Summary
A lot of the lofty sci-fi movie classics aren’t very rewatchable, but some of the genre’s greatest entries – likeStar Wars,Back to the Future, andJurassic Park– hold up to countless repeat viewings.2001: A Space Odysseyis a breathtaking piece of cinema pondering the biggest questions about humanity’s existence, andBlade Runneris a powerful futuristic noir about what constitutes a person. But they both move at such a slow pace, and deal with such heavy philosophical subject matter, that no one is champing at the bit to rewatch them on movie night.
FromSolaristoSilent Running,most of the greatest science fiction movies ever made don’t warrant a ton of rewatches.But that’s not a hard-and-fast rule across the entire genre. There are some sci-fi movies that hold up to endless repeat viewings.Mad Max: Fury Roaddeals with contemplative themes like survival, redemption, and vengeance, but it’s essentially a feature-length car chase.Everything Everywhere All at Onceswept the Academy Awards, so it might sound like a stuffy arthouse flick, but it has kung fu, a parody ofRatatouille, and a parallel universe where people have hot dog fingers.
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Mad Max: Fury Road
Cast
Mad Max: Fury Road is a post-apocalyptic film set in a desolate desert landscape where society has collapsed. Released in 2015, the story follows two rebels, Max Rockatansky and Imperator Furiosa, as they attempt to survive and bring balance to a world torn by chaos and strife.
George Miller had already made three rollicking, action-packedMad Maxmovies before he returned to the wasteland and blew the original trilogy out of the water withMad Max: Fury Road.Fury Roadhas a mercifully simplistic plot: badass Furiosa liberates the wives of post-apocalyptic tyrant Immortan Joeand goes on the lam with Joe’s forces hot on their tail. Max, now played by Tom Hardy, gets unwittingly swept along for the ride.
This plot gets set up nice and succinctly to get into the action as quickly as possible. Once Max, Furiosa, and Joe’s liberated wives are on the road and being pursued by Joe’s convoy,Fury Roadbecomes a feature-length car chase featuring some of the most impressive vehicular stunts ever put on film.There’s no limit to the number of viewingsFury Roadcan sustain.
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Aliens
Aliens, released in 1986, follows Ripley as she joins a group of Colonial Marines returning to LV-426, site of her previous encounter with the extraterrestrial species. Having been in hypersleep for 57 years, her story of survival is met with doubt, yet she assists in confronting the new threat.
Ridley Scott’s originalAlienmovie is bothone of the greatest science fiction movies and one of the greatest horror movies ever made, but it’s a slow burn. Scott takes his time to introduce the crew of the Nostromo and the threat of the xenomorph before the chestburster kicks off the haunted-house-in-space action.This makes for a powerful cinematic experience on the first viewing, but it also means that it takes a while to get going on a rewatch.
With the first sequel,Aliens, James Cameron went the other way and delivered one of the most explosive, action-packed movies ever made. The first half ofAliensgets Ellen Ripley down to the surface of a xenomorph-infested human colony with a band of space marines. The second half is an all-out action extravaganza pitting the marines against dozens of bloodthirsty aliens.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
In Everything Everywhere All at Once, a middle-aged laundromat owner (Michelle Yeoh) is distracted from her financial and family issues by a multiversal crisis. With just her husband (Ke Huy Quan) to support her through the confusion, she must contend with her overbearing traditional father (James Hong), a pencil-pushing auditor (Jamie Lee Curtis), and her emotionally-distant daughter (Stephanie Hsu).
The kind of movies that usually sweep the Academy Awards are slow, quiet, somber, and not particularly interested in being entertaining. ButEverything Everywhere All at Once– which won seven Oscars, including Best Picture – is anything but.It is a touching, character-focused drama about a mother struggling to connect with her disillusioned daughter, but that beautiful mother-daughter story is wrapped up in an action-packed interdimensional epic in which the entire multiverse is at stake.
Everything Everywhere All at Onceis an appropriate title for a movie that manages to bea fast-paced action movie, a visually stunning sci-fi movie, a zany slapstick comedy, and a sobering family drama all rolled into one.The Wang family’s story would be just as moving without all the hybrid-genre mayhem. But all the parallel universes and martial arts choreography make it an endlessly rewatchable movie.
Galaxy Quest
An homage to classic science fiction and its fandom, Galaxy Quest follows a group of actors from a fictional cult classic sci-fi series who are unwittingly embroiled in a real space conflict when aliens who believe the series is real abduct them and ask for their help defeating a tyrant threatening their people. Starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Daryl Mitchell, and Sam Rockwell, the film features many references and parodies of classic sci-fi films and shows, mainly Star Trek.
Galaxy Questis such a spot-on parody of theStar Trekfranchise that it’s often ranked as a betterStar Trekmovie than most of the officialStar Trekmovies.It has an ingeniously meta premise: the washed-up cast of an old sci-fi show is recruited for a real-life intergalactic battleby real-life aliens who mistook episodes of their series for historical records. Director Dean Parisot gets every possible laugh out of that brilliant premise.
With the satire ofGalaxy Quest, Parisot managed to have the best of both worlds. He ruthlessly spoofsStar Trekand its fans, butit’s ultimately an affectionate love letter to Gene Roddenberry’s legacyand the power of the fandom he inspired. Like all the best comedies,Galaxy Questis so funny and so quotable and so hilariously acted that it’s infinitely rewatchable.
Predator
A team of elite commandos led by Major Dutch Schaefer is sent on a rescue mission deep in the Central American jungle. However, they soon find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior with advanced technology and a penchant for collecting human trophies. As the creature picks them off one by one, Dutch must rely on his wits and combat skills to survive the ultimate test of man versus alien.
Predatorhas absolutely no reason to be as great as it is. The story grew out of a Hollywood inside joke that Rocky Balboa would run out of opponents on Earth and have to fight an alien. Its entire premise revolves around oiled-up, muscle-bound men going into the jungle and firing machine guns at an invisible alien.At the very best,Predatorshould be an affable B-movie. But somehow, John McTiernan turned it into a bona fide masterpiece.
By pitting Arnold Schwarzenegger against a deadly alien creature, McTiernan told the ultimate man-conquers-beast story.Predatordeals with themes of masculinity, militarism, and justhow outmatched humanity might be when alien life finally arrives.But it’s also a big, loud, bombastic ‘80s action movie with a burst of gunfire or a giant explosion every couple of minutes.
WALL-E
Pixar’s WALL-E tells the story of the titular lone robot left alone on an uninhabitable Earth in the distant future. Tasked with cleaning away the endless mountains of the varied waste discarded by humanity before they left the planet, WALL-E spends his days collecting salvageable parts and items of interest. When he finds a plant, another robot arrives to collect the sample, taking WALL-E to the remnants of humanity, who have all grown morbidly obese through consistent inactivity while living in luxury on a space cruiser.
Much like Stanley Kubrick, when Pixar takes a stab at a genre, they end up making one of the all-time greats.The Incrediblesis one of the best superhero movies,Upis one of the best adventure movies, andWALL-Eis one of the best science fiction movies. With its dazzling futuristic imagery, deeply cinematic visual storytelling,and the heartwarming romancebetween WALL-E and fellow robot-with-a-heart-of-gold EVE,WALL-Eholds up to endless rewatches.
The only thing that makesWALL-Ewobble slightly on a rewatch is that its depiction of an uninhabitable, trash-filled Earth gets more and more depressingly accurate with every viewing.WALL-Ewas way ahead of its time in criticizing humanity’s callous treatment of the environment. Fortunately, the love story is beautiful enough to distract from the mirror being held up to climate change.
The Matrix
The Matrix, released in 1999, is set in the 22nd century and follows a computer hacker, Neo, portrayed by Keanu Reeves. He joins a group of underground insurgents led by Morpheus to combat the domineering computers that control the earth, in a battle that blurs the lines between reality and illusion.
The Wachowskis made audiences across the world question their reality with their sci-fi action masterpieceThe Matrix.The movie suggests that reality is just a computer program being run by the robotic overlords using human beings as batteries.There’s a lot of exposition to get out of the way in the first act ofThe Matrix– who Morpheus is, how the Matrix works, what the machines are doing in the real world, etc. – but once it gets all that stuff out of the way, it’s a non-stop thrill-ride.
The Matrixisfull of beautifully directed action sequenceslike the lobby shootout, the helicopter crash, and the final foot chase. The story in between the action scenes is masterfully crafted, too. From his humble beginnings as Thomas Anderson to his triumphant climactic transformation into “The One,” Neo’s journey lands on every viewing.
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Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Star Wars is a seminal science fiction film released in 1977 that follows the quest of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo to rescue Princess Leia from the oppressive Imperial forces. They are aided by the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, as they strive to restore peace to the galaxy.
George Lucas changed the face of the film industry forever with his game-changing space operaStar Wars. Ever sinceStar Warshad audiences lining up around the block to watch it a 10th time,Hollywood studios have been acquiring nerdy I.P. and following Joseph Campbell’s “hero’s journey” religiously in an attempt to replicate that success.Lucas transported audiences to a galaxy far, far away and pulled off the cinematic magic trick of pure escapism.
Although it was burdened with introducing its audience to a whole new fictional universe,Star Warsmoves at an agreeably zippy pace.It opens with a massive space battle and remains that exciting for the rest of its runtime. From the Millennium Falcon shootout to the explosion of the Death Star,Star Warsis full of set-pieces that never get old.
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park is a science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on Michael Crichton’s novel. Released in 1993, it follows a wealthy entrepreneur who creates a theme park with living dinosaurs. When security systems fail, experts and visitors experience the perilous reality of the park.
Steven Spielberg combined the monster-movie thrills ofJawswith the thought-provoking sci-fi themes ofClose Encountersfor his big-screen adaptation of Michael Crichton’sJurassic Park.Jurassic Parkdeals with the same complex themes asFrankenstein– the hubris of man, the dangers of playing God, the uncontrollability of nature – but with a theme park full of live dinosaurs.Spielberg and his team used groundbreaking visual effects to bring dinosaurs back to life.
Jurassic Parkis full of great action sequenceswith razor-sharp tension and timeless effects.From the T. rex’s escape to the raptors’ attack in the kitchen,Jurassic Parkis jam-packed with set-pieces that never fail to thrill the audience, no matter how many times they’ve seen the movie. Even the exposition inJurassic Parkis rewatchable, thanks to a little animated character named Mr. DNA.
Back to the Future
Back to the Future follows teenager Marty McFly as he is inadvertently sent back to 1955, where he disrupts his parents' meeting. With the assistance of eccentric inventor Doc Brown, Marty must restore the timeline by ensuring his parents fall in love and find a way back to 1985.
Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’sBack to the Futurescriptshould be studied in every screenwriting class, because it’s airtight. Not only does it tell an engaging story about a time-traveling teenager trying to get his parents together to ensure his own existence; it’s a masterclass in the plant-and-payoff technique.Every single scene progresses the plot; every single line in the first act sets something up that comes back later.
Michael J. Fox’s endearing on-screen chemistry with Christopher Lloyd as Marty and Doc Brown is endlessly watchable.Back to the Futureis basically a perfect movie.
The pacing doesn’t dip for a second, all the gags in Zemeckis and Gale’s script get a laugh every time, and the catharsis of Marty McFly finally getting back to 1985 after all the hurdles he’s had to overcome always lands. Plus,Michael J. Fox’s endearing on-screen chemistry with Christopher Lloyd as Marty and Doc Brown is endlessly watchable.Back to the Futureis basically a perfect movie.
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