Sci-fi dystopias are a dime a dozen, but the ones that feel truly unique or distinctive are much more rare. A great sci-fi film creates its own version of reality, even as the world in which its story is set comments on the realities of our world.
Every film on this list has a carefully crafted world that feels completely real to the audience, no matter how pathetic all the characters in the film are. These are carefully crafted worlds, which helps them connect completely with the world we actually live in.
7. Total Recall (1990)
Filled with vivid details that only Paul Verhoeven could have imagined, total Recall is set in 2084 where Mars has been colonized, and people who look like Arnold Schwarzenegger work construction.
The film’s plot involves a series of events that may or may not be reality, but the most impressive thing about this film is that it imagines many of the technologies that make up its dystopian future. total Recall He’s not afraid to show us Mars, and when we finally get there, it’ll be worth the wait.
6. The Hunger Games (2012)
Set in the distant future, in which America has been devastated by climate change and is now smaller and less populated, hunger games Imagines a future where the 12 districts are ruled by a single Capitol that oppresses them partly by forcing some of their children to fight to the death.
That idea, which has its basis in history, is strong enough, but what makes this franchise’s dystopia feel so grounded is that the dress and behavior of the privileged people lines up almost perfectly with those of those in those districts. The opposite is those who have nothing.
5. The Matrix (1999)
Set in a world where humans exist only to supply energy to machines, and are living only in a simulacrum of reality, math question There came a moment when the world was on the verge of something new. However, what made the film such a resounding success was the way it juxtaposed the ancient, but artificial world of the Matrix with the terrifying dystopia of the real world.
math question The argument was that the real world was worth saving, even if it was fundamentally broken, and its sequels made this idea even more obvious, even if some people hated them.
4. Planet of the Apes (1968)
The great reveal at the end of planet of the Apes This is part of what made the film so famous, but before we get to that, planet of the Apes This gives us a world run by apes that is full of its own rules and legal structures.
The most striking thing about the film is that much of it plays like a legal thriller, in which a human being attempts to explain why he has the ability to speak on a planet where most humans do not. Although its final moments turn planet of the Apes In a reminder of the nuclear age, the film’s depiction of its titular planet as long before that is interesting.
3. Akira (1988)
Many great films have been made about the consequences of the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan, but none can imagine a more horrifying future than this. akira,
Set in a world in which an atomic bomb was dropped on Tokyo 30 years ago, the film follows a young boy attempting to save his friend from a government experiment. However, when his friend’s powers begin to manifest, we see the secrets of the Japanese government on full display, as well as a horrifying metaphor for the trauma of life through the atomic bomb.
2. Wall-E (2008)
Set in a version of Earth covered in trash and long abandoned by mankind, wall-e It is the story of a garbage-picking robot who inadvertently discovers that the Earth can be saved. The journey he goes on, which ultimately turns into a love story, is beautiful in itself, but wall-e Also imagines a future in which the human race still exists, although it has become almost completely immobilized.
Its version of Earth, in which the entire planet is now a desert, is even more harsh, and wall-e remains one of Pixar’s most explicit political statements and one of its finest films.
1. Blade Runner (1982)/Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
of World blade Runner And its sequel, from its futuristic, pyramid-like architecture to its hologram technologies, is so clearly realized that it almost blows away the competition. The production design of both of these films is legendary, as is the idea of replicants that are almost impossible to distinguish from people.
When combined, both of these films suggest a world that is both completely distant from our own world and somewhat familiar, and it is this combination that makes both films so fascinating.