The Wandering Earth swings big with a world-saving premise but stumbles under its own weight. The plot jumps around, the characters feel flat, and the emotional moments try too hard. Still, it’s a fascinating look at China’s take on the Hollywood-style disaster epic – ambitious, messy, but worth seeing once. | © Netflix
Avalanche takes itself seriously, but the result is more snowstorm than storytelling. The effects look dated, the avalanche physics make no sense, and the drama slides all over the place. Still, it’s oddly charming in that old-school “so bad it’s cozy” disaster movie way. | © New World Pictures
Sharknado is exactly what it sounds like – flying sharks, terrible CGI, and chaos that somehow became iconic. The dialogue is awful, the logic nonexistent, and yet it’s impossible not to laugh at the madness. It’s the rare disaster movie that’s so bad it circles back to being entertaining. | © Syfy
Dante’s Peak is packed with classic disaster-movie clichés, scientifically questionable eruptions, impossible escapes, and a kid driving a car she can’t reach the pedals of. Pierce Brosnan sells it well, though, and the tension builds nicely once things start exploding. It’s dated but still delivers that old-school, end-of-the-world fun. | © Universal Pictures
Greenland tries to bring back old-school disaster drama with a serious tone, but the concept never fully lands. The comet chaos works better than the forced lottery subplot, which feels too neat for the end of the world. Still, Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin give the film just enough heart to keep it from falling apart. | © STX Entertainment
Moonfall might be one of the dumbest disaster movies ever made, but it owns every second of it. The story makes zero sense, built entirely on wild conspiracies and impossible physics. It’s absurd from start to finish, yet weirdly entertaining all the same. | © Lionsgate Films
Earthstorm tries to be Armageddon with the moon instead of an asteroid, and ends up feeling like a low-budget parody. The effects look straight out of a Nintendo 64 cutscene, and the sets could’ve been borrowed from a school play. It’s so cheap and clumsy that it accidentally turns into an unintentional comedy. | © Lionsgate Entertainment
Twister isn’t a masterpiece, but it makes storm chasing look like a good time. The science is shaky, the story simple, yet the mix of humor and solid effects keeps it entertaining. It’s the kind of movie you put on when you just want some noise and flying cows. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
The Happening starts with a shocking premise but never really finds its footing. Wahlberg and Deschanel feel awkward together, and the whole thing plays stranger than it should. Still, it’s eerie enough to keep you watching just to see what’s going on. | © 20th Century Fox
San Andreas delivers exactly what you’d expect: massive destruction, shaky science, and The Rock saving everyone in sight. The plot is predictable and the dialogue pure Hollywood cliché, but the effects keep it fun to watch. It’s not good, not bad, just a big, loud ride through chaos. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
The Day After Tomorrow takes climate chaos to new levels of nonsense – people outrunning instant ice storms and walking from Philadelphia to New York like it’s a casual hike. The logic is nowhere to be found, and the acting doesn’t help either. Still, it’s ridiculous enough to stay watchable on a cold night. | © 20th Century Fox
Armageddon is loud, shiny, and packed with explosions, but everything else crashes harder than the asteroid itself. The acting is overdone, the dialogue is pure cheese, and the science doesn’t even try to make sense. It’s a ridiculous, overblown fantasy where love, tears, and hero speeches somehow outshine the end of the world. | © Touchstone Pictures
They had all the money, big-name actors, and jaw-dropping effects, so how did 2012 still mess it up? Every scene is another “barely made it” escape, like the world’s longest quick-time event. It’s fun to watch the planet crumble, but with cheesy dialogue and paper-thin characters, 2012 ends up feeling as hollow as the holes it blows in the Earth. | © Columbia Pictures
Volcano imagines molten lava bubbling up right in the heart of Los Angeles, turning city streets into rivers of fire. The setup is absurd, but it’s hard not to enjoy the chaos and sheer spectacle of it all. Beneath the over-the-top premise, there’s a surprisingly warm message about people uniting when everything’s falling apart. | © 20th Century Fox
The Core takes the idea of the Earth’s core stopping and runs wild with it – literally drilling to the planet’s center to set off nukes. The science is laughable, but the movie leans into it with explosions, chaos, and a straight face. It’s big, loud, and somehow entertaining, like a glossy B-movie that knows exactly what it is. | © Paramount Pictures
Disaster movies love breaking the laws of physics and sometimes common sense. From flying sharks to exploding moons, these films push realism straight off a cliff but somehow stay wildly entertaining. Here are 15 of the most unrealistic disaster movies ever made, ranked by just how spectacularly they ignore reality.
