Stan’s top-10 sci-fi films of all time

By Stan Heaton

I grew up staring at the stars.  I wondered what alien species looked like and what kind of advanced spacecraft could take us to them.  I wanted to be an astronaut with a laser pistol, saving the universe from evil.  In other words, I was (and am) a nerd.  The first step is admitting it; my second step was embracing it.  As I became more and more interested in film, I started to gravitate toward science fiction movies.  I watched the big sci-fi blockbusters before maturing into more thoughtful pictures, slowly working my way backward to Metropolis (1927) and Le voyage dans la lune (1902).  What I have discovered is that science fiction, better than any other genre, explores the technology of the film medium for the purpose of revealing what it means to be human.  This exploration of humanity, this looking toward the stars to find out what’s inside us, has kept me a loyal sci-fi nerd, and it is the motivation for this list of the top 10 science fiction films of all time.

#10.  Jurassic Park (1993)

This Steven Spielberg dinosaur adventure makes the top ten list because of its use of computer generated images to create a world of wonder and terror.  When the T-Rex steps through the powerless electric fence and violently roars in full frame, it signals the strength of computers and the possibilities of human innovation while simultaneously showing the true force of nature (themes that are present throughout the film’s narrative).  Jurassic Park is visually and audibly stunning.  Hearing the Velociraptors call to one another as they conspire against the human characters is terrifying and wonderful.  But even as CGI and advanced sound effects are on display, the film reminds us that our responsible use of those technologies is of the utmost importance.

#9.  The Matrix (1999)

This film emerged in the late 90s as the mind-bending fight for the future of humanity, starring the ultimate mind-bender himself, Keanu Reeves (“uh, like, I know kung fu and junk”).  Despite Mr. Reeves’s shortcomings, he’s perfect for the role of Neo, a hacker-turned-Jesus hero who battles a group of machines that enslave the human race in the Matrix in order to feed on their people juice.  This film makes the top ten because it is genuinely thought provoking in the way that it connects computers to humanity.  The Matrix features some astonishing camera techniques that amp up the action—Mmmm . . . bullet-time.  If you’re a fan of this film, you might want to check out John Carpenter’s 1988 movie They Live, which resembles The Matrix thematically.  It’s cheesy, and it stars ex-wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper, but a true nerd shouldn’t mind either of those things.

#8.  A Clockwork Orange (1971)

I’ve always struggled to find things to say about this film.  I had to rewatch it just to write this article.  Basically, A Clockwork Orange follows a young hooligan named Alex (Malcolm McDowell) through the trash covered streets of future Britain.  He and his gang of droogs speak a mix of British street slang, Russian, Spanish, and baby talk, and they violently and sexually assault others before Alex gets caught and sent to prison.  While incarcerated, Alex is chosen for a government experiment in which a team of scientists brainwash the violence and sex out of him.  Once brainwashed, Alex returns to his former stomping grounds and is forced to confront those he wronged in the past.  Of course, the plot does little to explain this film.  There is something intensely disturbing about watching Alex get into a bit of the old ultra-violence.  As I watched it again, I felt a bit like Alex when his eyelids were pried open and he was forced to watch violence even though it made him sick.  Kubrick seems to be keenly aware of this connection between Alex and viewer, and he plays it up using Beethoven as counterpoint music in both the film narrative and the soundtrack.  Ultimately, A Clockwork Orange is a bleak and terrifyingly watchable vision of a future that might already be present, and for that, it makes the top ten.

#7.  Brazil (1985)

Terry Gilliam’s directing career has had its ups and downs.  He’s not always capable of reining in the fantastic in a way that makes a coherent and interesting movie for the audience.  In Brazil, however, his lunacy thrives.  Set in a futuristic society that is governed by a hilariously inefficient bureaucracy, the film warns of the spiraling evils of state control.  If you despise paper work and government agencies, you’ll love this movie.

#6.  The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

The film, set in America amid 50s paranoia, tells the story of an alien and a robot sent to Earth to communicate a message of peace.  When Americans shoot the alien, Klaatu (Michael Rennie), immediately upon his exit of his ship, he decides to investigate the human race by hiding his identity and boarding with an American family.  The special effects of the spacecraft flying over the city and of the robot vaporizing tanks are impressive for 50s film, but the real strength of the movie is its evaluation of Cold War American culture.

#5.  Alien (1979) / Aliens (1986)

While these two films are quite different from one another, they both deserve a high spot on the all-time list.  Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien operates on the immense tension viewers feel as a fierce creature hunts Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and the crew of the Nostromo.  The film puts the viewer inside cramped corridors as alarms blare, warning lights flash harsh hues, and steam shoots from vents. As the alien picks off the crew one by one, Ripley emerges as a strong heroine determined to survive the attack.  Ripley’s strength increases tenfold in James Cameron’s 1986 Aliens.  The heroine joins a band of space marines and proves to be the biggest badass of the bunch.  Cameron’s film lacks some of the anxiety present in Ridley’s movie, but he makes up for it by adding more aliens.  For this reason, Aliens is more like an action/sci-fi film, while Alien blends sci-fi with elements from the horror genre.  Nonetheless, both films are a lot of fun to watch for their development of one of the greatest movie heroines in history.

#4.  Terminator (1984) / Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Unlike the Alien series, Terminator and T2 are actually quite similar.  T2 is more of a remake than a sequel, substituting the T-100 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) for the good guy.  The first film establishes the terror of the machine and of machine vision as the cyborg terminator hunts Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton).  The second film has Sarah go through an upgrade similar to Ripley’s in Aliens. The weak, scared Sarah of Terminator gets rebooted as a buff, gun-toting soldier in a personal war to kill those responsible for the future Judgment Day machine uprising.  The giant leap in special effects in T2 is the real star of the show, and it is embodied by the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), the liquid metal villain.  The way his body morphs between human and weapon, and the way it heals itself after the Governator blows cannonball-sized holes into it, is spectacular even by today’s standards.  But the Terminator films don’t rank so highly on my list due to special effects alone.  Both movies present the viewer with complex questions about technology’s role in human existence, and the redemption of the T-100 in T2 makes these questions all the more complicated.

#3.  Blade Runner (1982)

Ridley Scott’s futuristic tale of cops and robbers is based on a Philip K. Dick novel called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which is equally as good as the movie.  What the book title reveals better than the film title is the issue of defining humanity.  In Blade Runner, a group of highly advanced Nexus 6 humanoids, known as replicants, escapes to Earth from a remote, off-world colony.  Made by the Tyrell Corporation (whose motto is “More human than human”), the Nexus 6s murder their way to their creator, prompting the Los Angeles police to send Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) to kill them.  As Deckard’s hunt intensifies, he is forced to confront his own actions.  Each time Deckard fights the replicants, they make him question what it means to be human.  Ridley’s megalopolis cityscape, excellent acting by Rutger Hauer (who plays the Nexus 6 leader, Roy Batty), and the thoughtful pursuit of the meaning of humanity, all make Blade Runner a crucial piece of sci-fi cinema.

#2.  Star Wars: Episodes IV-VI (1977, 1980, 1983)

The original Star Wars trilogy is nothing short of a cultural movement.  Coupled with its release was a collection of popular action figures, character costumes, and other memorabilia.  I even saw a ton-ton sleeping bag with a zipper in the stomach for sale online, recently.  The story of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carie Fisher), and Darth Vader (David Prowse with the voice of James Earl Jones) is so widely known and referenced that it has become part of American mythology.  Some of President Reagan’s policies, including the Strategic Defense Initiative, were often referred to using Star Wars rhetoric.  The three original films are popular for a reason.  Each installment is a dramatic space adventure filled with richly developed characters, and each one explores the motivations of humanity and the dangers of machine-like empire.  Moreover, Darth Vader is one of the best villains in film history.  His transformation from twisted, evil cyborg to loving father is complex, compelling, and touching.  Star Wars will be a staple for all science fiction lovers for a long, long time.

#1.  2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

No film has been more influential to the sci-fi genre as this Stanley Kubrick masterpiece.  Period.  Kubrick showed us space before we had gone there ourselves, and he crafted a story that explains millions of years of human evolution in one beautiful match-on-action jump cut.  The filmmaking in 2001 is perfect.  The way Kubrick recreates the physics of space is brilliant.  There are no dramatic explosions and no laser sound effects in Kubrick’s vacuum.  The model designs are also a sight to behold.  2001 brings science fiction cinema out of the sleek tinfoil flying saucers of the 1950s and replaces them with detailed vessels built for space travel (a technique copied by almost all sci-fi films since).  And then there’s HAL, one of the most memorable characters in film history.  His singular red eye has become THE symbol for computer sentience; in fact, the new Droid cell phone uses the red eye as its background in commercials.  The film also presents viewers with the puzzle of the black obelisk, a giant stone monolith that directs the film narrative.  The purpose of the obelisk could keep you and your stoner buddies on “deep” conversation for days (or until you needed to get some more snacks).  2001: A Space Odyssey is hands down the best sci-fi experience ever put on film.  Go watch it.

Closing Thoughts

As I look back over the list, I can’t help but notice the dominating presence of big name directors: Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg.  With the exception of Kubrick, each of these men are still making movies (some more successfully than others).  But, eventually, their time will end, and they must be replaced by other sci-fi creators.  And that’s just the problem.  With movie studios increasingly relying on bankable sequels and big names to fill theater seats, a new generation of directors faces great challenges to make studio-produced sci-fi films.  With the exception of Moon, directed by Duncan Jones, few compelling sci-fi films have emerged from the sea of sequels.  This trend will, inevitably, affect the genre in lasting and depressing ways.  Perhaps we need the old guard of science fiction mega-directors to step aside and encourage a new wave of nerds.  Help us Obi-Wan Kenobi: you’re our only hope.