Set in a
hellish desert ruled by a cultish strong man, it is the most recent example of
the cinematic genre that was savaged by Tomorrowland’s bright insistence on
optimism—the post-apocalyptic picture. But what are the best examples of this
genre? My goal today is to outline my own person post-apocalyptic top ten.
10. The Omega Man (1971):
This is the
second of four films to be adapted from the novella I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. It is also the most interesting,
directly examining questions of race and the technological development. It is
also one of the most unintentionally hilarious films ever made. Charlton
Heston’s character, Dr. Robert Neville, is one of the most egotistical and
self-involved characters in the history of American cinema, and unlike every
other adaptation of the source material the leader of the Mutants (survivors of
a plague that his eliminated most of humanity) is potentially a more viably heroic
figure.
9. Night of the Living Dead (1968):
While we
don’t technically see the post-apocalypse in this film, we know that by Day of the Dead (1985) the Zombie
outbreak initiated in this film ultimately results in the collapse of human
civilization. What makes Night so
much fun is the total lack of explanation about why there are zombies at all.
At the outset of the film there is a news report playing over the radio that
mentions a meteor strike and strange radiation (the ultimate bugaboo of Cold War
era horror), but that report is never confirmed, nor is it at all clear that
this account is not simply concocted by the authorities. The zombies of Night function as a manifestation of
chaos, the primal force that exists outside of the structure of the universe,
knocking at the door, and the film is all about what happens when that door
opens a crack.
8. La Je tée (1962):
Terry
Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys is an
expansion on La Je tée, a brilliant
short film that combines voice over with stationary images to tell the story of
a man sent backwards through time to avert the events that have brought about
the apocalypse. The stunning use of black and white, the dense philosophical
narration, and the extremely creepy use of indecipherable whispers as the background
sound make La Je tée perhaps the
greatest short film of all time, and one of the best stories of the apocalypse.
7. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991):
It is better
than the original.
6. Planet of the Apes (1968)
5. Dredd (2012):
4. Children of Men (2006):
Any cinema
geek will already know about that this film contains one of the greatest
tracking shots of all time, which features Clive Owen’s Theo running through a
battle scene on a tightly packed street. The raw kinetic force of this shot,
and several other long tracking shots, propel the story forward. Children of Men adopts many of the
formal characteristics of Alain Tanner’s Jonas
qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000, and translates them into the context of a
post-apocalyptic action film.
3. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015):
As
Grantland’s Alex Pappademas has pointed out there is a scene in this film when
Max literally washes away the blood of the
patriarchy with mothers' milk. What
else is there to say? This film is just astounding.
2. Wall-E (2008):
Every inch as
hopeful as Tomorrowland, in fact, more hopeful once it is factored in that the
apocalypse has already happened, Wall-E houses that optimism within a much,
much better movie. The love story between Wall-E and Eva is one of the most
beautiful in cinema, and the famous dance sequence between them would not be
out of place in Fantasia. Well received at the time, this film has only grown
more noteworthy since.
1. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop
Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964):
Peter
Sellers, Peter Sellers, and Peter Sellers. What else is there to say? Kubrick’s
black comedy is one of the funniest films ever made, and is also perhaps the
most powerful criticism of the madness that was the nuclear arms race.
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