If there's one movie genre that benefited from the technological improvements of the 2000s, it is the sci-fi genre, enabling more ambitious and convincing depictions of an imagined future or what life looks like on another planet. In fact, well-known sci-fi directors, such as Steven Spielberg and James Cameron, carried on their legacies in the 2000s by embracing new original techniques, the advent of 3D, better computer-generated imagery, and other various visual effects that are crucial to an immersive sci-fi experience.
Just like the rapid advance of technology resulted in disruptive masterpieces, these movies reflected the worries and frustrations that come with humanity's dependency on technology, A.I., and robotization, for example. So, here is the best sci-fi movie of every year in the 2000s.
10 2000: Frequency
Frequency is a sci-fi movie grounded in humanity's most genuine emotions, using a lighthearted approach to discuss important existential themes such as mortality and grief. In the film, an inexplicable phenomenon enables police officer John Sullivan to talk to his father 30 years in the past. As he tries to prevent his father's tragic death, a catastrophic chain of events alters the destiny of these characters across time.
What Makes It Great
The sci-fi genre is the most imaginative of all, yet it's always at its best when dealing with topics anyone can relate to. Frequency offers a delicate debate about the brevity of life and the mark people leave in the world; the kind of movie that makes viewers want to become kinder and hug their loved ones.
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9 2001: A.I. Artificial Intelligence
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
- Release Date
- June 29, 2001
- Director
- Steven Spielberg
- Cast
- Haley Joel Osment, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards, jake thomas, Jude Law, William Hurt
- Rating
- PG-13
- Runtime
- 146
- Main Genre
- Adventure
By the time A.I. Artificial Intelligence came out, Steven Spielberg was already at the top of his game, internationally recognized for sci-fi masterpieces, such as Jurassic Park and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. His inclination for the fantastic and the spectacle was still present in A.I. Artificial Intelligence, where Spierlbeg lays out both his fascination and worries about the advent of A.I.
The movie is centered around David, an A.I.-fueled robotic boy who embarks on a journey of self-discovery in an attempt to become real and regain the love of his mother.
What Makes It Great
More than just a cheap attempt to humanize machines, Spielberg isn't afraid to portray A.I. as a brand new species that must be dealt with empathy just like other living things. Rejected by both humans and machines, David is the great mediator between two species, whose odyssey is portrayed in a fairly-tale fashion that only Spielberg could pull off in a sci-fi story like this.
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8 2002: Signs
Signs
- Release Date
- August 2, 2002
- Director
- M. Night Shyamalan
- Cast
- Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones, M. Night Shyamalan
- Rating
- PG-13
- Main Genre
- Drama
Most will agree that M. Night Shyamalan is at his best when he's less interested in fancy plot twists and more focused on the inexplicable nature of human beings. He effectively brought up relevant existential matters between life and death in The Sixth Sense. In Signs, he delves into the concept of faith and forgiveness in an alien invasion subtext. The film follows a widowed reverend struggling to raise his children when mysterious crop circles in their farm suggest there's something otherworldly lurking around their home.
What Makes It Great
It's beautiful and moving how Shyamalan uses the proximity with the unknown as a cathartic awakening to the main characters: instead of going through an easy path and just settling with a typical alien invasion storyline, the sci-fi elements are merely a pretext for the process of rebuilding a family in pieces.
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7 2003: The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Reloaded
- Release Date
- May 15, 2003
- Director
- Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
- Cast
- Ray Anthony, Christine Anu, Andy Arness, Alima Ashton-Sheibu, Helmut Bakaitis, Steve Bastoni
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 138
- Main Genre
- Action
The first Matrix movie is widely regarded as the best in the franchise and the definitive turn-of-the-millennium movie. However, the cultural phenomena of the Wachowski sisters' legacy didn't stop in 1999; in fact, 2003 was the year of the Matrix with both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions coming out that year. The second movie picks up from where The Matrix left, following the next step of the revolution led by Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus.
What Makes It Great
The Matrix Reloaded shows that there's more to discover every time, balancing the mind-bending action sequences that made the first movie so famous with invigorating world-building across Zion, the Resistance's safe haven. The film rejects the middle-of-the-road syndrome that many second installments of a trilogy have, effectively developing the characters and their skills while exploring the vast universe created by the Wachowski sisters.
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6 2004: Primer
primer
- Release Date
- October 8, 2004
- Director
- Shane Carruth
- Cast
- Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya, Carrie Crawford, Jay Butler
- Rating
- PG-13
- Runtime
- 78
- Main Genre
- Drama
Primer shows up in pretty much every list of the most confusing movies ever made, but the movie's intricate web of intertwined events and multiple timelines actually ends up being its charm. In the film, two amateur scientists accidentally create a time travel device and use it to earn money in the stock market. Even with their best efforts not to drastically alter the chain of events, their enterprise quickly results in drastic consequences for everyone involved.
What Makes It Great
Shane Carruth meticulously crafted Primer in a way viewers would feel as disoriented as the main characters while watching their actions spiral out of control. In this context, understanding the movie on a first watch is a nearly impossible task, which makes Primer more of a case to crack than a movie. What might sound exhausting at first actually leads to an interactive and dynamic experience that will offer plenty of surprises with every watch.
Rent on AppleTV
5 2005: War of the Worlds
War of The Worlds
- Release Date
- June 28, 2005
- Director
- Steven Spielberg
- Cast
- Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins, Rick Gonzalez
- Rating
- PG-13
- Runtime
- 117
- Main Genre
- Adventure
War of the Worlds might be Spielbeg's most underrated movie as it attends to everything a good sci-fi movie calls up to, while developing a harrowing family drama in between. When a catastrophic alien invasion threatens to end all life on Earth, a father tries to reconnect with his children while trying his best to keep them safe. The incredible creature design added to the eerie-looking set designs transformed by the alien invasion creates a unique visual identity that sets the film's bleak tone.
What Makes It Great
War of the Worlds is a reflection of the American trauma of a decade that started off with tragedy: Spielberg's reinterpretation takes advantage of a family in crisis as the starting point of his clever social allegory, using the mass hysteria caused by 9/11 as the catalyst for a story that was written in 1898and adapted so many times, but never with such a well-developed political underline.
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4 2006: Idiocracy
Idiocracy
- Release Date
- September 1, 2006
- Director
- Mike Judge
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 84
- Main Genre
- Adventure
It's both ironic and accurate how an absurd comedy such as Idiocracy continues to hold up so well as years go by. For one thing, the movie's nonsensical plot is starting to look as sensible as ever, and comedy gradually begins to give space to horror. In the film, a straight-up average American awakens in the year 2505, only to discover humanity has grown so stupid that he turns out to be the smartest man on Earth.
What Makes It Great
Idiocracy was supposed to be a big joke about humanity's propensity to make the same mistakes over and over again, yet nearly 20 years after its release, its dumbed-down world looks much like a prediction. Despite its ingenious premise, the movie never takes itself too seriously, embracing the pathetic mindset of its characters as a way to expose how there's no use in trying to fight humanity's irreversible fate.
Rent on AppleTV
3 2007: The Man from Earth
Anchor Bay
The Man from Earth is a tribute to faith and storytelling centered around Professor John Oldman, a retiring scholar who reveals to his colleagues he's actually an immortal being who has walked the Earth for over 14.000 years.
What Makes It Great
The Man from Earth might as well be the most patient sci-fi movie ever made: the film is almost entirely narrated, and while its inventive plot takes on unbelievable proportions, it effectively interacts with the audience by forcing them to make the most of their imagination. The fact that the film opts for describing things rather than showing them challenges the veracity of the facts, putting the viewers in the same position as the other characters in the room, as it's entirely up to them whether they choose to believe in Oldman or not.
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2 2008: Pontypool
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The sci-genre has introduced all sorts of awe-inspiring villains over the years, such as Godzilla, shape-shifting monsters, and bloodthirsty aliens, but Pontypoolsurely delivers the most unexpected one: the English language. The film follows a radio station crew showing up for a seemingly uneventful day at work. When reports of a deadly outbreak are brought to light, the characters try to inform their listeners while investigating what's turning people into zombies.
What Makes It Great
Pontypool is an incredible tribute to the legacy of the radio medium, set almost entirely in and around a radio booth. Viewers get to care about the characters and feel immersed in their incessant search for information while witnessing a brand new take on the zombie genre with a touch of sci-fi. The icing on the cake is the huge twist at the end, which draws the story to a close in an ironic, yet satisfying fashion.
1 2009: Avatar
Avatar
- Release Date
- December 18, 2009
- Director
- James Cameron
- Cast
- Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi
- Rating
- PG-13
- Runtime
- 162
- Main Genre
- Action
Avatar has become the synonym for many things in the film industry: box office success, 3D immersion, a visually stunning experience, and so on, but these compliments seem to be more connected to the product than the movie itself. Technological achievements aside, James Cameron's ambitious film is one of the great sci-fi projects of this generation.
What Makes It Great
While the base story of an underdog soldier who gets the chance to redeem himself by switching sides sounds all too familiar, Avatar's impressive worldbuilding and commitment to a whole new flora, fauna, and culture is the reason why the sci-fi genre is still alive. The first movie was only the first glance at the majestic world of Pandora; a spiritual journey across the unknown with sharp political allegories to imperialism and humanity's selfish nature.
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