I can't believe I'm using that terminology!).
Who would have thought that Captain Hook from Peter Pan would ever be a love interest? And a hot one at that! The relationship that everyone thought would be at the centre of Once Upon A Time has taken a bit of a backseat to Emma and Hook because everyone is rooting for the damaged soul and the dashing pirate, not the predicable fairytale coupling of Snow White and Prince Charming (although I do love them too and they do get an honorable mention). The fact that the once bad pirate broke down cynical Emma Swan's walls is quite similar to Miranda and Steve in Sex and the City - it's an unlikely coupling and I love it. :)
For all of the blood and gore and death and heartbreak in this show, Maggie and Glenn were a beacon of light. It's such a sweet relationship that grew from nothing. I love the slow burn that happened with them - very realistic. It was heartbreaking to see that destroyed in Season 7 and realise that Maggie was going to have to raise their child in this horrible environment by herself, with literally none of her family left. :(
Anyone who says the US version of the Office is better than the UK original is an idiot, as far as I'm concerned. If there's one thing the US don't do well in TV, it's subtlety which was the whole point of the UK version. This very sweet, slowburning relationship between the sales rep and the receptionist was at the centre of this hilarious show. It was done so well, from the sneaky glances, the subtle flick of the eye in each other's direction and the very noticeable chemistry between Martin Freeman and Lucy Davis. The ending of the Christmas episode was so friggin' sweet with the note on the Secret Santa present (Unlike Pam and Jim in the US version which basically hit you over the head with a sledgehammer: "THEY LOVE EACH OTHER!!!!"). Anyway, rant over! 
2. Ross Geller and Rachel Green - Friends
