You probably already know about sci-fi classics like Alien or Back to the Future, so we won’t bother you with those in this article. But if you are looking for the latest hidden gems in the futuristic movie genre, you are on the right page. Here are the top recommendations for films that did a fantastic job of portraying our potential future while ensuring an entertaining viewing experience!
1. Dune (2021)
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Frank Herbert wrote the Dune science fiction novel in 1965. David Lynch did an okay job with the first attempt to film a movie after the book, and the Sci-Fi Channel created a mini-series. However, it took almost six decades to capture the true essence of the vast cosmic world imagined by Herbert.
Dennis Villeneuve created a movie that turned out to be so successful that it dominated the Oscars with six wins, including those for cinematography, sound, visual effects, and film editing.
Dune is a story about Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) and the House Atreides. Paul’s father agrees to supervise the dangerous desert planet Arrakis. Deep beneath the sands, there’s a fictional drug called melange. Many have an interest in controlling the Dune, where you can find melange, which leads to a huge clash.
Villeneuve’s movie follows roughly the first half of the book. It was intended to be so since the new Dune is a trilogy, with the second part hitting the cinemas by the end of 2023.
2. In Time (2011)
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In Time presents an intriguing concept where you stop aging once you turn 25. That’s when a “life clock” showing how much time you have remaining is activated. Ways to extend that time exist, but Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) isn’t great at them.
Will’s life takes a dangerous turn when he stops time thieves from robbing Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer). After receiving a huge gift, the authorities start paying attention to him, including Sylvia Weiss (Amanda Seyfried), daughter of a wealthy man about to embark on a fantastic trip with Will. But you should know that Sylvia is Will’s hostage while he’s on the run after being accused of murder.
Once Will gets too close to running out of living time, he decides to try his luck by playing casino games and visits a high-stakes Texas hold ’em table. The tense scene sees him go all in and come out as a winner. In a move that contradicts about every responsible gambling rule, he eventually manages to get luck on his side and earns 1,100 years on the clock.
3. Avatar (2009)
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James Cameron created a fantastic futuristic world where humans look for energy supplies on other planets. That’s how they come across Pandora, which is rich with unobtainium. But a large storage of this material is sitting below a giant tree where the local Na’vi species lives. The Na’vi creatures are humanoids with blue skin, tails, and pointed ears. They are approximately ten feet tall.
Humans have another problem – they can’t breathe Pandora air for over several seconds without having a special mask. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is a paraplegic marine who agrees to infiltrate Na’vi by using an “avatar” identity in exchange for spinal surgery. During the movie, he discovers the fantastic world of Pandora and realizes things are different than they seem.
Avatar: The Way of Water is a sequel that hit theaters in December 2022. It only took a bit over a month to break the $2 billion box office revenue mark, ensuring it will be one of the best-performing films in theaters ever.
4. Interstellar (2014)
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Humanity’s biggest fear is that Earth will become inhabitable, and we are close to seeing that happening in Interstellar. Plant diseases destroyed crops, and severe dust storms forced humans to look for an alternative.
A reputable physicist, Professor Brand (Michael Caine), has an idea to use a wormhole to transport the population to a new home. The problem is that someone needs to test if this works and find a suitable planet. That’s the task for Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a famous NASA pilot. The researchers narrowed the selection to three planets, but it’s his team’s task to find the right option.
Christopher Nolan directed the movie, and his brother Jonathan helped write it. It’s interesting that Kip Thorne, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017, was the scientific consultant. If you feel like learning more about how the idea of traveling through a wormhole would work, read Thorne’s book The Science of Interstellar. And if you plan on watching the movie, keep in mind that it lasts for 169 minutes. But it’s a visual and storytelling spectacle, so it’ll be worth your time!
5. Ex Machina (2014)
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Ex Machina is a movie that focuses on something that impresses and scares most humans at the same time – artificial intelligence. Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is an employee of Blue Book, a major search engine platform. He wins a visit to Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), the company’s CEO, in his isolated home. Nathan reveals that he designed Ava (Alicia Vikander), a humanoid robot, by using artificial intelligence. Although Ava completed the Turing test to prove intelligence, the mogul still wonders if she has true consciousness.
Nathan asks Caleb to interact with Ava to confirm if he can relate to her despite her being an android. Caleb grows close and falls in love with Ava, which triggers an unexpected string of events. At one point, our hero gets so confused he cuts his arm open to confirm he isn’t a robot. If you enjoy the idea of AI, don’t miss this gem written and directed by Alex Garland!
Final Thoughts
Sci-fi fans are blessed with so many fantastic futuristic movies. Hollywood resurrected many franchises, and we’ve seen new installments, such as Mad Max: Fury Road or The Matrix Resurrections. Inception, Arrival, and District 9 are some other gems worth watching. And if you are looking for a great place to start with the futuristic sci-fi genre, you can’t go wrong with the titles from the list above!
