Science fiction is a lot older than the last century — the genre’s origins can be traced back to ancient and medieval mythologies like the Ramayana and One Thousand and One Nights. The advent of cinema has since allowed the genre to prosper, especially in recent decades. However, it’s interesting to note that the first sci-fi movie, Le Voyage dans la Lune, turned 123 years old in 2025. Recent developments in filmmaking technology have further boosted the genre’s popularity, offering a wide range of works catering to an equally diverse array of audiences.
It can be argued that the increased interest in science fiction reflects real-world concerns, from the impending climate apocalypse to the universalization of AI, making the genre even more relevant today. On the other hand, there are quite a few pre-1970s sci-fi movies that influenced pop culture and sociohistory as much as their later counterparts. All things considered, curating the best examples of the previous 100 years requires a deep dive into genre, even if that means including foreign-language sci-fi films.
Solaris Is a Lyrical Poem About the Human Condition
Adapted from the eponymous novel by Stanisław Lem, Solaris was a glowing showcase for director Andrei Tarkovsky. The film deviated notably from the source material, with Lem complaining about Tarkovsky’s reductive approach, but that didn’t make it any less of a masterpiece. Earning a Palme d’Or nomination in 1972, Solaris is considered one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. The Russian-language film also garnered acclaim from Roger Ebert, who praised it for using “the freedom of science fiction to examine human nature.”
In fact, it was the lack of emotional sterility that made Solaris such a thought-provoking attempt at exploring the murky depths of human psychology. It dismantled the very notion that limited science fiction to technological spectacle, instead serving as a profound meditation on grief, guilt, and the intrinsic unknowability of the human condition. An encounter with an alien planet reflected the characters’ personal confrontations, transforming Solaris into a lyrical poem about self-introspection.
Back to the Future Showcased the Power of Simple Adventures
Robert Zemeckis might have achieved his cinematic pinnacle with Forrest Gump, but Back to the Future is still the most relevant and influential work in his filmography. Even excluding the sequels — which successfully filled the enormous shoes of their predecessor — it’s clear that Back to the Future deserves its enduring popularity. The movie has since become an integral aspect of pop culture, being referenced, parodied, and homaged throughout media.
The time travel subgenre was thoroughly transformed, demonstrating how one of the most complicated sci-fi tropes could result in such a playful adventure. With very few exceptions, the general absence of paradoxes and other scientific issues further proved that Back to the Future‘s primary intention was to entertain. It just so happened that time travel was the perfect vehicle for character-driven comedic adventures. Although sci-fi takes a backseat, it also comes to the forefront when the stakes are high enough.
2001: A Space Odyssey Is a Cosmic Symphony of Light and Heart
Stanley Kubrick’s kaleidoscopic rendition of Arthur C. Clarke’s visionary screenplay has become a gold standard for science fiction. Genre fans around the world know of HAL 9000, arguably the first major AI villain in film history. Setting the stage for the future in numerous ways, 2001: A Space Odyssey blazed a trail forward with its radical new special effects. That said, some viewers might find the movie a little too abstract — this may have been intentional, as Kubrick wanted audiences to feel the same disconnect as the characters.
Early reviews of 2001: A Space Odyssey painted it as unnecessarily grand, but most negative opinions evaporated over time. The RT critical consensus refers to 2001 as “one of the most influential of all sci-fi films,” while simultaneously nodding at the controversies generated. At this point, the movie has cycled through several decades of evaluation and reappraisal, effectively forcing viewers to interpret it through multiple, overlapping perspectives. Regardless of any detractors, it’s safe to say that 2001: A Space Odyssey remains a visual symphony even today.
Metropolis Proved That Sci-fi Could Work in the Silent Era
One of the foundational bedrocks of cinematic storytelling, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis was an extremely expensive venture for the silent era. Released in 1927, the movie failed to recoup its production budget and was deemed a major flop. Metropolis displays a futuristic version of the Weimar Republic, offering modern viewers a glimpse into the pre-Nazi era that dominated early-19th century Germany. While the ending was a triumph for socialism, it also proved how society could suddenly sway in the opposite direction.
As with any truly great work of art, Metropolis wasn’t fully appreciated in its own time. It has appeared in countless best-of lists and was the first movie to become a part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World International Register. Metropolis was also one of the highlights of Expressionist filmmaking, with Lang’s unique visual grammar going on to influence future sci-fi films like Ex Machina and Blade Runner. Interestingly, the German-language Metropolis has been in the public domain since 2023, allowing viewers to watch (or even host) the entire movie on YouTube.
Blade Runner Effectively Invented the Cyberpunk Genre
When William Gibson, the founder of literary cyberpunk, watched Blade Runner for the first time, he nearly gave up on his then-partially completed novel Neuromancer. Such was the impact of Ridley Scott’s exquisite movie, which created a world that had never been seen before and even predicted Gibson’s atmospheric approach to the genre. Blade Runner 2049 was a worthy successor, although the sequel paled in comparison to the original’s unprecedented vision.
Blade Runner gained popularity through word-of-mouth, quickly becoming a cult classic. Modern auteurs like Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, and Rian Johnson were deeply inspired by the film, with Guillermo del Toro referring to Blade Runner as “one of those cinematic drugs” that significantly altered how he looked at the world. Philosophy and metaphysics are woven into the movie’s noir, birthing the cyberpunk aesthetic that has since been replicated several times over.
The Day the Earth Stood Still Is Extremely Pertinent Today
While there were relatively fewer sci-fi movies before the 1970s, some of the greatest examples were created when science fiction authors like Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov were starting their careers. The Day the Earth Stood Still is an insightful outlook on the early Cold War — an alien visitor lands on Earth with a secret message that could change the course of humanity. Moreover, the film’s documentary style only made the narrative that much more serious and compelling.
The Day the Earth Stood Still has been endlessly referenced in pop culture, from Ringo Starr’s Goodnight Vienna album to former President Ronald Reagan’s era-defining conference with Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union. The Day the Earth Stood Still effectively channeled postwar fears of nuclear annihilation, a feeling that’s more and more relevant in the 21st century. Few science fiction movies have created a political discourse as wide-reaching as The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Ghost in the Shell blew the lid off 1990s cyberpunk, demonstrating just how far the subgenre had come since the days of Blade Runner and Akira. Entirely Japanese in origin, style, and vision, Ghost in the Shell fused a variety of intersecting philosophies into its already labyrinthine story, ultimately creating one of the most provocative and stimulating sci-fi takes in genre history. The skeletal outline of the story is deceptively simple, dragging viewers into a world that could barely distinguish between human and artificial consciousnesses.
In addition to influencing science fiction as a whole, Ghost in the Shell played an integral role in the creation of The Matrix. Meanwhile, James Cameron claimed that it was the first “work of speculative fiction… to reach a level of literary excellence.” The digital age, which had only just begun in 1995, served as the perfect setting to highlight the ultimate outcomes of universal computerization — the birth of the posthuman. At its heart, Ghost in the Shell was about the transformation of humanity from biological organisms driven by tiresome emotions to cybernetic hybrids desperately attempting to reconnect with their past selves.
Alien Reshaped Science Fiction in Its Own Image
The fact that Ridley Scott appears twice on this list just goes to show the director’s monumental role in shaping the path of science fiction. Released three years before Blade Runner, Alien seamlessly infused horror into the framework, leading to a terrifying movie that also expanded sci-fi beyond its techno-roots. While there are many technological marvels in the film, Alien reframed the creature-feature through the optics of biology — the Xenomorph became a living entity with a replicable lifecycle, which heightened realism and authenticity.
To say that Alien is a masterpiece is putting it lightly: the movie shattered previously established tropes to mold the science fiction genre in its own image. Nearly 50 years later, Alien continues to be as claustrophobically nightmarish today. That said, the film’s greatest accomplishment has to be its protagonist, with Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley cementing her position among the most badass female characters in cinema history. Moreover, the recent triumph of Alien: Earth demonstrated the original movie’s grand scope for narrative continuation.
La Jetée’s Short Runtime Doesn’t Make It Less Powerful
Technically not a feature movie because of its 28-minute runtime, the French-language La Jetée wasn’t even a movie in the literal sense of the word. Instead, the narrative was painstakingly built from a series of photographs, with the static frames exploring the fragility of memory and time. La Jetée revolves around a time travel experiment set in the post-apocalyptic future following World War III, where the protagonist is sent into the past as well as the future.
La Jetée has been recognized as a benchmark of modern science fiction, appearing atop Time magazine’s list of the best time-travel films ever made. In fact, Neuromancer‘s William Gibson cited La Jetée as a primary influence, stating that his “sense of what science fiction could be had been permanently altered.” The movie’s radical imagery would soon impact cinematographic syntax on a considerable scale, demonstrating that science fiction always needed more imagination than technology.
Children of Men Features a Possible Future for Humanity
Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity may have become a massive blockbuster, earning over $700 million, but the director’s Children of Men remains his best foray into science fiction. Set in the year 2027, the movie’s timeline is eerily too close for comfort — although humans haven’t all become sterile, everything else in the story feels horrifyingly pertinent for 2025. Immigration is a major aspect, with the United Kingdom tormenting asylum seekers with detention and deportation, not unlike the state of affairs in the US right now.
Roger Ebert gave a rare 4/4 star rating for Children of Men, stating how it “serves as a cautionary warning” against an entirely possible future. Praises were lavished on the admittedly spectacular car chase sequences, but that’s only one tiny part of the film’s overarching splendor. Viewers will be rocked to their cores with the first watch, whereas rewatches slowly unravel the complex emotional landscape. There is no glamor to be found in Children of Men — only tragic beauty with the tiniest glimpses of hope.
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