Best Sci-Fi Movies of The 21st Century

7/2/2019 Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 21st Century | Den of Geek
Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 21st Century

We survey the best science fiction movies that have come
our way so far this century.
FEATURE There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that in some ways we are

living in a golden age of science-fiction cinema, which is most
Don12
Kaye
appropriate for the era that kicked off with the year 2001. For one
thing, there’s a lot more of it; I was honestly surprised in some
Jan 11, 2019 ways to see just how many sci-fi movies have been released since
the turn of the century (and millennium).
But more importantly, there have been so many good (and even
great) genre efforts released that even the list of runners-up posted
at the end of this article represents a formidable survey of some
really strong pieces of work. And it’s not all expensive, effects-
driven stuff: the cheapest movie on this list cost under $10,000 to
make (can you guess it?).
You might notice that a few rather huge blockbusters are missing
from this list as well, in particular Avatar and recent Star
Wars movies. That doesn’t mean they’re bad films; in fact I
loved The Force Awakens. But all that movie does is resurrect the
brand and sort of restate the original story, while Avatar’s
incredible world-building was let down by the most obvious
narrative James Cameron could have chosen. We’ve also left
superhero films out of the equation: while many of them utilize sci-fi
elements, they’re really a genre unto themselves nowadays.
Sci-fi is above all a genre of ideas, and each of the films selected
below offers up something that arguably expands or bends one’s
mind and in many cases is relevant to the world we live in right
now. That’s truly what the best science fiction does, and that’s why
we believe the movies below are the best -- so far -- of the
21st century.
https://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/science-fiction/252905/best-sci-fi-movies-21st-century 1/23
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
At first glance the more humane, optimistic Steven Spielberg taking

over a project from the deeply cynical Stanley Kubrick (who asked
Spielberg to direct it four years before the former’s 1999 death)
seemed odd. But their sensibilities were actually reversed on this,
as A.I. turned out to be the first of several mature, more downbeat
sci-fi offerings from Spielberg, who retells Pinocchio here by way
of Brian Aldiss’s story “Super-Toys Last All Summer Long.”
read more: Steven Spielberg's A.I. and Its Groundbreaking

Marketing Campaign
The story of a little robot boy (a fantastic Haley Joel Osment) who
looks for love and meaning in the waning days of human civilization
is deeply melancholy, technically superb, and often quite moving.
Watch A.I. on Amazon
Donnie Darko (2001)
A cult favorite almost upon release, the menacing, often inscrutable

and challenging Donnie Darko tells the strange story of the title
character (Jake Gyllenhaal), a teenager tormented by visions of an
impending apocalypse and his role in it.
read more: The Enduring Legacy of Donnie Darko
Looper The Dawn of the Planet of

By Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the Apes
$3.99 $3.99
Ads by Amazon
Writer/director Richard Kelly’s debut feature is an eerie and surreal

work, an almost uncategorizable mix of coming-of-age story, high
school comedy and metaphysical sci-fi puzzlebox. But somehow it
all works, held together by Kelly’s confident vision and a great
central performance from a young Gyllenhaal.
Watch Donnie Darko: The Directors Cut on Amazon
Minority Report (2002)
Spielberg tackles Philip K. Dick in one of the director’s most

ambitious works to date. Tom Cruise plays John Anderton, part of
an elite unit tasked with preventing murders before they happen
thanks to the abilities of mutants known as PreCogs who can see
the future. But Anderton finds himself accused of a murder he has
yet to commit and must go on the run.
read more: The Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix
In addition to being a sizzling, highly visceral chase

thriller, Minority Report creates a deeply unsettling and immersive
near-future world and touches on themes of determinism,
government intrusion and media infiltration into our everyday lives -
- making the movie just as relevant as ever. The only flaw: a
triumphant ending that feels almost physically out of place with the
rest of the film.
Watch Minority Report on Amazon
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless

Mind (2004)
This masterpiece is one of many of what I call “hidden” science

fiction films -- stories in which the sci-fi element, while crucial, is
subtly integrated into the contours of what appears to be a non-
genre narrative. In this case, the option to have one’s memories
erased via a scientific procedure provides the framework for a story
about memory and love that is poignant, heartbreaking and
profound in what it says about relationships.
read more: The Best Sci-Fi Movies on Amazon Prime
Michel Gondry’s fragmentary direction suits Charlie Kaufman’s

reverse-engineered gem of a screenplay, while Kate Winslet and
especially Jim Carrey are flawless as the emotionally damaged
couple who elect to forget each other -- even if their memories
linger on like messages from a ghost dimension.
Watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on Amazon
Primer (2004)
Shane Carruth wrote, directed, shot, edited, scored, and starred in

this extremely low budget ($7,000 -- I guess you save a lot when
you do everything on the movie!) mind-bender about two engineers
(Carruth and David Sullivan) who stumble upon a way to travel
through time and proceed to twist the fabric of reality as well as
their own lives into increasingly labyrinthine and overlapping
duplicates.
read more: The Best Sci-Fi Movies on Hulu
The movie’s dry, grounded approach to showing how two schlubs

make an earthshaking discovery in a garage and then proceed to
let their worst instincts take over and fuck things up give an
immediacy that is gripping even if you don’t always know what the
hell is going on.
Carruth went on to make the even more impenetrable Upstream

Color (2013).
Watch Primer on Amazon
Serenity (2005)
The great thing about writer/director Joss Whedon’s thrilling “space

Western” is that you don’t have to know the TV show it was spun
off from, Firefly, to appreciate and enjoy it (I still have never seen
the series, which had only a brief nine-episode run on Fox).
read more: The Best Modern Horror Movies
Whedon’s deft touch with ensemble casts and terrifically drawn

characters, his ear for sharp, witty dialogue and his elegant way
with narrative and setting are all put to excellent use in this
tremendously entertaining, funny and resonant adventure.
Watch Serenity on Amazon
War of the Worlds (2005)
Spielberg’s third sci-fi outing of the millennium proved to be his

darkest yet, a modern-day retelling of H.G. Wells’ landmark novel
that managed to be fairly faithful to the book (including visualizing
the alien tripods close to how Wells described them) while using it
as a metaphor for the fear and horror that gripped the country in
the wake of 9/11.
read more: In Defense of Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds
Tom Cruise is right on the money as an everyman who deals with

forces and circumstances beyond his comprehension, while also
taking the familiar Spielberg role of the deadbeat dad. Images from
this film -- running people being vaporized on the street, a burning
train roaring down a track and a nightmarish river awash with dead
bodies -- are among the most frightening Spielberg has ever
committed to film.
And don’t blame him for the abrupt ending -- it’s right out of Wells.
Watch War of the Worlds on Amazon
Children of Men (2006)
Despite not connecting with audiences on its initial run, Children

of Men is still revered as one of the best films of the 2000s, let
alone as one of its best sci-fi efforts. Director Alfonso
Cuaron adapts author P.D. James’ book about the slow descent of
human society into chaos -- thanks to the complete cessation of
new children being born -- in harrowing, immersive, yet deeply
emotional style. Clive Owen has never been better as burned-out
civil worker Theo, who must guide a young woman with a secret
through the anarchy descending around them in a last bid for hope
and survival.
read more: The Recognizable Future of Children of Men
Technically dazzling from its production design to its stunning

single-take sequences, full of sorrow, despair, beauty and
ultimately faith in human compassion, Children of Men remains a
devastating classic 10 years after its release.
Watch Children of Men on Amazon
The Fountain (2006)
Like Children of Men, The Fountain was not embraced by

audiences upon its release and not altogether beloved by critics
either. Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black
Swan, Noah) tells three different stories -- one set in the past, one
in the present and one in the far future -- all starring Hugh
Jackman and Rachel Weisz as characters who may be the same in
each timeline.
read more: The Best Horror Movies on Netflix
A meditation on love, death, metaphysics, the meaning of

existence and the power of time and memory, The Fountainmay
lack enough clarity to appeal to mainstream audiences but if you
can solve its puzzle the message it delivers is a profound one.
Jackman and Weisz hold all three stories together and visually the
movie is a gloriously kaleidoscopic sensory feast.
Watch The Fountain on Amazon
Sunshine (2007)
Ah, poor, perpetually underrated Sunshine. The third collaboration

between director Danny Boyle and novelist-turned-
screenwriter Alex Garland is a crisp, tense, gripping space
melodrama in which a team of scientists must fly to the sun and
plant a nuclear device that will help the dying star reignite and save
humanity.
read more: The Best Horror Movies on Amazon Prime
The psychological effects of the journey soon lead to trouble.

Cillian Murphy and future Captain America Chris Evans top a
sturdy cast that manage to eke personality out of their somewhat
thin characters, and the visuals and sense of impending dread are
top notch. I even like the third act reveal even if some critics felt it
pushed the story into slasher/horror territory.
Sunshine borrows quite a bit from films like 2001, Alien,Dark

Star, and Silent Running, but mashes them up in a satisfying and
occasionally mind-blowing new mix.
Watch Sunshine on Amazon
District 9 (2009)
South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp’s debut feature was a

stunning surprise when it came literally out of nowhere and
became not just a box office hit but a Best Picture contender that
year at the Academy Awards. It frankly deserved everything that
came its way, because the film was a rousing, breathtaking
combination of explosive action, sharp social commentary brilliantly
disguised in a sci-fi conceit, and character-driven morality tale in
which the alien may be more humane than the human (the latter
played by Sharlto Copley in a breakout performance).
read more: Neill Blomkamp Working on RoboCop Sequel
Its homeless alien refugees -- the “prawns” -- who are settled into a
slum district outside Johannesburg are a painful metaphor that
continues to be relevant today. It’s just a shame that Blomkamp’s
assured storytelling and confident direction have been misplaced in
his next two films, Elysium and Chappie.
Watch District 9 on Amazon
Moon (2009)
In the same year that Neill Blomkamp made his entrance

with District 9, another promising new genre talent arrived as well
-- director Duncan Jones, who made an equally impressive splash
with this indie favorite. Sam Rockwell is outstanding as Bell, a man
about to end a solitary three-year mining assignment on the Moon
who discovers that nothing he believes about himself is actually
true.
read more: The Hidden Link Between Moon and Sunshine
The movie pays homage to gritty sci-fi efforts of the late ‘70s
like Alien and Outland, while Nathan Parker’s screenplay is an
original and moving take on memory, loneliness and what it means
to be a real human beings. Jones has gone on to make the
excellent Source Code and the less warmly
received Warcraft and Mute; but Moon remains as personal and
pure an example of sci-fi cinema as anything we’ve seen in years.
Watch Moon on Amazon
The Road (2009)
Director John Hillcoat’s largely faithful adaptation of Cormac

McCarthy’s incredibly bleak post-apocalyptic book -- more a tone
poem than a novel -- came to the screen after being delayed for a
year while The Weinstein Company tried to figure out how to
market it. But there’s no easy way to sell this spare, unrelenting,
yet ultimately profound and moving film to mainstream audiences.
read more - The 12 Most Hellish Post-Apocalyptic Road

Movies
It’s simply too dark a vision, even if this tale of an unnamed man
and boy (Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee, both excellent)
traveling a blasted end-times America retains a glimmer of hope
that some spark of human decency will not be snuffed out no
matter what. But if you’re willing to take the journey, The Road is a
harrowing, deeply affecting experience.
Watch The Road on Amazon
Inception (2010)
Christopher Nolan’s brilliant exploration of lucid dreaming and

subconscious espionage may be, in some ways, his most complete
and satisfying film to date, and certainly the one that bestows
“visionary” status on this always ambitious director. His first foray
into original science fiction (it remains his sole wholly original
screenwriting credit to date) is a truly mind-bending experience as
it follows a team of dream “extractors” (led by Leonardo DiCaprio)
who must attempt the more difficult task of planting an idea (known
as “inception”) in someone’s head.
read more: Inception Ending Explained
Yes, the film is exposition-heavy, but the different levels of

dreaming are staged with clarity and creativity. Sequences such as
Joseph Gordon Levitt’s gravity-free fight with a bodyguard in a
spinning hotel hallway are the kind of thing that will be taught in film
school years from now. But beyond the dazzling action and fast-
paced thrills, Inceptionis a movie stuffed with ideas about the
nature of reality and the mysteries of human consciousness -- truly
heady (no pun intended) stuff.
Watch Inception on Amazon
Monsters (2010)
Made on a budget of less than $500,000, Monsters was a

stunning indie debut for director/writer/cinematographer/production
designer/visual effects creator Gareth Edwards, who has since
gone onto tentpoles like Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars
Story.
read more: The Best Streaming Horror Movies
While it suffers from a few novice mistakes and less than terrific
acting, Monsters tells a startlingly relevant and frightening tale with
large-scale implications, but cleverly keeps the foreground action
intimate and the menace (extraterrestrial life which has been
brought back by a probe and is spreading through the U.S.-Mexico
border area) mostly unseen. The sense of both dread and awe is
palpable and the allegorical aspects are still current -- trademarks
of great sci-fi cinema.
Watch Monsters on Amazon
Attack the Block (2011)
More indie mayhem with a socio-political slant, this time from

filmmaker Joe Cornish, making his directorial debut after being
Edgar Wright’s writing partner on films like The Adventures of
Tintin and Ant-Man. Cornish proves quite adept behind the
camera as he follows an alien invasion of a gritty, crime-ridden
London tenement block and efforts by the residents and members
of a local gang to repel it -- even as the local police ignore or
dismiss them.
read more: How Attack the Block Redefines the High Concept
Movie
Cornish directs with confidence and the film moves at blast speed,
but best of all is discovering then-unknown John Boyega as the
quiet but steely gang leader Moses -- watch him in this film and
you’ll understand why the future of the Star Wars franchise has
been placed upon his (and Daisy Ridley’s) shoulders.
Watch Attack the Block on Amazon
Contagion (2011)
An ensemble piece directed by the great Steven Soderbergh(his

second sci-fi outing of this century after 2002’s remake
of Solaris), Contagion is terrifying simply because of the almost
clinical, matter-of-fact way that Soderbergh stages the spread of an
unstoppable new virus throughout the world. The lean story is told
with brevity and complete clarity, his all-star cast not getting a
whole lot of individual character development but nevertheless
creating memorable impressions as doctors, scientists and other
professionals who go about their business because they have no
other choice.
read more: The Best Horror Movies on Hulu
Matt Damon is the audience surrogate, an everyman caught in the

middle of calamity, and he effectively delivers a combination of
frustration, fear and doggedness as the director gradually mounts
the details of impending doom. Contagion probably comes pretty
damn close to what a worldwide biological catastrophe might
actually look like, and it’s not pretty.
Watch Contagion on Amazon
Looper (2012)
Indie darling Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom) turns to

sci-fi and knocks his third effort as writer and director clear out of
the park. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis play younger and
older versions of the same man, an assassin for a future crime
syndicate whose job is getting rid of targets sent back to him in the
past through an outlawed form of time travel. But what happens
when the target is himself?
read more: Examining the Mysteries of Looper
Johnson takes a potentially hazardous storytelling paradox and

makes it work, creating two tragic figures in one (old and young
Joe) and spinning a story that doesn’t just have brains but a whole
lot of heart, especially when it turns in a different direction entirely
in the second half. Johnson also handles the action and restrained
special effects with flair, and it’s easy to see why he was handed
the reins of Star Wars: The Last Jedi -- his mastery of filmmaking
is fully on display in this modern classic.
Watch Looper on Amazon
Coherence (2013)
This tiny ($50,000) movie from writer/director James Ward Byrkit is

another terrific modern example of independent sci-fi filmmaking in
which limited resources and intimate settings are used to explore
often mind-blowing, vast ideas. In this case, eight people are
having a dinner party when a comet passes overhead and the
power goes out. It soon becomes apparent that the comet has
fractured the fabric of existence, and that people can pass between
different realities.
read more: The Best Horror Movies on HBO
Although it takes place in just one house (well, parallel versions of

it), Coherence delivers an eerie sense of a large, indifferent
universe in which small humans hoard their petty grievances and
secrets, and are all too willing to throw their current lives under the
bus in hopes of finding a better one (i.e. quickly crossing from one
reality to the next). The mostly unknown cast brings a sense of
naturalism to Byrkit’s creepy little exercise in existential dread --
multiplied by who knows how many realities.
Watch Coherence on Amazon
Her (2013)
Spike Jonze’s fourth feature film is perhaps his most personal yet,
exploring themes of loneliness and human relationships that have
permeated all his previous work yet doing so in the context of
genre and making them more universal than ever. Joaquin Phoenix
plays Theodore Twombly, a depressed, isolated, socially awkward
professional writer of personal letters who falls in love with his
computer’s operating system -- an artificial intelligence he names
Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).
The development of their relationship and eventual destinies form

the spine of Jonze’s allegory about our own increasing distance
from each other and absorption in technology. Phoenix is
heartbreaking as Theodore, but Johansson -- never known for
great line readings in her other movies -- is terrific as the ever-
evolving Samantha.
Watch Her on Amazon
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

(2014)
No one knew exactly what to expect from 2011’s Rise of the

Planet of the Apes, but it turned out to be one of the most
pleasant surprises of that year: an intelligent, character-driven
reboot/origin story featuring a ground-breaking motion capture
performance from Andy Serkis as the enhanced chimp Caesar.
read more: Explaining the Planet of the Apes Timeline
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes didn’t just fulfill the potential laid
out by Rise but surpassed it, as a nascent ape civilization led by
the now mature Caesar grappled with the question of whether it
could exist alongside the remnants of a plague-ravaged human
society. The answer provided by director Matt Reeves’ story was
both poignant and bleak, and the movie itself was in turn gripping,
thrilling, funny and somber…and perhaps the most fully
realized Apesmovie since the 1968 original.
Watch Dawn of the Planet of the Apes on Amazon
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Based on the Japanese light novel All You Need is Kill, this
elegant future war thriller finds Tom Cruise caught in a seemingly
endless time loop, dying in battle against alien invaders and then
waking up the day before to do it all over again. A commentary on
the futility and repetitive, insane nature of armed combat, Edge of
Tomorrow benefits from a sense of humor, typically strong work
from Cruise and an outstanding action turn from Blunt (doing her
second time travel movie in two years and showing why she’d be a
kick-ass Captain Marvel).
read more: How Mishandled Marketing Hurt Edge of Tomorrow
Edge of Tomorrow may get a little lost in its own paradoxes

toward the end, but it’s still a crackling good thriller that manages to
squeeze some fresh new insight out of well-worn time travel tropes.
Watch Edge of Tomorrow on Amazon
Interstellar (2014)
Christopher Nolan’s mix of astrophysics, environmental thriller and

family melodrama is huge in scope and ambition, with some of the
most awe-inspiring visions of the cosmos since its spiritual
ancestor 2001: A Space Odyssey. It also contains one of Nolan’s
shaggiest scripts (co-written with his brother Jonathan) and is
almost too cluttered for its own good. But it’s ultimately grand and
even haunting entertainment, and the first movie in a long time to
truly get across the vast distances involved in deep space travel.
read more: Explaining the Interstellar Ending
It’s also perhaps Nolan’s most emotional film, as the clan led by
Matthew McConaughey is slowly torn asunder by those same
distances as McConaughey leads a team of astronauts through a
wormhole in search of a new home for humanity. Flawed yet still
majestic, Interstellar literally reaches for the stars.
Watch Interstellar on Amazon
Ex Machina (2015)
After writing several brilliant screenplays for films like 28 Days

Later and the woefully underseen Dredd, Alex Garland made his
directorial debut with this original tale of a search engine
programmer named Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), his reclusive and
arrogant genius boss Nathan (a riveting Oscar Isaac) and the
seductive android (Alicia Vikander in a breakout performance) that
the latter creates -- and to which he wants Caleb to apply the
Turing test to determine if artificial intelligence can pass for human.
read more: Ex Machina Had a Freaky Alternate Ending
Garland fashions a mounting sense of dread and paranoia as

Nathan messes with Caleb’s head -- and then as the android, Ava,
subtly begins to mess with them both. Consciousness, sexuality,
and the singularity -- the long-theorized moment when artificial
intelligence may surpass that of humanity -- are all woven into
Garland’s literate screenplay, which he directs with confidence and
verve.
Watch Ex Machina on Amazon
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
George Miller’s Mad Max films -- this, the fourth, arrived 30 years
after the last of the original trilogy was released -- have always
been a blend of pyrotechnic action thriller and post-apocalyptic
parable, and he pushes both aspects to the extreme in this hyper-
kinetic, jawdropping tornado of a movie.
read more: The Making of Mad Max Fury Road
Tom Hardy is a terrific Max -- but he is almost secondary to Furiosa

(a fiery Charlize Theron), the righteous woman who leads five
concubines in an escape from the warlord who rules the local
populace. Max follows a predictable path from self-interested loner
to reluctant hero, but Miller builds an incredible, immersive world
for him and the women, while staging one tour de force action
sequence after another. An instant masterpiece.
Watch Mad Max: Fury Road on Amazon
The Martian (2015)
We admit it -- a lot of this century’s sci-fi has been rather bleak and
grim, but can you blame it with the state the world is in? That’s
why The Martian is so enjoyable to watch: this is a movie (adapted
from the book) that feels as optimistic about science and
intellectualism as the peak years of the actual space program must
have been.
Matt Damon’s stranded astronaut must get home from Mars, and
the movie follows both his struggle to survive and the pursuit of a
rescue plan in crisp, instantly engaging style, making this director
Ridley Scott’s best movie in years.
read more: The Martian and Explorations of Isolation and

Loneliness
The cast is uniformly excellent, the movie is a feast of visual

splendor, and the prevailing message is a nice reminder that
science can be good for us.
Watch The Martian on Amazon
Midnight Special (2016)
Writer/director Jeff Nichols' second genre offering (following 2011's
brilliant apocalyptic tale Take Shelter) is a humane and deeply
moving story of parents and children, featuring another fantastic
central performance by Michael Shannon. As a father on the run
with his gifted son, Shannon balances exhaustion, anger and,
above all, unconditional love as he tries to stay one step ahead of
the forces massing to take his son away from him.
read more: The Making of Midnight Special
While many plot elements are familiar, the film has a keen sense of
wonder and mystery, with the narrative driven by the ideas and the
characters. It's only in the end, as the film's climax takes a
somewhat more conventional route, that Midnight Special falters
a bit. But it's still an ambitious piece of work that keeps the people
at the heart of the story.
Watch Midnight Special on Amazon
Arrival (2016)
Arrival is simply the closest we’ve come in a long time to literary

science fiction -- and no surprise there, since it’s based on a story
by one of today’s most acclaimed sci-fi writers, Ted Chiang. The
movie’s embrace of hard sci-fi concepts and its exploration of the
effects those concepts have on the human race pretty much
embody the notion of what science fiction is, as defined by the
genre’s rich written history.
read more: Explaining the Arrival Ending
Not only is it genuine sci-fi, but Arrival is a thrilling, gripping and

emotionally powerful tale as well. With a terrific and heartfelt
performance by Amy Adams at its center, the movie spins out a
narrative that encompasses both an epic sense of space and time
and an intimate portrait of how much the human heart and intellect
are both capable of carrying. As frightening as some aspects of the
story are, Arrival is ultimately optimistic about the future of
humanity -- another hallmark of great sci-fi filmmaking.
Watch Arrival on Amazon
War for the Planet of the Apes

(2017)
While 2014 predecessor Dawn of the Planet of the Apesmight

still be our favorite of the rebooted simian franchise, director Matt
Reeves delivered a worthy and moving follow-up with this epic
finale to the trilogy centered around the intelligent ape leader
Caesar (Andy Serkis in another stunning motion capture
performance). This film was bigger in scale and ambition, taking its
cue from old-school Biblical epics just as much as the
original Apes movies.
read more: Explaining the War for the Planet of the Apes
Ending
If the storytelling didn’t seem as tight and focused, with the movie’s
second half featuring a number of loose ends, it still brought the
saga home with a deeply emotional finish. The new Apes films
have been one of the most surprising success stories of this
decade, and we’ll be curious to see if they continue from here.
Watch War for the Planet of the Apes on Amazon
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Perhaps the most divisive science fiction film of its year (or perhaps
second most divisive after a certain movie about a Jedi) was also
one of its most visionary. Blade Runner 2049swung for the fences
in terms of its design, scale and world-building, and mostly hit it out
of the park; it took the dystopian future brilliantly realized in Ridley
Scott’s 1982 original and added new layers of imagery and
invention to it.
read more: Complete Guide to Easter Eggs in Blade Runner

2049
Even at its extended length (165 minutes), the movie was never
less than eye-popping to look at. But was the storyline equal to it?
That’s where the debate will continue to rage for years, we
think. Blade Runner 2049 may or may not be a truly great sci-fi
movie, but like the original, it will be one we continue to talk about.
Buy Blade Runner 2049 on Amazon
Annihilation (2018)
Director/screenwriter Alex Garland’s brilliant follow-up to 2015’s

equally riveting Ex Machina, adapted from Jeff VanderMeer’s eerie
novel, is an unsettling hybrid of horror and sci-
fi. Annihilation follows four female researchers (led by Natalie
Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh), each with their own agenda,
as they investigate a mysterious alien zone encroaching on an
American coastal region from which a dozen earlier expeditions
have not returned.
read more: Annihilation Ending Explained
The way that Area X transforms a familiar and bucolic setting into a
haunted house of mutations and decay, while also working its way
into the psyches of the women, is the stuff of
ecological/psychological nightmares. Garland wrings the situation
for maximum dread -- both metaphysical and visceral -- while the
women dig under the surface of their ambiguously drawn
characters. Garland freely changes the details of VanderMeer’s
story while retaining its tone and meaning, with masterful results.
Watch Annihilation on Amazon
And now the runners-up:
Battle Royale (2000)
Pitch Black (2000)
Reign of Fire (2002)
Solaris (2002)
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
V for Vendetta (2006)
The Host (2006)
Timecrimes (2007)
WALL-E (2008)
Cloverfield (2008)
Avatar (2009)
Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)
Never Let Me Go (2010)
Another Earth (2011)
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Melancholia (2011)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Source Code (2011)
The Hunger Games (2012)
Gravity (2013)
Snowpiercer (2013)
Oblivion (2013)
Under the Skin (2014)
The Signal (2014)
Predestination (2014)
Godzilla (2014)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
That’s our list -- did we miss any of your favorites that you’d like to
add? Let us know below!

Best Sci-Fi Movies of The 21st Century

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Best Sci-Fi Movies of The 21st Century

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

7/2/2019 Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 21st Century | Den of Geek

Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 21st Century

FEATURE There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that in some ways we are

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)

At first glance the more humane, optimistic Steven Spielberg taking

read more: Steven Spielberg's A.I. and Its Groundbreaking

Watch A.I. on Amazon

Donnie Darko (2001)

A cult favorite almost upon release, the menacing, often inscrutable

read more: The Enduring Legacy of Donnie Darko

Looper The Dawn of the Planet of

Writer/director Richard Kelly’s debut feature is an eerie and surreal

Watch Donnie Darko: The Directors Cut on Amazon

Minority Report (2002)

Spielberg tackles Philip K. Dick in one of the director’s most

read more: The Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix

In addition to being a sizzling, highly visceral chase

Watch Minority Report on Amazon

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless

This masterpiece is one of many of what I call “hidden” science

read more: The Best Sci-Fi Movies on Amazon Prime

Michel Gondry’s fragmentary direction suits Charlie Kaufman’s

Watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on Amazon

Shane Carruth wrote, directed, shot, edited, scored, and starred in

read more: The Best Sci-Fi Movies on Hulu

The movie’s dry, grounded approach to showing how two schlubs

Carruth went on to make the even more impenetrable Upstream

Watch Primer on Amazon

The great thing about writer/director Joss Whedon’s thrilling “space

read more: The Best Modern Horror Movies

Whedon’s deft touch with ensemble casts and terrifically drawn

Watch Serenity on Amazon

War of the Worlds (2005)

Spielberg’s third sci-fi outing of the millennium proved to be his

read more: In Defense of Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds

Tom Cruise is right on the money as an everyman who deals with

Watch War of the Worlds on Amazon

Children of Men (2006)

Despite not connecting with audiences on its initial run, Children

read more: The Recognizable Future of Children of Men

Technically dazzling from its production design to its stunning

Watch Children of Men on Amazon

The Fountain (2006)

Like Children of Men, The Fountain was not embraced by

read more: The Best Horror Movies on Netflix

A meditation on love, death, metaphysics, the meaning of

Watch The Fountain on Amazon

Ah, poor, perpetually underrated Sunshine. The third collaboration

read more: The Best Horror Movies on Amazon Prime

The psychological effects of the journey soon lead to trouble.

Sunshine borrows quite a bit from films like 2001, Alien,Dark

Watch Sunshine on Amazon

South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp’s debut feature was a

read more: Neill Blomkamp Working on RoboCop Sequel

Watch District 9 on Amazon

In the same year that Neill Blomkamp made his entrance

read more: The Hidden Link Between Moon and Sunshine

Watch Moon on Amazon

The Road (2009)

Director John Hillcoat’s largely faithful adaptation of Cormac

read more - The 12 Most Hellish Post-Apocalyptic Road

Watch The Road on Amazon

Christopher Nolan’s brilliant exploration of lucid dreaming and