There’s something about end of the world movies that just make you feel better about the world you live in now. Sure, a dystopian wasteland filled with zombies, robots, or very large bodies of water sounds entertaining now, but in reality, if any of that were to happen, we’d all be screwed. Every single one of us. So it’s better to just enjoy some apocalyptic movies, play some Fallout, and savor the clean water and shotgun shells you can get pretty much anywhere. Along with the video above, here are some of the best end of the world movies out there to celebrate the end of the year.
The World’s End, which also acts as the end of Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy, makes light of countless deaths and android-replacements in the way that only British comedy can. Gary King and his buddies decide to follow in their teenage footsteps, embarking on a doomed pub crawl in the middle of a global body-snatching takeover bid. It’ll make you want to go grab a drink and go WWE on some computers.
The Matrix offers the perfect blend of kung fu and disappointing sequels. While the world ended long before the plot begins, it’s still a great apocalypse movie as we see a future full of fighting back against machines. And we can also see one of the two types of roles that Keanu Reeves is suited for, the other being time-defying romantic in The Lake House.
You can’t have a list like this without including apocalypse-porn like Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012. They examine the CGI-filled actual end to the world, complete with giant waves and freezing hallways you can outrun. Some of them even have surprise solutions to the global destruction, which aren’t as realistic as some of the other slice-of-apocalypse movies. But I guess when you’re watching a movie about the end of the world, you aren’t necessarily concerned with realism.
Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World is a charming small-scale take on the world ending. It starts with the deus ex machina failing, allowing a giant asteroid to carry on its merry way toward Earth. It’s a film not about stopping or surviving the apocalypse, but instead about enjoying the time you have left, and why not spend that time with Keira Knightley?
For a more intense and incomprehensible take on the world going kaput, you’ve got Melancholia. Starring Kirsten Dunst in a performance almost as far away from her recent Fargo role as possible, the Lars Von Trier film is emotionally exhausting but worth a watch for sure.
This Is The End, the a religion-charged stoner movie about the apocalypse, will leave you eagerly awaiting the world’s end… as long as you have a lot of famous friends to hold up with while people burn horribly just outside your window.
