When it comes to disaster movies the term ‘realistic’ might be stretching it a bit too thin in terms of what can be believed and what can’t. But the idea of what might happen in the even that a disaster does happen is always up for debate and therefore without any prior knowledge it becomes very realistic. Keep in mind that during the initial run of War of the Worlds people were literally freaked out and expecting an alien invasion due to a radio show that was stunningly realistic for its time. While the movies on this list are for entertainment purposes all of them have some basis in reality, while a couple of them did in fact have a place in history.
The truth can be a lot more tragic than fiction.
5. The Day After Tomorrow
When the world is rocked by the final result of global warming entire continents become subjected to the violent storms and aftereffects of a climate that’s gone nuts without warning and has turned normally temperate zones into frigid wastelands while other areas are torn apart by violent storms that come in groups as they tear across the landscape. If the warnings that weren’t heeded in this movie are continually ignored in real life it’s horrifying to think of what might happen in the years to come.
4. Titanic
Despite not being a global disaster the Titanic was very real and it was every bit the tragedy that it was made out to be. One might think about how anyone with so many years of experience at the helm of a ship could miss a gigantic iceberg on the open sea, but the ocean is quite tricky when it wants to be. The sinking of the Titanic was made into a love story that managed to pluck the heartstrings of many viewers, but in reality it was a tragedy unlike anything that had come before it.
3. Geostorm
This is where realism shifts wide to the right or left a bit since the technology for such a thing doesn’t exist at the moment. But if it ever did then one could imagine that the real tragedy of this film would be the inherent downfall that can be caused by simple human nature. The tragedy there is that humans, no matter how social we are or how bound we are by so many different factors, are still born to oppose one another and all others that we interact with.
2. San Andreas
The San Andreas fault line is something of a mystery to some and a way of life to others that live relatively close to it. While in the movie it shows nearly the entire country being affected by “the big one” the truth is that experts seem to think that not only would the western part of the state not fall into the sea, but it would be much less of an impact on the rest of the country. That’s not a lot comfort to Californians of course but in all honesty it means that the consequence of the fault finally breaking could be confined to California. That still sounds horrible.
1. Apollo 13
This was perhaps one of the worst disasters in the history of NASA, but it also turned into one of the greatest triumphs when three astronauts were stranded in space and then brought home thanks to their flight crew back on earth. While a lot was likely embellished and even made up in the movie many details were still faithfully kept and allowed to tell the story of the three intrepid men that thankfully made their way home.
Truth can be every bit as frightening as fiction.
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