25. Moon
When your dad built his career singing about wayward astronauts named Major Tom and spiders from Mars, science fiction just runs in the blood. Duncan Jones carried on the family legacy with Moon, a unique science fiction film that proved to be one of the surprise gems of 2009.
The setup of the movie is elegantly simple. The vast majority of the film features only one actor, Sam Rockwell. Rockwell's Sam Bell is a lone technician on a mining station on the moon. With communications with Earth spotty at best, his only source of companionship is the helpful robot GERTY, voiced by Kevin Spacey.
The film makes startlingly effective use of its limited cast and equally limited set locations. Viewers grow to care for Sam as he struggles with his claustrophobic surroundings, mounting paranoia and hallucinations, and finally the surprise twist that throws him for a loop. Clint Mansell's musical score helps generate an impressive atmosphere as well. If science fiction is about exploring what it means to be human, then Moon is one of the better examples to come along in recent years.
24. District 9
When director Neill Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson's planned Halo movie fell apart, the gaming world's loss was the sci-fi arena's gain. The pair's apprentice/mentor relationship instead brought them to create District 9, one of the best aliens-live-among-us pictures ever made.
As with all great science fiction, the story of District 9 is an allegory for some of the real-life issues that humankind is facing in the here and now. It's a very thinly veiled allegory, yes, but still a quite effective one. Sharlto Copley is perfect as Wikus van de Merwe, the cluelessly racist bureaucrat who is charged with clearing out the titular alien internment camp -- the zone where millions of displaced insectoid extraterrestrials have lived for decades.
Full of crackerjack action scenes and visual effects, this film seemingly appeared from out of nowhere to stun genre fans and remind us that great sci-fi can still happen, giant robot movies notwithstanding. In fact, District 9 finally proves that great sci-fi movies can have giant robots in them. Thank God that Halo movie never happened.
23. The Thing
An alien with the ability to take the form of any life that it absorbs infiltrates an Antarctic research base, and soon the 12-man team is up to their eyeballs in slaughter, suspicion and paranoia. John Carpenter's best film has itself planted on either side of the horror and sci-fi movie lines.
As a horror film, The Thing would rank higher than it does on this sci-fi list that boasts some heavy hitters in the genre. As a sci-fi film, a cross between Alien and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the movie succeeds at asking the question "Who Goes There?", much like it's literary source material did, by forcing our survivors to figure out who they really are as The Thing puts their humanity to the test. The tension escalates and Kurt Russell gives one of his best performances as team leader MacReady.
The practical special effects hold up better than you'd think (save for the stop-motion Blairmonster), and we defy you to not have your mind blown when the head of a victim sheers itself from its burning corpse and spider-walks away. If you haven't seen this movie, then remedy that now.
22. Avatar
Avatar is a movie a few people love to hate, while everyone else spends every free moment at the theater re-watching it. Officially the highest-grossing movie of all time, Avatar succeeded on multiple fronts. It was the first true showcase for what 3D could bring to the theatrical experience, using it as a storytelling aid rather than a cheap gimmick or a crutch. Undoubtedly, Avatar is one of the most visually thrilling and beautiful films ever made.
But Avatar also succeeds because of its simple, engaging story. Yes, the script is a bit too simplistic at times in its portrayal of the noble, nature-loving Na'vi and the evil, greedy humans. Yes, we essentially watched the same story unfold in Dances With Wolves 20 years ago. But we have never seen that story told in space, with the awe only a Cameron film could deliver. Avatar is a story about a man who went in search of a new life and found the happiness he long craved. That's something humans and blue cat people alike can appreciate.
21. Jurassic Park
You know why this movie still works, more than 15 years after it unleashed the power of CG everything on audiences? Because when Alan Grant first looks up to see that veggiesaurus get on its hind legs to eat some tree leaves, the scene still gets us to mouth "wow" every time.
That sense of awe and wonder that only a Spielberg movie could provide is the reason why we still get geek goose bumps when Hammond says, "Welcome to Jurassic Park."
When this movie first premiered in the summer of 1993, it spared no expense at treating audiences to a then-groundbreaking blockbuster experience. Sure, CG technology has advanced since ILM's pioneering work here, but the movie's achievements within the medium – for better or worse – are what helped pave the way for those innovations. While the story about Dino experts and one twitchy, snarky Jeff Goldblum forced to survive a Disneyland ride gone all murder-y is a clothesline by which Spielberg can hang set pieces on, it does deliver just enough emotion and character work to elevate the film above simple popcorn entertainment.
In fact, it makes it one of the genre's best examples of popcorn fare, a sci-fi tale that reminds man for the millionth time that he should never play God, especially if he thinks anything good can come out of employing a man named Dennis Nedry.
20. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
"This… means something. Yes, yes it does, Richard Dreyfuss. Carving Devil's Tower – a.k.a. UFO-topia – and then later visiting the site where the titular close encounter occurs turns this movie into one of the few entries on this list about aliens that is more concerned with the wonder and privilege of first contact than the horror movie consequences of it.
Spielberg's first alien-centric blockbuster forever set the tone for the director's unique brand of Hollywood filmmaking, that of grounding the extraordinary within the perspective of a working-class family with "real" interactions and problems, a trope the director would revisit in such films as E.T. and 2005's War of the Worlds. Moreover, the movie shows us that not all aliens are malevolent; some just want to show off their musical Lite Brite skills and make with the trust falls.
The script, written by Spielberg, has some issues that don't hold up as well as the movie's impressive spectacle, but overall Encounters earns its place as a Top 25 entry for reminding us that good sci-fi doesn't have to have explosions or aliens murdering people – it just has to be good, and that's enough.
19. Forbidden Planet
Would you like some Shakespeare with your sci-fi? Good, because that's what this 1956 trendsetter is – the Bard's The Tempest, only relocated from an isolated island to an isolated planet. Also altered from the original play? Robby the Robot has a bigger part.
Whereas we typically think of sci-fi movies from the 1950s as being cheap or B-grade, Forbidden Planet is nothing of the kind. A big-budget tale with amazing visual effects that still work today, shot in glorious color and CinemaScope, the picture is like an old fresco from the Sistine Chapel – curiously ancient and not-of-this-time, but undeniably beautiful and mesmerizing. Also, again with robots.
Leslie Nielsen plays the commander of the Earth ship C-57D, a sort of proto-Captain Kirk in what is in many ways a nascent version of the Star Trek scenario (Gene Roddenberry would acknowledge his debt to this film in the years after that franchise's success). Finding only the mysterious Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and his hot daughter Altaira (Anne Francis) on the planet Altair IV (the hot chick is named after the planet!), Nielsen's character eventually learns that there is one other resident of this world… the monster from the id!
18. Brazil
Books and movies featuring dystopian future worlds are a dime a dozen. Everyone wants to imitate Orwell and Huxley. Terry Gilliam's Brazil is a welcome shift to the familiar formula. Brazil offers a more whimsical take on the dystopian society, one that frequently borders on comedy thanks to its unusual machines, slapstick tone, and scathing indictment of modern consumer culture.
The movie follows Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce), a humble worker who embarks on a search for a woman haunting his dreams. As is usually the case in these stories, his journey quickly puts him at odds with the totalitarian government that controls all aspects of life. With its unusual tone, gorgeous special effects and strong thematic framework, Brazil remains one of Gilliam's best films.
17. Back to the Future
Time travel in movies wasn't uncommon before 1985's Back to the Future, but no one thought to cram a flux capacitor in the back of a Delorean until Marty McFly and Doc Brown stepped onto the scene. This family-friendly sci-fi classic sees Michael J. Fox's Marty accidentally drive himself back to 1955. Before he can get home, he has to deflect his mother's romantic advances, ensure his parents fall in love, and do something about that bully Biff.
Time travel hijinks have never been as enjoyable as they are with Marty McFly. The movie inspired two sequels that saw ever more complicated problems arise in the timestream. The franchise as a whole remained far more consistently entertaining than many sci-fi franchises, but we still favor the original above all others.
16. Metropolis
Filmmakers around the world were still working to understand the complexities of cinema in the 1920s. It was directors like Fritz Lang that provided early evidence of the storytelling heights film could aspire to.
Metropolis is not just a great sci-fi film, it's easily one of the best films of the silent era. The movie presents a future society divided by class warfare, with the rich elite living in the towering skyscrapers of Metropolis, and the lowly workers below. As a relic of the German Expressionism movement, Metropolis shows impressive visual design and effects work that still hold up today.
The film continues to make an impact. Aside from inspiring an anime remake (which happened to rank in our Top 25 Animated Films countdown) and a series of musical concept albums from artist Janelle Monae, Metropolis has been a recent source of interest for film buffs. A longer cut of the film was discovered in 2008 in Argentina and first played for audiences earlier this year. It seems Metropolis is one of those rare films that truly does get better and more relevant with age.
15. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Pod people want to rule the world! Actually, those no good, dirty Commies want to, or wanted to back in 1956 when Don Siegel's sci-fi horror cautionary tale Invasion of the Body Snatchers first scared the bejesus out of red-fearing Americans everywhere.
The film stars Kevin McCarthy as Miles Bennell, a small-town doctor who discovers a quiet epidemic in the making – many of his patients believe that their loved ones have been replaced by impostors.
Eventually, of course, these impostors are revealed to be the pod people from space, alien plants whose biological mission is to destroy and replace higher life forms (i.e. humanity). The scenario is quite terrifying, for the enemy can be your wife, your boss, your kid… anyone. But at least it gives McCarthy a good excuse to mack on his ex, Dana Wynter.
The film careens towards an unforgettable finale as Siegel lets a panicked McCarthy stare directly into the camera – at us – and scream his warnings about the reds… uh, the aliens: "They're here already! You're next!" Funny thing is, in the years after the film's success, the filmmakers usually denied that the movie was meant to be anything more than a sci-fi scarefest. But we know better.
14. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
The best of the Trek movies, Khan tackles some of the series' heaviest of themes; themes centered around using space exploration as means to feel young despite life's way of always coming to an end.
The plot centers on the consequences such mortality has on a man like Admiral Kirk – a man who doesn't believe in the no-win scenario, but who ends up paying for that belief when a man he hasn't seen in 15 years comes calling with phasers set to "KHAAAAAAAN!"
IGN has written so much about our love for this great piece of science fiction that the only challenge we face when writing more is how many "A's" to put in the above "Khan!" But just in case you've been living in a Genesis cave for the past 20 years and still need convincing: Wrath of Khan is Moby Dick in space, with Khan steeling a starship to lay his vengeance upon Kirk and Enterprise, upon the Shatner responsible for marooning Khan and his now-dead wife upon some barren sand heep.
There is more going on, subtextually and emotionally, than a movie based on a sci-fi show (with too many Styrofoam sets) needs. But that's the genius of Trek II – it goes above and beyond what is required of its genre trappings and delivers a great story and a great film. That is why this 23rd century adventure still holds up today. As epic and shiny as Abrams' Trek is, it doesn't hold a candle to the balance between plot and character, between spectacle and drama, that Khan achieves.
And if Kirk and Spock's last moments together, separated by safety glass, don't have you crying the same big fat tears you shed at Pixar movies, then you have a Ceti Eel where your heart should be.
13. A Clockwork Orange
This pick is aimed at all the sci-fi lovers who would rather hang with their droogs at the local milk bar and take in some Ludwig Van after a bit of the ol' ultraviolence. When it comes to dark, disturbing, and thought-provoking sci-fi, it's hard to do better than Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.
Based on Anthony Burgess' novel, this film is set in a dreary near-future Britain where roving gangs of colorfully dressed teens terrorize the populace and the government has resorted to extreme measures of conditioning to stem the tide.
A Clockwork Orange is well known for the stunning performance by star Malcom McDowell, the trademark Nadsat slang, and the iconic scene featuring the Ludivico apparatus. A Clockwork Orange asks viewers to ponder the nature of violence. Is it enough to to curb a person's outer violent tendencies, or does this simply render them a false human being – a clockwork orange? The film's ultimate statement on the matter differed from that of the book, but that didn't necessarily make it an inferior ending.
12. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
In 1982, if you were of a certain age, there was no greater emotional experience to be had than to sit in the theater and watch Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. We laughed, we cried, we turned on our Heart Lights in unison.
This is trademark Spielberg. Henry Thomas' Elliott, a lonely young boy living with his single mom and siblings, finds some direction and meaning in his life when he stumbles upon a lovable alien critter who he dubs E.T. Stranded on Earth and trying to phone home, E.T. forms a bond with Elliott that rivals some of cinema's greatest teams, from Bogie and Bacall to Han and Chewie.
The animatronic alien is and was unique and convincing, the performances from a mostly young cast are superb, and best of all, the film's exploration of the mysteries of childhood is thoughtful, sensitive, and at the same time often fun. Also sad… but in a good way!
11. Aliens
This is one of those movies that, whenever we find it on cable, no matter what part is on, we can't help but tune in. There is too much awesomeness in this movie to identify just one reason why Cameron's 1986 sequel to Ridley Scott's Alien works as well as it does.
Aliens continues the story of the number one cause of hurtin' for chicks named "Ripley." It adds a new layer to the Alien's biological cycle, introducing an Alien Queen and – in doing so – one of the big screen's best and scariest villains. The hit sequel is a bullet of a movie that packs the perfect amount of character development, horror and action into a story that could have been thread-bare in a lesser craftsman's hands.
Ripley's return to LV-426, the planet where she first encountered the alien, is now home to a shake-n-bake colony of families and workers, which is basically ringing the dinner bell for the xenomorphs to prove that, in space, everyone can hear you scream if you die loud enough.
Ripley joins an elite group of Colonial Marines sent on a bug hunt, and they quickly find that neither flame thrower nor bug-eyed troopers by way of Hudson are a match for things that bleed acid and sweat slime. Cameron's decision to keep Ripley and Newt as the emotional core of the movie makes the increasing threats around them all the more conducive putting us on the edge of our seats.
That, coupled with the Power Loader vs. Alien Queen showdown, underscored by James Horner's epic score, is why Aliens is not just a great Cameron film, but one of the best movies ever made. (Insert dropping of the mic here.)
10. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2 is one example of a sequel coming along and just destroying the original in every regard. In this follow-up to the original, Skynet sends back an advanced, liquid metal-based Terminator to destroy John Connor once and for all. Connor's only hope is the T-800, a reprogrammed version of the same machine that once nearly succeeded in killing his mother.
T2 is host to some truly epic action and chase sequences. Even after nearly two decades, the film puts most action movies to shame. But where T2 truly earns its enduring status is in its heart and thoughtful message. T2 was all about the notion that the future is not set in stone, and that people can rewrite their destinies if they so choose. Even a cold machine can learn what it means to love and feel emotion.
No matter how much the sequels have tried to dull these messages, Terminator 2 remains the high point of the franchise and one of the definitive works of James Cameron's career.
9. The Road Warrior
George Miller was off to a good start when he made Mad Max in 1979, though the film was less post-apocalyptic parable than it was midnight-movie car-wreck-palooza. But the director upped the ante with the film's sequel, known as The Road Warrior here in the U.S. – and as the best damned end-of-the-world picture this side of the Wasteland.
Mel Gibson, pre-scandal and wild-eyed outbursts, plays the title character, a "burnt-out, desolate man" who wanders out into the previously mentioned land-o-waste after his wife and child are slaughtered by roving biker-berserkers. Some kind of non-descript Armageddon has occurred (an energy crisis? Nuclear war? A devastating surplus of leather and shoulder pads?), with only the fastest, the smartest, and the most vicious able to survive as the remnants of humankind roam the desert in search of fuel. So they can roam the desert some more.
Essentially Shane with a V8 Interceptor and a sawed-off shotgun, the film isn't specifically sci-fi – but its doomsday scenario and style so strongly influenced (created?) an entire genre that its place on this list is undeniable. Also, did we mention the 15-minute-long car-chase finale?
8. The Day the Earth Stood Still
Forget the bland 2008 remake starring Keanu Reeves. The original 1951 version of The Day the Earth Stood Still is the one that deserves to be worshiped in the annals of sci-fi greatness. It's the movie that inserted the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" into the pop culture lexicon.
The Day the Earth Stood Still is a thinking man's sci-fi film. Instead of epic space battles and evil empires, the film features a visiting alien named Klaatu. Klaatu arrives on Earth with a peaceful but stern warning – should humanity extend its penchant for violence into the stars, they'll be struck down.
Still attracted a fair amount of controversy in its day. Some didn't appreciate the cautionary message the film presented as humanity entered the atomic age. Others took offense at the Christ-like traits of Klaatu. 60 years later, the controversy has faded, but the message remains as strong and as relevant as ever.
7. The Matrix
"What movie is this generation's Star Wars?" It's a question that gets asked an awful lot. Many assumed Star Wars: Episode I would be this generation's Star Wars, but another, entirely different sort of science fiction movie managed to steal George Lucas' thunder in 1999. The Matrix captured the imaginations of sci-fi lovers everywhere and offered them a type of film they hadn't seen before.
The Matrix is brimming with all sorts of philosophical questions. What is reality? Is the world around us real or an illusion? Whose kung fu is strongest? The film strove to be more intelligent and thoughtful than the average action movie, yet it was never afraid to put aside the musing for some well-choreographed butt-kicking. The Matrix's slow motion combat ballet inspired legions of imitators. None have lived up to the original, not even the two Matrix sequels.
The franchise may have peaked early on, but it was enough to deliver cinematic gold to starving sci-fi lovers.
6. Planet of the Apes
Spawning four sequels, two reboots, a TV series, a cartoon, comics, toys and every kind of marketing tie-in you can dream of, the original 1968 Planet of the Apes isn't just a great sci-fi film, it's also one of the very first genre franchises to come out of Hollywood.
The wonderfully misanthropic George Taylor (Charlton Heston) heads into outer space to get away from all those damned dirty hippies in the far-off future of 1972… only to wind up living among all those damned dirty apes in the far-far-off future of the 40th century. Perhaps the apes makeup and concepts of the film have worn thin by today's standards, but this was state of the art stuff back in the day. A movie where apes evolved from men? There's got to be an answer!
The answer is simple: Whereas this first film is the most polished, highbrow and grandiose of the series, the sequels that followed all added value to the overall concept, never resting on their monkeyshines laurels but instead furthering and expanding upon the ideas of the original picture. But the 1968 film, with its upside-down world social commentary and Big Ideas about science, religion and history, is where it all started. And it will start again… and again… and again…
5. The Empire Strikes Back
Is "cause it rules" not a sufficient enough reason for the second Star Wars movie to be on this list? OK then, how about this?
The Empire Strikes Back takes the kiddie joyride aspects of its predecessor and adds an adult sensibility and thematic throughline that brings a real depth to George Lucas' galaxy far, far away. While one hesitates to use the well-worn terms "dark" and "stylish" when describing director Irvin Kershner's installment in the series, the film nonetheless is the darkest and most stylish of all six films.
Some 30 years after release, it is somewhat depressing to think that this was the highpoint of the Star Wars franchise, but there you have it. Han Solo's uncertain fate, Luke's terrible realization about his father, Lando's betrayal, the defeat of the Rebels at Hoth… these were all gut-punch moments that had us reeling then and, in some ways, still do, even if the soft-pedaling of Return of the Jedi undoes so much of Empire's hard work. But that's a discussion for a different list.
4. Alien
The tagline "In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream" defined the Alien film series, which owes its debt to Ridley Scott's first movie that pit Warrant Officer Ripley against the acid-bleeding xenomorph. On the surface, Alien is a "monster in the house" creature feature, only the house is a spaceship and the monster is a mouth-tongue'd beastie that lays eggs and uses people's chests as doors.
The fun here is that the science fiction goes less Star Trek and Star Wars, and more gritty, which makes the scares more urgent, more real. This is a future where ships look more like oil derricks than Enterprise. Putting a blue-collar crew in the middle of our first truly great "monster in space" movie created a new subset of the genre, one that Hollywood has milked with less-than-consistent results.
Alien changed the careers of both its director and leading lady. It introduced to one of the best movie monsters ever. And it reminded us how great the genre can be when it combines bare-bones scares with expert storytelling. And mouth tongues.
3. Star Wars
When asked "Which Star Wars movie is the best?", fans know the only two possible answers are A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back. After much debating and soul-searching, we finally chose to give A New Hope the higher spot on this list.
Yes, Empire has AT-AT battles and Boba Fett and the iconic "I am your father" twist. But in terms of pure science fiction action and adventure, nothing can top the original Star Wars.
A New Hope wowed viewers from the opening shot of the Star Destroyer pursuing the fleeing Rebel ship to the final ceremony where Luke Skywalker and Han Solo were crowned as galactic heroes. In between these two points was everything a sci-fi fan could hope for – humble heroes pulled into larger worlds, roguish scoundrels, princesses in peril, a menagerie of weird and wonderful aliens, and epic space battles that held the fates of planets in the balance.
With A New Hope, George Lucas took everything that was great about the classic adventure serials of the early 20th Century and updated that with a modern flourish. It is not the most complex or dense of the Star Wars movies. It's simply the most pure fun anyone can hope to have watching a movie.
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
Are you there, HAL? It's me, IGN.
Call us old fogies, but we can't help but think that pictures like 2001 are something of a lost art form. Sure, Moon and Primer and the like are thoughtful sci-fi movies that are less about explosions and chase scenes than they are about pondering our place in the universe and all that jazz. But Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film wasn't an arthouse hit like those films; it was an experience, and one shared by the mainstream. Today Transformers is Hollywood's version of 2001.
Divided into four main parts (the monkeys, proto-Roy Scheider Heywood Floyd's mission to the moon, the Discovery One's Jupiter flight, and the LSD finale), the film's plot – in an extreme nutshell – is about an alien monolith that is discovered by astronauts, and how it leads to a close encounter of the third kind… and beyond. Oh, it's also about the evolution of man from ape to Something Else.
Technically masterful and innovative, thematically challenging and enthralling, visually and aurally exquisite and unforgettable, 2001 is everything a great sci-fi movie should be. But don't take our word for it: Pop a stress pill some time and check it out yourself.
1. Blade Runner
Source: http://movies.ign.com/articles/677/677739p1.html
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