These are the best sci-fi movies of all time.
It's a genre of fiction called sci-fi. We can imagine all sorts of alternate realities, awash with unknown life forms, set in the deepest, darkest points of space, but what about when world-class directors and big name actors bring these realities to the big screen? There is something for everyone on our list of the best sci-fi movies of all time.
This collection of 15 of the best sci-fi movies will hopefully span the different themes across the genre; from horror to comedy.
This list shows how deep the sci-fi genre really goes and how far it goes. If you pick up the thread here, you will see that some of our movies are part of larger, successful franchises.
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Let's start with it without further ado. Our list of the best sci-fi movies of all time consists of 15 of the greatest picks, if you find yourself looking for more titles to be added to your must watch list, then we have got our list of the best space movies as well.
A sci-fi movie centered on isolation, Moon follows Sam Bell as he nears the end of his three-year mission mining for Helium 3, an answer to Earth's energy crisis, on the moon. He becomes unwell and suffers an accident that brings him together with a younger version of himself, even though he wants to return home.
Moon focuses on the more psychological aspects of the sci-fi genre as viewers watch a man struggle to separate the real from the fake in this thought provoking film.
A young man who works for an internet company won a contest to spend a week at the home of the company's CEO, but things don't go as planned. The purpose of the competition is to find out how real the robot is and to converse with it.
There is little to distract us from the plot as we hole up in a mountain lodge isolated from the rest of existence. The self-awareness of machines is not to be underestimated.
The ultimate revenge story set against a backdrop of corporate greed is offered by Paul Verhoeven'sRoboCop. Alex Murphy rises from the ashes after being killed in a gang attack as he becomes a law enforcement officer.
The remake of Detroit is made with crime and corruption in mind. In the movie, a heavily-armored robot with a penchant for causing pain to wrongdoers does just that. An 80s sci-fi success, however, was followed up by two sequels and a remake, but no one came close to the original.
There is a classic sci-fi scene in which the world is turned upside down. Earth has become uninhabitable due to a plague called the Blight that has ravaged all of the world's food sources, as well as a Dust Bowl that has caused a dry spell. Forced into space, a group of research astronauts fronted by Joseph Cooper need to travel across the universe and find a new home.
Christopher Nolan builds a sci-fi movie around themes of loneliness, isolation, love, and what we would do to survive if we were to go extinct.
After Jaws, Steven Spielberg created Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This movie was going to be a hit with a director like that. Roy Neary's life was turned upside down when he had a close encounter with an alien. One minute he is fixing the electrical lines in Indiana, the next he is on the road looking for answers.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a story of optimism and discovery and one that brings Roy into a group of people on a journey to discover more about humankind.
2001: A Space Odyssey is a good sci-fi movie. There is a radio signal on the moon. The film follows a deep space mission of two astronauts and an artificial intelligence computer as they attempt to uncover the truth behind the monolith. It's a rich sci-fi topic that has only been expanded upon since 1968.
The movie earned a spot on our best sci-fi movies based on books list because it was made with a book of the same name by both directors and writers.
Louise Banks is called upon by the military to figure out how to communicate with aliens when they land around the world. There is an intelligent and introspective movie that looks at how we communicate with life forms from another world. Arrival was praised for its depiction of linguistics.
Arrival is about exploring the possibilities of life and what the discovery of intelligent alien life would mean for mankind. After making his sci-fi debut with Arrival, Denis Villeneuve went on to direct both Blade Runner 2049 and Dune, all of which have received critical praise.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial tells the story of a young boy who finds an alien who has been stranded on Earth. Their suburban Californian home is where E.T. is kept under wraps. Steven Spielberg brought space to Earth and surrounded it with hope and love and tore fear away from the possibility of something else out there.
To evoke real emotion from the young cast to the backdrop of an incredible score by composer John Williams is Shot mostly chronologically to evoke real emotion from the young cast to the backdrop of an incredible score by composer John Williams. It took over 800 million dollars at the box office with a budget of $10.5 million.
The Extra-terrestrial.
Did you not know that this would be on the list, did you? Back to the Future is a perfect example of a comedy and sci-fi movie.
Marty McFly is thrown back in time by his friend, Doc Brown, in Back to the Future. He accidentally prevents his parents from falling in love with each other. He has to find a way to save himself and his parents from each other.
Two Back to the Future sequels are both pretty good, but they can't compare to the original.
Baby, hasta la vista! One of the most famous lines in all of cinema is "Terminator 2: Judgement Day is more than just a quote machine, it's a genuinely fantastic sci-fi movie and a rare case of a sequel that surpasses the original movie."
Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as the T-800 in the sequel and is transformed into a better person. The T-1000 is a new threat and he is protecting SarahConnor from it.
It is an extraordinary sequel to a sci-fi franchise. If you want to see what we mean, check out our worst to best guide.
We couldn't write a best sci-fi movies list if we didn't include the Star Wars movies. In order to back up this entry, we have provided a further explanation in Star Wars movies.
The second part of the original Star Wars trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back, is known for taking the franchise to new heights with epic battles, an amazing movie plot twist, and captivating moments between main characters. The Empire Strikes Back has been praised for its focus on storyline.
There is a film on our list by the director. Rick Deckard is an ex- police officer who was brought back on side as a replicant hunter to hunt down genetically engineered humans that pose a threat to society. Scott compares the 1982 movie to today's world with big technology corporations holding strong positions.
A slow paced movie with a melancholic love story, on the backdrop of some incredible set design, creates a timeless sci-fi movie that will leave you unsure about the nature of humanity.
I show you how deep the rabbit hole is when you take the red pill. A famous quote from The Matrix invites viewers to follow Thomas Anderson as he goes down the rabbit hole into the Matrix, a simulation of reality entrapping humanity and Neo himself. We watch as Neo takes on an underground battle to freedom as humans are being used for their energy by machines.
The combination of sci-fi and martial arts was showcased in The Matrix, a movie that used special effects and computer-generated imagery to make it look better. The Matrix is so clever that it leaves viewers pondering their very existence.
The crew of the Nostromo were woken up by a distress signal from a nearby ship. They are worried to find a nest of eggs of an alien species. Prolific director Ridley Scott breathes life into this sci-fi epic which began a franchise spanned six films in total from 1979 to 2017: if you want to run through them, check out our complete list of Alien movies, ranked worst to best.
Alien is a great sci-fi film. The basic premise plays into the age-old setup of humans versus aliens and fills it to the brim with suspense and action that will have you gripped onto your seat.
An extra-terrestrial known as the "Thing" comes into contact with a group of researchers in the South Pole. With a power like this, the team quickly turns on each other with no one knowing if their friends remain friends or enemies. The Thing is a depiction of perfect 80s cinema that makes it seem more real than it is.
E.T. and The Thing were both released at the same time, but were worlds apart from each other in terms of themes. The Thing wasn't welcomed by viewers initially, but eventually became a cult classic.
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