One day, all of this is going to change. All of it. The way you live your daily lives. How you find food. Who you keep contact with. ALL OF IT is going to change. Some say it will be after the bombs fall. Some think it will be the result of us tapping this earth dry of its resources. While even others think that our love our blood and brutality will drive us to wipe most of ourselves off this floating rock. Whatever way it happens, we will be living in a post apocalyptic world that may or may not be a lot like Mad Max: Fury Road. A glimpse into the future wasteland most have loved. While many seem to think that the cream-of-the-crop of the post apocalyptic film genre, there are some other movies that take place after the end of the world (so to speak) that are ALMOST as good. Here are five of them. Keep in mind, I said ALMOST as good as Fury Road.
The Rover
Although The Rover could be more akin to the ideals of a Western, it takes place at the end of the world and is about as grim as post apocalyptic movies get. Keep in mind, the pacing is NOTHING like Fury Road. It is deliberately slow at times, but the tension is palpable.
The story involves a man (played by the awesome Guy Pearce) getting his vehicle stolen at the start of the film. He is very much the nameless wanderer who we know nothing about, but it is clear he is on a mission. He finds one of the guys who was involved with the robbery (played by the normally shitty Robert Pattinson, who blew my mind here) and he brings him along to help find his car. I wont ruin why, and I wont tell you anymore.
But I will tell you this is one of the best movies I have seen in the last decade. That ending. Wow.
The Road
Again, may not be Fury Road levels of pacing, but The Road is a bleaker (believe it or not) and more realistic look at what an end-of-the-world scenario would really be like. A man and his son, traveling together, trying to stay alive. Again, has more of a The Rover pacing, but its bleak landscapes and haunting performances will leave you breathless.
Not the happiest movie ever made by any stretch, but for post apocalyptic movies, it is up there.
The Book of Eli
I will be honest with you. When I first saw the trailer for this movie it looked petty contrived to me. Oh, cool, someone cast Denzel as the Road Warrior. I could not have been more wrong, though. Book of Eli is another tale of one man on a very clear mission, and how we will not let the perils of the end of the world stand in the way of accomplishing that mission. Oh, and he is blind. See, sounds contrived. Thing is, the visual aesthetic of the movie (washed out, the actual MOVIE looks tired and exhausted) really helps sell the ambiance.
On top of that, it has some really kickass fight scenes and a somewhat different take on the end of the world for those who enjoy such cinematic scenarios.
The Divide
Alright, warning. This one of a helluva lot more disturbing than any of the other films on this list. I will tell you right now, if all the above movies touch on some of the worst aspects of the end of the world, The Divide ONLY shows us that and cranks it up all the way. A film about a catastrophe striking (which we never truly know the source of) and a group of people in New York working their way down into a survivor bunker that a survivalist who lived in the building built in the basement for such an emergency.
What is SUPER interesting and super intense about The Divide is, it shows us that WE become the monsters when trapped alone and scared with one another. This movie is sick, make no mistakes. It will disturb the shit out of you, but in that sense, it is utterly breathtaking and one of the best post apocalyptic movies ever made, period.
Carriers
It’s the end of the world. We are all gonna die. So let’s go to our favorite beach first so we can die in peace. Of course, this is the end of the world, so getting to that beach might not be so easy.
Depressing as hell (like all these movies, actually), Carriers will make you wonder how well YOU would handle the apocalypse if faced with it. Also, it has Captain Kirk in it (reboot Kirk). Seeing Kirk at the end of the world is, well, interesting.
Check it out.
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Awesome to see The Road get a mention! It’s probably the single bleakest film I’ve ever watched, but it’s weirdly beautiful too – it really stresses the human connection between The Man and his son. Cormac McCarthy’s book is also a great read, full of poetic prose and some grim moments that were too brutal for the film!
Reading your comment reminded me of the bleakness of the movie – and you’re right, bleak as it is, it is hauntingly beautiful.