The best sci-fi film ever made?
Well, since the Twilight theme is well and truly tapped out (hopefully), I will now shamelessly pander to the sci-fi freaks who were threatening to take over the comments yesterday and (insert Darth Vader voice here) give over to the power of the dork side.
I am a big sci-fi fan, but not as much as the Overlord's Overlord, obviously... but still, my reading of the science-fiction genre definitely extends beyond such girly fare as The Time Traveller's Wife (opening here next Thursday, Dec. 3 - you can see the trailer here).
I feel like I've been waiting forever to be disappointed by the film adaptation of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game (which was to be directed by Wolfgang Petersen) only for it to be scrapped.
But we've seen a resurgence of interest in the sci-fi genre lately with big-budget films such as Star Trek and Terminator Salvation, and medium-budget beauties like District 9 as well as small budget gems like Moon (made by David Bowie's wee boy).
Sadly, this year, there've also been absolute clunkers like the abysmal Land of the Lost and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (where the robots are more like people and the people are more like robots...) but the less said about them, the better.
It's a hard road finding the perfect sci-fi film.
So what in your learned opinion is the best sci-fi film ever made?
And before anyone puts down the original Solaris - have you actually watched it? That interminable drive through tunnels - wtf? Someone explain it to me please?
My top 10 list would have to include Bladerunner, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien/Aliens, Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back, Terminator/T2: Judgment Day, and (this may nauseate some people, but man was it cool when it first came out - forget the sequels) The Matrix.
Roll on Avatar! (It's due out Dec 17 so only 22 sleeps to go!)
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Avatar will be the best sci-fi film ever made! Nothing will compare... Plus, it helps that it was made here in Welly - makes it just that wee bit cooler.
Agree with #1 on the most part (Apollo 13 is obviously not science fiction)...District 9 and Moon are definitely the two best sci fi movies for a very long time
Nicholas I don't think Apollo 13 was Sci-fi.....;)
Avatar will be pretty.....but so were teh Star Wars prequels....shudder.....sadly good special effects does not guarantee a good movie.
Blade runner was pretty good IMO, the original Star Wars was ground breaking space opera and completely blew me away after watching 2001 just a year or 2 earlier and Aliens scared me to death.....not much else stands out apart from them....but I go see them all anyway! :)
Stars Wars, hands down.
Alien was brilliant, but Aliens less so. Mainly because it was a shoot-em-up actioner, rather than the ethereal, thought-out darker original.
Likewise those amazing films of the fifties, sixties, and seventies - Silent Running, 2001, Soylent Green, Andromeda Strain, Forbidden Planet (even if it did rip off Shakespeare), Day of the Triffids, Day the Earth Stood Still (although I liked the remake, it wasn't a patch on the original), Day the Earth Caught Fire, Dr. Strangelove, It Came From Outer Space, and so on.
The Matrix (but only the first film) was good because of the philosophy - and that's the crux of a good sci-fi film. Philosophy - how humanity might evolve, how they might behave, what they will become when the technology grows powerful.
A good example is Rendevous with Rama - all the drama comes from how humanity reacts to a giant spaceship entering the Solar system. The ship itself does nothing - no secrets are revealed. And that makes the book brilliant.
I'm going to say as a story District 9 is easily the best. Sure I had read reviews and heard people talk it up but it didn't seem to have a massive hype to it or anyhting but I found it just AWESOME. I loved how the story twisted numerous times and I enjoyed everything about it.
Best in terms of special effects is still Terminator 2 sorry Matrix copying effects from other movies doesn't make your's the best, Cameron dropping that truck into the LA water duct was just brilliant & not to forget the T2000 rising from the checkered hospital floor and having the pattern reciprocate on him as he formed a human shape - EPIC!!!
Enemy Mine. 1985. Dennis Quaid. Louis Gossett Jr. booyah!
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Margaret, 2001... really? I've tried to watch that film a couple of times but its 10 good minutes at the start, 10 good minutes at the end and an hour plus of mindless tedium in-between.
Id throw War of the Worlds into the mix... both the original and the remake.
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The original movies of: Planet of the Apes, Solaris, The Omega Man, Andriod (Klaus Kinski), Soylent Green, The Andromeda Strain, Brazil, Star Trek Wrath of Khan, Moon, Apollo 13