These Movies Will Kickstart Your New Sci-Fi Obsession

Science fiction continues to be a favored genre of movie audiences well into the 21st century, even as other important genres of cinema's classical years –- the western, the musical — have largely passed out of popularity. Sci-fi films regularly command the largest budgets in Hollywood and are aimed at, and consumed by, the largest audiences. A quick glance at the box office numbers over the last decade confirms that sci-fi — while generating its share of bombs — has also produced some of the most popular recent American movies, including Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hunger Games, Avatar, Interstellar, The Avengers, the Planet of the Apes trilogy, Transformers, Star Wars, and Star Trek.

And yet, not everyone is a fan! Some viewers find sci-fi esoteric, or goofy, or boring and pompous. Some are just tired of the Hollywood blockbusters. Yet sci-fi regularly continues to attract indie filmmakers as well, who in recent years have produced unique and sometimes undefinable cinematic experiences such as Under the Skin, Snowpiercer, Primer, Melancholia, and Color out of Space. Perhaps those turned off by science fiction haven't been exposed enough to the malleability of the genre. Or perhaps they don't recognize that sci-fi is regularly mashed up with the kinds of films they do like. Perhaps all they need is to be introduced to sci-fi through the gateway of another format or genre. With that in mind, we offer a diverse selection of recent sci-fi films that just might kickstart your new sci-fi obsession.

Blade Runner 2049 spent more than $150 million to create its elaborate futuristic world. Ex Machina was made for only $15 million, yet presents a world no less futuristic or enveloping. In fact, the movie was so successful in staging its singular vision, it won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, beating out much more expensive sci-fi releases from the same year, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It's proof that when it comes to science fiction, a vivid imagination is still the most important creative tool.

Indie connoisseurs who like their movies on smaller canvases and populated with unique characters should fall for the seductive Ex Machina. The movie dramatizes a love triangle of sorts between a genius AI creator (Oscar Isaac), his beautiful android creation Ava (Alicia Vikander), and Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a coder who works for Nathan's company. Caleb invites Nathan to his remote compound deep in the woods to perform a series of tests on Ava. He wants to know how human she feels to him. But it quickly becomes hard to tell who is testing whom, and just how self-aware Ava and her fellow androids are. Taut performances and brilliantly crafted twists and turns propel the film, which plays as much like a futuristic thriller as it does a character study, and has a feminist ending for the ages. For indie buffs who like their cinema small and thoughtful, this Ex Machina is an ideal film to rediscover the sci-fi genre.

This alien occupation movie came and went with very little fanfare. The reviews weren't good and the box office was worse. But like Solo, Captive State is ripe for rediscovery. Not only is it a crackerjack sci-fi thriller with a great final twist, the movie is effective as an allegory for the restricted social mobility of the urban Black American community. Set in the near future, it focuses on a group of Chicago resistance fighters led by Gabe (Ashton Sanders) and his brother Rafe (Jonathan Majors), who push back against the aliens that have turned humans into slave labor. The brothers strive toward liberation while trying to elude a Chicago police commander, William Mulligan (John Goodman). Like many of the humans now in power, Mulligan exists to do the aliens' bidding.

Much of what the movie allegorizes — the dangers of surveillance, authoritarianism, class divide, environmental destruction, etc. — is nothing new for dystopian science fiction. What makes Captive State specific beyond those familiar genre tropes, and relevant to its moment, is the way that it visualizes Black urban fear within the context of its narrative. And yet, while the movie has empathy for those affected by institutional inequality, it doesn't suggest that people aren't responsible for their own moral choices, even under the worst circumstances. For viewers looking to reignite their passion for sci-fi with a message — while still getting their pulse racing — they could do worse than this stirring, thoughtful movie.

It's a little shocking to revisit this movie again after not seeing it for a few years and realize just how good it really is. The many fans and critics who called Fury Road one of — if not the — best action films ever made, weren't just engaging in hyperbole after having their senses bulldozed by director George Miller's futuristic demolition derby. The combat, car chases, explosions, gunfire — the sheer spectacle of bodies and vehicles in motion — will satisfy any fan of Die Hard, James Bond, or John Wick.

Miller's earlier movie, The Road Warrior, is also universally lauded as one of cinema's great action films. What's his secret? He's tapping a deeper well for his fictional universe than just last year's Hollywood blockbusters: the action movies of silent cinema, especially Buster Keaton and The General. Miller understands that silent movie artists had to be very inventive and disciplined to tell their stories visually without the crutch of sound or color. A movie like The General is told through precisely staged action, stunts, and a vivid imagination that tries to keep topping itself — all of which is a pretty good description of Fury Road. And that's before we even get into the epic sci-fi world-building — a self-contained dystopia with every futuristic detail worked out with great originality and logic. For any action fan wanting to detour into sci-fi, Mad Max Fury Road is the obvious place to start.

But what about viewers who have no use for American movies at all? Have no fear! Science fiction is a global language. Some of the genre's most classic movies have been made in countries other than the United States, including Metropolis, Solaris, Godzilla, and Alphaville. The 2020 Russian science-fiction horror film Sputnik, directed by Egor Abramenko, may not quite approach the heights of these classics, but it's still a potent exercise in sci-fi horror that freely channels influences such as Alien while adding some original elements.

Like Ridley Scott's pioneering film, Sputnik features a capable, no-nonsense female lead, Dr. Tatyana Klimova (Oksana Akinshina), a brilliant psychiatrist called to a remote facility to help discern what happened to two cosmonauts after their encounter with a malevolent presence in Earth's orbit. She gradually discovers the horrors at the facility, and true to the genre, plenty of them are of the human variety. Of course she is commanded to keep her discoveries a secret, and given the movie's 1980s Cold War setting, this could be read as an allegory for the Chernobyl debacle, along with the ineffectual insanity of Soviet bureaucracy depicted. At the basic level of cinema, Sputnik is gorgeously photographed, evocative, and creepy, with a commanding lead performance by Akinshina. But it also provides a little extra for those who crave the mellifluous tones of a language other than English, along with a story that doesn't regard the United States as the center of the sci-fi universe.

This sci-fi/horror genre hybrid throws it back to an even earlier cinematic era — the early 1930s, when Universal Studios had a string of sci-fi horror hits that have long been immortalized as classics, including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, and The Invisible Man. Each of these films has been remade many times. Universal even had the recent idea to reboot all of these classics under the Dark Universe banner, but the plan imploded spectacularly when the Tom Cruise version of The Mummy flopped in 2017.

But with a much smaller budget and a more focused vision for the #MeToo era, director Leigh Whannell was more successful in creating his update of the Invisible Man starring Elisabeth Moss. Look no further than The Handmaid's Tale to see what a master Moss is at conveying the inner life of a character with just her eyes. She is especially good at expressing worry and fear. No surprise, then, that she is the ideal star for this film, playing an abused and gaslit woman who is pursued by a monster that she can't even see. While the horror elements of this movie are very effective, Whannell doesn't neglect the sci-fi. The invisibility suit is sleek and futuristic, and the mumbo-jumbo about how the cutting edge technology works is given sufficient credibility. But it's handled subtly in a movie that focuses on being scary and disturbing. The Invisible Man is an ideal gateway into sci-fi for horror aficionados.