1. Jurassic Park (1993)
Netflix has lost a lot of major franchise tentpoles, but Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic film stands as strong as a T-Rex on a Costa Rican island. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Richard Attenborough, and Jeff Goldblum lead this cast as a group of humans struggling to keep a prehistoric threat under control. Filled with majestic visuals and an iconic score by John Williams, Jurassic Park is a story of human hubris in the face of gargantuan natural stakes.
2. 2012 (2009)
Though not the most critically acclaimed disaster movie, 2012 boasts an all-star cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, and John Cusack. Ejiofor plays a geologist whose discovery alerts the world to apocalyptic destruction. The Earth is ravaged by natural disasters and humanity does its best to evacuate to safe areas, but it becomes survival of the fittest (the richest and best-informed, as it were) in which many don’t make it.
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
The thing about high-grossing movies is that they are often disappointing sequels to greater films. No Indiana Jones fan in good conscience would recommend the 2008 installment, but here we are because it made a boatload of money. Indy, a now sexagenarian Harrison Ford, takes on Soviet agents in search of a crystal skull with special powers, at the behest of a kid named Mutt (Shia LeBeouf). The search leads to a reunion with old flame Marion (Karen Allen), and you can work out the math on that one yourself!
Cate Blanchett logs an early and intriguing villainous role as Irina Spalko, head of the Soviet agents. Crystal Skull has all the elements of an Indiana Jones adventure on paper (mysterious objects, over-the-top antagonists, freaky creatures, and obstacles), but doesn’t make the emotional impression of its predecessors, no matter who its dad really is.
4. Ne Zha (2019)
This Chinese film is based in the mythology of the demonic being Nezha and his origins. Nezha is born of a Demon Orb created in opposition with a Spirit Pearl, but a curse upon the orb means he will die three years after being born. Ne Zha’s parents fight for his life while also lying to him about his true origin. He trains to hunt demons until learning of his true self, and then he must make the eternal choice of which side he chooses, regardless of where he came from.
5. The Wandering Earth (2019)
Frank Gwo’s 2019 action film, based on the novella by Liu Cixin, centers around a group of astronauts in the year 2061 and their mission to protect Earth. As the sun expands, it threatens our planet, but moving away from the solar system’s center means venturing toward other obstacles — like Jupiter. The perilous mission to move our planet is not without casualties or risk, and an unforgettable interstellar adventure unfolds.
