We consider the best science fiction of the last half of the decade. Find a discussion of the films from the first half of the decade here. The third installment will talk about the decade’s franchises.
If I’ve done my math right, we discussed 25 films in the last installment, so we’ll talk about another 25 here, to make an even 50.
Chronological order.
2015-2019
Mad Max: Fury Road
George Miller, 2015
Best action film of the century. The other Mad Max films all feel like Miller was just practicing, getting ready to make his masterpiece of adrenaline-fueled truck-racing action. A movie I certainly did not expect to be one of the most critically-acclaimed masterpieces of the decade.
In an era where action films are relying more and more on animation for their special effects (see for example Avengers: Endgame), Mad Max: Fury Road refreshes with real trucks and real stunts. This grounds the film and allows you to feel the action more viscerally.
I’m loathe to read too much thematic depth into a movie that seems to be about a truck driving from point A to point B with other trucks in pursuit, but there’s some weight in what our heroes find when they reach their destination. And I think there’s some heft to the film’s final line: “Where must we go, we who wander this wasteland, in search of our better selves?”
The Lobster
Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015
Really more absurdist satire than science fiction, but definitely something a single guy can relate to. The Lobster concerns a society where everybody must be in a relationship by law. Single people are sent to a camp, where they have a limited amount of time to find a partner, and are otherwise transformed into an animal of their choice. And, of course, any good relationship is built on possessing a common trait…
Circle
Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione, 2015
The type of psychological science fiction I’m a sucker for. A very lo-fi concept, the type you find on streaming services. In Circle, people are subjected to a horrendous experiment. They stand in a circle and die one by one. They must learn the rules of the game and decide who lives and who dies.
The Martian
Ridley Scott, 2015
My favorite movie of the decade, adapted from the novel by Andy Weir. The Martian gets science right in so many of the ways that other movies miss the mark. First, it recognizes that science is a team effort, with different people bringing different specialties to bear. Often, films portray a group of scientists as a single genius surrounded by idiots (see for example The Imitation Game). This film recognizes that everybody involved is extremely intelligent and treats them as such. It is also a movie where everybody is extremely moral. There are no bad people, nobody demonized. It would be easy, for example, to target the PR person, but the film avoids that, except by poking fun at her being less nerdy than her peers. There is a lot of conflict and yelling, but only because moral people can disagree in tough situations. Like when an astronaut is stranded on Mars.
The only movie in history to really compare is Apollo 13, based on true events, and also avoiding the traps I lay out above.
There have been plenty of science fiction tales of journeys to Mars, but none with the technical chops of The Martian. The earliest I’ve seen is Thomas Edison’s 1910 film A Trip to Mars. The best prior film about a trip to Mars, which has a similar plot about a stranded astronaut, is Robinson Crusoe on Mars.
10 Cloverfield Lane
Dan Trachtenberg, 2016
10 Cloverfield Lane is a wonderfully intense film, with John Goodman giving one of his best performances. A movie that keeps you guessing. A woman wakes up in an underground bunker. The man claims there’s been a disaster and he saved her life, but they can’t leave the bunker. So she doesn’t know if he’s her savior or kidnapper. They slowly adjust to life together while she attempts to piece together the truth.
This is an entry in the barely-connected Cloverfield series of films, and so perhaps belongs in my next article on franchises alongside Cloverfield Paradox (the film which did not live up to Duncan Jones’ potential). But the films are so different and so loosely tied that it would feel out of place there, so I left it here.
Konstruktor
Piotr Dylewski, 2016
This decade has seen an explosion of high-quality and intelligent science fiction shorts, more than I’ve been able to keep up with. So this entry is something of a placeholder for the many I have not seen.
Konstruktor concerns an inventor and the artificial woman he has designed to be his companion as he attempts to teach her to feel emotions.
You can watch it for free on YouTube.
Sunspring
Oscar Sharp, 2016
The film’s writer is credited as “Benjamin”. Benjamin named himself. Benjamin is a computer. But, judging from the writing on display in this film, we won’t have to worry about the robot apocalypse for a few years yet. A human director and human actors bring this computer-penned vision of the future to life.
Watch it for free on YouTube.
Colossal
Nacho Vigalondo, 2016
In Colossal, A woman discovers she is a monster. But more importantly discovers that “nice guys” are monsters too. Sometimes it takes a good monster to stop a bad one.
Kimi no Na wa (Your Name)
Makoto Shinkai, 2016
Two high-schoolers who should never have met form a bond when they somehow switch bodies with each other. Your Name is a coming-of-age story about friendship… until they attempt to bridge the divide between them and uncover shocking truths that lead to the metaphysical climax.
I have difficulty keeping up with the wealth of anime out there, so may be missing some good ones that belong on this list.
Shin Gōjira
Hideaki Anno, 2016
The America Godzilla “Monsterverse” films will get their own section in the next post. This is separated because it’s the same franchise, but not the same film series.
Shin Godzilla is Japan’s latest reboot of the franchise and succeeds by remembering just how smart the original Godzilla film was. It wasn’t just about a monster, but the effects it left in its wake. It was about political and societal fallout. This film is in particular very concerned with bureaucracy and how bureaucrats react to crisis.
Arrival
Denis Villeneuve, 2016
A strong contender for the best science fiction film of the decade, the bare premise alone excites me. Based on Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, Arrival is the story of a linguist trying to figure out an alien language. That’s cool. Too much science fiction waves off the language barrier problems. I can think of no movies that confront it head-on like this. It is the subject of one of my favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes, “Darmok”. And Samuel Delaney famously tackled the language gap in his novel, Babel-17.
Throw in the international politics of the alien arrival, touching and sad family moments, and the sci/fi twist that brings it all together and you have something of a masterpiece.
Get Out
Jordan Peele, 2017
Get Out is satirical horror whose sci/fi bits come in the final revelations and are unfortunately the weakest part. The best part is the opening scene, featuring a black man lost in the suburbs set to a perfect horror movie vibe. The rest of the movie builds off that vibe, but can’t quite match it. Nothing scarier in this world than white people, and perhaps white liberals most of all. At least you know where you stand with Donald Trump. But when your girlfriend’s dad tells you he would have voted for Obama a third time if he could…
Marjorie Prime
Michael Almereyda, 2017
A stripped-down science fiction film (another “lo-fi sci-fi”). An elderly woman spends time with a holographic recreation of her late husband; Marjorie Prime tackles all the surrounding philosophical and emotional questions of its premise, which is exactly what I’m looking for in science fiction.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Luc Besson, 2017
Adapted from what is perhaps comics’ greatest space opera Valérian et Laureline, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets offers two opening scenes which are the pinnacle of great science fiction. And then unfortunately proceeds to continue with an uninteresting plot and uninteresting leads, saved by only the occasional cool sci/fi idea and visual presentation thereof, such as the extra-dimensional bazaar.
But those two opening scenes… A space station welcoming interstellar visitors and growing into a giant city. Followed by brief glimpses of a beautiful culture as their world ends. Magnificence.
The Shape of Water
Guillermo del Toro, 2017
Perhaps del Toro’s masterpiece, The Shape of Water is competing with Her for the best sci/fi romance of the decade. It’s certainly the most erotic one. Inspired by Creature from the Black Lagoon, but turning the classic horror concept into an erotic romance. Only exquisite storytelling and cinematography that take its premise absolutely seriously allow such a concept to succeed as it does.
Blade Runner 2049
Denis Villeneuve, 2017
I wasn’t even going to watch this. The original Blade Runner is the one true masterpiece of science fiction cinema and it did not need a sequel. I got suckered in by a double feature. I never turn down a chance to watch Blade Runner in the theatre, even if the price was then sitting through Blade Runner 2049.
But then this turned out to be also (mostly) a masterpiece. And that was clear from very early in the film. The trailers had done a great job being vague on the film’s premise, and once it stood revealed, I was sold. It had a good enough idea for a movie to justify its existence, something sequels often forget to do.
Its one flaw was tying itself to Blade Runner. Harrison Ford showing up knocks the movie quality down a notch; it had been cinematic perfection until he bumbled onto the screen reminding us this was indeed a sequel. It’s almost saved by its magnificent climactic nighttime fight amidst crashing ocean waves, but then brought down again by its weak final revelation.
Ryan Gosling was perfect in this film. It would have been better without Ford.
Sorry to Bother You
Boots Riley, 2018
I barely know what I watched. I think it’s largely allegorical about being black in America today. Sort of science fiction, but mostly societal satire… I think. Sorry to Bother You tells the story of a black telemarketer who learns how to sound like a white person when talking on the phone, which leads him to discover the truth about what the company is selling.
Annihilation
Alex Garland, 2018
Previous expeditions into the mysterious zone have never returned; now four scientists must succeed where others failed. The zone does strange and alien things, often combining the lifeforms within it into strange new formations, sometimes beautiful and sometimes horrific.
Annihilation is Garland’s follow-up to Ex Machina based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer; while not as full of philosophizing as its predecessor, it makes up for it with the surreal visuals on display.
The story of a strange zone that people venture into brings to mind the classic science fiction film Stalker; this film is somewhat faster paced.
Upgrade
Leigh Whannell, 2018
Upgrade is a brutally violent, fast-paced adrenaline rush that also conveys some smart ideas about the relationship between humanity and technology somewhere amidst all the killing. A man has a computer implanted in his brain that has turned him into a lethal killing machine out for revenge.
Incredibles 2
Brad Bird, 2018
Everybody’s favorite animated superhero family returns; Incredibles 2 is just as delightful as the first film.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Rodney Rothman, Peter Ramsey, and Bob Persichette, 2018
Who knew an animated superhero film could grab as much acclaim of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. My movie social media site of choice is Letterboxd, where this film is the highest rated science fiction film and one of the top 10 narrative films of all time.
And it’s hard to say the film doesn’t nail it. Strong characters, comedy, a unique and compelling visual style… I would have thought a story about interdimensional portals bringing together different Spider-People from all over the multiverse to battle an assortment of classic Spider-Man villains would have been a little much for the average movie-goer, but I’d have been wrong.
It is impossible not to like a film which features Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham.
Smash and Grab
Brian Larsen, 2019
Pixar put out a lot of these “Spark Shorts” this year, with a few bordering on science fiction. Smash and Grab wasn’t necessarily the best of them, but it fit most cleanly within the science fiction genre for this list. The idea is that Pixar funds artists within its studio to make their own animated shorts. So they’re studio-funded, but individually created.
Smash and Grab tells the story of two robots at work, plugged into a power source, who break free of the cord, find portable batteries, and seek their freedom.
Watch it for free on YouTube.
Alita: Battle Angel
Robert Rodriguez, 2019
Alita is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of the classic comic. She’s built to be a perfect weapon, but can choose to be more.
Us
Jordan Peele, 2019
Peele had an impressive but uneven debut with Get Out. With Us, he delivered a superior product in a similar vein. We learn of a shadow world where people live twisted reflections of our lives. And learn what happens when the people of that shadow world rise up to claim their place in our world.
This time, the horror is us.
Also, bunnies are very scary. But I already knew that.
Ad Astra
James Gray, 2019
Ad Astra is a meditative film about deep space exploration and the search for life. Slow, focused mostly on Brad Pitt’s psychological journey, coming to terms with his own emotions about his father, while letting that parallel the gorgeous journey through space.
Be sure to check out Part 3, covering the franchises.
