Posted on: Friday, June 4, 2004

Disaster films with spellbinding effects

"Independence Day," a disaster film from 1996, was directed by Roland Emmerich, who also directed the current blockbuster hit, "The Day After Tomorrow." "Tomorrow" took in more than $85 million in its first weekend. Advertiser library photos

By George M. Thomas
Knight Ridder News Service

With "The Day After Tomorrow," director Roland Emmerich returns to the disaster film genre where he has enjoyed the most success. His "Independence Day" grossed more than $800 million worldwide.

Every few years, some disaster film typically makes a splash. On some occasions, two movies explore the same topic.

In 1997, "Volcano" squared off against "Dante's Peak" in an epic struggle of mediocre volcanic eruptions. The only true debate was which film was sillier.

A year later, Hollywood pulled the same stunt with two asteroids-slam-the-planet flicks: "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon." Not surprisingly, the same debate ensued.

Like any genre, disaster films have hits, misses, classics and disasters. The films are generally on such a grand, epic scale that they're totally unbelievable, but they can compensate for the implausibility by being thoroughly entertaining.

The best of the genre generally resemble reality in some small way or are able to convey some mood of the time. Here is my list of some of the better efforts in the disaster genre:

• "The China Syndrome" (1979): Starring Michael Douglas, Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda, this thriller tracking the cover-up of a nuclear accident is probably the most plausible and intelligent film in the disaster genre. It sent shivers down many spines at the time, especially after the accident at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pa., less than two weeks later.

• "War of the Worlds" (1953): This sci-fi classic, based on the story by H.G. Wells, tells of a Martian invasion of Earth. Made during the height of the Cold War, it could very well have been titled "The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!" There's little doubt whom the Martian invaders represented in this movie from Byron Haskins.

• "Twister" (1996): No real plot (except that of storm chasers Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton looking for the ultimate tornado), but it was fun watching F/X-generated cyclones roar across the screen. Heck, they even turned "Twister" into a cool ride at Universal Studios, and the soundtrack had one of the best Van Halen tunes to ever grace a silver platter, "Humans Being."

• "Deep Impact" (1998): One of two competing asteroid-hits-the-planet flicks that year, "Deep Impact" preyed on the country's feelings about the coming millennium and the sense of paranoia that started to seep its way into the culture. And, yes, it was the sappy asteroid film. "Armageddon" was the testosterone-laden one.

• "Independence Day" (1996): Writers Dean Devlin and Emmerich duped everyone when this invasion flick came out. Maybe we were just mesmerized during the Super Bowl by the preview showing the White House being blown to smithereens — an audacious feat at the time. Or perhaps that one commercial created so much buzz that "Independence Day" became the must-see film of the year. Doesn't matter; about the best thing to come out of this one was the fact that Hollywood realized that Will Smith had some skills. Thankfully, he built upon them through the years.

• "The Perfect Storm" (2000): Director Wolfgang Petersen turned the true story of a crew of doomed commercial fisherman into a tale with a lot of heart and eye-popping special effects. The cast included George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.

• "28 Days Later" (2003): Yes, I know it's a zombie flick. But how else do you classify a movie in which most of England ends up dead or converted into flesh-eating zombies? More impressive is how director Danny Boyle turned this flick into rumination on the human condition.

• "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972): Watching as a tidal wave the size of the Empire State Building sweeps over a luxury ocean liner is almost enough to make you swear off cruises. (But after you think about the fruity booze-laced drinks, scantily clad members of the opposite sex and the never-ending food, you reconsider.) By the time Irwin Allen released this story of a group of passengers trying to be rescued, he was a master of the disaster genre. "The Poseidon Adventure" and the next movie show why.

• "The Towering Inferno" (1974): With a cast that included Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden and Faye Dunaway, "The Towering Inferno" became an instant favorite in the disaster genre as a new office building goes up in flames and the fire chief and his men undertake a series of daring, suspenseful rescues.

• "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (1961): Another Allen creation, starring Walter Pidgeon, has the Earth turning into a sausage patty after the Van Allen radiation belt (uhhh ... yeah ... OK) begins to fry the planet's surface. It's up to the crew of a newly christened nuclear submarine and its genius creator to find a solution to the problem.