Top 10 Science Fiction Movies: Exoplanets. The interior of the universe. There are new worlds. New technological frontiers.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a term that refers to The best science-fiction films that transport us to worlds beyond our wildest dreams; imagining inconceivable futures that inevitably affect our technological advancements.
Great science fiction combines mind-blowing images with mind-blowing ideas, investigating everything from the human experience to humanity's destiny.
From rapid, humorous, colorful space adventures to gloomy dystopian dramas set in the present, far future, or even a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, it's a genre that encompasses a wide range of topics.
If you're looking for a list of the best sci-fi films of all time, you've come to the right place. The Team Empire hivemind has gathered in the cloud to compile a list of the most iconic sci-fi films, ranging from modern masterpieces to game-changing classics.
There's something for everyone on this list of 50 directors, from Spielberg to Scott, Kubrick to Carpenter. Continue reading and you will flourish.
Films are the ideal form of escapism, and sci-fi films can transport us to a completely different universe.
Science fiction films frequently provide something unexpected, whether they are exploring a dismal future picture of Earth, transporting us to unknown worlds and galaxies, or holding up a lens to the joys and risks of technology.
“A Trip to the Moon,” directed by Georges Méliès and released in 1902, is widely regarded as the first science fiction picture, and the genre has grown in popularity and ambition since then.
Denis Villeneuve's “Dune” was a great box office success in 2021, indicating that sci-fi films continue to be popular with audiences.
10) E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Spielberg directs
Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, and Drew Barrymore star.
Spielberg's coming-of-age story about a boy and his extraterrestrial friend is cinematic beauty.
In a story about lonely children and outsiders, Elliott makes great friends with an interplanetary creature left on Earth by his family.
It's foregrounded by childish joy as Elliot and his brothers get into mischief with E.T. Elliot and E.T. flying in front of the moon on his bike is a classic sci-fi sight, and John Williams' score is immensely emotive.
9) Aliens (1986)
Cameron James
Weaver, Biehn, Henn
James Cameron makes taking over a series started by Alien look easy.
Aliens expand the human versus. Xenomorph battle and makes the aliens scarier.
This is another intergalactic Vietnam allegory, and Cameron handles the notion of the creatures as a hive well.
Building on Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley, it maroons her on a colony world plagued with slavering creatures.
Cameron never forgets to make the troopers more than forgettable alien-fodder.
8) Back to The Future (1985)
Robert Zemeckis
Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson
Time travel and its ripple effects are difficult to pull off.
Few movies are as well-made as Back to the Future. There are a few story holes to pick.
Robert Zemeckis and co-writer Bob Gale created an engaging story, even though Eric Stoltz had to be replaced.
Replacement Michael J. Fox rode the character to movie stardom; a strong ensemble gave the movie its center.
It entrenched the most well-accepted fictional time-travel model, even if following films debunked it.
7) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Cameron James
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong
James Cameron introduced a new liquid-metal android antagonist, reprogrammed Arnie as the good guy, and plotted a new plan to destabilize the future and avert nuclear ‘judgment day'
Sarah Connor's development into a hardened hero and Robert Patrick's shape-shifting T-1000 make this one of the all-time best sequels.
Beyond the spectacle are notions about machine learning, as Schwarzenegger's nice-guy T-800 bonds with Edward Furlong's young John Connor and evolves. Yes!
6) Star Wars (1977)
Lucas directed
Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford
Space opera, not hard sci-fi. Where would the genre be without Star Wars, with its opening shot of the Star Destroyer looming over the camera?
George Lucas transposed the classic hero's journey narrative (Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker is a simple farm boy with a tremendous destiny) into a boundlessly imaginative galaxy far, far away, with laser-swords, mystical religions, space princesses, and loveable rogues.
The original Star Wars revolutionized everything, from its model work to its cosmic dogfights to its opening crawl into the stars. Science-fiction has felt the Force ever since.
5) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Kubrick directed
Douglas Rain, Keir Dullea
Scope. Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi monolith may not have a logical plot, but it covers so much: the dawn of man, the space race, AI, space exploration, and the cosmic unknown.
It's dazzling; Kubrick's technical audacity makes it accessible to unlimited interpretation and irresistibly fascinating.
2001 is an audio-visual marvel, from its giant spinning sets to its climactic light show. Its explorations of human evolution and where it might go next have proven prescient.
An influential work that trusts the audience to follow along instinctively and intuitively.
4) The Matrix (1999)
Lana & Lilly Wachowski
Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne
The Wachowskis brought Hollywood science fiction into the Internet age.
The sisters drew from cyberpunk anime, philosophy, and religion to create an era-defining tale about generational ennui, technology, and a pre-millennial society poised to break free of its programming.
Neo learns that he and the rest of humanity are living in a computer simulation called the Matrix and being used as fuel for sentient machines.
He learns how to break this unreality by breaking the rules of physics, seeing through the coding, and uploading kung-fu movements into his brain.
It's a slick, elegant, and visionary flick (particularly the invention of bullet-time and the static camera rig that made it possible).
Plus, it has a whole new significance as a piece of blockbuster queer film, a movie examining internal and exterior realities from two Trans creators. What?
3) Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Kershner
Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford
Empire made Star Wars' galaxy feel wider, deeper, and richer.
George Lucas and director Irvin Kershner teamed up to depict the story of Luke training under Master Yoda, Han and Leia traveling to Cloud City, and Darth Vader dropping the daddy of all twists. Episode V included stunning model work, exciting dogfights, the icy Hoth conflict, and a violent lightsaber duel between Luke and Vader.
It's larger and better than the original Star Wars, with a downer climax and game-changing family secrets.
Sci-fi isn't about ideas, but its blockbuster spectacle is unparalleled.
2) Alien (1979)
Ridley Scott's Alien feels mysterious and alien because it is.
As the Nostromo lands on LV-426 and uncovers a hall full of alien eggs, it's evident the human crew is out of their depth. Once their quarantine procedures are compromised, all hell breaks loose.
There's a warning. From the dismal hallways of its space-freighter to H.R. Giger's nightmare images to Sigourney Weaver's courageous Ripley, Alien is a seminal piece of science fiction and horror.
If it's a space slasher, it's full of reproductive notions and phallic images; penetration, impregnation, and bloody birth.
Science fiction inspires stargazing. Alien warns of the turmoil in space.
1) Blade Runner (1982)
What movie can top Alien? Blade Runner, an initially misunderstood masterwork, has become the apex of cinematic science fiction.
Based on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Blade Runner depicts a dismal vision of a then-future 2019 Los Angeles. Harrison Ford's ‘blade runner' officer Rick Deckard is entrusted with tracking down human-engineered Replicants who have escaped from a working colony.
As he retires them, he questions his literal and metaphorical humanity.
Blade Runner is ideas-driven sci-fi with its musings on humanity.
It's also a visual feast, with gigantic TV screens, bright lights, and bustling city streets.
Coupled with a haunting Vangelis synth score and Rutger Hauer's stunning act as Replicant leader Roy Batty, it's unbeatable.
