Part 2
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60: Moon
What If: A man resides on a moonbase all alone, running things, but one day discovers something startling about his job.
The Film: It's a small-scale film staring just one man, one robot, all alone on a moonbase, but the film is still very clever and tense in the way it digs up one interesting mystery after another. The conspiracy that's unravelled presents some interesting implications, and it gives the plot and character room to breathe and contemplate the greater issues concerning life and loneliness. Duncan Jones' debut film is a worthy intellectual sci-fi film.
My score: 4/5
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59: The Road
The Film: Faithfully adapted from Cormac McCarthy's novel, The Road is a bleak film drenched in ash and grayness. Little is said about what actually happened to the world, but what matters is that the aftermath is a brutal place full of violent gangs and cannibals, and the characters' journey through it all is a trial that puts their humanity to the test. It's not always a standout film, but it is a solid adaptation, and a very sobering view of one possible future.
My score: 4/5
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58: Looper
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| Pew pew pew |
What If: Futuristic gangsters send people back in time to get whacked.
The Film: The film has a pretty unique idea, which ultimately contorts the plotline in interesting directions and makes some interesting observations about the flow of time. There is action to be had, but the characters bring the film to life really well, and their interactions prove definitively that what goes around literally comes around.
My score: 4/5
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57: Outland
What If: On the moon Io, a security officer investigates some mysterious murders, and uncovers a conspiracy.
The Film: When director Peter Hyams was denied the chance to make a western, he did the next best thing: he took the regular tropes of a western and applied them to an outer space setting. Outland is a bit of a slow-burner, but it has some awesome model work, some good action, and some very interesting settings. It's a pretty cool glimpse as to what future mining colonies could look like, and what possible issues could arise when companies push their workers beyond ethical lines. And for a western/sci-fi hybrid, it makes for a thrilling tale.
My score: 4/5
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56: Rollerball (1975)
What If: There's a futuristic death sport where athletes ride on rollerskates and motorcycles in a huge arena, trying to throw a little ball around while they murder each other.
The Film: Sports are violent by nature, but as technology moves along and the media continues to thrive on sporting events, it might be inevitable that we make a sport out of death. Why not? It happened before in ancient Rome. With Rollerball, the athletes will literally do anything to win. By the film's end, a somber tone is struck, underscoring the inhumanity of this level of sportsmanship. It's a horror that's only been explored in few other films, such as The Running Man, or Death Race.
My Score: 4/5
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55: The Butterfly Effect
What If: A guy finds a way to go back in time and change his past, but with drastic results.
The Film: There's no real science to this bizarre and brutal tale of time travel, but it is thought-provoking in its own right. By nature of the "butterfly effect" - where a butterfly's wings is said to cause hurricanes on the other side of the world - the whole movie is about universal balance. The protagonist tries so hard to fix the horrid things that happened in his childhood that he winds up making his adult life worse and worse. The final solution is pretty anticlimactic, but by taking a certain part of his life out of the equation, he wound up reaching a satisfying yet somber conclusion. And if you watch the alternate ending, it's even more invoking. It's a harsh film, but still very interesting from a theoretical standpoint.
My score: 4.5/5
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54: The Island
What If: A group of people in a utopic facility are selected by a lottery to win a trip to "the island," where they can live in paradise. Or is it?
The Film: Most would probably say that this is the one really "good" film Michael Bay has made. The man still shows a penchant for style, explosive action, crazy car chases, sex appeal, and gratuitous slow-motion, but the film still has a decent story attached to it. It is a pretty cool premise that challenges the notion of utopia, and digs up interesting implications regarding cloning technology. It's fast, exciting, interesting, and a decent sci-fi thriller overall.
My score: 4/5
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53: Equilibrium
What If: In the future, all human emotion is repressed.
The Film: A bit of a rip-off of George Orwell's 1984 and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, but the film is still cooler than anything. It features some of the awesomest gunfighting imaginable, thanks to the "gun-kata" where characters rush through and shoot at everything in wild kung-fu style angles that supposedly maximize their efficiency while dodging enemy gunfire. Even though the action stands out phenomenally, the story is still very solid and carries a strong emotional impact, as the main character discovers emotion for the first time and eventually learns to defy the system he works for. It's as moving of a story as it is exciting, and I think the film is pretty darn awesome that way.
My score: 4.5/5
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52: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
What If: In the 24th century, Captain Kirk is framed for the assassination of the Klingon chancellor, and has to race against time to uncover a conspiracy to disrupt peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
The Film: In the last classic Trek adventure, the film starts off darkly and strong with a magnificent sequence showing the moon Praxis exploding. From then on, the film remains tense and thrilling as the characters unravel a mystery and race against time to save the future. Coming out just after the Cold War era, the film mirrors a lot of the events, fear, and paranoia that would have been going on at the time, while harkening to Shakespearian text to highlight themes of the uncertain future.
My score: 4.5/5
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51: Jurassic Park
What If: An entrepreneur creates a theme park full of cloned dinosaurs!
The Film: Spielberg takes Michael Chrichton's thrilling novel and turns it into an gripping adventure. The film has a few notable weaknesses, but it has smashing special effects, a solid plot, and an endearing cast of characters. Although the notion of bringing dinosaurs back to life carries a sense of whimsey, which is conveyed well at times, the film underscores the harrowing dangers of trying to control nature. With chaos theory as a thematic parallel, the film proves that there are certain areas of genetics and science in general that we probably shouldn't mess with.
My score: 4/5
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50: Avatar
What If: Humans invade aliens, for a change.
The Film: Avatar has gotten some flack for being an unoriginal rehash of such classic stories as Dances With Wolves and The Last Samurai. As I see it, however, Avatar is a sci-fi adaptation of the Pocahontas story, and it proves just how timeless and fundamental the story is; it's one of those stories that can apply to any genre or era. Set in a distant world in a distant future, Avatar really makes the story shine in fresh new light with its trippy color schemes, fantastic alien settings, and deep worldbuilding. The film is none too subtle about its themes regarding war, industrialization, and the destruction of the environment. It does introduce a few unique ideas as it focuses on a marine swapping bodies with an alien "avatar" to effectively become one of the Na'vi. Despite the complaints about the story, the film has plenty of action, some bright moments, and a lot of imagination.
My score: 4.5/5
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49: The Fifth Element
What If: A taxi driver has to unite five elements to stop evil from destroying the world!
The Film: If nothing else, The Fifth Element is one of the most stylish, exciting, and imaginative sci-fi adventures made. It takes us from the towering futuristic cities to far-away planets, with loads of action and impressive special effects. The story's pretty odd, but with Luc Besson's direction, the film overall comes off as hip and cool. It's pretty sobering to see how crowded, big, crazy, dirty, and bizarre the future can be, but it makes for a heck of a show.
My score: 4.5/5
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48: I Am Legend
What If: One of the last-surviving men on Earth struggles to find a cure for an epidemic that has turned everybody else into zombies.
The Film: This is the third time Richard Matheson's novel was turned into a film; it's still not a perfect adaptation, but it's still a darn good film. Its post-apocalyptic vision of crumbling, overgrown cities is still a sight to behold, and it's consistently gripping to watch the main character's daily struggle for survival. The film's style gives it a good amount of heart and power, and it provides a compelling view of what a zombie-infested future could look like.
My score: 4/5
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47: Starship Troopers
What If: We wage war against alien bugs.
The Film: The film is a pretty far cry from Robert Heinlein's novel, but Paul Verhoeven really made it his own with all the same level of bloodshed, satire, and craziness that made RoboCop such a hit. The universe of Starship Troopers is a zany gung-ho society where brutality is gleefully rewarded; it all serves to showcase a potential future where fascism is embraced, and despite all the excitement and glamor, it is pretty stark and crazy.
My score: 4.5/5
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46: Aliens
What If: Space marines are deployed to fight xenomorphs!
The Film: The first Alien film was quite an effective horror film. For this list, however, I favored the sequel the most; it makes for a really cool action picture, with plenty of thrilling fights with the powerful alien creatures. James Cameron brings a lot of awesome hardware and concepts to the table, arming the colonial marines the best he can to make a fairly badass adventure. This even extends to the main heroine, Ellen Ripley, who learns to overcome fear and become a hardened maternal figure; it's a theme that mirrors the PTSD issues that affected Vietnam veterans, and was carried over effectively in this picture.
My score: 4.5/5
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45: The Fly (1958)
What If: A scientist suffers a tragic transporter accident.
The Film: How cool would it be if you could step in one place and wind up in a totally different place the next instant? Transporter technology could provide fast and easy transport anywhere, but The Fly uncovers one terrifying ramification. The film maintains tension and suspense as it explores this terrifying notion.
My score: 4/5
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44: The Source Code
What If: A man keeps reliving the same 8 minutes over and over again, so he can stop a bomb from going off on a train.
The Film: A very clever thriller, the likes of which could have been a pretty cool Twilight Zone episode. The Source Code doesn't divulge much technical secrets about how this man is able to live through the same disaster over and over again (something about alternate universes), but it is a neat storytelling dynamic. The film proves to be greatly nuanced as it makes the same 8 minutes unique and thrilling every time, until it reaches its interesting conclusion. Overall, it's as thrilling of a film as it is fascinating sci-fi.
My score: 4.5/5
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43: Doomsday Book (In-lyu-myeol-mang-bo-go-seo)
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| ...it could happen... |
The Film: It took six years to craft this anthology of bizarre short stories. Each one offers a little bit of something; the first segment shows a pretty unique zombie outbreak, while the middle section offers a truly thought-provoking tale, and the last one is just so far out-there that it's fun. I think all three shorts are great, and I would heartily recommend them to sci-fi fans.
My score: 4.5/5
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42: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
What If: People's bodies are being taken over by alien creatures!
The Film: Although this version of the story doesn't carry the same themes of Cold War paranoia as the original 1956 film, it is still a chilling sight to watch people being consumed and transformed on a mass scale. In the gritty world of the 70s, the film is even more uncompromising. The story's familiar, the characters are great, but above all, the final scene will stay with you long after the credits start rolling.
My score: 4/5
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41: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
What If: People are being taken over by creatures that look like giant sea-pods!
The Film: This classic tale of paranoia touches upon the fears of its time. In a time when the communist scare was still in full-swing, the Invasion of the Body Snatchers isn't so much an alien invasion, as it is an invasion of anybody wanting to subvert the masses to become drone-like slaves of a seemingly-inhumane doctrine. The film's themes are subtly but exquisitely expressed through its basic storyline, with characters we can root for, and the film's style overall is solid. As such, it is a solid sci-fi classic.
My score: 4/5
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To be continued...
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