'80s machismo meets alien invasion tropes in John McTiernan's pumped-up actioner, with Arnold Schwarzenegger's tough commando Dutch and his military team facing an invisible enemy with advanced weaponry and heat-vision. Read the Empire reviewĭirector: John McTiernan Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall'If it bleeds.

The reason? She's pregnant… Taking a sci-fi set-up and exploring it in a world that feels terrifyingly tangible – told with some astonishing immersive extended takes – Cuaron delivers a poignant, urgent story. As immigration soars and the country becomes a police state, Clive Owen's bureaucrat is contacted by a group of suspected terrorists and asked to help a young woman (Clare-Hope Ashitey's Kee) reach a sanctuary that may not even exist.

Cue world chaos and, in what might be the most outlandish concept in an otherwise prescient film, Britain is one of the sole bastions of calm. The year is 2027, and mankind has slowly become infertile. Read the Empire reviewĭirector: Alfonso Cuaron Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Clare-Hope AshiteyHow grounded can a science-fiction film feel while still ultimately remaining a genre work? Alfonso Cuaron's harrowing human dystopia goes right down to the wire – there are flourishes of future-tech in Children Of Men, but its world feels a stone's throw from our own. It didn't have the box office impact of Cameron's big-hitters, but it's still worth submerging yourself into. Cameron's love of diving and his environmental side are on full display here, laying the groundwork for much of what he's gone on to since – from the waterworks of Titanic, to Avatar's bioluminescent planet, and the long-promised oceans of Pandora in the upcoming Avatar sequels. At the heart of it is a team of expert divers who are hired to look for a missing nuclear submarine and find something much more fascinating. With its sub-aquatic entities (rendered with then-cutting-edge VFX that still looks good today) and a Jules Verne-ian sense of deep-sea exploration, The Abyss feels distinct from the usual space-bound sci-fi. Trust James Cameron, then – long before Avatar – to look to the other inky-black instead, the mysterious ocean depths. Director: James Cameron Starring: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael BiehnMost sci-fi films look to the cosmos for signs of new life.

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