2) Blade Runner
A film that is as deserving of the top spot on this list as any, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner has influenced everything that has come since it in the genre, but still stands up today as head and shoulders above those who have drawn inspiration from it.
The film is intellectual, visually stunning, and technically sharp, which makes it the definition of quality sci-fi cinema, and really cinema as a whole. It is also filled with a sense of sadness and fear, which are pivotal emotions for the genre, and especially a dystopic story such as this one.
Blade Runner centers around Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard, a policeman of sorts who is charged with hunting down replicants. These replicants are clones, which have now become illegal on the dystopic Earth. The problem is, the replicants so realistically resemble the humans they’re modeled after, it’s almost impossible to tell who is real and who is a clone, even for someone such as Deckard whose job relies on it.
It was initially hated by studio execs, bashed by critics, and drew poorly at the box office, but somehow, the film soldiered on, growing in fanbase and influence every year since. The reason is simple. The effects, the themes, and the overall picture stand up by today’s standards, and they have by every standard of the last 30 years. Even many of the critics who initially weren’t the biggest fans of the film have later been sucked in by its charm. One, Roger Ebert, even gave the film a four-star review 25 years after its initial release.
Some would describe it as a cult classic, but it’s really so much more than that, as you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t enjoy this film. It’s awe-inspiring in the truest sense of the phrase. From the neon-lit shots of a futuristic LA, to the sheer power of Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty, Blade Runner isn’t likely to lose its impact any time soon, cementing its place as one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time.