Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout continues to lead the pack of modern science fiction TV. Exploring a variety of unlikely heroes as they venture out into the wastelands of post-apocalyptic America, the series instantly appealed to sci-fi fans upon its 2024 release. With the second season already receiving high praise from audiences, there are plenty of great movies to watch as a follow-up.
The “wastelands” brand of post-apocalyptic movies offers viewers the chance to explore a perilous, mysterious world through the eyes of survivors of various catastrophes. From the aftermath of nuclear war to explorations of a world ravaged by alien invaders, many stories and settings rarely fail to impress viewers.
Resident Evil: Extinction is Fallout For Zombie Fans
The third installment in Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil film series, Extinction, takes place in the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse going worldwide following the fall of Raccoon City. Now learning how to use her powers, Alice travels the wasteland alone, while Claire Redfield leads a convoy of survivors through Nevada. When Alexander Isaacs and the Umbrella Corporation find Alice, they decide to unleash their T-virus zombies, hoping to bring her down.
A comic booky film that blends aspects of Mad Max with the zombie apocalypse, Resident Evil: Extinction is the perfect horror counterpart to Fallout. Between underground bunkers owned by mad scientists, heroes forced to fight monsters in the wastelands, and characters with strange powers, Anderson’s movie occupies the same space as Prime Video’s series.
The Book of Eli is a Surprisingly Touching Thriller
The Book of Eli takes place in a post-nuclear apocalypse United States, and follows a mysterious drifter named Eli along his journey west. Protecting the last known Bible in existence, his journey is interrupted when he passes through a small town, whose ruthless leader takes an interest in his abilities as a fighter. When the wasteland mayor learns Eli is in possession of a Bible, he sends his goons after him, keen to use the book to maintain his grip over the last remnants of society.
The Book of Eli offers a rare experience for viewers: a story defined by religious allegory that’s neither preachy nor tired. Eli’s journey is akin to a Biblical testament, one that follows his reliance on faith to overcome the evils of humanity. It’s a touching experience, regardless of the beliefs of the audience, and it helped redefine the action side of the genre almost two decades ahead of Amazon’s TV adaptation. A neo-Western gem, it almost feels like a chapter from the Fallout timeline.
Oblivion is Tom Cruise’s Most Underrated Sci-Fi Movie
Oblivion is set years in the aftermath of an alien attack on Earth that rendered the planet almost uninhabitable to humans, driving them off-world. The film focuses on technicians Jack Harper and Victoria Olsen as they monitor operations to use the planet’s seawater as fuel, overseen by the space station The Tet. However, when Jack’s latest trip down to the surface goes awry, it leaves him to question whether the world is as his overseers claim, and the discovery of a clone of himself only further complicates matters.
A love-letter to the bleak sci-fi thrillers of the ’70s, Oblivion subverts the alien invasion genre brilliantly, giving Tom Cruise one of his most overlooked projects. A romance set at the end of the world, it embraces science fiction in the same way as Fallout, and paints a picture every bit as dire as the Amazon series. While aspects of the plot may feel predictable, there are some great payoffs that make the experience worth the watch.
Edge of Tomorrow Perfected Time Loop Science Fiction
Edge of Tomorrow casts Tom Cruise in the role of Major Bill Cage in the midst of a worldwide defensive war against alien invaders, dubbed “Mimics.” After an act of cowardice, Cage is demoted to the rank of private and forced to participate in humanity’s last stand, a D-Day-style ground invasion of France. When he kills a so-called alpha, its blood leaves him with the power to reset each day after his death, allowing him to use his knowledge of the future to gain a tactical advantage in a wild time loop scenario.
From the mech suits and epic invasion sequences to the exploration of alien-ravaged Europe, Edge of Tomorrow changed the game for modern sci-fi and feels inspired by Fallout. Based on the Japanese light novel All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka and Yoshitoshi Abe, the blockbuster salvaged Tom Cruise’s career for all the right reasons. When looking at Cruise and Emily Blunt in their war suits, it’s hard not to think of the knights from Fallout.
War For the Planet of the Apes Forces Audiences to Side With the Apes
After Rupert Wyatt helped revive the Planet of the Apes franchise in 2011, it was brought to its highest point since 1968 with Matt Reeves’ War for the Planet of the Apes. Set years into Caesar’s rule of his troop in the woods, everything goes wrong when human forces target him for assassination, murdering his son instead. Intent on revenge, the ape leader sends his fellow apes out to find refuge away from humanity, while he and his closest friends search for the officer who ordered the attack.
A rarity for the franchise, War for the Planet of the Apes leaves viewers unequivocally on the side of the apes as Caesar embarks on his quest for revenge against The Colonel. A plot that stitches together elements of films like Apocalypse Now and True Grit, Caesar’s journey feels like a mission from a Fallout episode, albeit with an ape protagonist instead of a human or mutant.
I Am Legend Gave Will Smith His Most Intense Role
Set five years after the outbreak of a virus that transforms humans into vampire-like monsters, I Am Legend focuses on US Army virologist Robert Neville. Now, the last man in New York, and possibly the world, he spends his days studying the creatures in the hopes of developing a curse. When he kidnaps his latest specimen, he makes an enemy of the monsters like never before, driving them into a violent and terrifying conflict.
I Am Legend is more a look at the psychological impact of a life of solitude in the wake of the apocalypse, focusing on the toll that isolation takes on Neville. While some of the meaning of Richard Matheson’s original novel was lost in adaptation, the film presents viewers with a great survival horror movie perfect for Fallout fans. With a long-awaited sequel on the way, there hasn’t been a better time to watch it than now.
The Road is a Brutal Look at Life in the Wastelands
The Road takes place years after a catastrophic event that left most of the world uninhabitable, leaving only a small percentage of humanity in its wake. The story follows a father and son along their journey south, where they hope warmer weather and passage across the water might lead them to a better place. Along the way, they’re forced to fend off cannibal bandits and survive the elements, all while the ailing father must contemplate mercy-killing his boy to spare him a much worse fate.
Unlike others of its kind, The Road isn’t a stylish action movie, nor a fun science fiction experience. Instead, it’s a brutal, realistic look at post-apocalyptic survival that drives anxiety into viewers at every turn, leaving them struggling to feel anything but despair. For Fallout fans, it’s a good look at the more grounded side of the genre, and is sure to leave them more appreciative of just how fun the series is.
Mad Max: Fury Road Perfected the Post-Apocalypse Genre
Set years after the events of the original Mad Max film, Fury Road follows Rockatansky as he’s captured by the wasteland army of despotic warlord Immortan Joe. However, when one of Joe’s best warriors, Furiosa, plans to drive herself and the ruler’s wives to freedom, he rallies all the armies of the region to hunt them down. Seeing an opportunity to get away, Max joins forces with the women, aiding them in their quest to find the ‘green place.’
Few modern action films can truly claim the mantle of masterpiece, but for George Miller’s Mad Max comeback, it isn’t even in dispute. Serving as one epic chase sequence stretched into a non-stop film, the plot never stops moving, and every scene proves the enduring potential of Max and his adventures. A triumph of practical effects over CGI, Mad Max: Fury Road is the perfect chaser to Fallout, actually delivering an even better post-apocalyptic experience than the series.