Across the Universe: End of the world

By Don Kaye
Special to MSN Movies

Dec. 21, 2012. 12/21/12. For years, a cottage industry of crackpot theories have surmised that this date -- the last date on the famously accurate calendar created by the Mayans -- will herald the arrival of some sort of cataclysmic or transformative event that will either end the Earth and the human race or mark some sort of significant change in both. It doesn't take much to debunk this, of course. For one thing, you can ask an actual Mayan (they're still around), as we did when we were down in Mexico a few years back. The end of the calendar (known as the "Long Count" calendar) simply signifies the end of a cycle; the next cycle begins after that.

Bing: More on 2012 prophecies / More on end-of-the-world movies

But what if the crazies and cash-grabbers actually turned out to be right? What if this Friday will bring events of apocalyptic proportions that only a handful of us, if even that, may survive? Well, in that case, we'd like to go out watching a few of our favorite movies about how just such a thing could happen. We love movies about the end of the world, and here are a few we'd like to close things out with.

"Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964): Stanley Kubrick's brilliant "nightmare comedy" remains as pointed as ever, with military men and politicians squabbling like ineffectual children in the War Room as one mad general sends a flight of bombers to start World War III -- and succeeds. The final images of the world ending in a series of nuclear flashes as Vera Lynn sings "We'll Meet Again" are both bitterly ironic and haunting.

"On the Beach" (1959): A more somber antidote to "Dr. Strangelove" (although it came out five years earlier), "On the Beach" finds the last surviving members of the human race awaiting certain death in Australia as a cloud of radioactivity drifts toward the continent. It's a bit long and a bit too much like a soap opera, but the last few minutes alone -- showing the utterly empty, dead streets of Melbourne -- have an undeniable impact.

"Beneath the Planet of the Apes" (1970): The completely insane sequel to the original "Planet of the Apes" finds the intelligent ape civilization declaring war on a race of telepathic mutants living in the ruins of New York under a nearby desert. Charlton Heston agreed to appear in the sequel only if he could be assured of not doing another one -- so the screenwriter gave the mutants a bomb that could destroy the world and let Heston press the button in one of the most shockingly bleak endings of all time (and they made more sequels anyway).

"Virus" (1980): The most expensive film ever made in Japan (at that time), "Virus" is a true epic, running 156 minutes as it traces the spread of a worldwide virus (created by a scientist, naturally) that causes the deaths of billions and brings civilization to a screeching halt. The international cast includes Glenn Ford, George Kennedy, Robert Vaughn, Sonny Chiba and many others. A bomb upon release, "Virus" deserves a revisit as one of the most ambitious films of its kind.

"Day of the Dead" (1985): No zombie film actually ends with the world going up in smoke, but this is certainly the bleakest by far of director George A. Romero's classic original trilogy. As a small group of soldiers and scientists hidden in a bunker slowly realize that they might be the last humans left alive in an America overrun by the walking dead, they attack one another instead of finding a new way to live. A bitter commentary on humanity itself, "Day" ends on a small sliver of hope: The good guys do get away, but where can they possibly go?

"The Rapture" (1991): Disturbing on every level, this little-seen film features Mimi Rogers as a sexual hedonist who gives up her wicked ways and embraces God, only to reject him again after several cruel occurrences in her life. But when the end times come, will she return to the Almighty and seek his forgiveness? A bleak, unsettling experience with a stunning career-best performance from Rogers.

"12 Monkeys" (1995): Bruce Willis is sent back from a devastated future to the year 1990, where he is assigned the task of stopping the chain of events that led to the spread of a worldwide plague. Only problem is that his trip to the past becomes part of that chain of events itself. Terry Gilliam's elegant, surreal gem is one of the best sci-fi films of all time, its temporal loop allowing for almost no chance at redemption for the human race.

"Last Night" (1998): A group of Canadians each deal with the impending end of the world (by an unspecified event) in this small, moving independent film that focuses on character instead of spectacle. Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, Sarah Polley and even David Cronenberg (yes, the director) give touching performances in this lovely little gem of an apocalyptic film.

"When Worlds Collide" (1951): One of the few sci-fi films that we'd like to see remade, this George Pal classic follows the race to build a space ark and save a few representatives of humankind before a rogue planet slams into the Earth. The visual effects were spectacular for their time and the movie raises potent questions about who gets to stay and who gets to go when the Earth's time is up.

"2012" (2009): OK, it's not one of our favorite films by a long shot, but director Roland Emmerich is the king of cinematic destruction and, what the hell, the movie takes its inspiration from all that Mayan prophecy hokum. In this case, it's solar flares that lead to earthquakes and tsunamis that level almost all of the planet, with around 400,000 people left alive and floating in giant, secretly constructed arks. Is it all pretty dumb? Sure. But no dumber than thinking that the world will end this Friday.