A sick new trailer for the upcoming Will Smith movie, I Am Legend, hit the Internet this week. It shows him and his faithful dog (oh, how I love the dog) as the last human survivor of some sort of plague, trying to survive in the vacant streets of a gone-to-seed Manhattan.
And it got us thinking: what are some other good world-gone-to-Hell movies out there? So now, without further ado, a list of our favorite cinematic dystopias.
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8. 28 Days Later
Infected lab monkeys spread the 'rage virus' to humans and knock out almost the entire population of England. Cillian Murphy must join up with the other few left in an eerily vacant London and try to make it to Manchester where there's a possible cure. Sharp, fast, and scary, director Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later is no ordinary zombie flick. Plus this year's follow-up, 28 Weeks Later, is worth a watch, too.
7. The Matrix
Is life a dream or is life The Matrix? Is it better to 'live' in a dull but safe façade or to face the gore of reality? Sci-fi isn't just for nerds anymore with Laurence Fishburne, Carrie Anne Moss, Keanu Reeves, Hugo Weaving, precedent-setting martial arts/video game-inspired fight sequences, and biblical allegory in the movie that put the Wachowskis on the map--deservedly so. Of course, there's also The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, but we all know that they pale in comparison.
6. Children of Men
It's 2027 and the human race is headed for destruction. Women have mysteriously lost the ability to have children--that is, until a young immigrant named Kee becomes pregnant. Can former political activist, Theo Faron, (Clive Owen) get her to the safety of the Human Project before the chaos of a desperate, war-torn state ruins itself? This thought-provoking movie shows us a London so bleak even Orwell would have been scared. And don't miss the killer cameo by Michael Caine.
5. The Mad Max series
Ah, young Mel Gibson. Before Lethal Weapon. Before Braveheart. Even before sugar t*ts, he starred as embittered Max Rockatansky, who seeks revenge on the road warrior criminals who killed his family in George Miller's post-apocalyptic wasteland vision of Australia. Let's just say that in Max's world, the outback isn't all 'Crikey!' and kangaroos.
4. 12 Monkeys
Terry Gilliam covers all the dystopic greatest hits in this movie--time travel, man-made-viruses, penal colonies, living underground and the general nightmarish mayhem that is the landscape of this former Python's brilliant, but possibly disturbed mind. My favorite part, though? A definite don't-miss performance by Brad Pitt in here that I think says he's more than just a pretty face.
3. Blade Runner
Although it failed to find an audience when it first came out in 1982, Blade Runner has become a fan favorite in the ensuing years. One of the first voyages into film adaptations from the fertile pen of sci-fi writer Phillip K. Dick, this noir-influenced movie tells the story of an android-hunter (Harrison Ford) who has to hunt down a band of angry 'replicants' who are bent on survival. Let's just say that if LA really does look like this in 2019, I certainly hope I don't live here anymore. (P.S. A third version of the film, The Final Cut, hits DVD on December 18th, 2007.)
2. Almost any movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger in it.
The Terminator series, The Running Man, Total Recall--you name it, almost anything Ah-nold starred in when I was growing up featured a pretty grim vision of life on planet earth. So what's your poison? Robots taking over the world, reality TV starring 'criminals' competing for their lives, or mental vacations to Mars. I wonder if any of those can be used to describe life in the governor's mansion...
1. A Clockwork Orange
For anyone who found Eyes Wide Shut overblown, rent A Clockwork Orange to see what Stanley Kubrick's brilliance was really about. It's Britain, it's the future, and teenage hooligan Alex gets 'cured' of his penchant for 'ultraviolence' by some questionable methods. Filmed in 1971, this combination of crazy speak, brutality, and nudity has absolutely stood the test of time. It is harsh, dark, disturbing and a masterpiece.
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