Pi in the Sky

Ten Essential SciFi Movies (2005)

Publicado el 25 de Mayo, 2007 a las 11:58pm por Pi.
Categorías: Cine, Sin Traducción.

Originally written around 2005.

Or almost… Ten movies or sagas (actually they are 17 movies), which I’ve personally watched, and I think they are essential to understand SciFi cinema. I’d like to clarify a couple of things regarding this selection; because it’s just that, a personal selection.

I’ve missed some movies like Bodysnatchers (1956) Or Aelita (1924). I’ve not seen them, simply speaking. There’s a big gap in the golden SciFi age (40’s to 60’s), because honestly I’d not classify the corresponding movies as SciFi, with few exceptions which are in my inmediate hunt-down list. The rest of the so-called SciFi is just terror or thriller with some SciFi elements, until the end of the 60’s with really few exceptions. This terror-syndrome happened to the superb Frankenstein (1931) movie, which left out some of the big questions shed by Shelley, and still happens with many “monster” movies, or gets mixed like in The Thing (1982) or The Fly (1986), both excellent, or Predator (1987) with the action being the add-on this time.

My personal view on what’s SciFi and what’s not (sorry for not being able of putting a specific definition) leaves out some other great movies like The Dead Zone (1983), which is one of my favorites but definitely not SciFi. If I put it in, I’d have to introduce The Shining (1964) too, right? Even movies coming from good SciFi books get corrupted in the transition, with examples like Planet of the Apes (1968) or 1984 (1984). Others are without any doubt good SciFi, yet not reaching the (or better said, *my*) expectations: Dune (1984) suffers from surrealistic Lynch (and that’s what saves the movie) or Artificial Intelligence (2002) which became sadly Pinocchio 3000, come to mind as examples. Total Recall (1990) was a good try, and probably the best adaptation from a book by P.K. Dick (as well as The Dead Zone is the best adaptation from a King’s novel).

Said all this, I’ve tried to carefully choose the best representative movies of the genre; that also lefts out some great movies by themselves or some personal favorites. In other words, this is what I call SciFi. Finally, some of the years might be wrong, I didn’t look many of them and my memory is bad. I looked the directors to be sure, tho. After this long introduction, this is the list, in chronological order (instead of what you have seen in the bin lately):

Metropolis (1926), Fritz Lang. In my opinion this is the first great SciFi movie, coming from the book by Thea von Harvou. Lang did some other great SciFi movies all his career. Although the treatment of some subjects hides partially the SciFi elements, enough of them survive. Why is this movie essential over Frankenstein? I don’t know, do you think I am some kind of expert or what? I just feel that to understand SciFi cinema, this is the best introduction. Its sense of wonder is still unique. The story is simple, but it doesn’t need complexity to work. Classic and grand.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Stanley Kubrick. This is what the real SciFi was waiting for, and for more than two decades. It’s true that many good movies were made in the golden age, but that era had to finish for the movies to get at the same level as the rest of the cinema in the eyes of the world. This movie is based in a short story by Clarke called The Sentinel. Kubrick and Clarke worked in the story, developing the novel as you know it now (yet the novel has a slightly different ending from the movie). You also have to understand that the movie was made in Cinerama format, and was only shown in theaters which could mount the huge screen it needed. Viewing it in video (even in a 50 inches plasma TV) simply doesn’t reach the level. Still the movie is awesome visually, enough to wonder you, if you don’t mind sequences 15 or 30 minutes long without any dialogue (there wasn’t in The Search for Fire, so who cares?) plus you get an intriguing story, if you ever get to understand the metaphore of the next step for humanity. The death of HAL 9000 is still one of the greatest movie moments in SciFi. Almost perfect.

Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Steven Spielberg. I have seen this movie like ten times, and it still amazes me. Individually the elements are great: script, actor performance, special effects, soundtrack, rhythm… All together, they make a tale which hads to be told in the UFO sighting hysteria time to had the impact it got. There’s a search for the visitors, at multiple levels. The quest is successful, the visitors are friendly, everyone is happy. Spielberg always makes movies about his dreams and fantasies, and this movie is a wonderful fantasy which shouldn’t be missed.

Star Wars (1977), George Lucas; The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Irvin Kershner; Return of the Jedi (1983), Richard Marquand. As much as SciFi had to wait for 2001: A Space Odyssey, it had to wait for Star Wars: space opera finally made as great as it should be. Forget about Flash. The story could work in any place or time, be it the medieval times or the wild west. It’s not “scientific” at all, but it doesn’t need to be. Introduces enough elements from other genres to not make it as hard as 2001 (the force is magic, and Yoda could be Merlin as well). Since I know this saga has lots of fans, I’d not get into details. The new episodes aren’t so great anyway (yet I loved the 2nd).

Alien (1979), Ridley Scott; Aliens (1986), James Cameron; Alien3 (1992), David Fincher. Althought not as famous (in the meaning of huge amounts of noisy die-hard fans) and spectacular as the Star Wars saga, the Alien saga is IMHO much more: being all SciFi, each movie is from a different genre, yet they are pure SciFi nevertheless. The quality is constant, except that I’ve not included the fourth one because I still don’t know if I hate it or I love it. Alien shows a dirty future, far from the aseptic environments in 2001 or Star Wars (save the “poor space pilot” parts). Ridley Scott would use again this focus in Blade Runner, and it proved to be original and more credible than other views. Aliens is a rarity: a sequel as good as its predecessor, and combines well the action without hiding the core of the movie. Alien Cube is also a rarity, because it’s so totally different to the two firsts, yet it still retains the essence of the Alien saga. Only movies like Predator would show the old law of “survival of the fittest” in such an elegant manner. All the movies are great, but I think Alien is particularly better. There was a before and an after in space monsters, but be sure that a monster is not all the movie has to offer.

ET (1982), Steven Spielberg. Again Spielberg dreaming, and making us dream with him. Encounters of the Third Kind was not enough, because the visitors didn’t stay much, and was more a catharsis for all the humanity than a personal unique experience. So finally he made the perfect friendly visitor. If you haven’t cried with this movie, you have no heart, period. The nucleous of the movie is not how ET learns how to adapt to the new world, but how the people around him learns to adapt to him. And that’s part of the key to its success. Btw, if you weren’t jealous that you didn’t have an ET, you have no heart either :-p

Blade Runner (1982), Ridley Scott. A dark, industrial, totally dirty and contaminated future, again. While Phillip K. Dick is better represented in Total Recall, where the multiple level paranoia *really* works, there’s still enough of him in this free adaptation from his (now famous) book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? However, the movie soon goes beyond the hysteria of the original story, and beautifully develops an intelligent plot which surprisingly ends in a tender outcome. The book was only the inspiration, and the movie is now the real thing. The addition of the original “unicorn scene” gives a whole new dimension and truly unveils the greatness of the story.

Terminator (1984), James Cameron; Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), James Cameron. If a movie has a small budget, it has to rely in a great script… And Terminator has it. Dealing with time travel is something hard to do, and both movies do it elegantly (Back to the Future is another great example, but only the 2nd was any SciFi). Cyborg with unforgettable lines, a predestinated hero and a totally naive heroine. The sequel is also a great movie, shame the third is quite crappy. Terminator is one of those movies you have to watch to believe it is so great; and don’t let the money and special effects in T2 fool you, there’s more flesh in there.

Akira (1987), Katsuhiro Otomo. When I was making this list, I was impelled to put three anime movies; but I thought it was excessive and I commited to only choose one. And Akira is the greatest. Only Ghost in the Shell (1990) is somewhere near, and both movies deal with the moral and emotional problems of the superhuman. Akira is an epic story of the next step of human evolution. I don’t know anyone who can understand the movie totally, well same happens with 2001. It’s the first movie to show the influence of cyberpunk, and Akira returned a huge quantity of cyberpunk imaginery. If hardcore anime is not of your taste, you can try Ghost in the Shell as it’s somewhat lighter, but I’d rather begin with Akira, as its a milestone in SciFi by own rights.

The Matrix (1999); The Matrix Reloaded (2003); The Matrix Revolutions, Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski. Already, yes. These movies have too many things to not be included here. It was a SciFi classic saga as soon as the first was finished, same case as Blade Runner. It’s rare to find a cult movie which at the same time is so popular, and it’s also rare to find a movie with such an intelligent plot, without going too far in the “I don’t understand it - has to be deep” way. I think there’s not much else needed to say. Matrix or bust. The second one has more than it seems, althought yes it goes too metaphysic. And maybe the third is the weakest because it’s the most commercial and visual one, but IMHO is not the worst possible ending and has its points too.

So that’s it. I decided to cut the list to 10 movies or series, but I would have added movies like The Hidden (1987), Minority Report (2002), Abyss (1989) and the great The Fifth Element (1997) by Luc Besson. And sure a handful others, but not Tron (1982) or the Star Trek saga (1979-200?). Hope you enjoyed the read, and I really recommend you to watch these movies if you haven’t done yet.

Wake up.

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