Only 3 Sci-Fi Movies Are Better Than ‘Blade Runner’

If you’re looking at classic science fiction from the history of cinema, things don’t get a whole lot better than Blade Runner. It was one of those ahead of their time sort of sci-fi movies that not everyone really got at first, or it just took a while for most to fully digest everything that the film offered. In that sense, you can lump it in with The Thing, which also came out in 1982 and was famously not nearly as well-liked upon release as it is nowadays. Sticking to Blade Runner, though, this is a movie about a not very likable “hero” who’s tasked with tracking down some very convincingly human replicants (androids, basically) that have gone rogue. They have a limited lifespan, but sufficiently powerful people still insist they need to be exterminated as soon as possible, and so Rick Deckard’s the man (well, seemingly a man) sent in to do the job. But, what do you know? The replicants are more sympathetic than the “hero,” even if they’re kind of scary and potentially dangerous. They’re also tragic, and they have to grapple with the complexities of life without having been given much life. And so their quest for an increase to their lifespans occurs alongside Rick’s whole quest to hunt them down.

You can watch Blade Runner once and wonder why the main character is so emotionless and not compelling, but then you watch it a second time and that begins to feel like the point. There’s also a lot here regarding the relationship (or conflict) between humanity and technology that grows richer thematically with rewatches of Blade Runner, and the way it’s so easy to go back to and find new things to appreciate is a big reason why it’s such a classic. It’s also hard to fault on a technical front, with the effects being ahead of their time, and the score (composed by Vangelis) being one of the all-time greatest, too. Still, there are maybe some sci-fi movies that are arguably even better than Blade Runner, and we’re talking better than perfect here, more or less, so it’s tricky territory to navigate and you might not agree. The idea that these three films, plus Blade Runner, are among the very best sci-fi movies of all time, though? Hopefully that, at least, isn’t too difficult a pill to swallow.

3

‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968)

The nice thing about 2001: A Space Odyssey, when it comes to trying to praise it, is the fact that you can pretty much just talk about, like, what it’s about, and that gets across quite a lot regarding how ambitious it is. A good chunk of the movie takes place in and around the titular year, but it also begins in prehistoric times, offering a look at humanity’s history before having a wild and, to this day, intensely surreal final segment that offers a look at humanity’s distant future. It’s a movie that’s all about evolution and humanity changing, both in terms of progress already made and then also some things to come. There is a lot more to it than that, but even that side of it takes perhaps more than one watch to fully unpack, and in that sense, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a little like Blade Runner. Okay, they’re very different kinds of science fiction, but both movies are classics, and both feel a little overwhelming the first time you watch them.

Then again, with 2001: A Space Odyssey, it takes its time as far as the pacing is concerned, even if it spans a lot of time narratively. You’ve definitely got the time and space (ha) to think about things for a bit, and even if you’re lost, you can just admire how great 2001: A Space Odyssey still looks and sounds. It’s astounding that, at the time of writing, this movie is nearly six decades old, and yet the special effects – and all the other technical things – hold up so exceptionally well. At this stage, it feels possible to say that certain sequences and individual shots here might well be timeless; like, they’ll still look great in 10, 50, 100, 500 years, however long. Maybe that’s wrong. And maybe the stuff in 2001: A Space Odyssey about the distant future will be proven “wrong” one day, too. For now, it still looks and sounds amazing, and what it has to say about humanity and its progression into space and beyond still proves rich and worth thinking about and/or discussing. There’s an extensive amount of hype and love for this film and its place in cinema history, sure, but it’s all undoubtedly well-earned.

2

‘Metropolis’ (1927)

Image via Parufamet

Blade Runner is not a young movie anymore, by any means, but it looks like, say, a fall chicken (are they a bit older than spring chickens? I am a writer, not a farmer) compared to Metropolis, which is positively ancient, by cinema standards. At the time of writing, Metropolis is nearly a century old. It’s easily the greatest of the silent sci-fi feature films, and is, to be honest, one of the only real sci-fi movies made during the silent era, at least in terms of movies that can still be recognized as science fiction today. Watching Metropolis now doesn’t feel alienating, because you can see what it influenced, and also, much of what it has to say still feels relevant. The visuals here were referenced in Blade Runner, for sure, and there is a look at inequality in a futuristic society in both. The replicants are definitely treated like they’re members of a lower class, and then plenty of other people in Blade Runner’s dystopian future are also downtrodden. But Metropolis is more heavy-handed with that kind of social commentary, because its city has all the rich people living above the poor, and also using the poor to live their lavish lives.

It’s not subtle, but also, silent movies aren’t usually all that subtle, what with people having to communicate emotions and character decisions to the audience without speaking. It’s not hard to adjust, with Metropolis, since it ends up feeling like so much of a fable, with a very direct message by the end, and fables are in good company with silent movies, because fables aren’t usually very subtle either. There’s also a lot to enjoy and be dazzled by before things wrap up, and that’s before getting into specifically how great Metropolis still looks, and how forward-thinking it was in terms of special effects. It looks old, sure, but not as old (and definitely not as creaky/genuinely primitive) as you would expect a movie of this size from this long ago to look. It’s a good gateway movie to silent cinema as a whole, and the kind of thing every science fiction fan should watch at least once, regardless of their usual feelings on watching movies from about this many decades ago.

1

‘The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)

Image via Twentieth Century-Fox

Since it’s a sequel to Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back manages to hit the ground running with an opening battle sequence that at least equals the remarkable finale of the first movie, and then somehow, it keeps that pace going throughout. Granted, there’s no single action sequence that’s quite as grand after the opening act, but things move so well that you either don’t really notice, or don’t really mind. The galaxy does feel bigger, in any event, but it’s the way that The Empire Strikes Back expands the characters and the stuff they’re dealing with morally that makes it soar the way it does. You’ve still got a battle of good versus evil here, but there are things revealed about certain heroes and at least one villain that make them feel a bit more complicated. It’s also got one of the most famous endings not just of the 1980s, but arguably of all time, with it setting the stage perfectly for an imperfect (but still compelling and emotionally satisfying) third film: Return of the Jedi.

The Empire Strikes Back, though, is as good as Star Wars gets, and since Star Wars is about as good as the space opera genre has ever gotten, then The Empire Strikes Back is pretty much the best of the best, when it comes to this strand of science fiction. Call it a sub-genre if you want, and complain about Star Wars being more fantasy than sci-fi if you want, too, but The Empire Strikes Back just feels right to put here. It’s also the hardest to compare to Blade Runner, out of all the movies here, beyond stating the obvious: Harrison Ford is in both, and is, indeed, great in both. But he’s such a different character, fittingly, as they’re such different sci-fi movies. Still, The Empire Strikes Back has the whole technical perfection thing going for it, putting it in the same camp as all the previously referenced movies, because, as good as Star Wars (1977) looked, this first sequel topped it in just about every regard, effects-wise. It’s darker and maybe not as crowd-pleasing as Star Wars, either, but The Empire Strikes Back is still very easy to enjoy and appreciate, and vital for Star Wars as a whole, making that whole war in the stars fought a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away all the more interesting (not to mention worthy of being further expanded into a franchise that’s still ongoing, about half a century later).