As the halfway point of 2023 approaches, it is time to look back and celebrate the 10th anniversary of some remarkable science fiction films that left their mark on the genre. These films have taken audiences on epic journeys to the farthest corners of space, dystopian civilizations, and alien worlds. Among these films are sequels to successful franchises and reimaginings of classic characters that are united in their visionary storytelling.
These films challenged the audience’s perception of what was real and opened up our imaginations. Some staged spectacular action sequences featuring amazing visual effects while others made us meditate on the class politics of the future. As we celebrate their legacy, join us as we embark on a trip through time and space to honor some of the incredible sci-fi films that played a vital role in shaping the cinematic landscape of 2013.
10 Star Trek Into Darkness
In the follow-up to the hugely successful 2009 reboot, director J.J. Abrams brought audiences back to the USS Enterprise in Star Trek Into Darkness. The core cast reprises their roles in this sequel, including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldaña, and veteran Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy. This time around, an attack on Starfleet by the mysterious terrorist John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) leads Captain Kirk (Pine), Spock (Quinto), Uhura (Saldaña), and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise on a mission to find him.
This sequel, as its title would suggest, is considerably darker and more violent than Abrams’ first Star Trek film. Cumberbatch’s villainous performance is one for the ages, bringing his signature intensity to the role. A heart-pounding chase above a futuristic San Francisco brilliantly shows off Abrams’ knack for directing suspenseful action.
9 Oblivion
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Director Joseph Kosinski proves himself to be a gifted visual stylist in Oblivion, about Jack Harper (Tom Cruise), a drone maintenance technician on an Earth ravaged by a war with aliens. He meets a woman, Julia (Olga Kurylenko), who crash lands on Earth and he seems to remember her from somewhere. After meeting a war veteran turned scavenger named Malcolm (Morgan Freeman), Jack starts to raise bigger questions about the war and his place in it.
The mystery unfolds slowly and deliberately, with Jack questioning his reality and everything he believed, in one of Cruise’s most underrated films. As far as post-apocalyptic sci-fi films go, Oblivion is a wonder, packing in hauntingly beautiful visuals of the world post-war and Kosinski’s depiction of technology in the film is particularly gorgeous and sleek.
8 Man of Steel
In the first chapter of the Snyderverse and the origin of the former DCEU, director Zack Snyder delivered his grim and action-packed take on Superman in Man of Steel. Following the destruction of Krypton and his life on Earth, Clark Kent/Superman (Henry Cavill) wanders the world as he ponders his identity. When the Kryptonian General Zod (Michael Shannon) comes to Earth seeking to destroy humanity, Superman faces off against his own to protect mankind.
Snyder set a much darker tone for his Superman origin story and created an immersive version of Krypton that has never been seen on-screen. The earth-shattering final battle between Superman and Zod in the skies over Metropolis is an intense depiction of urban destruction. Cavill’s performance drives the film, portraying a superpowered being who weighs his existential woes and considers his responsibility to humankind over his native people.
7 Under the Skin
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Scarlett Johansson delivers a hypnotic and unsettling performance as an unnamed alien in Under the Skin, a darkly mysterious sci-fi indie film about an otherworldly being who comes to Earth and assumes the form of a human woman. The men she lures into her van are so transfixed by her beauty, they willingly walk to their demise. The plot is rather sparse, but Johansson’s performance as the alien is top-tier, maintaining an eerieness about her as she seduces men.
Director Jonathan Glazer creates a dark and atmospheric world within the film’s setting in Scotland. The surreal and hauntingly nightmarish alternate dimension as well as composer Mica Levi’s creepy score add to the tense mood. Under the Skin examines human nature, violence, and empathy through a more experimental lens than traditional sci-fi fare.
6 Gravity
Sandra Bullock earned herself an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the sci-fi thriller Gravity. Director Alfonso Cuarón maintains nearly constant suspense across 90 minutes with an anxiety-inducing premise: Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock), an astronaut on her first space mission gets detached from the space shuttle after satellite debris destroys it and she floats into the vacuum of space. With a limited supply of oxygen, Stone attempts everything she can think of safely return to Earth. The film is also a meditation on memory, survival, and human resilience. The initial destruction sequence is breathtaking and terrifying at the same time, thanks in no small part to the sound design which replicates the silence of space.
For using lengthy, immersive takes, Cuarón won the Academy Award for Best Director and his longtime collaborator Emmanuel Lubezki won his first of three consecutive Academy Awards for Best Cinematography.
5 Snowpiercer
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Director Bong Joon-ho’s stylish and thought-provoking sci-fi film Snowpiercer is based on a French graphic novel. The film is drenched in social commentary, as it explores a post-apocalyptic world where a new ice age has been triggered. The last remnants of mankind are all separated by class onboard a train that never stops and overseen by Tilda Swinton’s kooky Minister Mason. Curtis Everett (Chris Evans) is in the Tail, where the lowest rung live, and he hatches a plan to start a rebellion over the Front, where the privileged reside.
Staging this class warfare aboard a moving vehicle is a bold move and Bong Joon-ho keeps the action moving, with intense action sequences set to Marco Beltrami’s pounding score. The film raises timely questions about wealth inequality, access, and oppression by depicting the way the citizens of the front live in a constant state of excess even on a dying, barren planet.
4 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The dystopian sci-fi sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire finds Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) on a tour of Panem’s districts after winning the Hunger Games. A year after their victory, they are forced to return to the deadly arena after President Snow (Donald Sutherland) announces that the 75th Games will consist of former winners. This vicious turn of events sparks revolution throughout the Districts and leaves the fate of Panem hanging in the balance. Catching Fire successfully builds on everything that made the first film great, while delving deeper into the futuristic world of Panem.
Director Francis Lawrence took over directorial duties from Gary Ross and in his first Hunger Games film, he explores rebellion against a totalitarian government in a dystopian world while deepening the characters and staging intense, suspenseful action scenes.
3 World War Z
Directed by Marc Forster and starring Brad Pitt, World War Z is an intense sci-fi zombie apocalypse movie. The film starts with a bang, following former UN investigator Gerry (Pitt) and his family as they escape the initial outbreak and spread of a zombie virus through the crowded streets of Philadelphia.
The film takes the audience on a trip around the globe as Gerry races against time to solve the mystery of what the virus is, how it spread so quickly, and how to stop it before all of humanity succumbs. Forster showcases massive action sequences that drop the audience into the chaos of a world caught in the grip of a zombie pandemic. By focusing on the mystery surrounding the outbreak and a realistic look at the response to an unchecked global crisis as opposed to gore, Forster and Pitt, a producer on the film, deliver a pulse-pounding sci-fi horror flick.
2 The World’s End
Edgar Wright directs the final chapter in his Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, The World’s End. This sci-fi film also blends in action and raucous comedy telling the story of a group of childhood friends who attempted an infamous pub crawl called the Golden Mile but failed to make it to the end. Twenty years later, they return to their hometown of Newton Haven to complete it. However, when they arrive in town, everything seems a bit off and the group finds out they are in the middle of an alien invasion. The friends are played by Simon Pegg, Eddie Marsan, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, and Paddy Considine.
The five actors play well off each other, with Pegg’s performance and Wright’s witty and incisive writing taking center stage amid the out-of-this-world circumstances.
1 Elysium
Director Neill Blomkamp takes on wealth privilege and access to health care in Elysium, the follow-up to his directorial debut District 9. In the film, Blomkamp depicts an overpopulated Earth running dangerously low on resources and a massive opulent space station known as Elysium where the rich dwell. Max (Matt Damon) is exposed to a lethal amount of radiation and is told he has five days to live. To save his own life, Max dons a metal exoskeleton that increases his strength so he can slip into Elysium and use their advanced medical technology.
The visually striking film features a clear juxtaposition between the ravaged Earth and the pristine Elysium, as well as features intense action scenes between Max and the exoskeleton-wearing mercenary Kruger (Sharlto Copley, reuniting with Blomkamp after District 9). Among the action and incredible visuals, the story is a timely reflection on privilege, power, and class division.