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Science fiction is a beautiful genre encompassing many other themes and ideas. Some of the best movies ever made fall into the sci-fi category: for example, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is often considered among the best, if not the best, movie of all time, and its roots are firm in science fiction, or better said, in Arthur C. Clark's novel of the same name. Those are some big shoes to fill for all other movies in the genre.
Not every sci-fi movie is 2001, but most great ones aren't always perfect; they're fun and memorable. Many can have an overall lacking feel, but some, more disappointingly, are ruined by one single scene. This one flaw can be detrimental to the movie's success, which was true for some of these great sci-fi features. One would also argue they can no longer be considered great after such mistakes, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and these movies certainly still have enthusiastic fans.
10 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' (2008)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Everyone actively chooses to ignore Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull's wild final moments, largely because the first part is adventure-filled and fun. It follows the archeologist/action hero Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) on his regular adventures, and it's set in 1957, just after Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. When Jones is approached by young greaser Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), they start a new journey to Peru, where Jones' former colleague finds a telepathic crystal skull.
Indiana Jones and his crew head out to find this skull of infinite knowledge, realizing they're being pursued by KGB agents led by the ruthless Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett). The movie is great until Indy and his team find a room of crystal skulls, where the bad guys put the missing piece in its rightful place, the room spins, and aliens show up. The idea that aliens are real and are mixed up with what Jones usually uncovers kills the mood for many viewers. However, the "aliens are real" plot makes this installment of Indiana Jones the only sci-fi movie of the franchise.
9 'The Wolverine' (2013)
Directed by James Mangold
Image via 20th Century Studios
The Wolverine is an awesome blend of sci-fi and action. It becomes serious from the start, with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) as a POW in Japan in 1945, saving a Japanese officer named Yashida during the atomic bombing. Years later, Yashida is dying and sends a mutant Yukio to retrieve Logan so he can repay the debt. But Yashida's plan is more sinister, and Logan ends up weakened and mercilessly attacked by his army at every step.
The movie makes the audience feel exhausted, but there's lots of slick, incredible action for any fan. The scene that ruins the movie for many is the appearance of the Silver Samurai. While he is a Marvel comic character, Silver Samurai is heavily CGI-filled, and his fight with Wolverine feels like the last straw in a string of intense action scenes. The Wolverine is a great feature due to its setting and story, but people's impressions wore down when the movie went full Silver Samurai.
Release Date July 26, 2013
Runtime 2h 6m
8 'Prometheus' (2012)
Directed by Ridley Scott
Image via 20th Century Studios
Prometheus may be a great prequel to the Alien trilogy, praised for its ambition, storytelling, and world-building, but for many people, one scene ruins the entire mood and shows poor decision-making by the characters. Prometheus is about a group of scientists led by Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) to a planet where they presume to have found traces of human origins. The originators of humans are referred to as "engineers," and the scientists presume they've left a sign in the stars above Earth for humans to find them.
The ship they call Prometheus lands on the planet they traced, but it's barren escept for a hostile alien, the consequence of bioengineering gone wrong. When the Prometheus crew sacrifices to save Shaw and another crew member, Vickers (Charlize Theron), on the ground, they ram into the alien spaceship, which comes crashing down. The scene that ruins Prometheus for fans is when Shaw and Vickers start running in a straight line from the ship instead of running sideways, where they'd be safe immediately. Thus, Vickers gets crushed due to her terrible decision-making by a ship that's long and narrow and could've easily been avoided.
Release Date June 8, 2012
Runtime 124 Minutes
Writers Jon Spaihts , Damon Lindelof
7 'Lucy' (2014)
Directed by Luc Besson
Image via Universal
Luc Besson has directed some of the most innovative and famous action and sci-fi movies. Lucy, starring Scarlet Johansson and Choi Min-sik, is a great example of a fantastical spin on the female assassin trope. However, its final twist and ending put a damper on an otherwise heavily entertaining feature. Lucy (Johansson), a student living in Taipei, is convinced by her boyfriend, Richard (Pilou Asbæk), to deliver a suitcase of drugs. When Richard gets killed, Lucy is kidnapped and forced to be a drug mule.
The new synthetic drug she was supposed to deliver is now sewn into her stomach, but Lucy is kicked in the stomach in the process, and the drug enters her system. It gives Lucy a wide range of superpowers that help her defeat those chasing her. The scene that dampens the mood is when Lucy supposedly starts using 100% of her brain; she disintegrates into a supercomputer, becoming a USB drive of infinite knowledge. This admittedly intriguing but ultimately silly choice gave the movie a bizarre ending that didn't land after all the juicy action.
Release Date July 25, 2014
Runtime 90minutes
Writers Luc Besson
6 'War of the Worlds' (2005)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
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Image via Paramount Pictures
H.G. Wells wrote The War of the Worlds and stunned readers with his eerie story about aliens coming to Earth to defeat humans. In 2005, Steven Spielberg decided to make his version of the disaster sci-fi, which has turned out great for the most part. War of the Worlds is a dark and intense movie with themes of sacrifice and dedication that also revolves around the primal desire for survival. Tom Cruise plays Ray, a divorced dockworker with teenage son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and 10-year-old daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning).
When Ray realizes that alien creatures in the shape of tripods are burning people alive and killing them, he races to get his kids and run away with them from the invasion. While Ray is estranged from his kids, one would imagine they'd all work together amid terrifying events. However, Robbie decides to join the military to fight the aliens, ending up in a squad that gets completely disintegrated by them. However, in quite a nonsensical ending to the movie, Robbie reappears alive and well. His improbable survival and joining the military without any experience made people dissatisfied, though it was meant to send a message of perseverance.
Release Date June 29, 2005
Runtime 116 Minutes
Writers Josh Friedman , David Koepp , H.G. Wells
5 'Transformers' (2007)
Directed by Michael Bay
Image via Paramount Pictures
Michael Bay delivered a great rendition of the beloved animated series Transformers. People generally loved it, and some even feel it's Bay's best movie, combining fun-loving action, comedy, and dramatic CGI sequences. Of course, the movie isn't without its clichés and tropes, including one scene that ruins the mood for most viewers. Transformers is about the alien race Transformers from the planet Cybertron divided into two factions: the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), and the Decepticons, led by Megatron (Hugo Weaving). These factions are waging war around the source of Cybertron's power, located on Earth.
Decepticons and Autobots settle on Earth disguised as vehicles, with one of the Autobots, Bumblebee, taking the shape of a Chevrolet Camaro. The Transformers, in the meantime, are investigated by special agents of the Sector 7 government agency. Since they're sabotaging the Autobots' good cause, Bumblebee chooses to "pee" on special agent Simmons (John Turturro) as a joke. This cringe-worthy scene is accompanied by a comment from Optimus Prime: "Bumblebee, stop lubricating the man." This unfunny, tasteless gag may have made children smile, but adults hate it to this day.
4 'Man of Steel' (2013)
Directed by Zack Snyder
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
No matter the words someone might have about the fate of Superman, Zack Snyder made Man of Steel a decent version of Superman's origin story. Henry Cavill seemed like perfect casting for Superman, and the story was gritty and riddled with sci-fi elements. Clark Kent first comes to Earth as a superhuman called Kal-El. He's saved and adopted by Martha (Diane Lane) and Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner), who learn about his powers as he grows stronger.
Here's where the movie is ruined for most people: Jonathan Kent knows Clark has superhuman strength, but he wants him to stay hidden. When Jonathan gets involved in a tornado storm, Clark just sits by and watches his dad die. It was a terrible way for Jonathan to be taken out of the story; any son would leap to save his father, no matter what, especially The Last Son of Krypton, one of the most selfless characters in comic book history. The rest of Man of Steel is quite good, especially in retrospect; it's visually stunning and has some great cast performances, but Jonathan's silly death dampens the mood for everyone.
Man of Steel
Release Date June 14, 2013
Runtime 143 minutes
3 'The Matrix Reloaded' (2003)
Directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
The Wachowskis made a mark on cinema with their innovation in The Matrix, one of the movies that changed cinema forever. With high-tech action scenes, never-before-seen science fiction sequences and designs, and a captivating storyline, The Matrix trilogy changed and influenced pop culture. The Matrix Reloaded is the second movie in the trilogy and dabbles more in giving explanations about what The Matrix is and what role Neo (Keanu Reeves) plays as "The One."
For many people, the scene where Neo meets The Architect, who created the Matrix, is a long-winded and convoluted way to describe the trilogy's world. It's filled with jargon and pseudo-philosophical tropes that seem tiring since people don't consider such things on a daily basis. This scene is the slowest and penultimate chapter of the movie, making it drag. The Matrix Reloaded is overall good, but The Architect felt like a confusing and condescending entity.
The Matrix Reloaded
Release Date May 15, 2003
Runtime 138 Minutes
2 'Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi' (2017)
Directed by Rian Johnson
Image via Lucasfilm
Many Star Wars fans aren't delighted by the movies from the J.J. Abrams era, but Disney went all out to make Star Wars an undying franchise after purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012. When they rebooted the Skywalker saga with a new trilogy, the movies were received well, but many felt they generally lacked the soul of the original trilogy; reviving old characters hit right in the nostalgic feel but received mixed reviews. Still, the (first two) movies were executed well and mostly accepted by most hardcore and new fans.
The Last Jedi was actually directed by Rian Johnson and acts as Episode VIII. It further investigates the connection between Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and Rey (Daisy Ridley), an orphan scavenger training to be a Jedi under Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). The scene that pushes people away from the movie is when Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) is sucked into space during a clash with Kylo Ren's soldiers. She uses The Force to get herself back to safety, literally flying across the void of space back into the ship like something straight out of a Disney movie. In fact, Redditors have dubbed this moment "Leia Poppins."
Release Date December 15, 2017
Runtime 152 Minutes
Writers Rian Johnson
1 'I Am Legend' (2007)
Directed by Francis Lawrence
Image via Warner Bros.
One of the best movies of 2007 and generally favored as a brilliant zombie movie, I Am Legend is beloved among sci-fi fans. It follows Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith) and his dog Samantha as the lone survivors in desolate Manhattan three years after a botched potential cure for cancer caused people to turn into vampiric, cannibalistic creatures called Darkseekers. Neville spends his days roaming for supplies and looking for other survivors; I Am Legend does an amazing job at presenting an exciting movie with just one lead for most of the runtime.
Neville inevitably meets other survivors and gets into some close combat with the Darkseekers. Viewers were initially presented with a theatrical ending that sees Neville dying in an explosion and his surviving companions reaching a military camp. However, the alternate sees Neville surviving and finding the solution to the Darkseekers' pursuit, making audiences feel that the theatrical release completely ruined this otherwise great sci-fi movie. The alternate ending is also more faithful to the novel by Richard Matheson and will likely be considered canon for the sequel, I Am Legend 2.
Release Date December 14, 2007
Runtime 101 minutes
Writers Akiva Goldsman , Mark Protosevich
NEXT: The 10 Worst Sci-Fi Movies of the Last 25 Years, Ranked
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