So you’re a big cyberpunk fan? Maybe you just want to get some insight into how to survive in a quickly approaching apocalyptic world? Is it that you really, really love Vin Diesel? As you prepare for this Friday's "Babylon A.D.," how about I give you a few options of other films you can watch in your fallout shelter this weekend while others are out barbequing and soaking up the last of summer…
A BOY AND HIS DOG (1975)
Vic (Don Johnson) and his dog scour a Post-Apocalyptic version of earth looking for the necessities of life. How could Nash Bridges and a dog beat out Vin and Michelle Yeoh in a movie face-off? The dog happens to be smarter than Vic, while also being telepathic! The dog, Blood, “walks” Vic around to look for earthly goods to sustain life, like water, food, and of course the opportunity to procreate with any other survivors of the apocalypse.
THE FIFTH ELEMENT (1997)
This tale set far in Earth’s future starred Bruce Willis and, at the time, an unknown Chris Tucker. It was armed at the helm by French director, Luc Besson, who took home the best director trophy at Cannes for this ditty. This film takes a cue from Besson’s earlier works and we get a character driven cyberpunk adventure that balances the seesaw of funny and dramatic beautifully. The colors as Korben Dallas rides through cities and planets are so gorgeous it makes this future look almost livable. And yet again, our hero teaches us that as much as tangible elements are great for survival, sex wins, hands down.
BLADE RUNNER (1982)
Ok, it’s the tent pole of the genre. "Blade Runner" built the backbone for the dystopian Earth structure. The flying cars, neon lights, and robot human replicants are offset by the early 20th century buildings, trash filled streets and overcrowding lower class persons, equaling a strangely familiar and foreseeable future. Harrison Ford leads as Rick Deckard, a LAPD detective specializing in differentiating and destroying renegade replicants that walk amongst humans. What this film does so finely, and the reason it stands above so many others of the genre, is that in the end, it clearly identifies the exquisite value of human life, and how nothing can replicate that. No sex scene here to pinpoint the human element, it’s the lack there of that solidifies the concept.
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