Movies to watch for the impending World War 3

“The Russians need to take us in one piece, and that's why they're here. That's why they won't use nukes anymore; and we won't either, not on our own soil. The whole damn thing's pretty conventional now. Who knows? Maybe next week will be swords.” - RED DAWN (1984)

In case you haven’t been keeping up, there’s a lot going down in Europe, specifically on the Ukrainian border which is igniting the embers of a war so cold we’d long considered it dead.

So, what’s a man to do about the impending threat of World War III as Russia is poised to invade Ukraine at literally any moment, prompting NATO-aligned countries to inevitably respond? The only thing we can do. Watch movies, and wait for the big boom.

MOVIES TO WATCH FOR DOOMSDAY:

RED DAWN was released in 1984 as glorified propaganda during the radically intensifying 1980s which saw the Cold War escalating as geopolitical tensions mounted.

In this action-drama, Russia and their South American allies stage a multilateral invasion of the United States after an alternate (but plausible) timeline saw NATO disband and the Warsaw Pact countries expand, leaving the U.S. diplomatically isolated.

In Colorado, a group of high school teens band together as “The Wolverines” and wage war through fierce guerrilla fighting against the invading forces. This iconic smash-hit starred Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen, and Powers Boothe and is equal parts bleak and engaging.

Similarly, the 2010 remake swaps Colorado for Washington and replaced the Russians / Cuban alliance with a more understandable North Korea / Russia invading force. The film wasn’t...good...but it wasn’t exactly bad either. Honestly, I need to rewatch it myself. The remake starred Chris Hemsworth (pre-THOR) as well as Josh Hutcherson, Josh Peck, Isabel Lucas, and Adrianne Palicki and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

WAR GAMES is another iconic 1980’s thriller. This time, an unknowing computer hacker (Matthew Broderick) accidentally stumbles upon an artificial intelligence-driven US Military supercomputer that begins to play the titular “war games”, inadvertently executing scenarios to attack the Soviet Union.

THE SUM OF ALL FEARS, the classic 2002 spy-thriller starring Ben Affleck as Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and Morgan Freeman as CIA Director Bill Cabot placed the world on the edge of an impending nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia as a crazed Neo-Nazi leader seeks to rebuild the Reich in the ashes of Europe following a complete nuclear holocaust.

For those seeking a more down-trodden and frankly devastating take on the horrors of World War III, the following films are just the thing:

THREADS is a war drama taking place in the aftermath of World War III. This made-for-TV movie from 1984 is soul-crushing and, probably, the darkest thing I’ve ever seen as it chronicles the daily life of the citizens in Sheffield, Northern England. In this film, the war broke out following a NATO / Warsaw conflict as well.

And, finally, ON THE BEACH.

ON THE BEACH is a 1959 drama starring Anthony Perkins, Ava Gardner, and Gregory Peck. The film takes place in 1964 after World War III has decimated the entire northern hemisphere, killing all life within it and wreaking complete havoc on the natural world. The film follows survivors in Melbourne who go searching for the last pocket of humanity by attempting to find a U.S. Navy submarine.

This is the big one, and boy is it completely awful. In a good way. The film was remade for Australian television in 2000 and elaborated more on the cause of the war itself, which the original never did. The remake clarifies that the war was between China and the U.S. after the former invaded Taiwan.

Well, there you have it. Did I miss any? Have you seen any of these? Are you ready for the end of times?