Ten Deep 10.29.09: Top 50 Science Fiction Movies - Part 4/5

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 10.29.2009

It's week four of the epic countdown and we crack the top twenty, so come inside to check out numbers 20 through 11!





Welcome to week 53 of 'Ten Deep'! It seems that as this particularly lengthy installment of the column draws on we're somehow weeding out the more vociferous but less intelligent commenters, so let's check in with some:

Reactions and interactions

Unsurprisingly, considering we're approaching the difficult part of the list, people are beginning to question how particular films didn't make the top twenty, and I can certainly understand that, with Aliens and Starship Troopers in particular causing grief for a few people with the relatively low placement. Much as I'd love to cram thirty films into the top twenty, unfortunately the laws of mathematics aren't on my side, so some sacrifices have to be made.

Elsewhere, my good friend Tea And Crumpets will have an agonizing wait to see if my objectivity could indeed hold steady for next week's top ten and I wouldn't cave to include a bunch of random British stuff. Reckon I had the gumption to include Quatermass?

Guest#7494 wonders why The Road Warrior counts as science fiction, which The Tortoise King kindly answers by pointing us towards the subgenre of speculative fiction. I do tend towards considering most anything post-apocalyptic as SF on that basis.

It's Vader Time! (nice moniker) argues I need to rethink the position of E.T. outside of the top five. The basis for his reasoning?

"It held the record for top grossing movie for the longest time"

A compelling argument to be sure, but I think I'll pass on your suggestion.

Guest#4650 wants to see Flight of the Navigator and The Last Starfighter on the list, but he'll be sadly disappointed. That said, the former did make the shortlist as it holds a special place in my heart, so I can sympathize with you for certain.

And as a parting note, Zorro leaves us with the tantalizing and titillating rumor that Ricardo Montalban used chest implants for The Wrath of Khan. Say what?

Oh, and did some people mention Dark City? Hold on to your hats for the next 5-15 minutes depending on your reading speed, because I'll reveal now that it didn't make the top ten...

Moving on! Let's tackle the first half of the top twenty.


As always, there's one golden rule: if I haven't seen it, it's not allowed on the list.

This week's golden rule notable omissions: District 9, Fantastic Voyage, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Moon, Tetsuo





The Story So Far...

Honorable mentions: The Man From Earth La Jetée La Voyage dans la Lune Logan's Run The Quiet Earth Serenity

50. Casshern 49. Pi 48. Independence Day 47. The Time Machine 46. Things to Come 45. Solaris 44. Primer 43. Robocop 42. Superman II 41. Westworld

40. Minority Report 39. Pitch Black 38. Brazil 37. The Iron Giant 36. Total Recall 35. Silent Running 34. Predator 33. WALL-E 32. Close Encounters of the Third Kind 31. Return of the Jedi

30. Akira 29. Dark Star 28. The Andromeda Strain 27. The Day the Earth Caught Fire 26. Starship Troopers 25. The Road Warrior 24. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 23. E.T. 22. Forbidden Planet 21. Aliens

20. Solyaris (1972)

I've taken the liberty of using the pretentious spelling of the film's title here to differentiate Andrei Tarkovsky's adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's classic novel from the Sderbergh/Clooney adaptation which featured way back in the nether regions of our top fifty. Where that version, despite its pacing and liquid visuals, is very much a western sci-fi film, Solyaris is somewhat of an antidote to that, stretching the tale out to a little short of three hours and with arguably even less happening during the course of the movie. The plot is broadly similar to that other movie, if not the source novel, with psychiatrist Kelvin visited by hallucinations and manifestations of his dead wife, aboard a space station orbiting a bizarre alien planet that seems to be affecting everyone's brain. With the pace even more leisurely the film is free to expand on and dissect the ideas presented in a much more thoughtful manner, although I'm well aware some viewers simply don't have the patience for this film. The unashamedly Russian approach lends a completely different dimension to the tale, and unaccustomed as we westerners are to this style of filmmaking (I'm speaking for the masses here), once you take a deep breath and immerse yourself it's a rich experience. Solyaris is certainly one of the least accessible films to feature in our top fifty, but that doesn't detract from it, and as an extensive (and at times exhausting, in a good way) foray into the consciousnesses of a small group of cosmonauts, the film still manages to feel fresh and invigorating as well as philosophically relevant. While Lem himself may not have been too happy with Tarkovsky's treatment of his work, thankfully some of us don't feel the same way.

19. The Fountain (2006)

I imagine that The Fountain may well be one of those films that would feature extremely highly in some people's own top ten lists, and extremely, uh, lowly in others' bottom ten lists. Thankfully for the state of balance in the universe, I've compromised and it's only made the rear end of the top twenty when theoretically it could have been higher. Originally slated as a big-budget blockbuster featuring Bradley Pitt and the like, things soon changed (I'm speculating here) when someone actually read the script and realized how utterly bonkers Darren Aronofsky's venture into out-and-out sci-fi actually was. It's reminiscent at times of what would happen if David Lynch inadvertently wandered into the genre; while the plot itself may eventually be fathomed out and put into straightforward terms - a present-day scientist strives to find a cure for cancer to save his wife, while his past and future selves (or possibly not) search for the Tree of Life on behalf of the Queen of Spain, and float through the cosmos in a magic space bubble, respectively - interpreting what actually transpires is surprisingly difficult, particularly the last twenty or so minutes of the film which seemingly transcend any attempts of a unified theory of the film's meaning. Of course, as I repeatedly harp on, science fiction is all about the ideas, and rarely are they presented in such a grandiose form as they are here. Naturally this precludes a certain portion of the viewing audience from "getting" it, unaccustomed as they are to actually thinking for themselves, and thus The Fountain is frequently denounced in some quarters, but the film's aesthetic appeal (Aronofsky's glorious world-within-a-microscope approach to special effects, and Clint Mansell's haunting minimalist score) obviously isn't sufficient for them to get over their fear of big concepts, which are displayed here in abundance and make The Fountain one of the most cerebral motion pictures of the decade.

18. Twelve Monkeys (1995)

I know a couple of my fellow 411-ers would have liked to see Terry Gilliam's SF opus rank a little higher on the list, and I'll admit that if I was compiling this list personally in terms of my own favorite science fiction, this would definitely have cracked the top ten. Taking its inspiration from one of honorable mentions, the 1960s Chris Marker short La Jetée, the disarmingly named Twelve Monkeys sees a disturbed Bruce Willis sent back through time to investigate the cause of a plague that's wiped out most of humanity. Coming into conflict with an equally mentally troubled Brad Pitt, Willis' efforts to determine just what happened to the world are endlessly compelling, throwing up all sorts of questions about fate and free well and all that interesting sort of stuff that goes hand-in-hand with good SF, with a few great scenes thrown in for good measure (wildlife in the snow in New York, Willis attempting some DIY dentistry to remove a supposed implant). While it may not be the definitive rendition of time travel (one of the genre's favored conceits) on the screen - a few more of those to come shortly - it's certainly an unexpectedly dark take on the concept, with our weirdo protagonist finding himself incarcerated for his seemingly oddball claims. Aside for the strong turns by the two leads - Pitt in particular wasn't this good again until the past couple of years - it's the story that drives the film as Willis' facade begins to slip and we have to question whether he is in fact a time traveler or just a genuine mental case; if it's the former, how on earth is he going to succeed against a seemingly pre-destined universe? The ending, although taken straight from the aforementioned French classic, is no less affecting for it and provides a superb denouement to one of the most idiosyncratic SF movies of recent years.

17. Dark City (1998)

Yes, here it is, although judging by the numbers of you guys anticipating the arrival of Dark City into the list, you might have liked to see it land somewhat further towards the single figures. Again, I'll confess, had this list been born of personal bias, this movie would undoubtedly have made the top five, but I have to maintain some semblance of objectivity, right? If you disregard the fact that Alex Proyas made the underrated but rather silly Garage Days in between, Dark City is pretty much the exact film you'd come up with if you wondered what would fit precisely in the gap between The Crow and I, Robot on the man's résumé, slotting easily between the two in terms of ideas and use of the SF genre. As close to a SF noir as you're likely to find, Dark City sees an amnesiac Rufus Sewell being chased through a shapeshifting city by a hard-boiled cop with metaphysical doubts, and an altogether more sinister set of nemeses, the chattering, telekinetic, black-hatted Strangers led by the terrifying Mister Hand. Hope for the restoration of his memories lies with a sultry femme fatale (natch) and a creepy gimp of a doctor played by Jack Bauer himself. Stylistically, Dark City is like no other, with influences as diffuse as German expressionism and cyberpunk melding to create a completely compelling storyworld. The mysteries of Sewell's repressed memories and the Strangers' closely-guarded masterplan unfold at the perfect pace and while the final reveals may be a little far-fetched, it's rare to see a film with this tone adopt the sort of conclusion that it does and have it still feel satisfying. A peculiarly original and pleasingly dystopian foray into the genre, Dark City is a consistently overlooked gem of SF, and one of the strongest melding of styles this list will see - essential viewing for any sci-fi fans.

16. Back to the Future (1985)

I surely don't need to go into detail too much on this one, do I? Back to the Future is one of the most beloved of all movie franchises, and while the later two movies in the series were undeniably entertaining in their own right, it's their daddy that gets the nod here for birthing the franchise and creating one of the best all-round knockabout enjoyable sci-fi movies ever. I could go on and on about the DeLorean, Huey Lewis, the flux capacitor, getting a crush on your mom, being called chicken, Johnny B. Goode, lightning strikes on clock towers, the need (or lack thereof) for roads, and all the rest of the ingredients that make up this one, but I don't need to. You've all seen it, and you all enjoy it just as much as I do. The DeLorean itself has become an icon of sci-fi lore, and Christopher Lloyd's performance as loopy sidekick Doc Brown is unrivalled in terms of cinematic mad scientists. God only knows what would have happened if Eric Stoltz had remained in the lead role, because Michael J. Fox brings a warmth and humor to the movie that makes it even more fuzzy around the edges - in terms of family-friendly sci-fi this is about as good as it gets. The world would be worse off without Back to the Future and its contributions to cinema history, and its importance in legitimizing science fiction for the masses can't be understated. Oh, and this also gives me an opportunity to deploy one of my favorite YouTube clips for bonus video entertainment points, which is almost as enjoyable as the film itself:

15. The Terminator (1984)

For all the stick and pastiche that Ahnuld gets these days, it's surprising to trawl back through the mists of time, past the Kindergarten Cops and the Juniors, and realize that his performance in The Terminator is actually really good. Not just good by his own admittedly low standards, but good as in one of the most memorable sci-fi villains of all time. And to think they wanted Lance Henriksen for the part. As the big bad robotic baddie sent back through time to kill the savior of mankind before he even exits the womb, Arnie is chillingly mechanical and always terrifying, utterly relentless in his quest to destroy Sarah Connor and with no remorse whatsoever about the collateral damage, of which there is rather a lot. The Terminator canon has gone on to be one of the definitive accounts of time travel in sci-fi cinema and this is where the can of worms was opened, with the ins and outs of time travel actually quite well self-contained in this movie. Determined to save the day, Michael Biehn as damaged time-traveling soldier Kyle Reese is on an absolute tear, but the seeming futility of his mission is driven home again and again as the Terminator lays a swathe of destruction everywhere he goes, with the tension by the time the iconic robotic exoskeleton is finally revealed going through the roof. As antagonistic cyborg baddies go, there's really nothing that can touch the T-800 and his presence in the role of the nemesis truly makes the film. Of course, there's the by-now famous one liners, "I'll be back" and the like, but the Terminator isn't about snippy wisecracks, at least not in this film - it's about pure dread, and a villain that can't be bargained with, can't be reasoned with, doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear, and absolutely will not stop, ever, until you're dead. And that, my friends, makes for a super sci-fi movie.

14. The Thing (1982)

Surely a candidate for "best remake ever", John Carpenter's adaptation of the tale of The Thing is a chilling masterpiece, expertly juxtaposing some ludicrously gory horror shenanigans with a slow-burning atmosphere of paranoia and dread. It's also for my money one of the scariest films ever made, which is one for a whole other list. Starring Carpenter stalwart Kurt Russell as lead macho man Macready, the story sees an alien lifeform unfrozen in the Antarctic, which possesses men through their blood and guts them in a cornucopia of disgusting manners, proving the film's lovely tagline that man truly is the warmest place to hide. A simple sci-fi tale at its heart, the malevolent alien being worming its way into a small community, the narrative is unhurried but suspenseful, with paranoia taking over the group of scientists and researchers manning the small outpost. For all the pyrotechnics of the special makeup effects (and really, once you've seen a severed head sprout spider legs and scuttle off, you're unlikely to be disgusted by too much ever again), which are truly impressive, the real heart of the film lies in the isolation of the characters and their growing fears that evil walks among them. It's proof of how a basic sci-fi conceit can be played out and extended into a masterpiece of tense filmmaking, with Carpenter's typical precision on display in mining out every last scare and drop of suspense from the concept. The unremittingly bleak ending also adds the potential for numerous philosophical watercooler discussions about what actually transpired, which is one of the hallmarks of great science fiction (well, great movies in general, I suppose). I was pretty surprised while reading up on this to see that the film fared rather poorly both critically and commercially, as for my money this is Carpenter's premier sci-fi effort, and remains arguably the highlight of his résumé.

13. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

As one of the very best examples of the power of cinema to allow its audiences to interpret films in different ways, consider 50s pulp SF thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Essentially, when you boil it down to its purest form, it's a simple suspense tale of a man, a town, and the aliens out to get them, with evil alien pods presenting a basic, but not at all undeadly, threat to humanity. However, subsequent interpretations of it have elevated the film to various allegorical levels - introspective alienation in the contemporary world, Cold War paranoia, the loss of individualism in communist societies, McCarthyism run wild (always a fun one considering the name of the lead actor) - all sorts of theories have been played out, and all at some point or another throughout the film seem equally valid, as if the minds of the screenwriters must have been so overrun with metaphors they deliberately crafted a tale that could aspire to multiple simultaneous intellectual heights. Of course, that's not really the case - at its heart, Invasion is simply a superbly crafted tale of a small-town guy who discovers alien forces are on the rise but is powerless to resist - just like a plethora of other 50s SF movies. While the manifold overlaying themes, should you choose to acknowledge them, lift the film to another level and thus help it to its place in our top twenty, let's not forget that when it gets down to it, this is simply a sci-fi film done right. Oh, and the guy who produced it is called Walter Wanger, so if you can't appreciate the film on the intellectual level at which most interpret it, at least you can have a hearty chuckle about that.

12. Children of Men (2006)

The very first article I ever wrote for 411, some two and a half years ago, was a review of the Children of Men DVD, so the film holds a special place in my heart in that regard (I gave it an 8.6 at the time incidentally, as I'm an extremely harsh marker with these things). All that time later and the film's stature and cache has only increased in my eyes, to the extent that it's climbed this high in the all-time list. Depicting one of the most realistic and feasible near-futures that's ever been committed to the big screen, Children of Men adapts, rather loosely, a P.D. James novel concerning the fate of mankind and the fact that there's only one person left in the world capable of bearing a child. Starring Clive Owen in a role that cemented his status as one of the movies' favored "alternative" leading men (see also Matt Damon and Christian Bale), the film is, I realize as I'm writing this, quite British both in its setting and in its particular outlook, so I wonder if I am beginning to show some bias after all. Despite some barnstorming action set pieces, including a relentless twenty-minute surge through war-torn Dover towards the film's climax that feels like it was accomplished in a single take, the film is at its best when focusing on the quieter moments, invariably centered around Michael Caine's aging hippy, quietly at war with the establishment, or the backstory of Owen's characters various travails. As a warning of what future may lie ahead, the film is very good, but as a science fiction movie, it's very< good indeed. To quote a certain review of the film, Children of Men is compulsive and presciently elegiac, and the best science fiction film of the decade.

11. Stalker (1979)

With a bit of luck this should be the only real "surprise" entrant this close to the top ten, as although I doubt you'll get the order you can probably predict which films are remaining in our countdown if you have a modicum of knowledge of the genre. While the afore-discussed Solyaris is genuinely regarded as Andrei Tarkovsky's premier science fiction film, the lesser-known Stalker is for my money his superior work and is a bogglingly evocative and assuredly Russian take on the genre. For those of you who may think you have an idea of the film thanks to the spin-off video games of recent years (or indeed the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic), think again, as Stalker the film is vastly superior to its peculiar licensed brethren. The film's plotline is almost high-concept, at least inasmuch as the term can be applied to foreign arthouse-style SF - three men journey across a mysterious Soviet wasteland in search of a room where anything you wish for comes true. Yet, as you'd imagine (or at least I hope you would given its high placing), Stalker is anything but a simple fable. The film's unassumingly languid and desolate depiction of the physics-bending landscape, which has to be navigated via the titular Stalker and his trusty sack of pebbles, is completely memorable, a true lesson for anyone who thinks that SF has to employ big-budget CGI landscapes or sets to embellish its visual appeal. Of course, it wouldn't be Tarkovsky if it offered a conventional or kinetic take on the genre, but there are sufficient little touches, from the young psychic girl who crops up from time to time to the brilliant low-key twist that occurs at the end of the protagonists' search, that mark Stalker out as a particularly special slice of SF. Tarkovsky's particular style certainly isn't for everyone, but on this occasion at least it results in an absolute masterwork both for the man and for the genre.

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And finally…

Feeling aggrieved or elated at this week's ten picks? Then let me know! The magic of the interweb allows you to post your comments right here on this very page, and if they're especially insightful (or idiotic), I may even respond in the next column. Be sure to tune in next week for another edition of 'Ten Deep', but until then - keep watching the skies.