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Five Underrated Science Fiction Movies You Should See
Five sci-fi films you should see if you haven’t, watch again if you have, and buy the DVD if you liked them. These movies aren’t big franchises, they’re true to form one shot science fiction like the pulp sci-fi from yester year.
Five movies I watch and enjoy. You ought to enjoy them too!
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Serenity (2005)
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Spawned from Firefly, a show that Fox killed early on, Serenity is probably considered the freshest science fiction film in the last ten years.
Serenity is about Malcolm Reynolds and his crew who have given shelter to Simon and his sister River. River is a psychic and acquired sensitive information from a top Alliance official. The Alliance wants River back or dead. An agent of the Alliance is sent to hunt her down.
When I saw the previews for this movie in theaters I immediately told my father we were going to see it when it came out. I did, at least. I have never been more pleased with a science fiction film and I think many people who have never even considered science fiction would enjoy it.
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Zathura (2005)
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Zathura was written by the same man that wrote Jumanji. The stories are eerily similar to the extent that they are both about bard games. From that point on there is no similarity. Zathura is action packed and has excellent graphics as well. A touching storyline caps it off for an extremely well made film.
Two boys living with their recently divorced father do not get along at all. They fight and during (or after, its hard to tell) one of the fights the younger of the two brothers finds “Zathura.” It appears to be an old science fiction game. And as soon as they begin to play the world around them plays along. First asteroids into the newly remodeled living room-it’s downhill from there. Along the way the boys learn some valuable lessons (which, I might add, are not cliché) and learn to get along.
Plenty of action ensues for you action buffs out there, too! I enjoy wholesome explosions and tensity from time to time as well as something that is clean on the language front; something my whole family can watch.
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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
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Sky Captain was concieved of by Carry Konran in his home while he held down a job and a family. A friend of a friend knew a producer and when she saw one of the initial renders of one of the scenes she immediately agreed to see what could be done. It was downhill from there.
Sky Captain is set in an alternative 1939 and follows the Sky Captain (Jude Law) and his former love Polly Perkins (Gwenyth Paltrow) as they pursue first a mysterious agent and then the agent’s master Dr. Totenkopf.
Campy, scifi done as an homage to truly classical science fiction Sky Captain is a pleasure to watch. The effects are excellent and the story even more so. Paltrow and Law both carry very well in their rolls and are supplemented by some exceptional secondary actors. I watch this movie just to whet my tongue as to what science fiction could have been.
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Minority Report (2002)
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Directed by Steven Spielberg Minority Report brings an unusual idea back from its resting place in pulp science fiction and breathes new life into it. The idea that there are a few gifted people who can see the future is not a new one. Spielberg takes the idea and brings us Minority Report, a world where crime has almost been completely eradicated in Washington D.C. because of three such people known as “precognitives.”
John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is a chief at the pre-crime department in D.C. He has been with the agency since its inception and is actively involved in almost all aspects of its operation. An agent from the Department of Justice has been sent to evaluate the system that revolves around the precognitives because the entire country is about to vote for expanding the program beyond Washington D.C. Things begin to unravel when Anderton is implicated in murder by the precognitives. This film is typical of Spielberg: quality, edge-of-your-seat action, some humor but most of all a realistic look at what could happen if one odd thing (precognitives) was dropped into the world that we know. I enjoy this movie immensley and I watch it often.
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I, Robot (2004)
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While the book by Isaac Asimov suggests one way human/robot interactions might play I, Robot as a movie takes it in a completely different direction. Directed by Alex Proyas I, Robot is set in 2035 and suffers from heavy product placement ealry in the film. Aside from that it is an excellent example of the world we know with an infusion of one thing that changes everything. Del Spooner is a detective with the Chicago police department. He does not like robots and acts according to this distrust. Spooner is called to the murder scene of a doctor who he knew from his past. The doctor had apparently broken open his window midway up the sky scraper and jumped. The only problem with this is that the glass is break resistant and shatter resistant. Spooner knows there is no possible way the man jumped by himself.
I enjoy this movie as much or more than the others (with the exception of Serenity) and watch it again and again because of the shear poetic presence during a few scenes and because it reminds me that what defines us as humans is our ability to think and reason but most of all it is our emotion.
1 Comment
Just goes to show… different strokes for different folks. I’ve seen all of them and thought I, Robot was just dreadful. Maybe it’s because I’m an Asimov fan and hated to see his work brutalized. Zathura was a big and very pleasant surprise. I’m not sure what made me watch it, but it was definitely worth the time. Imaginative and well developed, with great FX.