Science fiction movies are the perfect places to explore headier and more existential concepts through film, leading to some incredible works of art that might cause the viewer to question everything they thought they knew. Science fiction is a versatile genre, encompᴀssing everything from grounded near-future stories with a single cutting-edge element to wacky flights through the cosmos full of alien wonders. The best written sci-fi always has something to say that can linger in the mind of an audience for years to come.
Sci-fi movies capable of getting deeper examine all sorts of esoteric themes that only the unique setting of the genre can explore, from the nature of reality itself to the everlasting question of what it means to be human. These kinds of films can leave a profound impact on viewers long after credits have rolled, earning their place in cinematic history. While some complicated sci-fi movies go too far with their waxing philosophical, the best are able to shake the foundations of everything an audience knows to be true.
8
The Matrix
Has both style and substance
The great thing about science fiction as a genre is the fact that deeply philosophical discussions about the nature of reality needn’t necessarily exclude exciting action or extreme spectacle. One of the most important and perfectly-written films ever made, the Wachowski sisters’ The Matrix is a classic for a reason, birthing an entire series of Matrix films. The first film tells the hero’s journey of Neo, a hacker who learns that his entire reality is a lie constructed by sentient A.I. in order to farm humanity for energy. Soon, he becomes the most important figure in the human revolution.
But it’s in the questioning of how important it is that The Matrix itself is false when every signal within a subject’s brain signals it as real that the film truly hits its philosophical stride.
The Matrix put so many important science fiction concepts front-and-center for a wider audience for the first time, such as the idea of a totally manufactured world, while expanding upon well-known tropes like evil robots and post-apocalyptic futures. But it’s in the questioning of how important it is that The Matrix itself is false when every signal within a subject’s brain signals it as real that the film truly hits its philosophical stride. Even though it’s well-known for slow-motion kung fu, leather jackets, and sunglᴀsses, The Matrix poses thoughts that linger.
7
Dark City
The original recipe artifical reality
A dark, brooding noir piece befitting of its name, Dark City is one of the original films that posed the same questions as The Matrix a year earlier. The narrative begins shrouded in mystery, with a lone amnesiac man waking up in a H๏τel room only to find that he’s wanted for murder. As the Jane Doe protagonist makes his way through what soon seems to be a devious conspiracy that goes far deeper than his own supposed crimes, the actual reasoning behind the literal darkness of his city is chillingly revealed.
Dark City is a criminally underlooked predecessor to The Matrix that dissects many of the same ideas. The major difference is the horror angle from which Dark City approaches its dreamlike reality, turning the nightmarish exercise in human complacency into something even more sinister than the rule of the machines. Dark City also explores some different territory as well, asking age-old questions about the human soul and what might separate us as a species from more alien forms of consciousness.
6
Inception
The metaphysical exploration of dreams
Yet another science fiction film that supposes reality itself might not be as it seems, Inception was the first true sci-fi breakout hit among the esteemed filmography of director Christopher Nolan. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, a professional thief with the rare ability to enter people’s dreams and steal the information within. Cobb takes on his most dangerous job yet, earning the film’s тιтle by planting an idea in someone’s mind, though the process might cost him everything.
The literal layers of reality laid on top of one another in Inception certainly grants a layer of complexity to compliment the surreal visuals and classic Nolan-level blockbuster setpieces. The film begs Jungian questions surrounding dreams, the subconsious, and how the two interact to form the most fundamental aspects of our personality. It helps that it’s easy to get invested in Cobb’s emotional journey and attempts to grapple with his past through his work.
5
Interstellar
Cheesy, but philosophically charged
While Inception saw Nolan dip his toes in near-future science fiction, Interstellar saw him go all-in on a more traditional space opera. Interstellar posits Matthew McConaughey as Coop, an astronaut tasked with finding Earthlike planets for humanity to colonize after a vague disaster renders the Earth inhospitable quickly. The mission is painfully accentuated by the realistic portrayal of relativistic space travel and time dilation, ensuring that Coop’s family back on Earth ages quickly from Coop’s perspective as he’s desynced from their local time.
Interstellar may spend a lot of time focusing on its time-shifting premise, but the true heart and soul of the film centers on the unifying power of love as a fundamental force of the universe, even across the vast distances of outer space. It may be laden with corny dialogue that over-explains as much sometimes, but Interstellar‘s earnestness doesn’t preclude it from permanently altering a viewer’s perspective. Few other films are comfortable with examining the strange and comforting ability of love to literally transcend time itself.
4
Blade Runner
The original heady sci-fi masterpiece
Modern science fiction owes a lot to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. One of the greatest science fiction movies of the 80s, Blade Runner loosely adapts the classic Phillip K. Dick science fiction novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, but adding a healthy dose of cyberpunk aesthetics. The original film stars Harrison Ford as police officer Deckard, whose job it is to track down and destroy runaway Replicants, near-human androids.
His job soon becomes complicated by the advent of Replicants with more human thoughts and feelings than ever before.
A stunning cyber noir film, Blade Runner delves into some heady themes that aren’t obscured by its striking visuals. Blade Runner‘s slick late-stage capitalist society has enough threads to pull from on its own, questioning the natural conclusion of modern civilization. But it’s the replicants’ yearning desires to be human, or their discovery that they were never any less “human” than the average person, that truly drives the post-credits discussion, making Blade Runner still a thought-provoking film all these decades later.
3
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Merges the silly with the existential
The concept of parallel dimensions has been a popular one in recent years, with everything from superhero movies to widely-known cartoons like Rick and Morty getting in on the action. But no multiverse story has been as poignant or thought-provoking as Everything Everywhere All at Once, which released to near-universal acclaim in 2022. The movie posits Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn, an immigrant laundromat owner whose entire world is challenged when she’s pulled into a multiversal war waged by a version of her daughter whose nihilism is threatening all of creation.
Despite its silliness, absurdist humor and spectacular martial arts choreography, Everything Everywhere All at Once is still capable of leaving a profound impact. Besides the Daoist and Buddhist philosophy the film toys with, the fundamental battle of kindness in the face of entropy makes for a compelling googly-eyed message that sticks with the viewer long after the credits roll. Everything Everywhere All at Once may not feel like a traditional science fiction movie, but that doesn’t dilute the profundity of its themes.
2
2001: A Space Odyssey
Transcends the human condition
Plenty of science fiction films take deep stabs at the nature of human nature, but surprisingly few question what the next stage of human evolution might actually look like. Enter 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanely Kubrick’s magnum opus and one of the most influential films of all time. The film follows an astronaut who is tasked with going on a lengthy expedition to Jupiter in order to study a mysterious monolith, an alien structure whose presence has historically led to great leaps and bounds in human development.
The film’s Nietzschean themes of a higher state of being achievable by humanity makes one wonder whether it’s possible for our species to continuously evolve even further than we already have.
With sparely little dialogue, 2001: A Space Odyssey is able to touch on classic sci-fi concepts like machine learning and space travel. However, the real star of the show is the transcendence of the human race into something greater, whether it be by our own volition or alien influence. The film’s Nietzschean themes of a higher state of being achievable by humanity makes one wonder whether it’s possible for our species to continuously evolve even further than we already have. With the iconic notes of Also Sprach Zarathustra, 2001: A Space Odyssey establishes itself as an unforgettable sci-fi masterpiece.
1
Arrival
A thoughtful dissection of time itself
While Denis Villeneuve might be better known in science fiction these days for his Dune adaptations, the Canadian director first got his feet wet in the genre with Arrival. Arrival stars Amy Adams as a top-notch linguist contracted by the United States government for the most important job in her life – Deciphering the language of a recently-arrived species of aliens and facilitating communication between them and humanity. As she goes about her work, Dr. Louise Banks soon comes under the influence of the aliens’ unique perspective.
Arrival is one of those rare science fiction films that manages to be wet with emotion, making its clever brand of time-traveling memories a true ᴀsset to the story. As Dr. Banks learns the tragedy of the future laid out before her, she nevertheless chooses to experience life for all it’s worth thanks to the help of the aliens’ reality-altering language. For its brilliant subversion of expectations via flashbacks and thought-provoking themes, Arrival is sheer science fiction excellence that demonstrates the genre’s strength in reflection and retrospect.
