Tsunamis, earthquakes, meteorites, ice ages… became endless inspirations for cinema in hit works like “The Day After Tomorrow” or “Greenland”. Each time disasters are brought to the big screen, the audience is more and more overwhelmed by the terrible power of nature.
Meteor disaster in “Greenland”
Released in 2020, Greenland (Vietnamese title: Greenland: Meteorite Disaster) is one of the most prominent recent films on the topic of the apocalypse, with the context of humanity facing a meteoric disaster from fragments. breakup of comet Clarke. Civil engineer John Garrity (Gerard Butler) is one of the lucky people to be forewarned by the government.
They invited his family and other groups of people to board a plane to a bunker in Greenland to find a chance to survive and rebuild the world after the disaster. The Garrity family’s journey doesn’t go as planned. As soon as the news of the apocalypse is revealed, the unelected people find ways to survive. Society becomes disordered with bandits and rebel groups. Three members of the Garrity family are lost and find a way to reunite and overcome the tribulation.
The film has many epic scenes with elaborately choreographed effects, and at the same time draws a touching story about human love, upholding the virtues of sacrifice and compassion.
Earthquakes in “San Andreas”
As one of the cult summer blockbusters of 2015 with the participation of The Rock, San Andreas (Vietnamese title: Khe Nit San Andreas) is a film with the theme of earthquakes, with the setting in California, USA. The film begins with the accident of a young girl falling off a cliff when she encounters a landslide on the hill. Then, a magnitude nine earthquake destroyed the entire Hoover dam blocking water on the Colorado River – located on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada.
The San Andreas fault, after more than 100 years of silence, has reactivated, causing a series of terrible earthquake disasters, threatening the lives and lives of millions of Americans. Ray – an air lifeguard – must manage to save his family from the fierce ravages of nature. The film grossed $474 million after its release.
Tsunami in “The Impossible”
Before becoming the most sought-after Spider-Man in Hollywood today, actor Tom Holland was emotional when he acted in a tsunami-themed movie – The Impossible (Vietnamese title: Tsunami Disaster) – when he was 17 years old. The film is based on the true story of one of the families who were victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia in 2004 – the Spanish Alvarez Belons. Star Naomi Watts and actor Ewan McGregor take on the main roles.
The film takes viewers back nearly 10 years to Thailand’s “tropical paradise” Phuket. The day after Christmas, the sea water became turbid, roaring and crashed into the western coastal land of the country of the Golden Temple. In an instant, the luxury resorts suddenly became abandoned beaches, everything was submerged in the sea of turbid water. Maria, Henry and their three sons Lucas, Thomas and Simon are among the many families vacationing here. In the blink of an eye, the family of 5 was separated and had to find each other in the rubble.
The Ice Age of “The Day After Tomorrow”
Directed by director Roland Emmerich eight years after the success of Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow tells the story of the day the Earth returns to an ice age due to the effects of the greenhouse effect. Floods, earthquakes, storms, and tsunamis signal the end of mankind and engulf the whole world in great tribulation.
The Day After Tomorrow won the “Visual Effects” award at BAFTA in 2005. The film impresses with the image of the Statue of Liberty – the symbol of America – submerged in ice. Director Roland Emmerich commented that the disaster in the film can completely happen in real life if one day, people are still not aware of environmental protection.
Year of disaster 2012
As one of the best-selling disaster films with a gross of $769.6 million, 2012 is dated on December 21, 2012 and is fictionalized based on the prediction of Maya, the The oldest and most mysterious civilization in the world, for the year of the annihilation of 2012, the year the Earth welcomed a whole new civilization – through their unique calendar.
The film brings many overwhelming scenes such as the terrible earthquake that shook the world and divided the continents or the Great Flood that engulfed the Earth and humanity in a sea of water. But above all, 2012 is still about human willpower and the desire to live even though it is very fragile amidst the fierceness of nature.
Moonfall disaster in “Moonfall”
Moonfall (Vietnamese title: Moon Fall) is one of the outstanding blockbusters of 2022 with a production budget of up to 150 million USD. This is also the first film to exploit the theme of the moon disaster on the big screen. The story of the movie Moonfall posits a mysterious energy source that knocks the Moon out of its current orbit around the Earth, signaling a collision that directly threatens the survival of humanity.
KC Houseman (John Bradley), an astronomical geek, discovered this terrible danger after analyzing daily updated lunar orbital data. Along with former astronaut Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) and senior NASA officer Jo Fowler (Halle Berry), they fly into space to uncover the secret that the Moon still hides. At the same time, the Earth and the people they love are subject to natural disasters with unimaginable devastation.
The film is directed by Roland Emmerich – the king who specializes in disaster films such as Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 – made. The A-list cult stars gathered in Moonfall include Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Donald Sutherland and Michael Peña.
MOONFALL – Vietnamese title: THE MOON FAILS – premiered on February 18, 2022.