Top 10 Science Fiction Movies

Stanley Kubrick’s magnum opus, 2001 A Space Odyssey is still arguably the most visually breathtaking cinematic experience ever. The film is an epic journey from the dawn of mankind to the expansion of its technological evolution beyond the infinite. Like a Nostradamus behind the camera, Kubrick constructs and encrypts his prophecies with stunningly unbelievable visual and aural effects. This quatrain of complexity is cinema in its most gracefully immortal grandeur.

The picture that set the juggernaut rolling, Star Wars took accessible entertainment to a whole new level. George Lucas’s creative genius managed to commit some of the most outlandish concepts to reel without spiraling into absurdity. The spectacular final energybeam battle in the canyons of Deathstar still reigns supreme as the most exciting childhood screen experience of our generation.

Slow moving and complex, Solaris is a film experience of galactical proportions. Instead of the familiar zero-gravity, flashy spacestation playground, the viewer is set in a psychotic world of extreme isolation, depression and regret. In this world of commercial hunger, a picture reaching the Solaris level of schematic detail is inconceivable.

This light-footed, realistic masterpiece is unique for its concept of unaggressive yet un-mawkish visitors from outer space; an alien portrayal still largely Martian to the sci-fi genre. Klaatu’s tour of observation is as much of a social commentary as it is a wonderful take on extraterrestrial curiosity.

Metropolis was the most expensive film in the history of silent cinema and it was worth every cent. Without the luxury of spoken dialogue, Fritz Lang lets his futuristic environment of greed, compassion and revolt do the talking. His bizarre clock machines, skyscrapers and monorails have been so frequently imitated but are still as intricate and puzzling as ever.

Blade Runner is significant for enveloping the audience in a powerful atmosphere, a quality still unmatched. The mist and rain, dark electronica and an unforgettable performance by Rutger Hauer combine with intoxicating affects.

Terry Gilliam has the most recognizable style in Cinema and he was at the peak of his powers in Brazil. It’s a spiritual struggle set in a dystopian society, beset with rabid beaurocracy and ultra-complex machinery. Its portrayal of the administrative implosion due to infatuation with tedious documentation and networking is prophetic.

Alien is without doubt the greatest monster movie ever made. H.R. Giger’s union of metal, teeth and acid effectively hammered home the point. However, this clockwork of brutality met its match in the formidable Ellen Ripley, the toughest female protagonist in cinema history.

In the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Don Siegel overcame the Sci-Fi epidemic of flamboyance and made a thrilling, honest picture. Despite having a storyline of plantlike pods taking over human bodies, the movie maintains an aura of logic and control, an extremely rare quality in the genre.

Gripping and full of surprises but criminally overlooked, Dark City is the essential modern sci-fi offering. Set in a city of eternal night, it explores bondage and memory in a metaphysical environment.