There Are 18 Near-Perfect Sci-Fi Movies According To Metacritic

On a quiet night in, you may find yourself scrolling through your favorite streaming service, looking for a good movie to watch. The full selection is overwhelming, so you decide to filter it by genre. When you choose a genre from the menu, what you're really doing is deciding, "What do I want tonight's movie to make me feel?" We expect action to thrill us, comedy to make us laugh, and romance to tug on our heartstrings. But science fiction isn't like other genres — sci-fi can make you feel all kinds of things. It's malleable, versatile, able to combine elements of other genres together into unique settings and situations while challenging you to examine your world in a new way.

According to Metacritic's review score algorithm, which is based on a weighted average of selected film critics' grades for a given film, there are 17 nearly perfect science fiction films in history, each with a score of 90 or higher out of a possible 100. What's fascinating about this selection is its diversity. These films hail from different countries and are even created in totally different media, spanning nearly the entire history of cinema. While two directors appear on the list twice, Metacritic's top sci-fi movies otherwise have very little in common. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry, some will put you on the edge of your seat — but they each begin by taking some fantastic yet plausible leap of imagination.

In the future of "Mad Max," an ecological disaster has left Earth bone-dry and the survivors of the apocalypse now battle over the remaining supplies of water and oil. Between the original "Mad Max" in 1979 and its two sequels in the 1980s, each film in the series upped the ante on grim yet stylish over-the-top action, but director George Miller took things to a whole new level when "Mad Max: Fury Road" hit screens in 2015. "Fury Road" is an intense, non-stop chase movie in which hard-luck hero Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy, taking over the role from Mel Gibson) teams up with the devastatingly cool Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). Together, they help five women escape slavery at the hands of the revolting despot Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne).

"Mad Max: Fury Road" is a top-notch action movie with eye-popping stunts and practical effects and award-winning costume and production design. These qualities alone were enough to earn it high praise from critics upon release. But "Fury Road" has also been held up as a feminist film in a genre (action, not sci-fi) where such themes are rare. The film's combination of brains, compassion, and pure adrenaline led to the kind of major awards recognition that genre flicks rarely receive, as well as a near-perfect Metascore of 90. It stands as an example of how sci-fi can educate and empower as well as entertain.

In the early 1930s, Hollywood brought to life a parade of movie monsters — such as Count Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and The Invisible Man — who prevail in the public consciousness today. But one stands above the others (literally) as a special achievement. 

"King Kong" was the first great movie monster to be created solely for the big screen rather than adapted from literature or mythology. Sure, inventing "a really big ape" may not have been the wildest leap of the imagination, but the story of the 1933 movie, as well as the technology invented to execute it, has held the attention of cinephiles for the better part of a century.

Effects supervisor Willis O'Brien brought "King Kong's" titular character and his dinosaur foes to life by employing practically every special effects trick that had been invented: stop motion, matte paintings, rear-screen projection, miniatures, and giant puppets. He combined them more seamlessly with live-action photography that audiences had never seen before.

"King Kong" was met with instant critical and commercial success, and despite a string of sequels, remakes, and reboots, the 1933 original still reigns supreme with its Metascore of 90/100. Viewer beware, however, that "King Kong" was very much made in 1933. In the decades since, some scholars and critics have come to see the film as a racist allegory, and while the film's co-directors denied any such intent, it can be difficult not to read it that way.

In Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 film "Solaris," a psychologist is sent to investigate a space station whose entire crew has suffered some sort of emotional breakdown. While initially dismissing their reports of bizarre visions as mere hallucinations, the psychologist soon finds himself face to face with his late wife. What is she, really? Has the strange ocean planet below somehow reunited them, or is she some sort of illusion? And even if she is, can they still be in love?

"Solaris" draws easy comparisons to "2001: A Space Odyssey," another slow, deliberate, and visually stunning art film set in space. But, as Roger Ebert wrote in a retrospective review, "['2001'] is outward, charting man's next step in the universe, while ['Solaris'] is inward, asking about the nature and reality of the human personality." The film has an intriguing sci-fi conceit in its titular sentient planet, which attempts to communicate to the humans above using their own memories. But as in most great speculative fiction, the otherworldly element is just a device through which to explore the character, and by extension, the audience.

"Solaris" premiered at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury (its second-highest honor) and was nominated for the Palm d'Or (its highest). An American remake was produced in 2002, directed by Steven Soderbergh, but is not as highly regarded, with a Metascore of 65 to the Tarkovsky version's 90.

Many of the highest-scoring sci-fi films on Metacritic are about showing the audience something big and awe-inspiring, but this entry on the list focuses on something much smaller: your cellphone. In Spike Jonze's 2013 drama "Her," Joaquin Phoenix plays a lonely man who falls in love with Samantha (voice of Scarlett Johansson), the self-aware operating system on his phone and computer. The film takes a realistic and down-to-earth approach to its premise, fleshing out the romance before gradually broadening its scope to examine the grander implications of bringing a thinking, feeling artificial intelligence into the world.

"Her" wrings a lot of humor and pathos out of its bizarre yet relatable premise, raising questions about our culture's increasing dependence on technology but also on how we relate to each other as human beings. What do we, or should we, look for in love? How much of love is about the other person, and how much is selfish? What happens when one partner needs the other more? All this feeling is centered around an awkward introvert and the shiny rectangle he carries in his pocket, brought to life by terrific, committed performances.

On top of awarding it a Metascore of 90, Metacritic found that "Her" topped 22 different lists of critics' favorite films of 2013. "Her" was also nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and brought home the prestigious Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Mary Shelley's 1818 novel "Frankenstein" is the prototypical sci-fi work, a tale of science gone wrong with a strong moral and emotional core. You know the story well — Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Henry in the film) attempts to conquer death by constructing a new man from the bodies of the dead and reanimating his tissue via advanced chemistry. His Creature does indeed come to life, but is shunned by society for his imposing figure, his hideous visage, and his unnatural origins, leading to a tragic and violent ending.

Nothing has boosted the cultural impact of Shelley's tale so much as director James Whale's 1931 film adaptation, which redefined the story and characters of "Frankenstein" into the iconic versions most familiar to the public today. Boris Karloff's performance as the shambling, wordless Creature, as well as his iconic appearance by makeup artist Jack Pierce, are now inseparable from the character. Later film adaptations featuring an eloquent, intelligent Creature now just feel wrong, despite being more accurate to the source material. Karloff went on to reprise the role in three sequels, one of which appears later on this list.

"Frankenstein's" impact was felt instantly. In his review for The New York Times, Mordaunt Hall called the film "far and away the most effective thing of its kind." Nearly a century later, critics still consider "Frankenstein" one of the pinnacles of both sci-fi and horror, and it stands tall with a Metascore of 91.

Science fiction can be aspirational, showing us a future we'd like to live in and even suggesting ways we might get there. It can also serve the exact opposite purpose, warning the public of the dangers of their current path and appealing to them to change course before it's too late. "Threads," a documentary-style film produced for the BBC in 1984, is an unflinching, unblinking portrayal of nuclear war designed to terrify its audience into action against the continued proliferation of doomsday weapons.

According to a 2009 interview with The Scotsman, director Mick Jackson felt that the threat of nuclear annihilation was so enormous that people lacked the vocabulary to even comprehend it. With "Threads," he hoped to turn his extensive research into something visceral and brutal that would help its audience put words and images to their fear and understand exactly what was at stake. The story extends far beyond the events of a nuclear bombing itself into the months and years that follow, depicting suffering that could previously have been called "unimaginable," but after viewing the film, becomes impossible not to imagine.

Even decades later, "Threads" is one of the most terrifying movie experiences of all time. In 2012, The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw called it "The only film I have been really and truly scared and indeed horrified by." This visceral look at an alternate past that may still become our future scores a 92 on Metacritic.

Some sci-fi movies are beloved for the implausible journeys they take us on, for the high emotion they can inspire, for the lessons they teach about our real lives, or for the way they push the technological limits of cinema. "WALL-E" is the rare film that excels in all of these departments. It's a visually stunning computer-animated film with a heart of gold and something worthwhile to say. The brainchild of director Andrew Stanton and the celebrated Pixar animation studio, "WALL-E" has "something for everyone" in the best way.

"WALL-E's" titular character is one of Earth's last "living" inhabitants, and has one programmed purpose — to crush garbage into compact, stackable cubes. After years in isolation, he grows beyond his programming, dreaming of romance and adventure. WALL-E gets his wish when he discovers a living plant among the ruins of our spoiled planet and falls in love with EVE, the advanced probe tasked with returning the plant to humanity's new home in space. Throughout their journey, the film dazzles with beautiful animation and production design, comments on modern consumerism and reliance on technology, all the while remaining a romantic comedy at heart.

"WALL-E" drew instant critical acclaim. New York Magazine's David Edelstein called it "a masterpiece to be savored before or after the end of the world." It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning Best Animated Feature, and with a Metascore of 95, ranks in Metacritic's top 10 animated features of all time.

We want movies, and sci-fi movies in particular, to take us places. "Gravity" takes us to Earth orbit — one of the deadliest, most beautiful places any human has ever gone — and then holds us there, relentlessly, for about 90 minutes. The film stars Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone, an astronaut whose spacewalk is interrupted when a sudden barrage of orbital debris destroys her shuttle. Alone in the vacuum of space, Dr. Stone must find a way to rendezvous with another craft before her air runs out or the debris field comes back around and tears her apart.

Director Alfonso Cuarón took great pains to keep the audience totally immersed in the events of the film. The story plays out in just about real-time, and with as few cuts as possible. "Gravity" begins with a 13-minute continuous take that sets the tone for the entire film, in which the camera floats through space and rarely leaves Ryan's side.

The technological challenges of creating "Gravity" meant it took over four years to complete, and the final product stands up as one of the greatest examples of what IMAX 3D can bring to a film. Much of what you see in "Gravity" is computer-generated, but Bullock's performance is very real, earning her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. The film would go on to win seven Oscars, including Best Director for Cuarón, and maintains an astronomical Metascore of 96.

"Memoria," from Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, is perhaps the most enigmatic film on our list. It debuted in July 2021 at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Jury Prize, one of the event's highest honors, but its theatrical release has been extremely limited. This is particularly true in the United States, where it has screened as a touring art exhibit, playing on only one screen at a time. But, those critics who have seen it have heaped praise aplenty upon the film, winning it a Metascore of 91. A.O. Scott of The New York Times described it as "an emotionally wrenching and intellectually fulfilling experience." Polygon's Robert Daniels calls "Memoria" "a sensory explosion [whose] dense, immersive shrapnel isn't easily removable," though he also warns that it may be "too metaphor-heavy to wholly hit its emotional target."

"Memoria" is the story of Jessica (Tilda Swinton), a Scottish woman living in Medellin, Colombia, who is haunted by a thunderous recurring sound that only she can hear. Jessica struggles to understand the sound and searches for a way to free herself from it, but it's not so much a mystery as it is a character study and existential meditation. "Memoria" is deliberately disorienting and opaque, with a conclusion that The Los Angeles Times' Justin Chang says "left [his] jaw on the screening room floor."

"Memoria" may not be every sci-fi enthusiast's cup of tea, but it's a must-see for fans of art house cinema — that is, if it's ever playing near you.