5 Visually Striking Films That Take Place in The Future
If we can’t reach the stars, these films just might take us there
1. Blade Runner (1982)
Considered Ridley Scott’s most complex and personal film, our first pick is a massive one. Although it is said to be one of the best science-fiction films of all time, some also associate it to the film noir genre, the feature containing many of its characteristics.
Rick Deckard is a blade runner (or the descendant of a bounty hunter) on the hunt for replicants, human-like robots that have been banned from the earth years ago. He sets to find and kill the last four of them that have illegally taken refuge in the city, but finds his task much more challenging than expected. Acclaimed for its complex yet incredibly detailed depiction of a projected 2019 Los Angeles, Blade Runner‘s images intrigue and invite spectators in a world that’s almost to good to be fake.
2. Alien (1979)
You gotta love Ridley Scott. If Alien preceded Blade Runner, it’s not let itself be overshadowed by it. Named seventh-best science fiction film of all time by the American Film Institute, it’s also as terrifying as the best horror films and as exciting as the fastest action flicks. Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt and Tom Skerritt are members of a space crew on a return trip to Earth who interrupt their flight after receiving an unfamiliar distress call. As they try to find the source of distress on an unknown planetoid mass, they discover a clandestine passenger on board : a savage alien that grows inside crew member’s bodies only to hatch from their insides, instantly killing their host. We swear, we’ve never taken stomach aches so seriously since.
3. Metropolis (1927)
German innovation is everywhere, and if this isn’t a proof of it, then we don’t know what is. Metropolis may have been shot in the late 1920’s, but it sure seems to take place in an era that we, human, have yet to discover. Directed by Fritz Lang and based on a script written by his wife, this feature length movie is one of the first of the science-fiction genre. Telling the story of a dystopian society where rich industrialists rule over the lower class, Metropolis is as much of an ocular trip as it is of a movie per se. Featuring machines, shadow plays, robots and special effects which seem impossible to have been pulled of with the technology of the time, it is a gem of the German expressionist movement, and may very well be a preview of how things will look like in 2026, the year in which the plot is set. In fact, the techniques used by special effects pioneer Eugan Schüfftan had never really been used before this film. From miniatures of the city of Metropolis to cameras on swings and mirrors placed in such a way as to shrink the set, that latter technique better known as the Schüfftan process, avant-garde was a huge part of Metropolis‘s production as well as its success.
4. 2001, A Space Odyssey (1968)
Perhaps one of the greatest eye of the century, Kubrick has exceeded himself in “2001“. Frame after frame, he proves this 161 minute film is his masterpiece. Not only does every single shot look like an art-piece of its own, it completely submerges viewers in a world we still can’t believe was thought of in the sixties. It’s big, it’s bold, it’s beautiful. and not to spoil anything we’ll just say this : see it for yourself.
5. Interstellar (2014)
From sand and storms to space and stars. It may seem like a long way for many but Christopher Nolan takes us there and back in barely a few hours with this visual masterpiece. Nolan manages to make Earth’s apocalyptic future visually wonderful. Wether it be magnificent landscapes filled with corn crops or the less mundane exoplanets’ rocky skies and frozen clouds, Interstellar kind of makes you want to be there, regardless of the circumstances. With mind-blowing shots and breath-taking special effects, “imaginative” would be a euphemism if used to describe Nolan’s version of mankind’s future. Nevertheless, Interstellar remains somewhat accurate when it comes to scientific theory, following the laws of relativity and such, which makes it only more compelling.