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As the disaster-epic-to-end-all-disaster-epics 2012 hits UK cinemas, we take a look at how the apocalypse has been portrayed on the big screen in recent years, from the oil-starved max madness of The Road Warrior, to underground-dwelling lightbulb dilemmas in City of Ember.

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Apocalypse - how? A huge ice sheet shears off the Antarctic shelf, triggering highly-accelerated climate change across the globe, with the upshot that the northern hemisphere lurches suddenly into a new Ice Age.
But who will save us? Well, you can save yourself if you can up sticks and move to the southern hemisphere, which remains a warm, safe haven away from the superstorms and roaming packs of ravenous wolves... but if you find yourself cut off in the new 'frozen north' (or New York as it was known previously), you might get rescued by climatologist Jack Hall (aka Dennis Quaid).
We're all doomed! Best quote: "We're not going to last very long on M & Ms and potato chips."

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
Apocalypse - how? The civilised world has fallen, uprisings and social disorder are the order of the day due to massive energy shortages, leaving two warrior tribes fighting a war over the increasingly-scarce supplies of oil - all the while living in semi-nomadic communities in the Aussie Outback, dressed like cyberpunks and looking like they smell of chip fat.
But who will save us? Vengeful ex-cop Max Rockatansky - aka The Road Warrior - fresh from slaying the thugs who murdered his wife and young son, is reluctantly drawn into the conflict and becomes the unlikely saviour of a small community who run a priceless oil refinery, under constant attack from the thuggish tribe led by the half-crazed Lord Humungus.
We're all doomed! Best quote: "They kill us, we kill them! Kill them! Kill them! Kill! Kill!"

Waterworld (1995)
Apocalypse - how? After global warming hits home on a mammoth scale, the Earth's ice caps are totally melted, flooding the entire planet and leaving the surviving members of the human race living in large, ramshackle floating settlments known as atolls.
But who will save us? Like some sort of Man from Atlantis, the Mariner (Kevin Costner) is one of a rare breed of mutants who roam the watery planet, who have developed webbed feet and gills. He comes to the aid of a mother and daughter and helps them in their quest to seek the mythical Dryland, evading some nasty pirate types known as The Smokers along the way.
We're all doomed! Best quote: "Don't just stand there, kill something!"

Deep Impact (1998)
Apocalypse - how? When a seven mile-wide asteroid is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth, plans are made for 800,000 'lottery winners' to join 200,000 scientists, doctors and artists in a series of huge caves, in a bid to save the human population from total extinction.
But who will save us? Old Cold War enemies the US and Russia join forces to build the huge spacecraft Messiah, with which they hope to destroy the comet with a payload of nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, it only succeeds in splitting the asteroid in two - and the largest part smashes into the Earth, causing a megatsunami which kills millions.
We're all doomed! Best quote: "Life will go on, we will prevail."

Terminator Salvation (2009)
Apocalypse - how? Skynet wipes out most of humanity in the nuclear holocaust known as Judgement Day, before unleashing its army of robotic Terminators across the Earth in a bid to eradicate the few bands of remaining survivors.
But who will save us? John Connor, that's who - the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet. But as well as saving mankind, he must also prevent the killer machines from targeting the man who's yet to father him, Kyle Rees. Confused? You will be.
We're all doomed! Best quote: "I'll be back."

City of Ember (2008)
Apocalypse - how? Good question - was it a war? Climate change? Invaders from Mars? We're not told precisely why, but what we do find out is that Ember is an underground city, built to provide a sanctuary for the last remaining members of the human race after a catastrophe somehow wiped out the inhabitants of the planet's surface.
But who will save us? Well, the city was only built to last 200 years, and now that time has come, the lights are going out as the huge generators keeping the bulbs glowing start to falter - so what better time for young Lina and Doon to discover the instructions left by the builders so long ago, which hint at an escape route from the dingy darkness.
We're all doomed! Best quote: "Now the path was clear for all. All of us who kept the flame of Ember burning, through the darkness, so that we could live again on the earth, in the air and the light."

Feature: Mark Appleby
Photos: Rex