15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (2024)

Science Fiction

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (1)

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (2)

By Alexander Vance & Robert Vaux

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Science fiction continues to be one of the most popular movie genres as it has birthed everything from thought-provoking journeys to purely entertaining blockbusters. However, some of the best films to come out of the genre focus heavily on the science part. This is referred to as "hard science fiction." Hard sci-fi emphasizes elements like scientific accuracy and careful attention to the technology used in the narrative. It attempts to present its story as realisitically as possible, removing elements that don't fit with accepted physics or our scientific understanding of the universe as it stands.

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Over the years, audiences have witnessed more and more intelligent sci-fi films that successfully mix intriguing ideas with stunning visuals to keep them hooked. Directors like Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, and Ridley Scott are just a few names that come to mind when creating sci-fi stories that prioritize science and logic. As a result, these films in the hard sci-fi sub-genre become stories that people will remember for a long time, including Arrival, Interstellar, and The Martian.

Updated on October 19, 2024 by Robert Vaux: Hard science fiction enjoyed a resurgence in the 2010s, and produced a surprising number of modern classics to join a deep bench of older hard-sci-fi movies with equally strong reputations. Five more entries have been added to the article, and the formatting has been updated to fit CBR's current guidelines.

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15 Sunshine Imagines If The Sun Was Dying

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (3)

Even after its release, Danny Boyle's 2007 movie Sunshine remains one of the most underappreciated sci-fi films of all time. Sunshine revolves around a future where the sun is on the verge of dying, threatening Earth with freezing temperatures. To save the planet, a spaceship crew embarks on a high-stakes journey to deliver a bomb that could reignite the sun.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.2
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%
  • Rent on Prime Video

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Sunshine focuses heavily on the stunning visuals that showcase the true power of the sun. But, it also demonstrates the difficulties of isolation on a spaceship, especially when conducting a mission as crucial as this. The crew is often forced to choose sides during moral conflicts and make sacrifices to ensure that the rest of the human race carries on. The film does take a divisive turn in the third act, but it still plays into the idea of how being in space can negatively affect someone. Along with its symbolism, themes, and fascinating premise, Sunshine boasts a stellar ensemble cast, including Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, and more.

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (4)

Sunshine

R

Thriller

A team of international astronauts is sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb in 2057.

Director
Danny Boyle

Release Date
July 20, 2007
Cast
Cillian Murphy , Rose Byrne , Chris Evans

Writers
Alex Garland

Runtime
1 Hour 47 Minutes

Main Genre
Sci-Fi

Producer
Andrew Macdonald

Production Company
Moving Picture Company, DNA Films, UK Film Council, Ingenious Film Partners

14 Source Code Thinks Through Its Time-Travel Science

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (5)

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Time travel movies typically need to spell out the rules of how their particular universe works. Most either adhere to the alternate universe notion where changes made in the past create a new reality in the future, or the cause-effect paradox where events cannot be changed and whatever takes place in the past have already been factored into the present. The Back to the Future movies are good examples of the former, with the original Terminator playing by the rules of the latter.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.5
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
  • Stream on Tubi

Duncan Jones’ 2011 thriller Source Code takes that task very seriously, which helps transform it into a superior time-travel thriller. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a soldier who awakens in another man’s body on a train to Chicago. The train will be bombed and he’s tasked with identifying the terrorist and stopping the plot before it comes to pass.

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The Thing and 9 Other Isolating Sci-fi Thrillers Worth Watching

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As with Groundhog Day, he’s forced to replay the scenario over and over, unsure if it’s real or if he’s simply involved in a surreal simulation. Those answers confirm all the film’s earlier details about time travel, leading to a first-rate thriller with a supremely satisfying conclusion. It makes Source Code a brilliant follow-up to Jones' earlier hard sci-fi classic Moon.

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (7)
Source Code

PG-13

Action

Drama

Mystery

A soldier wakes up in someone else's body and discovers he's part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train within 8 minutes.

Director
Duncan Jones

Release Date
April 1, 2011
Cast
Jake Gyllenhaal , Michelle Monaghan , Vera Farmiga , Jeffrey Wright , Michael Arden , Cas Anvar , Russell Peters , Brent Skagford

Writers
Ben Ripley

Runtime
93 Minutes

Main Genre
Mystery

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13 Gravity Posits Space Travel’s Worst Nightmare

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (8)

Few science-fiction films are more high-concept – or more viscerally affecting – than 2013’s Gravity, which plays out a chillingly plausible scenario for a disaster in outer space. George Clooney and Sandra Bullock play astronauts on the Hubble Space Telescope struck by a sudden cloud of debris. They’re suddenly cut off from Earth, with failing equipment and the vacuum of outer space ready to claim them on a moment’s notice.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.7
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
  • Rent on Prime Video

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The film plays best against the biggest of screens, where Bullock’s heroine is rendered impossibly fragile against the vast gulf surrounding her. The crackerjack pacing keeps audiences focused on the immediacy of her survival, while the details hold very true to both the capabilities and the dangers of contemporary space travel. The film won an unprecedented seven Oscars, including Best Director for Alfonso Curaon, and it remains one of the best science fiction films of the 21st century.

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (9)
Gravity

PG-13

Sci-Fi

Thriller

Two astronauts work together to survive after an accident leaves them stranded in space.

Director
Alfonso Cuarón

Release Date
October 4, 2013

Studio
Warner Bros.

Cast
Sandra Bullock , George Clooney , Ed Harris

Writers
Alfonso Cuarón , Jonás Cuarón

Runtime
1 Hour 31 Minutes
Main Genre
Drama

Producer
David Heyman, Alfonso Cuarón

Production Company
Warner Bros., Esperanto Filmoj, Heyday Films

12 Moon Puts The Viewer in The Shoes of a Struggling Astronaut

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (10)

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Oscar-winning actor Sam Rockwell has always had a unique range, yet 2009's Moon was a magnificent opportunity for him to lead an ambitious sci-fi project that also almost acts as a one-man show. Rockwell plays Sam Bell, an astronaut who operates a manufacturing facility on the moon. With a few weeks left until he returns to Earth, Sam starts losing grip on reality when he discovers a clone of himself.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.8
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
  • Rent on Prime Video

Loneliness, isolation, and maintaining one's identity are important themes Moon offers to the viewer. As Sam attempts to continue his mission, he finds new secrets kept from him while trying to make sense of the clone constantly interacting with him. It paves the way for an engrossing dynamic between Sam and his clone, making Rockwell's performance even more commendable. Moon also provides subtle elements of man's reliance on technology, as seen by Sam's repeated communication with his computer assistant, GERTY.

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15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (11)

Moon

R

Sci-Fi

Drama

Mystery

Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.

Director
Duncan Jones

Release Date
July 10, 2009

Cast
Sam Rockwell , Kevin Spacey , Dominique McElligott , Rosie Shaw , Kaya Scodelario , Matt Berry

Writers
Duncan Jones , Nathan Parker

Runtime
97 minutes

Main Genre
Sci-Fi

Producer
Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler

Production Company
Stage 6 Films, Liberty Films, Xingu Films, Limelight

11 The Martian is a Fantastic Adaptation of Andy Weir's Novel

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (12)

Andy Weir's novel The Martian was already a hit with sci-fi readers, and Ridley Scott's 2015 film adaptation of the source material proved just as entertaining. After a brutal storm ends a manned mission to Mars, astronaut Mark Watney gets left behind after being presumed dead. However, since he is alive and stranded on the red planet, Mark optimistically tries to use his only supplies to survive and communicate with NASA to get him home.

  • IMDB Rating: 8
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
  • Rent on Prime Video

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Anyone who has read The Martian knows how important scientific accuracy is in the book, and the film brings that into a space narrative about courage, hope, and ingenuity. The Martian sees Mark calculate plenty of math, use supplies to build helpful devices, and put his botany skills to the test as he grows enough food to keep him alive. While Mark perseveres on Mars, everyone at NASA conducts a high-priority rescue mission. The Martian is a well-paced and engaging survival story that mixes dramatic tension with humorous entertainment, which is aided by Matt Damon's commanding lead performance.

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (13)
The Martian

PG-13

Sci-Fi

Adventure

Drama

An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive and can survive until a potential rescue.

Director
Ridley Scott

Release Date
October 2, 2015

Studio
20th Century Fox
Cast
Matt Damon , Jessica Chastain , Kristen Wiig , Kate Mara

Writers
Drew Goddard , Andy Weir

Runtime
144 minutes

Main Genre
Sci-Fi

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10 Ex Machina Informs About The Growing Dangers of Artificial Intelligence

With the rise of artificial intelligence becoming more of a reality in today's world, one only needs to watch Ex Machina to understand the dangers that come with something revolutionary yet unsettling. In the film, Domhnall Gleeson plays computer programmer Caleb, who gets sent to the house of company CEO Nathan - played by Oscar Isaac. Caleb learns he is part of an experiment where he must test and interact with Ava, a newly created AI in the form of a robotic girl.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.7
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
  • Stream on Max

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Many films have tried tackling AI, but few have been so attentively scientific as Ex Machina. Writer and director Alex Garland creates a story that makes AI seem innovative, but crafting a technological advancement with consciousness can have major repercussions. Throughout the film, Ava wants to be free from her confined prison, and she will use Caleb's sympathy and Nathan's oppression against them. Actress Alicia Vikander puts in a complex performance as Ava, a character whose motives are very ominous. Ex Machina is a brilliant examination of how both humans and AI can be manipulative with power and trust, which can lead to deadly consequences.

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (14)
Ex Machina

R

Sci-Fi

Drama

A young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I.

Director
Alex Garland

Release Date
April 10, 2015

Cast
Alicia Vikander , Domhnall Gleeson , Oscar Isaac , Sonoya Mizuno , Gana Bayarsaikhan , Corey Johnson

Writers
Alex Garland

Runtime
108 minutes

Production Company

9 Interstellar is an Emotional Yet Stunning Journey Through Time and Space

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (15)

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Christopher Nolan is a director who has gifted audiences some of the best blockbusters in recent memory, especially ones in the science fiction genre. One crowning achievement that is still praised by his fans is 2014's Interstellar. Set in the future, Interstellar presents an Earth plagued by dust storms and dwindling crops. To save humanity, a team of astronauts - led by family man Joseph "Coop" Cooper - must travel beyond the solar system to find a new habitable planet.

  • IMDB Rating: 8.7
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 73%
  • Stream on MGM+, Paramount+, & Prime Video

Interstellar is a visually astounding journey as Nolan's imagination takes viewers through many fantastical places in space, including wormholes, planets of ice and water, and even a black hole. Interstellar's depiction of black holes even shares similarities with real-life photographs of the phenomena that were captured years after the film's release. Christopher Nolan's dedication to realism in his work shines through with every scene here.

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Interstellar also explains how time works differently on other planets, especially ones not within the Milky Way galaxy. In addition to its captivating science, the film is an emotional viewing experience as Coop's love for his family acts as the story's beating heart. Nolan never loses sight of the human beings at his story's core, and champions them for their courage and fortitude in the face of an uncaring universe.

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (17)
Interstellar

PG-13

Drama

Adventure

When Earth becomes uninhabitable in the future, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, is tasked to pilot a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans.

Director
Christopher Nolan

Release Date
November 7, 2014

Cast
Matthew McConaughey , Anne Hathaway , Jessica Chastain , Mackenzie Foy , Ellen Burstyn , John Lithgow
Writers
Jonathan Nolan , Christopher Nolan

Runtime
2 hours 49 minutes

Main Genre
Sci-Fi

Production Company
Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, Syncopy, Lynda Obst Productions, Government of Alberta, Alberta Media Fund, Atvinnuvega- og nýsköpunarráðuneytið

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8 Children of Men Presents a Horrific Future

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (18)

In terms of sci-fi films that present a realistically frightening future, Children of Men is one of the best to do it. The film imagines a dystopian future where mankind suffers from infertility, causing the world's population to continually endanger itself. When protagonist Theo Faron discovers a young pregnant woman named Kee, he makes it his mission to ensure she stays alive and deliver her to a safe haven.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.9
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
  • Rent on Prime Video

Children of Men effectively clues the audience in on what would happen if infertility destroyed humanity's future. The film features a lot of chaos and division as the main characters encounter people who have lost their way and resort to violence. However, through this intensely thrilling journey of despair and fear, the film still finds a way to ignite hope and faith through Kee's pregnancy and the birth that will come from it. With a realistic approach and fantastic filmmaking choices from director Alfonso Cuarón, Children of Men is a hard sci-fi story that teaches viewers about population endangerment.

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (19)

Children of Men

R

Action

Drama

Science Fiction

In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.

Director
Alfonso Cuarón

Release Date
January 5, 2007

Cast
Julianne Moore , Clare-Hope Ashitey , Clive Owen , Chiwetel Ejiofor , Michael Caine

Runtime
109 minutes

7 Her Showcases The Results of Humans Becoming Too Attached to AI

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (20)

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Films about AI typically highlight a bleak future for humanity, but Her flips the conventional idea on its head for a more heartwarming story set in a bright and colorful not-so-distant future. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Theodore Twombly, a lonely and socially awkward writer who is having trouble moving away from his past relationship. When he buys a new operating system named Samantha, he develops romantic feelings for her.

  • IMDB Rating: 8
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
  • Stream on Max

Her's premise sounds strange on paper, but the overall execution helps make it one of the best romance movies in the sci-fi genre. Instead of painting AI as an evil threat, Her presents it as a beneficial tool in people's daily lives. Since Theodore confides heavily in Samantha, he ends up substituting a human connection for one with technology. Her delivers the important message that humans can try and escape real-world problems through advanced technology, but it simply can't replace human love and other related feelings. Considering the advancements in AI and how many people are obsessed with technology today, the future in Her is beginning to feel more like a reality.

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15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (21)

Her (2013)

R

Drama

Romance

Science Fiction

In a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.

Director
Spike Jonze

Release Date
January 10, 2014
Cast
Joaquin Phoenix , Amy Adams , Scarlett Johansson , Rooney Mara

Runtime
2 hours 6 minutes

6 Arrival Provides a More Thought-Provoking Approach to Alien Invasions

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (22)

Traditional alien invasion films mostly focus on explosive action and entertainment value, which is why Denis Villeneuve's Arrival was a splendid change of pace from the usual formula. When twelve alien spaceships touch down on Earth, the world's governments try to figure out the reason why they're here. When the United States military hires linguist Louise Banks for help, she learns about their language and deciphers whether they are a threat or an ally.

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  • IMDB Rating: 7.9
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
  • Stream on Paramount+, Peacock, & Showtime

Instead of relying on huge effects-heavy action, Arrival puts a realistic spin on the alien invasion plot and dives deep into how the world's leaders and most brilliant minds would react to this phenomenon. Arrival's representation of language barriers and communication feels refreshingly intriguing as both Louise and the audience come to understand the aliens' true intentions. The film also does an incredible job of teaching the audience and characters about philosophical elements involving time linearity and destined futures. Villeneuve's craft for visual storytelling helped Arrival become one of the best and smartest stories in modern sci-fi cinema.

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (23)
Arrival

PG-13

Sci-Fi

Documentary

Drama

Mystery

Thriller

A linguist works with the military to communicate with alien lifeforms after twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world.

Director
Denis Villeneuve

Release Date
November 10, 2016

Studio
Cast
Michael Stuhlbarg , Forest Whitaker , Tzi Ma , Amy Adams , Mark O'Brien , Jeremy Renner , Nathaly Thibault

Runtime
116 Minutes

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5 Solaris Reveals an Alien Like No Other

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (24)

Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival earned high praise upon its release for presenting aliens that looked and acted like nothing ever seen on screen before. The director emulates a similar feat delivered by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky in 1972’s Solaris, whose alien is a colossal sentient ocean occupying the surface of an entire planet. A human space station has spent decades studying it, but when the psychologist hero arrives, he finds one of the crew members dead by suicide and the other two acting erratically.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.9
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
  • Stream on Max

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Among other things, the film centers on the difficulty with communicating – or even just observing – a creature that defies all previous knowledge of life. Tarkovsky invests that with pure unfiltered existentialism, as his human characters face a universe utterly indifferent to them, but there is also hope amid the horror, as the question of interaction with the creature finds a more peaceful and affirming answer. That, too, could be an illusion, but for the protagonists, it may be enough. An English-language version starring George Clooney was released in 2002, but it can’t capture the enigmatic power of the original film.

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (25)

Solaris (1972)

PG

Drama

Mystery

Sci-Fi

Solaris, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and based on the novel by Stanisław Lem, follows psychologist Kris Kelvin as he is sent to a space station orbiting the enigmatic planet Solaris. Confronted with mysterious phenomena affecting the crew, Kelvin must grapple with complex themes of memory, humanity, and loss. The film is a contemplative exploration of human consciousness and the unknown.

Director
Andrei Tarkovsky

Release Date
September 26, 1972

Cast
Natalya Bondarchuk , Donatas Banionis , Jüri Järvet , Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy

Writers
Stanislaw Lem , Fridrikh Gorenshteyn , Andrei Tarkovsky

Runtime
167 Minutes
Main Genre
Drama

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4 Blade Runner 2049 Captures The Same Ideas as Its Predecessor

From one Denis Villeneuve sci-fi masterpiece to another, Blade Runner 2049 is a dazzling and breathtaking narrative for genre fans. The original Blade Runner was already a cult classic as it told the story of Rick Deckard hunting down rogue human-like robots called "replicants" in the future. It was a brilliant hard sci-fi film that the world wasn't prepared for when it was released. Blade Runner 2049 - released 35 years later - maintained the same themes as its predecessor and became one of the rare sequels to meet up or surpass the original.

  • IMDB Rating: 8
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
  • Stream on Hulu

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Blade Runner 2049 follows K, a replicant officer who unearths a hidden secret that leads him to cross paths with Rick Deckard. This legacy sequel gets more ambitious with questions surrounding human identity, loneliness, freedom, and the relationship between humans and machines. Considering how advanced the film's future is, it presents the idea of what it means to live in a world overrun by groundbreaking technology. Compelling and visually stunning all at once, Blade Runner 2049 is a modern sci-fi tale that everyone should watch.

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (26)
Blade Runner 2049

R

Sci-Fi

Action

Drama

Mystery

Young Blade Runner K's discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former Blade Runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years.

Director
Denis Villeneuve

Release Date
October 6, 2017

Cast
Ryan Gosling , Harrison Ford , Jared Leto , Ana De Armas , Robin Wright , Lennie James , Dave Bautista , Carla Juri , Hiam Abbass , Barkhad Abdi , David Dastmalchian , Mackenzie Davis , Sylvia Hoeks

Writers
Michael Green , Hampton Fancher

Runtime
163 Minutes

Production Company

3 Close Encounters of the Third Kind Is About Humanity More than Aliens

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (27)

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No one knows very much about the aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Beyond their vessel, their basic physiology, and the fact that they’re benevolent, they remain a blank slate from beginning to end. Instead, Steven Spielberg’s 1977 classic focuses on the human response to their incursion, focused on Richard Dreyfuss’s telephone repairman, but including governments international agencies as well as individuals facing a phenomenon they can’t understand.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.6
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
  • Rent on Prime Video

That allows Spielberg to explore one of science-fiction’s most hallowed concepts – first contact with an alien civilization – from the perspective of human nature rather than the specifics of the visitation. It lends the film a timelessness which has helped it become one of Spielberg’s most treasured movies. In whatever form it takes, humanity’s reaction will likely look a great deal as Spielberg envisioned it.

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15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (28)
Close Encounters of The Third Kind

PG

Adventure

Documentary

Drama

Sci-Fi

The story follows Roy Neary, an ordinary man whose life changes after a close encounter with a UFO. Driven by mysterious visions, he joins others similarly affected, leading to a climactic meeting with extraterrestrial beings.

Director
Steven Spielberg

Release Date
November 18, 1977

Cast
Richard Dreyfuss , Francois Truffaut , Teri Garr , Melinda Dillon , Bob Balaban , J. Patrick McNamara

Writers
Steven Spielberg , Hal Barwood , Jerry Belson , John Hill , Matthew Robbins

Runtime
138 minutes

Budget
$20 million

Studio(s)
Columbia Pictures

Distributor(s)
Columbia Pictures

2 Blade Runner Shows Humanity Making Its Match

The original Blade Runner’s 2019 setting has come and gone, and yet in many ways its stylized universe still has a great deal to say about the world we’re all living in today. It’s a late capitalist hellhole, dominated by giant corporations who view human advancement only in terms of how much profit it can net them. That’s led to the creation of sentient androids as slave labor, which causes problems when those androids decide they want something more.

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  • IMDB Rating: 8.1
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
  • Rent on Prime Video

As with all of his work, director Ridley Scott pays careful attention to every detail of his world. It feels plausible despite its differences from the real world because its inhabitants still behave very much as people do. The corruption and cynicism is just part of day-to-day life, with the androids another repressed minority raging against a system designed to keep them powerless. Blade Runner doesn’t envision a huge change one way or the other, just humanity trudging on through an increasingly hollow and used-up world.

15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (29)
Blade Runner

R

Drama

Sci-Fi

Thriller

A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.

Director
Ridley Scott

Release Date
June 25, 1982

Cast
Harrison Ford , Rutger Hauer , Sean Young , Edward James Olmos , M. Emmet Walsh , Daryl Hannah , William Sanderson , Joe Turkel

Writers
Hampton Fancher , David Webb Peoples , Philip K. Dick , Roland Kibbee

Runtime
117 minutes

Main Genre
Sci-Fi

Production Company

Budget
$28 million

Studio(s)
Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributor(s)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Sequel(s)
Blade Runner 2049

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1 2001: A Space Odyssey Set a New Standard For The Sci-Fi Genre

There have been many acclaimed and memorable hard sci-fi films across cinema, but the one with the most influence on the genre is Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Today, it remains a cinematic achievement, even if some can't quite grasp what it all means. The film focuses on a team of astronauts sent on a mission to investigate a mysterious black object and uncover some of mankind's secrets. Along the way, the crew face off against their computer system, HAL 9000, and go on an astonishing journey through space and time.

  • IMDB Rating: 8.3
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
  • Stream on Max

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2001: A Space Odyssey remains worthy of the many analyses it has received since its 1968 release, and people are still figuring out what Kubrick was trying to tell them. The opening act, 2001 provides insight into human evolution. When the film transitions to the astronauts and HAL 9000, it emphasizes man's relationship with technology and how perilous an innovation like a supercomputer can be. Then, 2001 finalizes its journey with a deep look into the possibilities of what's beyond space and time.

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1

Each segment in 2001 has something strongly scientific to say about humanity's place in the universe, and the film's impact on the sci-fi genre remains unforgettable. In essence, it becomes a look at the human condition itself, from our origins to our ascension. To manage all of that in 144 minutes and still deliver a supremely compelling story is what makes it one of the greatest movies of any sort ever put to film.

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15 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked (31)
2001: A Space Odyssey

G

Adventure

Mystery

Sci-Fi

After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.

Director
Stanley Kubrick

Release Date
April 3, 1968

Cast
Keir Dullea , Gary Lockwood , William Sylvester , Daniel Richter , Leonard Rossiter , Margaret Tyzack

Writers
Stanley Kubrick , Arthur C. Clarke

Runtime
149 minutes

Production Company
  • Movies
  • Science Fiction
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey

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