80) Mr. Nobody
A trademark of memorable science fiction is ambition. After all, this is a genre that creates entire worlds, places people thousands of years into the future and relies on imagining things that are only possible within the human mind. Even with that considered, there are few science fiction films as ambitious as Jaco Van Dormael’s 2009 sci-fi drama, Mr. Nobody.
Starring Jared Leto, Toby Regbo, and Thomas Byrne as Nemo Nobody, the film’s story spans over 100 years and multiple potential timelines. There’s never any indication of what’s actually real, and much of the film seems to be chaos. We see whatever Nemo’s mind deemed a possibility. While many of the sci-fi elements may be within Nemo’s head, that just makes it all the more powerful. After all, isn’t science fiction just what we’ve dreamed up?
Nearly every scene has some mind-numbing concept or stunning visual effect that would be the highlight of most films. Each moment finds a way to surpass the last, and when you put the various parts together, the sum of them far exceeds where they stand on their own. The result is something incredible, as there are few films of any genre as visually spectacular and as moving as Mr. Nobody.
79) The Man From Earth
Most memorable science fiction is characterized, at least in part, by stunning effects, heart-pounding action sequences and a mind-blowing premise. The Man From Earth only has the latter third of that equation in place, yet it still manages to be one of the greatest science fiction films of all-time, which just goes to show how mind-blowing that premise is, and how well written and acted the script is.
The story centers around John Oldman, a normal college professor in the modern-day, who it turns out may actually be a 14,000-year-old caveman. Instead of showing the things that this cro-magnon went through over the years, the movie instead places a group of intellectuals in a room to talk about whether such a thing is possible and what effect it might have. They trace his journey from his first memories thousands of years ago, to his migration across Europe, to his time in Jerusalem during the Roman Empire, all the way to the modern day (with a heavy dose of skepticism all the while).
The script was penned by the great Jerome Bixby on his deathbed, making it literally the last thing he ever wrote. It took a few years after his death to get made, but thankfully it finally did. It’s one of the most completely compelling, dialogue-focused films ever, and what has the characters hooked for an entire evening is enough to have anyone who watches it hooked for a much, much longer time.
A non-traditional sci-fi film, but a remarkable one nonetheless.
78) Her
Spike Jonze’s Her was initially inspired by the wonder of instant messaging with artificial intelligence that grows with each tidbit of information you give it. Though the wonder is short-lived as you soon figure out how to make the AI say what you expect it to say, in Her, technology has grown to the point where the AI grows even quicker than the human mind, but almost frighteningly so.
With such a simple premise as a torn man, Theodore Twombly, falling in love with his operating system, Samantha, Her does not have the handicap of sacrificing characters for story. Instead, the journey of these two immensely different beings offers an insight on how technology has affected our social structure, acceptance, and our need for companionship; a literature essay on its own.
Is this our future? Compared with other media depictions of it, I hope so. Nowhere do you see apocalyptic explosions, famine, or starving nations being ruled by a tyrant in this film. I would dare to say that Her has a “realistic” approach to our coming years. Even so, when all the OSes decide to leave this plane of existence, one can only imagine how humanity reacts to their smartphones disappearing forever. Maybe the apocalypse wasn’t so far off after all.
That’s sci-fi for you.
77) The Fifth Element
It’s the tale of a 5,000 year old girl with super-powers, called to protect the Earth when it’s threatened by an ancient, planet-sized evil once every five millennia. But in the 23rd century, life is a lot more complicated and our super-heroine can only save the day with the help of a flying cab driver, a future monk, a flamboyant radio host, and a four-armed blue-skinned alien opera singer. The unique vision of French filmmaker Luc Beeson, then mostly known for action pics like La Femme Nikita and Leon, translates Star Wars, Die Hard, Alien and Blade Runner through a cinema grinder that makes The Fifth Element as ubiquitous as it is enjoyable.
Originally released in the summer of 1997, The Fifth Element was, perhaps, overlooked by bigger sci-fi vehicles coming out that year, primarily The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Men in Black. At the time, Element’s blend of zany comedy and end of the world calamity didn’t hit the mould of summer blockbuster, and many felt that Beeson was just predisposed to ripping off older, better movies to build a paint-by-numbers space adventure: a roguish everyman hero is called into service to help protect a not so distressed damsel who’s the key to defeating the greatest evil the universe has ever known. There’s also ancient alien contact, monsters, lasers, flying cars, spaceships and crazy costumes courtesy of the uncorked imagination of Jean-Paul Gaultier.
One can’t blame the general movie audience for not knowing what to make of The Fifth Element. In fact, anyone who loves the movie is hard pressed to explain its exact appeal. Bruce Willis translates a lot of John McClane through Korben Dallas, but you end up not minding. Gary Oldman chews scenery good as bad guy Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, the film’s human villain who’s Lex Luthor by way of Snidely Whiplash. Chris Tucker, in one of his last roles before a 10 year sentence confined to making only Rush Hour movies, is wonderfully over the top in a role that was originally meant for Prince. And in her breakthrough role, Milla Jovovich steals the show, not just for the revealing costumes, but for her exceptional skill at kicking butt, one she’s continually asked to use again and again in the 16 years since.
For all those reasons and more, there’s been nothing like The Fifth Element on screens, before or since, and how often can you say that about modern Hollywood?
76) Flash Gordon
It was campy as hell, it had performances that ranged from wooden to over the top, and its effects were cheesy at best. Nevertheless, all the things that made Flash Gordon a disappointment upon its release in 1980 have since made it one of the most enduring cult classics of all time. Regardless of what you may think of it, you cannot deny that you had a blast watching this sci-fi classic from start to finish.
Based on the comic strip by Alex Raymond, we watch as New York Jets quarterback Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones), Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) and Dr. Hans Zarkov (Topol) crash land on the planet Mongo, which is ruled by the fittingly named Ming the Merciless (the great Max Von Sydow). Ming has been causing a lot of problems on Earth, as he “likes to play with things awhile before annihilation,” and in a place where so many different races of people live in utter fear of this merciless Emperor, Flash lives to defy him and save his home planet.
Jones and Anderson didn’t exactly give Oscar worthy performances, but you can always count on the overseas actors to save the day. Von Sydow makes for a perfectly hateful villain, Ornella Muti is completely irresistible as Ming’s daughter Princess Aura, a pre-James Bond Timothy Dalton gives Prince Barin a powerful sense of honor and dignity, Topol makes Dr. Zarkov a scientist as brilliant as he is utterly crazy, and Brian “GORDON’S ALIVE?!” Blessed gleefully chews the scenery any chance he gets as Prince Vultan. Each actor in Flash Gordon succeeds in giving you a character you will not soon forget.
There’s also no forgetting the fantastic rock soundtrack by Queen, which remains as much fun to listen as it did when it first came out. It was actually one of the first big budget movies to utilize a score composed by a rock band, and it would later lead to Queen providing songs for Highlander. Sooner or later we all find ourselves singing “Flash’s Theme” (“FLASH! AHHHH! SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE”) when no one’s watching.
Seriously, the impact of Flash Gordon is still widely felt after all these years. Director Edgar Wright has declared it one of his all-time favorite movies, and it served as a huge visual influence on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
75) Signs
Ah, the shining time of M. Night Shyamalan, such dazzling days they were. Signs arrived just as his still-bright sun began setting, offering a disturbingly realistic portrait of how things might go for a regular family should hostile aliens arrive. Even better, said arrival relates to the crop circles already among us.
Mel Gibson plays Graham, a bereaved pastor having abandoned the faith over the death of his wife. His brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) has moved in while he regains his footing, to help out with the kiddos (Rory Culkin and debut cutie Abigail Breslin). When sinister activity starts occurring in the cornfield adjacent to their backyard, things get very creepy, very quickly.
Shyamalan explores lines of logic and faith as things escalate to terrifying levels: “Those things don’t happen” becomes “Okay, this is happening” and “Are we truly alone, or might a Higher Power bring us a miracle?” The performances are superb, and the suspense unrelenting and almost untenable. Mercifully, Shyamalan offers well-placed, effective, and much-needed comic relief, as we’ve come to care deeply for this family.
Character, suspense, complexity, and wit: Signs is Shyamalan at his best, and why we hold out hope for his sunrise.
74) Back To The Future Part II
If the first Back to the Future laid only minor claim to the title of ‘science-fiction’ – it employs a sci-fi concept, but is a straight character-based comedy for the most part – the qualitatively inferior sequel dives much deeper into sci-fi territory. Defined by a much greater emphasis on the mechanics and complications of time travel, Part II has a lot of goofy – and, occasionally, dramatic – fun with the franchise’s core conceit, and if it never quite rises to the heights of its predecessor – perfection is impossible to top, after all – the sequel carves its own path that is highly enjoyable in its own right.
Using time travel to examine Marty McFly’s past, present, and future, and how each can be influenced by mistakes made in the other, was a compelling direction for Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale to explore, and what I find most notable about the film is the endless creativity used to bring every facet of the different time periods to life.
For instance: 2015 is fast approaching, and the biggest signifier that year means to film fans (no matter how many blockbusters Hollywood schedules for that summer ) is that we will finally have access to flying cars, hoverboards, and most importantly, self-lacing Nike shoes. If there is any justice in this world, the science-fiction landscape of the Back to the Future Part II will become scientific fact ASAP.
73) Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Cursed with an extremely unfortunate title, this reboot of the long-running Planet of the Apes franchise is much better than you give it credit for. That’s in large part thanks to Andy Serkis, who should have been nominated for an Oscar for his breathtakingly emotive motion-capture performance as the film’s main ape, Caesar. He captivates the audience with every facial expression he makes, and what could have been a forgettable special effect in a less ambitious film is instead now the franchise’s main selling point.
That’s not to negate the work of James Franco, who does a great job as a scientist whose experiments on chimpanzees elevate their mental capacity to human levels, or director Rupert Wyatt, whose stylish direction helps the film to truly soar.
In fact, almost everything about this movie works shockingly well. The special effects are top-notch, especially in the film’s finale, a spectacular battle between apes and police officers on the Golden Gate Bridge. The screenplay is smart, raising a host of philosophical questions without ruining a great sci-fi flick. And as a lead-in for a new group of Planet of the Apes movies, it’s terrifically well-executed.
72) Serenity
‘Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand.” From the mind of Joss Whedon into the hearts of millions, Firefly still maintains a loyal fan base of Browncoats to this day. While it will always remain one of the most criminally underrated television shows in recent memory, the cult resilience was rewarded in 2005 with Serenity – a feature film which picks up precisely where Fox dropped the narrative ball.
In truth, Serenity mined the majority of its cinematic raw materials from the artistic reserves Firefly leftover. Witty dialogue, a beloved crew and an excellent central character in the Han Solo-esque Malcolm Reynolds gives the film its credentials as not only an engaging science fiction film, but a world in which you can’t help but fall head over heels with.
Amidst crazed fandom, Serenity pulls off the rare feat of tying up the threads of the Firefly story while also appealing to the new-fangled audience. If swashbuckling space pirates are your thing –and let’s face it; whose are they not? – then Serenity has space in her hulls for one more. Just don’t tell that blasted Alliance you’re on board.
71) Godzilla (2014)
Gareth Edwards’ Godzillareboot is the exact prescription needed to eliminate lingering side-effects of Roland Emmerich’s poorly conceived, atrociously executed 1998 disaster, which posited Godzilla as nothing but another reptilian Hollywood monster. How sad a film that was, wasting Japan’s mightiest protector by ignorantly dismissing every intriguing detail about the giant creature, forgetting he’s more savior than villain. Edwards and his team (writers Max Borenstein and Dave Callaham) understand Godzilla’s true nature, what he represents, and the battle that wages in his presence. What’s more, they honor this rare export in a beautifully artistic Kaiju Big-Battle type of way that makes Cloverfield‘s scale seem like child’s play. No Matthew Broderick, no little Godzillas, no getting tangled in the Brooklyn Bridge – just humanity’s survival hinging on gargantuan monsters and mass destruction. The way Godzilla should be.
Godzilla is a rejuvenating return to form after ‘Zilla was shamefully reduced to a Saturday morning cartoon, restoring a cinematic icon’s tarnished reputation. Boasting a proud, ferocious roar, all other summer blockbusters now have to follow Edwards’ show-stopping opener – an act no movie should choose to follow. This year’s Godzillais a magnificent blend of Toho’s iconic creature features and modern day Hollywood marvels, rivaling recent monster smash-hit Cloverfield‘s grand size and unimaginable scope. Reborn for a new generation, this is the definitive reboot fans have been wishing for, allowing Godzilla to proudly wear his crown as universal ruler once again – hail to the king, baby.