Diksha Sundriyal
Curiosity has taken humans from the days of striking stones to make a fire to the ability to calculate the temperature of the core of a star a million miles away. The exponential advancement of science has made life cozier and the world is shrinking by the day. But science is not driven just by logic. Imagination is an important tool, necessary to push the boundaries of logic. This is where movies come in. Sci-fi genre has always sparked a particular interest in the audience. While in its initial times, the setting of sci-fi movies was limited to an apocalypse or a silly scientist conjuring laughs with his mad inventions, things have changed for the better now. Movies like ‘Gravity’, ‘Inception’, ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Arrival’ have proved that sci-fi can be a base for intricate storylines driven by strong emotions.
2018 has been a good year for the lovers of this genre as diverse movies, testing different fields of science have come out this year. Here’s the list of top sci-fi movies of 2018. The list includes best sci-fi romance films, best sci-fi thriller movies and best sci-fi horror movies.
20. Time Freak (2018)
In the sci-fi genre, the use of time machine to win back lost love counts as a “tale as old as time”! But, like many other ideas in the world, this idea will never lose its lustre, as long as it’s done right, that is. ‘Time Freak’ tells the story of a young physics prodigy who isn’t such a genius when it comes to love life. He is so immersed in his work that his girlfriend gets fed up of his charades and breaks up with him. This brings everything to the ground for him and he decides to win her back, another time. He creates a time machine, and you know the rest.
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19. How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2018)
Based on the short story of the same name by Neil Gaiman, this film tells the story of a teenager who ends up at a strange party and meets an equally intriguing girl. It is the late 70s, the time when punk rock was more popular, and Enn, along with his friends, is trying to find a way to make his mundane teenage life more colourful. One night, he stumbles upon a strange house which seems to be hosting a different sort of party. There is all kind of girls here, but Enn’s eyes fall on Zan and he falls for her. What Enn doesn’t know is that Zan, and all the other girls in the house, are aliens, who have made a short stop at Earth. What does that mean for Enn and Zan’s story then?
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18. Occupation (2018)
It is an accepted fact in the scientific community that humans are not the only ones with intelligence in this universe. Aliens are out there, we just haven’t come across them yet. But what if they know about us? What if they have been watching us this whole time, and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike? This is what happens in ‘Occupation’. The day turns dark when alien spaceships cover the skies of a small Australian town. As the invasion begins, the civilians have to decide whether they will surrender without a fight or resist with all the life in their bodies.
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17. Next Gen (2018)
Ever since her father left them, Mai and her mother have grown distant. Not because they had any fallout, but because her mother wasn’t able to cope with abandonment and filled the void in her life with robots, which were quickly becoming an integral part of human life. Believing that her mother pays more attention to robots than her, Mai develops a growing resentment against them. Because other kids don’t share her hatred for robots, she is unable to make any friends. Until one day, she stumbled upon a robot who becomes her friend and helps her solve the problems of her life.
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16. Extinction (2018)
Peter is an engineer. He has a happy family and enjoys a good reputation in his workplace. There is one thing that bothers him, though. His dreams. They are always the same, about an alien invasion and the destruction of life as they know it. Troubled by what he sees, Peter visits a psychologist where he meets another person who claims to have the same dreams. This confirms one thing for Peter- his dreams are more than something his mind is making up. Turns out, they are visions which materialise the very same night. As Peter runs with his family to a safe place, new information comes to light and everything that he thought he knew changes with it.
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15. Zoe (2018)
Love is a complicated thing. While poets have tried to capture its measure in their lines, scientists try to understand the origin of this emotion in our minds. Cole is one such scientist. He had been researching what makes people fall in love and based on that he has created an app that tells people whether their relationship will last or not. Ironically, it is due to this app that his own marriage has ended. Now, he has taken his research a step further by creating synthetics (robots, pretty much), and taken their palette as a study for something innately human. His work ethic becomes complicated when he begins to have feelings for one of the synthetics.
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14. Jonathan (2018)
“Two bodies, one soul” is often the phrase used for people who are inseparable, in a metaphorical sense, of course. But there are times when one body houses two souls or more in some critical cases. What happens when two different people have one body? ‘Jonathan’ tries to provide an answer to this question. You must think that this is the case of a multiple-personality disorder, and like many other films have portrayed the condition of such people, what would be different in this one? The thing is that the protagonist of this film is not suffering from any personality disorder. He, literally, has two people inside one body who have worked up a schedule which helps them co-exist. But, for how long can they carry this strenuous ordeal?
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13. Anon (2018)
As the world has become more digital, the definition of privacy has changed, too. ‘Anon’, which is set far (considering everything, maybe not quite so far) into the future, shows a world where the word “privacy” does not exist anymore. The Big Brother is watching everyone, every second of every minute. Everyone’s existence is fed into a database where their whole life is recorded. These records can be accessed by the judicial system to catch the criminals. But the police are baffled when a series of murders happen and they have no one to pin it on. It’s like the person they want to catch does not exist, at least not digitally.
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12. The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)
‘The Cloverfield franchise’ has made a name for itself through its thrilling narratives and obscure connections. The third instalment in it was ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ which took a different turn than its predecessors. There is a link, though. Don’t worry about it! The world has become a chaotic place due to the exponential reduction in energy sources. The countries are at war and the scientists are trying to find a way to counter this problem. A scientific lab is orbiting the Earth with a couple of scientists who are on the verge of discovering the ultimate energy source. But, tinkering with the laws of nature is rarely advisable!
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11. Rampage (2018)
Secret researches are taking place in faraway laboratories at this very second. We don’t know what they are about and what they can do for the world and us. A similar research was being conducted in a space station by a company called Energyne, that worked in genetics. The experiments go horribly wrong when the scientists test a serum on a rat and it turns huge and aggressive. The lab is destroyed and the only remaining scientist escapes in a pod with a few vials of the serum. But as soon as it enters the atmosphere, the pod explodes and the serum is thrown all over. An albino gorilla comes into contact with it and turns into a giant King-Kong-ish creature. Chaos and havoc ensue.
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10. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
After the events of ‘Jurassic World’, the world is debating whether the dinosaurs should be allowed to exist anymore. Although they have been left behind in Isla Nublar, the dinosaurs face extinction once again, because the volcano in the island, that was previously thought dormant, is about to explode. The whole wildlife will perish. The Senate decides it better to let them die, considering the havoc they have created previously. But some people beg to differ, believing that life should be allowed another chance. Owen Grady and Claire Dearing reunite to revisit the island and extract whatever remaining DNA, and species, that they can, without becoming the prey of the more vicious ones.
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9. I Think We’re Alone Now (2018)
The film revolves around Del (Peter Dinklage) who finds himself alone in the world. After the human race is wiped out, he lives in his small, empty town, content in his solitude and the utopia he’s methodically created for himself – until he is discovered by Grace (Elle Fanning), an interloper whose history and motives are obscure. Del finds his utopian world crumble as he discovers further secrets about Grace. ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ is starts off great with an absorbing aesthetic and solid work from its leads. Though as the film progresses, everything doesn’t quite add up making its pace overbearing.
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8. Replicas (2018)
How far will you go to get back your family? What is the limit of sacrifices that a person can make to get something back that is forever lost to him? These are the questions that haunt neuro-scientist William Foster. When he loses his whole family in a tragic accident, he wonders if his science can play God and bring back his loved ones. Prior to this, he had been working on human consciousness and how it can be transferred to a machine. His loss pushes him to finish his research and test out his theory by bringing back his family. But these things come at a cost. Will William be ready to pay the price?
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7. Prospect (2018)
Of the many human flaws, greed is a rather common one. It is what has driven many men to their ruin, and, perhaps, will continue to do so forever! A teenage girl is troubled by her father’s greed and fears if it will lead them to their ends. In an advanced world, she has travelled with her father to an alien moon, where a forest can be mined for precious gems. But they soon find out that they are not the only ones there. What started as a competition for some stones turns into a struggle for survival. But there is no end to human greed.
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6. Ready Player One (2018)
Based on the book of the same name by Ernest Cline, this film shows the story of a teenager who enters a competition to win the ownership of a software. Our time is a witness to how the people are turning their back on the real reality and are paying more attention to how they appear in the virtual world. By 2045, this transition would have been completed and the whole humanity would be dependent on a software called OASIS which would connect them to their virtual world. Wade Watts is a proficient gamer and he discovers that a game includes certain clues to a bigger game with heftier winnings.
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5. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
‘Star Wars’ is a world in itself. With its own grand fandom, a plethora of characters, and complex storylines, its legacy has evolved over the ages. While its lead characters have been a part of popular culture, like any other incredible story, it has some side characters who have gained a lot of popularity. The character of Han Solo was one of them. This film separates this character from the other world of ‘Star Wars’, the world without the Lukes and Leis and their spotlight. It provides an origin story to Han Solo, and how he ended up where we first met him.
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4. Annihilation (2018)
Based on the book of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer, ‘Annihilation’ was given a limited release because the producers thought that it was a bit complicated for the general people to understand! Yeah, that’s like a dare. You must watch this film now. And, you should definitely watch it because it really is an intelligent film that will leave you perplexed by the end. It tells the story of a group of scientists who venture into a quarantined area to find out what is happening there and how to stop it. Because if they don’t, it will be the end of humanity.
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3. High Life (2018)
There are a lot of mysteries that we want to unravel and a lot of places that we want to go. But the first time, the experimental stage requires someone to make sacrifices for the good of the whole world. Now, if there is an energy source on the fringe of a black hole, someone will have to go there and have the courage to take the risk of turning into a spaghetti (‘Interstellar’ didn’t tell you that, did it?) if anything goes wrong and they fall into it. In a distant future, the scientists have figured out a solution for that. They have sent a group of death-row inmates up there. And not just that, they are also being sexually experimented on.
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2. First Man (2018)
Based on the life of Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the Moon, ‘First Man’ covers the aspects of his life that people never really knew about. Because it is a biographical film, you can obviously count out the “fiction” part, but that is what makes it all the more exciting. You might actually get some real science! Now, about Armstrong and the crew of Apollo 11, the only thing that most of us know is that they went up there and took “a giant leap for mankind”. But, during this time, Armstrong was going through some pretty heavy problems in his life. How did he deal with all this pressure?
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1. Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Some films are absurd, but then, so is life. Often, people are the source of bizarre stories that we see on-screen. Time and again, there are shifts in the order of the world, and most of the times the order fails because of its own incongruity. ‘Sorry to Bother You’ is the presentation of this strange world in an equally peculiar way. It follows the story of Cassius Green who lives in Oakland, but in a version different than the one in our world, an alternate reality, if I may! When you see how things work in Cassius’ world, you’ll thank the gods for not making your world that way. But once you give it a thought, you’ll see that there is not much of a difference, really. Laced with intelligent humour and tackling relevant themes, ‘Sorry to Bother You’ is a ‘once in a while’ kind of film, something that you absolutely can’t miss.
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