Posted on 09/24/2017 12:04:34 PM PDT by EveningStar
By its very nature, the sci-fi genre is relatively complex: the short stories, novels, TV series and films that comprise speculative fiction necessitate detailed expository passages to build its far-flung futures, reality-bending premises, and stories set in a galaxy far, far away.
Whether the story is set on an alien world populated by creatures markedly different from human beings, in a future separated by centuries or eons from the present in which society, technology, science, and civilization itself have evolved into a nearly unrecognizable state, or center around time or space travel, sci-fi stories require complex set-ups to create a believable reality that’s very different from our own.
Because of this, the sci-fi genre also allows for its stories to become quite complex. Time travel stories thrive on complexity while, depending on the story, other elements may be willfully obtuse to create an air of mystery or disorientation in the viewer–and some sci-fi stories are much more complex than others.
Here are 10 sci-fi films that are purposely complex ...
10. Predestination (2014) ...
9. The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) ...
8. The Fountain (2006) ...
7. Coherence (2013) ...
6. Upstream Color (2013) ...
5. Primer (2004) ...
4. Inception (2010) ...
3. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (1984) ...
2. Solaris (1972) ...
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) ...
(Excerpt) Read more at tasteofcinema.com ...
Andromeda Strain (1971)
I loved #3 as a kid.
Someone on the net figured out that there are 360 camera cuts (edits) as in 360 degrees as in a circle in ‘2001.’
Another quirk, joke, or statement from Kubrick who was fond of such things.
Dune?
Why is Gattaca not on the list? Both obscure plot and never was much seen.
Watched 1 & 3 Liked 2001, Buckaroo was kinda fun.
Saw a few minutes of 9, 4 and 2 on TV, They didn’t capture my interest. Maybe they were too complex for my simple mind.
Time travel movies are inherently complex because they must to some degree deal with the impossibility of what’s known as the grandfather paradox. How is it possible to change the past in a way which completely contradicts the future? Some sci fi attempts to solve it by eliminating free choice, or by creating alternate universes. None really have, however, since I believe time travel into the past is inherently impossible. Time has no direction, just a magnitude. You can slow it down using relativistic time dilation, but not reverse it.
Moon should be on the list.
I liked “Dune”.
Have not read the book(s) but have noticed that the ones who do not like it are the ones who have.
The only ones I haven’t seen are Predestination, The Fountain, Coherence, and Upstream Color. And I’ve heard of all but Upstream Color.
The Man Who Fell...wasn’t that complex although it reeks of 70s decadence.
It’s a bizarre film to be sure, with Bowie scaring the hell out of Candy Clark with his ET eyes followed immediately by the two of them having gooey alien sex
2001 was one of those movies which only made sense if you either had read the book, or had smoked a lot of weed.
I’m still traumatised by seeing #8 “The Fountain” rben after ten years.
The most bizarre convoluted mind numbing piece of garbage movie I have ever seen...
Every person left the movie mad...
That one is excellent! Also Colossus, The Forbin Project.
Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun?
yes, that’s it.
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