The Hollywood signature subgenre, which requires tremendous investment and special effects of the highest standard, is a disaster movie. The list of the best (2013–2015) films consists of films produced in the USA, which is not surprising. Compete with the Americans in the production of films about technological accidents and natural disasters is really difficult.
Atmosphere of Safe Horror
In general, watching disaster films (a list of the best 2013–2015 releases will be presented in this publication) is quite pleasant, because you can always predict in advance how it will end, although it’s unrealistic to know exactly how it will happen. The viewer quietly rejoices in his vision and insight, while wondering at the ingenuity and sophistication of the creators. At the same time, immersed in an atmosphere of safe horror, intensified by 3D technology, a person involuntarily identifies himself with the main character. It is these emotions that cause films released in the rental period from 2013 to 2015. and related to the disaster film subgenre.
San Francisco rout
The San Andreas Rift, filmed by director Brad Payton, is a classic blockbuster disaster. This project is carefully and finely arranged with components that turn it from a banal horror story into a masterpiece of cinema with a multi-layer subtext. According to the plot, the main character Ray (Dwayne Johnson), a helicopter pilot of the rescue team, was unable to save his marriage. His wife Emma (Carla Gugino), having taken their baby Blake (Alexandra Daddario), moves to another, more affluent man, Daniel (Joan Griffith). One day, Ray goes on an emergency call to Nevada, where a powerful earthquake struck the Hoover Dam . At the same time, one of the unrecognized geniuses of science, Hayes, specializing in the study of the causes and prediction of the effects of earthquakes, puts forward the theory that this cataclysm is only the first sign. The fact that the state of California passes the San Andreas Fault, which has just intensified. And the epicenter will soon be San Francisco, where Ray’s daughter is located.
Despite the banal plot, clearly following the laws of the genre (who survives, it is clear from the first minutes of viewing), the film “San Andreas Rift” is enchanting and impressive sight.
Incredible tornado
The catastrophe film directed by Stephen Quayle “Towards the Storm” forced to squeeze into the seat of not only the audience, but also the most experienced film critics. The authors of the picture presented an incredible tornado to the audience. The creators of visual effects worked hard, because on the screen there is a real end of the world at the micro scale of one town: the skies have opened with funnels, whole houses and cars are floating in the air. For greater persuasiveness, the scriptwriter John Suetnam ranked his tornado as a nonexistent category 6, and the director uses the style of amateur and documentary filming, ideal for such a subgenre as disaster films. The list of the best (2013–2015) disaster pictures would be faded without this blockbuster. According to the idea of ​​the authors, a powerful storm begins in Silverstone province. Students are at the epicenter during the graduation ceremony. Meteorologists are sounding the alarm, warning the population that the worst is yet to come. The inhabitants of the town are seeking refuge, but there are desperate guys who decide to shoot the tornado. For the sake of successful personnel, they are ready for anything.
Visual effects are the most spectacular part of the catastrophe film “Towards the Storm”. The key to success was the professionalism of the director of scriptwriters, masters of the visual part and special effects and the generosity of the group of producers of the picture.
Witty story twist
The blockbuster “After our era” presented the viewer with one of the most moving creative duets of his son and father in the entire history of the world film industry. Unlike other similar films, stuffed with the wonders of science and technology, the “new planet” on which humanity is moving is represented by an untouched ecosystem. For modern cinema, this is a bold innovation. After all, there is an opinion that if the film is not oversaturated with special effects, then its fate is a foregone conclusion and it will certainly fail at the box office. The graphics of the picture “After our era” are rather strange, sometimes realistic and accurate, sometimes cartoonish. Nevertheless, it is impossible to call the project of director M. Knight Shyamalan the worst ever made, as well as the dull "home video" of the Smith family. The author, of course, is sometimes overly sentimental, but he manages to keep the viewer in suspense for the entire timing of the picture, and in the finale to defeat with an ingenious plot twist.
Post-apocalyptic plot
The plot of the picture is somewhat different from the scheme that all disaster films use (the list of the best 2013–2015 is no exception). The story begins a thousand years later after a global cataclysm, due to which the surviving people had to leave Earth and settle on a planet called Nova Prime. One of the central characters, General Cypher Rage (Will Smith) and his son China (Jaden Smith), return to their new home, but during an asteroid storm, their device crashes on Earth. Cypher is seriously injured; in order to save his father, his son must cover a considerable distance and turn on the rescue beacon. The teenager is in danger at every step, prepared by the hostile environment of the ex-cradle of mankind.
Flying sharks are returning
The renowned Shark Tornado tape, the beginning of the original franchise, was wildly popular and had a record audience. Success, as usual, turned the head of the producers, so the question of the appearance of the sequel was predetermined in advance. "Shark Tornado 2" directed by Anthony Ferrante, released in 2014 and is a plot continuation of the original picture, is practically no different from the first film. This time, a deadly hurricane headed towards New York, carrying an armada of bloodthirsty predators. By the will of fate in this city at the same moment are the main characters of the first episode. Naturally, having learned about the impending threat, ignoring the danger, they decide once again to save the citizens distraught from fear. The plot of the film is perfectly balanced, so the timing runs at an ideal speed for a thrash tape without the annoying sagging that disaster films sometimes suffer. The list of the best (2013–2015) paintings was replenished with a real horror movie, thanks to the efforts of the project’s film crew.
Excursion into the past
The film Pompeii (2014) co-produced by Germany and Canada, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, cannot be categorized as a subgenre of disaster films. This is a spectacular and luxurious sight: the creators do not bother with the plot twists and turns, paying more attention to staging gladiatorial battles and a romantic line. But everything fades at the moment when, according to the creators' idea, Vesuvius wakes up. Pompeii is drowning in darkness and soot, the earth is shaking, everything around is collapsing. The film does not have any special directorial discoveries, it seems that the entire crew is playing a volcanic eruption, not without pleasure ruining the ancient city, generously filling the remains with ashes.