Disaster movies are a dime a dozen, but some definitely stand out! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the classic disaster flicks that we feel deserve a little more love!
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00:00 I may be wrong, but I would say you're probably lucky to be alive.
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the classic disaster flicks
00:08 that we feel deserve a little more love. This could be due to an initially poor reception
00:13 or other factors that led to these films falling through the cracks.
00:16 Yes, I understand, I do apologize, but what I'm about to tell you is something quite horrific.
00:21 Number 10. The Core.
00:25 You want me to hack the planet? He wants me to hack the planet.
00:31 Disaster movies by design usually require at least some suspension of disbelief. This is
00:36 to achieve the proper mood for all of the cinematic chaos that's likely to get thrown our way.
00:41 Actively behaving in this fashion is the best way to view 2003's The Core, at least in our opinion.
00:48 You guys are our resident geophysicists, what do you make of this?
00:51 The mantle is a chemical hodgepodge of a variety of elements.
00:56 Say it with me, I don't know.
00:59 The film's premise of actually drilling to the Earth's core, to kickstart our planet into
01:05 rotating again, is pretty heavy duty. As a result, one simply has to be on board with this level of
01:10 ridiculousness to roll with The Core. And you know what? The film delivers, thanks largely to an
01:16 ensemble cast that lends The Core an air of legitimacy that warrants a revisit.
01:21 And we outrun the biggest nuclear shockwave in history.
01:24 Yeah.
01:27 I mean, that should be fairly simple.
01:31 Number nine, Meteor.
01:33 Orpheus is five miles wide. Its striking force is equal to two million five hundred thousand
01:40 megatons of TNT.
01:42 The 1970s was unequivocally a halcyon decade for the disaster film. It's here where the
01:48 genre's most well-known tropes and cinematic tendencies were codified for a popular audience.
01:54 That said, there's still some underrated gold to be mined from this period, such as 1979's
01:59 Meteor.
02:00 And by that time, the meteor will have hit and we won't have any more problems.
02:05 If you think that the idea of an asteroid on a collision course with Earth originated with
02:08 Armageddon in 1998, then think again. Meteor brought this plot point to the silver screen
02:14 20 years earlier and added to it the political complexities of the Cold War.
02:18 Tensions and secrets between world superpowers rise to the forefront as the entire world
02:24 teeters on the brink.
02:24 And this excitement immensely helps Meteor. It's an underseen, late-cycle romp.
02:30 It would throw into the atmosphere five billion tons of Earth and reduce solar radiation for
02:36 decades to come. It could cause another ice age.
02:41 Number eight, The Perfect Storm.
02:43 It would be the perfect storm.
02:45 A good disaster movie doesn't necessarily require an outlandish plot to get its point across.
02:51 Director Wolfgang Petersen helmed The Perfect Storm in 2000, and did so in a way that made
02:56 the film feel simultaneously grounded and dangerous.
03:00 Setting The Perfect Storm out on the open water and basing it on true events
03:04 raises the stakes and makes us want to see the protagonists through their ordeal.
03:08 Mommy, I'm sorry I got you into this.
03:12 This isn't just a calamity out of our control, it's the unpredictability of Mother Nature herself.
03:18 The Perfect Storm also boasts strong, memorable performances from its cast,
03:22 and special effects that truly take us to the middle of a disaster.
03:26 Critics may have felt mixed, but we defend this perfectly satisfying flick.
03:30 There is no headstone on which to rest a bunch of flowers.
03:33 The only place we can revisit them is in our hearts or in our dreams.
03:40 Number 7 - Deep Impact
03:42 Hey, look at the bright side.
03:44 We'll all have high schools named after us.
03:48 It isn't an asteroid, but a comet that threatens the Earth in 1998's Deep Impact.
03:54 This traditional disaster movie plot might have fallen into self-parody under less steady hands,
03:59 and truthfully it almost does.
04:01 But Deep Impact holds tight.
04:03 Of course, it helps that the film is anchored by strong actors like Robert Duvall,
04:08 Taya Leone, Morgan Freeman, and Elijah Wood, all of which help elevate the script.
04:12 I'm the famous Leo Biderman, and I haven't used my fame for anything.
04:16 But I got them to let your family go too.
04:18 The special effects are also solid for the time, assisted by a Spielbergian budget of $80 million.
04:24 Deep Impact may be an also-ran from the late 90s disaster cycle,
04:29 but we feel that it bears up better than most with repeat viewings.
04:32 Life will go on.
04:33 We will prevail.
04:37 Number 6. The Andromeda Strain.
04:39 Most of them died instantly, but a few had time to go quietly nuts.
04:42 Hard sci-fi collides with disaster movie drama in 1971's The Andromeda Strain.
04:48 The film is based on a novel by Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton,
04:52 and brings with it an intelligent take on an invasive alien species.
04:56 The special effects, by Douglas Trumbull of 2001 A Space Odyssey fame,
05:01 work hand-in-hand with a creepy, minimalistic score by jazzman Gil Mallet.
05:06 During this symposium, we'll discuss the possibility that intelligent life
05:10 on a distant planet may be no larger than a flea.
05:13 Mallet's work in particular utilizes an electronic pulse to underline the growing threat
05:18 that lurks under the surface of the Andromeda Strain.
05:20 It's a bit unconventional, but thoroughly engaging and unique.
05:24 As far as Andromeda's concerned, yes, we have the organism at wildfire, and we continue to study it.
05:28 We now know beyond a doubt that other forms of life exist in the universe.
05:32 Number 5. Mars Attacks.
05:35 "For dark is the swathe that mows like a harvest."
05:41 What the hell does that mean?
05:44 The humor that's often found within disaster flicks doesn't always have to be unintentional.
05:48 Tim Burton's work on 1996's Mars Attacks projects a self-aware sensibility without
05:54 a hint of condescension. It's also something of an undermentioned entry in Burton's filmography.
05:59 "I want the people to know that they still have two out of three branches of the government
06:05 working for them, and that ain't bad."
06:07 Mars Attacks celebrates the macabre Topps trading card set from the 1960s with a sly wing.
06:13 Additionally, the violence often feels sudden, but also exaggerated and funny.
06:18 Humanity is pretty much FUBAR from the get-go as a Martian invasion goes south
06:23 for nearly everyone involved, with hilarious results.
06:27 "I'm not going to have that thing in my house."
06:29 "Sweetie, we may have to. The people expect me to meet with them."
06:35 "Well, they're not going to eat off the Van Buren china."
06:38 Number 4. The China Syndrome.
06:40 "That's true, then we came very close to the China Syndrome."
06:44 Timing was everything when it came to the theatrical success of 1979's The China Syndrome.
06:49 The film was removed from that year's infamous Three Mile Island nuclear disaster by less than
06:54 two weeks, echoing its own plot about an atomic cover-up. The China Syndrome boasts some serious
06:59 star power in the form of Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, and Jack Lemmon, while also straddling
07:05 the line between political thriller and disaster flick.
07:07 "It's the China Syndrome."
07:09 "It's possible."
07:13 As a result, there's less cheese here and more tension, as the truth behind the Ventana nuclear
07:19 power plant threatens to bubble up to a complete meltdown.
07:23 The China Syndrome stands out from other disaster flicks for exactly this reason.
07:27 "It melts right down through the bottom of the plant, theoretically, to China. But of course,
07:32 as soon as it hits groundwater, it blasts into the atmosphere and sends out clouds of radioactivity."
07:38 Number 3. Deepwater Horizon.
07:40 "I don't know. I don't think they did it. I just woke up, so."
07:43 "Is that stupid?"
07:43 "I don't know if it's stupid, but they're smart."
07:46 Disaster movies never really go away, they just wait for a new cycle to begin.
07:51 2016's Deepwater Horizon was something of an outlier, however,
07:55 since it riffs upon a very specific real-life event.
07:58 The film dramatizes the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion,
08:02 and was something of a box office bomb during its initial release.
08:06 "You sent the testing team home before they could do their job,
08:08 maybe give y'all some news y'all didn't want to hear."
08:11 Yet, lead Mark Wahlberg feels game for the task of recreating the biggest
08:15 environmental disaster in the history of the United States.
08:18 It's a big job, and Deepwater Horizon boasts big special effects to express
08:23 the disastrous ramifications of the explosion.
08:26 The critics seemed to like this one at the time.
08:28 "They're on the Deepwater Horizon because there are so many rigs out there, you sure?"
08:34 "It is a fire on the Deepwater Horizon. That's all I can say, man. I'm sorry, I really have to go."
08:38 Number 2. Miracle Mile.
08:45 "What it is? A meltdown?"
08:46 "Yeah, yeah, yeah it is."
08:50 What would you do if you knew the world was going to end?
08:53 Director Steve Dijarnit asks this question and more with his imaginatively unique film from 1988,
08:59 Miracle Mile.
09:00 The results are a tale of new love and heartbreak,
09:03 told in real time as nuclear Armageddon looms over the world.
09:07 There's serious darkness that looms over Miracle Mile,
09:10 a fatalistic story with some tragic deaths along the way.
09:14 "What did that baby go?"
09:15 Yet hope still springs within the relationship between Harry and Julie,
09:25 despite the threat of mutually assured destruction.
09:28 The soundtrack of Tangerine Dream serves as the perfect backdrop to the dreamlike
09:32 weirdness of Miracle Mile, tying together threads for a disaster film that's truly unlike any other.
09:40 "I'm sorry, Dad. I shouldn't swear. I'm sorry, but this is it. This is really it. This is the big one."
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09:58 Number 1. Only the Brave.
10:03 "Uh, fire's picking up and it's moving towards my location."
10:08 "Okay, time for you to get out of there, Donut."
10:10 Real-life heroes are at the center of 2017's Only the Brave. The film bombed at the box office,
10:16 but critics were largely more kind to this adaptation of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
10:21 This group of Arizona-based firefighters lost nearly all of their numbers staving off the
10:26 Yarnell Hill fire in 2013, and Only the Brave details their tragic tale.
10:31 "Fire's making a run toward our line. By the time she gets here, she's gonna be too strong to hold."
10:36 The release timing may have initially been off with Only the Brave,
10:39 yet we celebrate how Only the Brave logs those everyday superheroes who live and work in towns
10:45 all across the world. Don't sleep on this one.
10:48 What's your favorite disaster flick? Let us know in the comments.
10:58 "I think it's the insect's turn."
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11:09 [music]