10 Best Sci Fi Films Of All Time

This list of the 10 best Sci Fi films of all time contains a lot of movies by great directors. Sci fi has always had a better reputation among the intellectual types than horror or many of the other common genres, and as a result, plenty of fantastic filmmakers have made sci fi films. This is probably because sci fi has a lot of fodder for philosophical thinking, and it allows filmmakers to easily analyze our current troubles through a more neutral lens.

1. “2001: A Space Odyssey” from director Stanley Kubrick was an easy choice for this list of the best sci fi films. This flick changed cinema by introducing a very unconventional storytelling approach. It’s also superbly made on every level with incredible special effects for the time. It deals with the idea of people’s first contact with a superior intelligence, and uses the idea to explore a number of interesting subjects.
2. “Alphaville” by director Jean Luc Godard was another obvious choice for a list if the best sci fi films. This deals with a private detective in a futuristic world, and like many of Godard’s films, it manages to be both an entertaining film, and a critique of several film genres at the same time.
3. “Existenz” is a film by David Cronenberg that analyzes our way of dealing with reality. The movie is about a futuristic video game that perfectly mimics real life. The game is designed so that the characters become confused about whether or not it’s actually a game.
4. “Fortress” is a film by director Stuart Gordon about a futuristic privately funded prison. It stars Christopher Lambert as a former military commander that has been imprisoned wrongly. The movie is action packed, and surprisingly intense, with strong performances and an excellent story.
5. “The Terminator” is a film directed by James Cameron involving time travel and robots. It’s a fairly low budget movie, but it was entertaining enough to launch a major franchise, and help make Arnold Schwarzenegger a star.
6. “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” was a great follow-up film in the “Terminator” Franchise. It brought a bigger budget, along with a more powerful robot enemy. One thing about James Cameron is that he usually makes his budgets count for something, and this movie is a great example.
7. “A Clockwork Orange” is another great sci-fi film by Stanley Kubrick. This one deals with futuristic street gangs, and uses the subject to analyze the idea of rehabilitating criminals.
8. “Stalker” is definitely one of the greatest sci-fi films, and it is directed by a wonderful Russian Director named Andrei Tarkovsky. This film is similar to “2001: A Space Odyssey” in the sense that  it’s also very unconventional, and difficult to explain. The story deals with a society after a terrible cataclysm. It’s about a man who has the job of guiding people through a dangerous area called “The Zone”.
9. “Robocop,” directed by Paul Verhoeven, has a lot more to offer than the typical action film. The movie is about a futuristic police force that decides to create a robot using the body and mind of a dead police officer. It cleverly manages to deliver action along with a lot of intellectual fodder and serious drama.
10. "Metropolis" is a film from the 1920's that is directed by the great Fritz Lang. It's about a futuristic city with a rich ruling class who misues the underclass. The movie set a lot of important standards in its time, and it's superbly made.