Tonight's marathon feels perfect given the current change in the weather. The whole theme is centered around the buildup of natural disasters which get bigger and progressively worse with each story. Beginning with the emergence of killer tornadoes and evolving into ice ages, and the Mayans prediction that the world would end in a catastrophic apocalypse in 2012, the stories all come together to form what is unquestionably a thrill ride of a marathon. Drawing from some of the most iconic and biggest natural disaster movies of all time, the full wrath of mother nature is experienced in this thrilling lineup. We have the following movies on the menu for this evening:
Twister 1996, The Perfect Storm 2000, San Andreas 2015, The Day After Tomorrow 2004, and 2012 2009
One of the most appealing things regarding this marathon is it essentially has everything that you look for in regards to going to the movies. These movies carry plenty of action, characters that you care about and root for, great special effects, great cinematography, strong music, an appealing cast, and large scale disaster themes. All of these movies have gone onto become big blockbusters regardless of whether they achieved critical acclaim or not. Making a disaster film is a bit of a challenge for the filmmakers behind such a genre because you have to create likeable characters that you ultimately want to survive throughout the disasters in each movie. All the destruction scenes in the films are essentially pointless if you don't have characters and subplots that you care about and drive the action. It takes a certain skilled filmmaker to create a thrilling film like The Perfect Storm or The Day After Tomorrow. For this marathon, our filmmakers are Twister's Jan De Bont, director of Speed, The Perfect Storm's Wolfgang Peterson who helmed Air Force One and Troy, and 2012 and Day After Tomorrow's Roland Emmerich who helmed Independence Day, Godzilla, and The Patriot. These guys specialize in creating appealing action movies that reach a wide number of audiences across the world. Roland Emmerich's career has been centered around creating large-scale disaster films that gave audiences rollercoaster rides that translated into being more than just a typical disaster movie but rather an event.
The first disaster movie of the evening is director Jan De Bont's Twister starring Bill Paxton, and Helen Hunt. Nominated for two academy awards including Best Sound and Best Visual Effects, the spectacle centers around two advanced storm chasers named Bill and Jo Harding who are in the process of filing for divorce. They are forced to join together to create an advanced weather alert system through putting themselves in front of extremely violent tornadoes. What helps to drive the motivations of the characters is Helen Hunt's character Jo being shown as a little girl who witnesses her father being killed by a tornado in the opening scene of the movie, giving the audience an explanation for her motives in regards to chasing after tornadoes. The two main characters clearly are fighting their feelings towards each other but put their love aside to get their new revolutionary measuring device into the tornadoes in hopes of giving people more warning about the arrival of them. Twister was the first major Hollywood film to tackle the issue of tornados and showing them in a visually stunning way. The concept of chasing tornadoes gave the filmmakers a lot of promise to work with, along with creating characters that you can connect with. It can be said that Twister works because of the presence of the tornadoes themselves more than its human characters but the same can also be said with any other disaster movies.
The second movie of the evening is Wolfgang Petersons 2000 blockbuster titled The Perfect Storm starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Diane Lane. Based on true events in which six fishermen went toe to toe against three hurricanes that formed into one giant storm in October 1991, the film covers the fishermens previous return to their home after coming up short on finding fish and making the decision to return to the ocean in hopes of making a huge comeback. Complications arise when the ice machine on the ship breaks and the fisherman are faced with having to let their giant catch spoil or choose to ride through one of mother natures most powerful storms. Little do they know that the storm puts them in mortal danger once they realize the full potential of the disaster at hand, and their quest soon turns into a battle for dear life. The Perfect Storm is a thrilling ride which it's success relies more on it's second half when the storm hits compared to the first half which sets up the characters. The film never received praise for it's characterization or drama but is remembered as the film it is today because of it's thrilling set pieces. It remains one of the definitive natural disaster movies of all time.
The third movie of the marathon is the 2015 blockbuster titled San Andreas starring Dwayne Johnson and Paul Giamatti. The story centers around the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California where a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey with his ex-wife across the state in order to rescue their daughter. Much like the previous two films in the marathon, the star of San Andreas is the thrilling disaster sequences with character development being slightly overshadowed. Dwayne Johnson makes an appealing lead as the rescue-chopper pilot with a real dilemma that the audience can get behind. The whole subplot of divorce and family unity goes back to the relationship between Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton in Twister. Having an appealing cast to go with the special effects goes a long way to help with the lack of characterization and depth that disaster films often get criticized for. Whereas San Andreas lacks true character and story depth, it is saved by its spectacular action sequences and the strong performances from it's cast.
The fourth movie of the marathon is the 2004 Roland Emmerich blockbuster titled The Day After Tomorrow starring Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Emmy Rossum, the story centers around a paleoclimatologist named Jack Hall, whose forced to make a daring trip across America to reach his son. His son and his love interest played by both Gyllenhaal and Rossum are trapped in New York City in the cross-hairs of a swift international storm that plunges the Earth into a new Ice Age. The Day After Tomorrow is more noble than San Andreas and 2012 in regards to it's message concerning Global Warming. Emmerich uses the basic fundamentals of making a popcorn summer blockbuster but also adds what feels like an underlying message regarding the potential dangers of global warming. Of all the disaster films in this lineup, Day After Tomorrow is one of the best because of the serious tone it tries to present.
The fifth and final movie of the marathon is 2012 starring John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt, and Danny Glover. The story centers around a divorced frustrated writer who struggles to keep his family alive after a series of global catastrophes threaten to wipe out all of mankind. Drawing from all the formulas of a disaster film such as creating human characters with conflict like Cusack still in love with his wife and trying to remain relevant in his families life, Ejiofor trying to warn the President about the dangers that are arising, and the President coping with the realization that the world is going to come to an end, 2012 feels very much like a disaster movie because it gives us tons of side characters to follow and play the guessing game of whose going to live and die by the end of the film. Emmerich is a master of creating these types of films because he understands how to work a story like this and what the audience is expecting. The honest truth is that disaster films are going to place more emphasis on the special effects rather than it's characters because the audience is paying the ticket for the spectacle. Emmerich knows this yet he still takes time to create plausible people that you can get behind and gives you the politics that would arise during such a disaster. Critically panned upon it's release, 2012 is a film that grows on the viewer as time goes on once you accept it as unrealistic popcorn entertainment. It is essentially the perfect movie to cap off an evening of pure excitement.
So what are these movies all trying to say when you put them all together in one marathon? The marathon says that natural disasters cannot be controlled and are going to happen whether we like it or not. It is important that when they do happen, that we are ready and that people come together like Emmerich shows in films such as Day After Tomorrow and 2012. Sometimes couples that split and are considering divorced are not truly over each other, not if the love they had before was real. Twister teaches you that in order to withstand nature, you have to understand nature. The moral behind The Perfect Storm is that you should never give up on something without a giving it a fight and that money is never worth risking your life over given the conditions the fishermen endured. San Andreas says that a man will do everything it takes to make sure his family is safe in a disaster such as what the film presents. The Day After Tomorrow advises the audience to not underestimate the effects global warming can have on society, and to take the necessary steps to prevent it. 2012s message is that if the world is going to come to an end then it's best that everyone comes together and fight to survive as best as they can to ensure that there is a generation after this one. Disaster movies are created to bring audiences of different backgrounds together just like the scenarios in the movie, and they should be appreciated for doing just that and drawing an audience out of reality and giving them the ultimate rollercoaster ride for two and a half hours.
Our characters for this evening:
So what are these movies all trying to say when you put them all together in one marathon? The marathon says that natural disasters cannot be controlled and are going to happen whether we like it or not. It is important that when they do happen, that we are ready and that people come together like Emmerich shows in films such as Day After Tomorrow and 2012. Sometimes couples that split and are considering divorced are not truly over each other, not if the love they had before was real. Twister teaches you that in order to withstand nature, you have to understand nature. The moral behind The Perfect Storm is that you should never give up on something without a giving it a fight and that money is never worth risking your life over given the conditions the fishermen endured. San Andreas says that a man will do everything it takes to make sure his family is safe in a disaster such as what the film presents. The Day After Tomorrow advises the audience to not underestimate the effects global warming can have on society, and to take the necessary steps to prevent it. 2012s message is that if the world is going to come to an end then it's best that everyone comes together and fight to survive as best as they can to ensure that there is a generation after this one. Disaster movies are created to bring audiences of different backgrounds together just like the scenarios in the movie, and they should be appreciated for doing just that and drawing an audience out of reality and giving them the ultimate rollercoaster ride for two and a half hours.
Our characters for this evening:
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