Best Science Fiction Movies from the Last 20 Years

by urmonk30 | created - 19 Jan 2018 | updated - 19 Jan 2018 | Public

The best science fiction movie for the year, in my opinion, with runner up. I am excluding superhero films, even though many are based in science fiction. I'm only including movies I have seen.

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1. Dark City (1998)

R | 100 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi

66 Metascore

A man struggles with memories of his past, which include a wife he cannot remember and a nightmarish world no one else ever seems to wake up from.

Director: Alex Proyas | Stars: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt

Votes: 212,375 | Gross: $14.38M

Runner Up: Deep Impact

2. The Matrix (1999)

R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi

73 Metascore

When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.

Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving

Votes: 2,054,418 | Gross: $171.48M

Runner Up: Galaxy Quest

3. Pitch Black (2000)

R | 109 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

49 Metascore

A transport ship crashes and leaves its crew stranded on a desert planet inhabited by bloodthirsty creatures that come out during an eclipse.

Director: David Twohy | Stars: Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Vin Diesel, Keith David

Votes: 253,050 | Gross: $39.24M

Runner Up: Hollow Man

4. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

PG-13 | 146 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

65 Metascore

A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards

Votes: 323,138 | Gross: $78.62M

Runner Up: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

5. Minority Report (2002)

PG-13 | 145 min | Action, Crime, Mystery

80 Metascore

John works with the PreCrime police which stop crimes before they take place, with the help of three 'PreCogs' who can foresee crimes. Events ensue when John finds himself framed for a future murder.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow

Votes: 584,579 | Gross: $132.07M

Runner Up: Signs

6. The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

R | 129 min | Action, Sci-Fi

47 Metascore

The human city of Zion defends itself against the massive invasion of the machines as Neo fights to end the war at another front while also opposing the rogue Agent Smith.

Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving

Votes: 543,752 | Gross: $139.31M

Runner Up: Matrix Reloaded

7. I, Robot (2004)

PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi

59 Metascore

In 2035, a technophobic cop investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, which leads to a larger threat to humanity.

Director: Alex Proyas | Stars: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, Alan Tudyk

Votes: 575,679 | Gross: $144.80M

Runner Up: The Chronicles of Riddick

8. Serenity (2005)

PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

74 Metascore

The crew of the ship Serenity try to evade an assassin sent to recapture telepath River.

Director: Joss Whedon | Stars: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alan Tudyk

Votes: 305,727 | Gross: $25.51M

Runner Up: Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

9. Slither (2006)

R | 95 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi

69 Metascore

A small town is taken over by an alien plague, turning residents into zombies and all forms of mutant monsters.

Director: James Gunn | Stars: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker, Don Thompson

Votes: 88,913 | Gross: $7.77M

The only science fiction Movie I saw from this year.

10. Sunshine (2007)

R | 107 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller

64 Metascore

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 | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis

Votes: 267,588 | Gross: $3.68M

Runner Up: Transformers

11. WALL·E (2008)

G | 98 min | Animation, Adventure, Family

95 Metascore

In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.

Director: Andrew Stanton | Stars: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard

Votes: 1,201,041 | Gross: $223.81M

Runner Up: Outlander

12. District 9 (2009)

R | 112 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

81 Metascore

Violence ensues after an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth finds a kindred spirit in a government agent exposed to their biotechnology.

Director: Neill Blomkamp | Stars: Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope, Vanessa Haywood

Votes: 717,121 | Gross: $115.65M

Runner Up: Pandorum

13. Inception (2010)

PG-13 | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

74 Metascore

A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.

Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe

Votes: 2,552,296 | Gross: $292.58M

Runner Up: Tron Legacy

14. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

PG-13 | 105 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

68 Metascore

A substance designed to help the brain repair itself gives advanced intelligence to a chimpanzee who leads an ape uprising.

Director: Rupert Wyatt | Stars: James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, Karin Konoval

Votes: 559,703 | Gross: $176.76M

Runner Up: Battle Los Angeles

15. Prometheus (I) (2012)

R | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi

64 Metascore

Following clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron

Votes: 644,466 | Gross: $126.48M

Runner Up: Looper

16. Snowpiercer (2013)

R | 126 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

84 Metascore

In a future where a failed climate change experiment has killed all life except for the survivors who boarded the Snowpiercer (a train that travels around the globe), a new class system emerges.

Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris

Votes: 389,162 | Gross: $4.56M

Runner Up: Oblivion

17. Interstellar (2014)

PG-13 | 169 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

74 Metascore

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 | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Mackenzie Foy

Votes: 2,101,991 | Gross: $188.02M

Runner Up: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

18. The Martian (2015)

PG-13 | 144 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

80 Metascore

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 | Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara

Votes: 925,998 | Gross: $228.43M

Runner Up: Ex Machina

19. Arrival (II) (2016)

PG-13 | 116 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

81 Metascore

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

Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg

Votes: 771,786 | Gross: $100.55M

Runner Up: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

20. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

R | 164 min | Action, Drama, Mystery

81 Metascore

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 | Stars: Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Dave Bautista

Votes: 665,817 | Gross: $92.05M

Runner Up: Alien Covenant



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