10 Most Underrated Sci-Fi Movies

[caj]

CBR ranks the 10 most underrated science fiction movies. What would you add or remove from this list?

https://www.cbr.com/most-underrated-...vies/#overlord

10 Slither
09 Ad Astra
08 Tron: Legacy
07 Overlord
06 Dark City
05 A Scanner Darkly
04 Sunshine
03 Starship Troopers
02 Starman
01 Blade Runner 2049

[Iron Maiden]

I would add Event Horizon. I agree with you about Starship Troopers and Sunshine. For a "golden oldie" I would put the Thing From Another World (1951)

[krazijoe]

I would add Event Horizon. I agree with you about Starship Troopers and Sunshine. For a "golden oldie" I would put the Thing From Another World (1951)

THIS!!! Event Horizon blew my freaking mind!

[caj]

Definitely agree with Event Horizon. I'd also add Species.

[Sutekh]

Agree with Dark City and Starship Troopers.

Also a fan of little-recognized oddity called The Thirteenth Floor.

Have not seen Slither, Ad Astra or Sunshine, that I recall, and don't really remember going ga-ga over the others they listed.

[JBatmanFan05]

Thing From Another World (1951)

Definitely. Though it may be that this is so acclaimed and well regarded, that it need not be listed.

[ChrisIII]

Wasn't there supposed to be an Event Horizon show on PRIME?

[AndrewCrossett]

I might put Looper in the list.

[Jokerz79]

Agree with many about Event Horizon but I've always had an issue with Looper.

The whole point of the Loopers is because murder has become impossible to get away with in the future so they send the victims to the past to be killed. But Bruce Willis' sole motivation is they killed his wife in the future.

If you're going to willy nilly kill someone even by accident in the future why bother with all this time travel nonsense.

[HollowSage]

I thought Starship Troopers was pretty popular. Surprised to see it on a list of underrated movies.

[numberthirty]

Just a couple of films that come to mind...

- Daybreakers

- Predestination

Don't want to spoil that second film, but it is from the folks behind Daybreakers. The premise is not exactly new, but it is an interesting version of it's little corner of "Sci-Fi..."

One other film that is sort of on the outskirts of "Sci-Fi..." -

Nightbreed.

While I get that it is more of a "Meta..." film than a hard science fiction sort of a film, the Nightbreed do feel like they are living right next door to science fiction.

[Frobisher]

Enemy Mine and Screamers are really interesting films, though maybe a bit lacking in execution.

[Jim Kelly]

In chronological order--

1. LA JETÉE [The Jetty] (1962), directed by Chris Marker:

Only 28 minutes and with almost no actual movement; nevertheless, 12 MONKEYS (1995) was based on this short experimental film.

2. THE BIRDS (1963), directed by Alfred Hitchcock:

Is this a science fiction movie? I think the only way to understand what happens in the movie is to use science fiction or else the supernatural--and I prefer the science fiction explanation. The movie is so eerie and leaves you hanging. Hitchcock captures this sense of omnipresent doom. On the other hand, Tippi Hedren was tortured on set in making this picture. So I feel conflicted about admiring the work, knowing what she was put through. Still, if one ignored this film, one would be ignoring Hedren's performance--so it's the lesser evil to admire THE BIRDS while acknowledging the actress's unnecessary suffering.

3. FARENHEIT 451 (1966), directed by François Truffaut:

Based on the book by Ray Bradbury, the future in this movie is surprisingly similar to our own timeline. Truffaut had a horrible experience making this picture, and never made another English language film after this, sticking to his eclectic French cinema. In particular, the director found his star, Okar Werner, impossible to work with. He hated the actor so much that he included him among his dead in his later movie, LE CHAMBRE VERTE [The Green Room] (1978). The two men were inextricably linked by destiny as they died within two days of each other.

4. BARBARELLA (1968), directed by Roger Vadim:

Any favourable critiques I see about this picture are mostly left-handed complements--calling it delightfully camp, etc. Yet I'm not being ironic when I say this is a wonderful work of the imagination. The production design, the costuming, the music are all outstanding. And Jane Fonda is absolutely amazing in this role. Already experienced in the art of motion pictures, she knows exactly how to play her scenes and what notes to hit in her line delivery. She has no reason to be embarrassed about her performance (although I've read she is)--maybe she only regrets it because she made it with her ex-husband (who no doubt became an ex- for good reasons).

5. STARMAN (1984), directed by John Carpenter:

This movie is best described as E.T. for adults. The release of E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL (1982) meant that this one was pushed, to be released later. Jeff Bridges, deservedly, was nominated for an Oscar. Karen Allen is equally as good.

6. THE QUIET EARTH (1985), directed by Geoff Murphy:

Of all the End of the World movies, this New Zealand picture is one of my favourites. With a small cast of actors (as suits the plot), it sticks to a grounded sense of what it would be like if the end did happen.

7. PRIMER (2004), directed by Shane Carruth:

There are a lot of time travel movies, but this is the one movie that actually makes sense and follows a logical sequence.

8. JOHN CARTER (2012), directed by Andrew Stanton:

A great adaptation of A PRINCESS OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs which should have done much better at the box office than it did; however, Disney totally mishandled the marketing and release of this picture. It's quite unfortunate that this movie failed to gain an audience and that, therefore, no sequels were made.

9. ABOUT TIME (2013), directed by Richard Curtis:

One of my all-time favourite movies. I never get tired of watching it. I just wish I'd seen it when it came out in theatres, but it flew under my radar. Maybe that innocuous (but clever) title had something to do with it not getting enough attention. Also, Rachel McAdams had already appeared in the TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE (2009)--but ABOUT TIME was by far the better time travel movie.

10. HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U (2019), directed by Christopher Landon:

The first HAPPY DEATH DAY (2017) was a good movie but the second HAPPY DEATH DAY is eleven times better and is one of the best time loop movies. And that's a mathematically provable fact.

[ChrisIII]

How about Disney's the Black Hole? Sure, the robots are obviously an attempt to cash in on Star Wars, but it's kind of interesting that it's almost like a PG-rated version of Event Horizon, with the same basic premise of a Black hole leading to what we think is heaven or hell (and also a nasty fate for a former crew and a crazy scientist).

[Scott Taylor]

Well I do agree with Blade Runner 2049, but haven't seen most of the other films in the original list. Except Starship Troopers which is not underrated, I don't think. It was very appreciated and regularly gets watched.

Dark Star would be on there for me, and THX 1138, Silent Running. These were all "message" films made in the vein of 2001, but got a lot less recognition. Another of my favorites is Buckaroo Banzai. Barbarella is a maybe for me. As fun as it is, the sci fi element is barely there. Another one I will mention is A.I., which to me is a really interesting exploration of an android psyche. A.I. is the real way I could see a society dealing with artificial beings and how they would end up. No fighting, no evil plots to take over the world, just servants who end up discarded when we want a new one.