Best Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked by Metacritic
'Star Wars Episode IV' (in concert)
Ethan Miller / Getty ImagesScience fiction covers a lot of ground, from Star Trek to Star Wars and so much more. The genre is famous for exploring new and improbable ideas and finding ways to make the impossible appear plausible. And these forays into the unknown have often had real-world impacts on the advancement of scientific breakthroughs, like satellites.
So, if pushing the boundaries of what science can achieve gives you a thrill, then science fiction may be the perfect film genre for you. Below are some of the best sci-fi movies, all ranked by Metascore so you can plan what to watch next.
Gravity
Metascore: 96
Best for: George Clooney and Sandra Bullock fans and people who enjoy space films set in the current era
Where to watch:
Runtime: 91 minutes
When two astronauts (played by Clooney and Bullock) are stranded in space, their shuttle destroyed, hope must be found in an unlikely direction. Fast-moving debris from a destroyed satellite causes a cascade of problems. First, the astronauts lose satellite communication with Earth, and then they lose their shuttle. With death constantly on their heels, the two scrape together what technology is left to them and try to make it to the ISS, where they hope to find salvation. However, their struggle has only just begun.
"At once the most realistic and beautifully choreographed film ever set in space, Gravity is a thrillingly realized survival story spiked with interludes of breath-catching tension and startling surprise." — Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
The Bride of Frankenstein
Metascore: 95
Best for: Fans of satirized horror and dramatized science fiction
Where to watch:
Runtime: 75 minutes
A comedic and satirical take on the Frankenstein story, The Bride of Frankenstein picks up where the original story ends (it is a sequel to 1931's Frankenstein). Undeterred by the violent consequences of his first monstrous creation, Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is determined to continue his experiments. He concludes that what his creation needed was a companion of its own kind. With the aid of his mentor, the doctor begins the process of creating a wife for the monster. All the while, the original monster is traveling, in hiding, and beginning to learn what it means to be human. Boris Karloff plays the monster. James Whale directs.
"Whale's erudite genius brings it all together. He sculpts every nuance of self-parody, social satire, horror, humour, wit and whimsy into a dazzling whole, keeping every one of his fantastical plates spinning until the tragic, inevitable finale." — Simon Braund, Empire
WALL-E
Metascore: 95
Best for: Fans of dystopian science fiction with a kid-friendly presentation and strong moral lessons
Where to watch:
Runtime: 98 minutes
After years of indifferently polluting the planet, humanity has to flee earth to survive. They take up life on a fleet of spaceships set in orbit around the earth. From here they have sent robots down to the planet to perform a cleanup process that could take lifetimes. Wall-E, one of the cleaning robots, develops a new purpose when he spots another robot named EVE. EVE is searching for signs of life, seeking evidence that the planet is beginning to recover. The two embark on a wild journey to get this evidence back to humanity when EVE finds it, despite opposition.
"Daring and traditional, groundbreaking and familiar, apocalyptic and sentimental, Wall-E gains strength from embracing contradictions that would destroy other films." — Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Metascore: 92
Best for: Fans of science fiction horror, aliens, and suspenseful action
Where to watch:
Runtime: 80 minutes
A small town is slowly being replaced with aliens, emotionless but visually identical to the people they're supplanting. At first, this goes largely unnoticed. Eventually, a small-town psychiatrist (played by Kevin McCarthy) becomes suspicious after many of his patients report that their loved ones have become strange emotionless versions of themselves. Teamed up with his ex-girlfriend (played by Dana Wynter) and another friend, the doctor uncovers the alien's sinister plot, and together they try to save the town.
"A film steeped in psychological realism, its rigorously compact plotting and stark, noir-influenced photography perfectly complementing the mounting sense of clammy, metaphysical dread." — Tom Huddlestone TimeOut
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Metascore: 91
Best for: Fans of artful science fiction, species-crossing lessons of the heart
Where to watch:
Runtime: 115 minutes
Lost and stuck on earth, a small alien is befriended by a young boy named Elliot (Henry Thomas). Although communication is a barrier, the two develop a strong friendship, and Elliot realizes that the alien is lost and alone here, wanting to go home but unable to. Things grow direr when the alien falls ill and the government gets involved. This sets Elliot and his siblings off on a quest with the alien to help him contact his own kind and find a way home, back to the stars.
"If we approach the unfamiliar with fear and apprehension, we will be met with fear and apprehension. But if we approach with sympathy and curiosity, we will be rewarded with same. And our souls, not to mention our bicycles, will soar to the heavens." — Carrie Rickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Metascore: 90
Best for: Fans of first contact stories and alien science fiction set in recent times
Where to watch:
Runtime: 135 minutes
Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), a power repairman, has an inexplicable encounter when out on a service call in Steven Spielberg's 1977 film. Haunted by visions afterward, he eventually devotes himself to untangling the mystery of what he saw and experienced. His quest begins to cohere when he meets Jillian (Melinda Dillon), a single mother who believes aliens kidnapped her son. The two surmise that these aliens are what Roy saw. Simultaneously an international group of scientists is attempting to find and communicate with aliens. These journeys combine and lead to a world-changing encounter where not only contact but friends are made.
"The visuals here ... are never less than stunning in their impact, yet always seem well within the realm of possibility. It is also to Spielberg's credit, however, that despite all of this visual opulence, his actors are never dwarfed." — Arthur Knight, The Hollywood Reporter
Hard to Be a God
Metascore: 90
Best for: Fans of combining science fiction with past settings
Where to watch:
Runtime: 170 minutes
In an era where humans can travel between the stars, a foreign planet known as Arkanar is undergoing dangerous turmoil. This world is at a point in its evolution reminiscent of earth's medieval ages, but with a draconian banning of learning. Reading and writing have been outlawed, and all those who possess these skills are in trouble. Don Rumata (Leonid Yarmolnik), a human agent, seeking to shield and protect some of the educated on this planet, is faced with the difficult choices that come with being as powerful as a god by local standards. The difference in technology and knowledge means that Don has to be careful about how much, and in what ways, he interferes with this developing world.
"The late director Aleksei German's last film is a grandly arbitrary carnival of neo-medieval depravity. It's also a mudpunk allegory of Russian barbarism and backwardness." — Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Mad Max: Fury Road
Metascore: 90
Best for: Fans of high-octane science fiction with an emphasis on action
Where to watch:
Runtime: 120 minutes
Two unlikely heroes join forces on their journey in a dystopian future of little water and much violence. Max (Tom Hardy) is a solitary man beset by the trauma of losing his wife and child to this hostile world. He travels quietly, sharing little of himself but always doing what is needed to keep surviving. Meanwhile, Furiosa (Charlize Theron) begins as his enemy, one of the many warriors in a faction of desert-dwelling scavenger bandits. Her story starts far away, and she becomes determined to return to that distant place of her homeland. Together, the two fight off hordes of enemies in a spectacular and dazzling display of guns, vehicles, and explosions.
"It's all perfectly, wonderfully, fantastically crazy. Amidst all those ingenious, power-packed road warrior sequences, Fury Road contains a surprising amount of depth and character development." — Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
Solaris (1972)
Metascore: 90
Best for: Fans of book-to-film adaptations, outer space mysteries
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Runtime: 165 minutes
Based on Stanislaw Lem's 1960s novel Solaris, this sci-fi movie has a touch of mystery that will leave viewers wanting more. Ground control begins to receive communication from the last three residents at the Solaris space station. A psychologist (played by Donatas Banionis) is sent to investigate, and he starts to understand — and even experience from his own point of view — what is causing the crew to behave differently.
"An amazing celluloid poem by a filmmaker whom Ingmar Bergman called 'the greatest.' He very nearly was. He was also, perhaps, too pure a creator and reckless a citizen to survive unscathed." — Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Metascore: 90
Best for: Star Wars fans of course, but also people who enjoy science fiction space operas with impressive visuals
Where to watch:
Runtime: 121 minutes
When the machinations of the galactic emperor ensnare Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), the secret rebel leader, she sends her trusty droid and its companion out on a space shuttle to find a lost hero from her past in this 1977 film. The two droids land on a backwater planet where they begin searching for the lost Jedi, Obi-wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness). They are discovered by a young farmhand, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who lives with his aunt and uncle. The droids lead him to Obi-wan, whom Luke knew under a different guise. Together, this unlikely team joins a duo of smugglers in their mission to find and rescue the imprisoned princess. This, the original Star Wars movie began the epic journey that is still underway today.
"A grand and glorious film that may well be the smash hit of 1977, and certainly is the best movie of the year so far." — Gerald Clarke, Time