20 Disaster Movies You Must See Before You Die

The Day After Tomorrow may not be quite as all-encompassing a disaster flick as Roland Emmerich's later effort 2012, but it is far more of an efficient, super-charged offering packed into a tight, tidy two hours.

Basically a big-budget horror movie about climate change, Emmerich's mesmerising VFX showcase is big on brutal spectacle and sentimental human drama, if admittedly low on much of anything else.

But the knowingly ridiculous set-pieces and corny melodrama are delivered with just enough of a wink to feel like Emmerich's on-side here.

Its serious message about the terrifying potential of the global climate being thrown out of balance threatens to be overwhelmed by its sheer bombast, but what bombast!

The subplot where the disaster causes displaced American citizens to illegally enter Mexico is perhaps the smartest sliver of social commentary in any disaster movie.