Post Apocalyptic Movies

3 weeks ago 26th Oct 14:32

This week sees the return of the post apocalyptic movie in the form of animation picture 9, which is produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov.

The time is the too-near future. Powered and enabled by the invention known as the Great Machine, the world's machines have turned on mankind and sparked social unrest, decimating the human population before being largely shut down.

But as our world fell to pieces, a mission began to salvage the legacy of civilization; a group of small creations was given the spark of life by a scientist in the final days of humanity, and they continue to exist post-apocalypse.

With their group so few, these "stitchpunk" creations must summon individual strengths well beyond their own proportions in order to outwit and fight against still-functioning machines, one of which is a marauding mechanized beast.

So to celebrate the release of 9, which features Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer and Jennifer Connelly lending their voices to the characters, we take a look at some of the best.

- I Am Legend

This is the third adaptation of Richard Matheson's apocalypse novel following The Last Man on Earth in 1964 and The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston, just seven years later.

Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a military scientist and possibly the last human survivor after a cure for cancer turned into a deadly virus.

The virus killed most of the world's population when it became airborne but turned as small number of humans into a zombie like state allergic to sunlight.

Everyday he roams the city looking for food, visiting the video store and sending out radio transmissions to see if anyone else is still alive.

The deserted streets of Manhattan create an eerie backdrop with frequent bursts of action and gun fire to shatter the quiet. But it's when the creatures come out of the shadows that this movie takes a turn for the worse.

- Mad Max

Hard to believe that Mad Max was released back in 1979, yes a whopping thirty years, back when Mel Gibson actually made good movies! Oh come on it's been a while.

Rebel bikers combat the police in a bleak post-nuclear future where the highways are bloody battlegrounds. When a gang of motorcyclists brutally murder a policeman's family he becomes Mad Max, avenger of the highways.

The movie was a major success and had a lasting impact on apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction ever since. Two more movies were made and released throughout the eighties.

- Terminator Salvation

While there had always been hints of the terrible future awaiting John Connor throughout the terminator series this year's fourth instalment Terminator Salvation made that future a reality.

John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future that Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row.

Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet's operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.