10. Equilibrium
Equilbrium takes after Farenheit 451 taking place in a distant future where art is illegal and passionate feelings of hate or love are buried by mandatory, government issue pharmaceuticals. Most art and "sense-offenders" are dispatched by "clerics." Christian Bale plays one such cleric who after missing a dose of his numbing perscription falls deeper and deeper into addiction of feeling all the while pretending he's not. It is probably one of his more impressive performances. Just the little things he does over the course of the day that make him stick out from the other clerics are very subtle yet set in motion the waves of emotion he feels at certain points within the movie. Euqilibirum is also chock full of some of the coolest action scenes, using the directors own blend of "Gun-Kata," gun play meets martial arts, that has to be seen to believe.
9. Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Minds
No robots. No superheroes. No apocalytpic view of the future. Just your average joes of modern times undergoing a procedure that is out of this world. Joel, played by Jim Carey, undergoes mind erasure of a messy break-up and once great relationship he had with Clementine, played by Kate Winslet. Directed by the very fantastic Michel Gondry, the events of their relationship play mostly backwards, as Joel relives the relationship as the technicians erase them. Being conscious during the procedure, Joel drifts off to other memories trying to save his favorite times spent with Clementine.
8. Children of Men
In a post-apocalyptic world, all the women stopped having babies. It sends a number of people into complete apathy, while a select veiw become aggressive and violent. The world is in shambles both emotionally and physically, and no where is really safe as the world is reduced to slums and de-militarized zones. Clive Owen plays a man capable of great hope and love who has lost his way with the rest of the world until he is pulled into an operation by his ex-wife and her revolutionary cohorts to protect a young pregnant woman.
7. 12 Monkeys
Bruce Willis plays a time traveler forced into the past by the remaining humans of the future to gain intel on a disease that would eventually send humans underground. In 12 Monkeys, time travel is not an exact science. A couple of times Willis' character is sent to the wrong time, and he is even convinced he is crazy in modern times. Bruce Willis, known for his bravado and comic timing than his dramatic acting, excels surprisingly well even if Brad Pitt's psycho supporting character steals the show and gains more attention.
6. The Road Warrior
Most of the world knows it as Mad Max 2, but since it was released in the US before the first Mad Max that wouldn't make much sense. In fact, this arm's length distinction between the two works out for the best since the future of Mad Max and the future of The Road Warrior share a number of differences, the biggest being the amount of social decay that has occured. The Road Warrior depicts an Aussie setting where all government and society has completely erased leaving a number of boomtowns and villanous, nomadic gangs littering the highways. Max rises as a definitive anti-hero who's motivation for helping first comes from selfishness as he bargains for gas and equipment and later out of his own honor as he helps the residents of a boomtown escape. The Road Warrior is best remembered for its incredible finale car chase devoid of any CGI, strictly all stunt work.
5. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Easily one of the greatest sequels cinema has ever offered, Arnold Shwarzeneggar returns as the wooden robot from the future not as a villain but as a hero protecting young John Connor from a much higher advanced robot combatant. Arnold is truly amazing in this movie. The Terminator itself is characterized by its absence of emotion, and while the leads to some comical interactions with John, you can actually see the Terminator grow and develop as a character in small subtle ways. The key to this change is his ever growing understanding of why humans are the way they are, which also unlocks the doors to why we created the technology that turned on us in the future and why we are worth saving, both of which would usually be answered with entirely opposing intentions.
4. Dark City
Influenced by the tone of film-noir, this mystery-thriller involved a group of aliens, known only as The Strangers, who lack any kind of differentiating characteristics, have taken it upon themselves to study the life and love of humans by systematically rearranging the elements of a small population of people's lives to see how they would unfold. One such human ends up being more than he appeared having the same reality warping powers as The Strangers. Now immune to their changes, he tries to piece together his far fragmented life and earn back the woman he loves, yet swears he has never met. This movie is chock full of incredible cityscapes resembling Burton's Batman or The Crow (no surprise since they share a director).
3. Empire Strikes Back
A best of sci-fi could not go without some kind of nod to Star Wars, and Empire Strikes Back has clearly been the best installment of that 6-part story in my opinion. First of all, it is Han Solo at his best. Same roguish charmer from A New Hope. Same bull-headed hero from Return of the Jedi. It is also our first introduction to Yoda, the philosophical mentor, and Lando, Han's frenemy for life. It also has the coolest action of any of the first three, and not to intentionaly quote Clerks, but it has an outstanding downer ending leaving the audience wanting more.
2. Blade Runner
A neo-noir detective mystery based on Philip K. Dick's Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep, Richard Dekard is one the case to find 4 cyborgs (aka replicants) on the rampage after finding out they have expiration dates. The sad realization that they are not immortal and have more in common with humans sends them into a craze, pretty impressive for a computer brain. The tone, visuals, and Harrison Ford downplaying his investigator character and Rutger Hauer playing his sadist replicant up makes for a chilling dynamic. Catch the director's cut for a subtle subplot involving the possibility that Ford's Deckard is also a replicant. Any of the three verisons (at least 3 I know of) all include the sad, thoughtful last words of Hauer.
1. Moon
The reason that I am even making this list is because of this movie. Maybe it is just so fresh in mind and that I have an incredible bias for the talented and underappreciated Sam Rockwell that this new film makes it so high, but it deserves a spot on anyone's Top 10 sci-fi flicks regardless. It is funny, thoughtful, profound, and engaging, all impressive feats for a one-man-in-two-roles show. Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell and Sam Bell, one of the same but coming aged three years apart meeting on a space mission to harvest the newly discovered energy source. After spending three years in isolation, anyone would go crazy, but is it really hallucinations or a bigger conspiracy at hand. Stay tuned for Duncan Jones', director of Moon and David Bowie's son, next feature Mute, a piece inspired by Blade Runner, and rumored to show the final fate of Sam Bell.
Honorable Mention: Serenity
I needed to throw some kind of honorable mention in here because there were so many movies I wanted to add but couldn't. For instance Serenity, the continuation of the short lived television series "Firefly." It follows the further adventures of war hero Captain Mal Reynolds and his band of miscreants as they live paycheck to paycheck as mercenaries. This time they get in over their heads with a conspiracy that goes all the way to the head of the new ruling class, the same bad guys who won the war against Mal's side. One part western, one part Star Wars. This is a fun action-adventure with truly charming characters and a great bad guy yet a pretty ham-fisted message.
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