The post-apocalypse can be a great source of inspiration for some fantastic actionmovies, with plenty of great franchises reveling in the chaos of a world that has moved on from society. Some of thebest post-apocalyptic moviesare sadly one-offs, not leaving much room to explore their bizarre and often intensely violent alternate histories.
Movie apocalypses can result in all kinds of bombastic action, from creative coming-of-age romances likeLove and Monsterstokiller robot movieslikeHardware.Whether it be from monsters, zombies, or machines,apocalypses have caused some of the best cinematic action franchises around.
The Progenitor Of So Many Post-Apocalypse Tropes
The first thing many moviegoers are likely to think of when it comes to post-apocalyptic movies isGeorge Miller’sMad Maxfranchise, a 50-year-old legacy series thathas painted the tropes and visual language of similar films for generations to come.The film takes place in a rugged Australia that has adapted to the collapse of society with madness and vehicular combat.
The scrapheap contraptions and ridiculous killer cars for theMad Maxfranchise’s blood-soaked chase scenes ensure it is one of the best action franchises ever made. Laden with dangerous stunts and memorable characters, every film in the series has its own unique appeal, even if some are better than others.
9The Planet Of The Apes Prequels
Explore How The World Gained A New Apex Species
The originalPlanet of the Apesand subsequent films are indeed post-apocalyptic, but take place far along enough in the development of the successor ape society that they don’t truly feel to earn the moniker. However,the prequel series that began withRise of the Planet of the Apesis far more post-apocalyptic in nature, explaining how the Simian Flu simultaneously weakened humans and empowered apes.
ThePlanet of the Apesprequels have descended further and further into post-apocalypse territory with each film, as humans and chimpanzees alike explore the overgrown wreckage of modern society, all but annihilated by the Simian Flu. The compelling characters, unbelievably great CGI, and tragic themes make this franchise a great one to keep up with.
8The 28 Days Series
From Days, To Weeks, To Years
The interesting thing about post-apocalypse movies is that their catastrophes needn’t necessarily always be worldwide, as demonstrated by the28 Days Laterseries that began with the Danny Boyle classic of the same name. Here, the United Kingdom specifically has fallen toa deadly Rage Virus, turning many people into mindless killing machines.
In the recently-released28 Years Later, the lasting impacts of almost three decades spent outside global civilization are examined in greater detail.
In the recently-released28 Years Later,the lasting impacts of almost three decades spent outside global civilization are examined in greater detail, showing how human communities can continue to exist even in the most horrific of conditions. The frantic handheld camera portrays some ghoulishly tense chase scenes, not to mention human-on-human violence.
7The Escape From Series
John Carpenter’s Underrated Masterpieces
Quietly one of the most influential franchises to be tragically ignored by many action movie fans,theEscape Fromduology deserves more credit for how many action movie trends they were able to establish. Another localized apocalypse,Escape from New Yorksees New York City turned into a massive, lawless open-air prison from which the president has to be rescued.
In the sequel,Escape from L.A., another city becomes a disastrous hazard zone after massive earthquakes separate Los Angeles from the mainland, with the new zealous president using it as a dumping ground for exiling all those who refuse to participate in his new government. Rife with great action and political satire, theEscape Fromseries is nothing short of iconic.
6The A Quiet Place Franchise
The Latest Visionary Apocalyptic Series
One of the newest and most effective apocalypse movie series,theA Quiet Placefilmsimagine a world that has been overrun by terrifying alien predators.These monsters are inhumanly strong and fast, not to mention nigh-invulnerable thanks to their hyperdense carapaces, but they’re also completely blind, hunting via a sensitive sense of hearing.
Seeing how the denizens ofA Quiet Place’s apocalypse navigate a life in which they can only make minimal amounts of noise is creative and clever, but the series knows when to get loud as the action scenes demand. Turning one of the audience’s very senses against them, the franchise has clear signs of continuing to be compelling for many films to come.
5The Zombieland Series
A Wackier And Wilder Zombie Apocalypse
While apocalypses are often serious business, theZombielandduology explores the more absurd and irreverent side of zombie-fueled carnage. Technically,Zombielandis a bit of a misnomer, asthe series' cannibals are actually living people infected with a form of mad cow diseasethat causes them to become insatiable monsters.
The twoZombielandmovies are a great way to vicariously revel in the unbridled joy of society’s collapse, appreciating the fun that could be had when the world turns into a violent playground. Laden with creative editing choices and hilarious gallows humor, theZombielandfilms are a fantastic action franchise.
4The Matrix
Unearths A New Reality Beneath The Surface
One of the most influential action films of all time, it’s too easy to forget thatThe Matrixcertainly qualifies as a post-apocalyptic film. Taking place in the far future,advanced machines have gained sentience and imprisoned humanity in a digital false reality, with only a select few breaking through to the real world to fight against their robot overlords.
The Matrixfilmsare certainly uneven in quality, but there’s no denying that the choreography styles they helped pioneer and the deeply-cutting philosophical quandaries they developed have continued to echo through cinema. Just one look at the ruined sky of the real world reveals just how apocalyptic the series really is.
3The Terminator Series
Travels Back And Forth On An Apocalyptic Timeline
Another apocalypse caused by the rise of sentient machines, theTerminatorfranchise might mostly take place before the nuclear armageddon that nearly dooms humanity, but centers entirely around this event. After the rise of Skynet,humans are nearly wiped off the planet in a series of nuclear strikes, leaving only a motely resistance to fight the cybernetic Terminators.
LikeThe Matrix, theTerminatorfilms have some high highs and low lows, but the best of them represent the pinnacle of the action genre. From gun-wielding murderbots to mind-bending applications of time travel, theTerminatorseries is a staple of the action genre for good reason.
2Cloverfield
A Monstrous Look Into Multiple Timelines
Even iftheCloverfieldfilms are only loosely connectedat best, they still providemultiple insights into a monster-powered apocalypse that’s worth spending a few days in. It all started with the firstCloverfield, which sees a massive kaiju utterly destroy New York City from a terrifying boots-on-the-ground perspective.
While the supposed apocalypse keeping the protagonist of10 Cloverfield Lanetrapped in a bunker with a madman is implied to be a hoax at first, the jarring ending proves that more alien creatures have assaulted at least one more of theCloverfieldtimelines. Even if they are confusing, these films are an excellent take on a world that’s crumbling under alien influence.
The Progenitor Of All Modern Zombie Stories
There have been many zombie apocalypses in movies and TV, but all of them owe their existence to George A. Romero’s franchise that began withNight of the Living Dead.The first movie establishes a strange phenomenon in whichhuman carcasses rise from the grave, inexplicably lurching forwards to devour living people and turn them into yet more zombies.
Revoltingly gory but stunningly compelling, the original George A. Romero zombie films are great action movies as well as horror movies.
In future films, it’s revealed that this was no isolated incident, plunging the world into total chaos as every person who dies is reanimated as a zombie, which even evolve to become intelligent as the films progress. Revoltingly gory but stunningly compelling, the original George A. Romero zombie films are greataction moviesas well as horror movies.
