The disaster epic is one of the very rare genres that sells itself; audiences generally couldn’t care less about the plot, characters, or any sort of underlying message when all it takes is a suitably stunning trailer to convince them watching the world fall victim to untold devastation is worth the price of admission. Being a good movie definitely helps, though, something Ashfall took to heart.
While a lot of Hollywood disaster films tend to fail on any front that isn’t worldwide destruction – something Roland Emmerich knows full well looking at how his last few panned contributions to the genre have coincided with a noticeable drop in box office takings compared to his heyday – co-directors Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo at least make an attempt to make viewers invest in the protagonists and their respective fates.
Bolstered by solid Rotten Tomatoes scores of 73 and 74 percent from critics and crowds respectively, Ashfall would go on to become a massive hit in its native Korea after recouping its production budget three times over and then some during its initial run, while star Lee Byung-hun would even land a Best Actor trophy at the 56th Grand Bell Awards for his efforts.
Like most disaster-driven stories, a single cataclysmic event serves as the backdrop to the story, with an erupting volcano on the Baekdu Mountain igniting a potential apocalypse. Spurred into action, a crack team is assembled to venture into dangerous and deadly territory to stop the molten hot magma from annihilating anything and anyone in its path, which is a high-pressure situation to put it lightly.
Broad, effects-driven adventures are always game for a resurgence on-demand, so it’s with no surprise we discover that Ashfall has done some erupting of its own on Netflix by becoming one of the streaming service’s most-watched flicks this week, per FlixPatrol. If you have to choose between this one and Moonfall, don’t even think twice.
