The 32 greatest '90s sci-fi movies
Oct. 23, 2024In the era of dial-up internet, these were the sci-fi films that blew us away
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Ah, the 1990s. A decade of flannel and oversized jerseys, grunge rock and bubblegum pop, Super Nintendo and snap bracelets, VHS and MTV, and of course, some of the best movies of all time. In the 1990s, sci-fi movies specifically continued to draw in millions of moviegoers. But which of the decade’s sci-fi movies are actually the greatest of all time?
While the 1980s is fondly remembered for its brand of science fiction, the decade that followed has equally worthy classics. Throughout the 1990s, computers rapidly evolved to afford filmmakers brand new tools to experiment and push the envelope. It’s no surprise, then, why ’90s movies are chock-full of primitive CGI and other feats of visual effects. But even if some sci-fi movies didn’t have the budgets to match, they still stand the test of time.
In remembrance of the 1990s and its legacy in movies, here are 32 of the greatest sci-fi movies of the 1990s.
32. Alien 3 (1992)
A troubled production and David Fincher himself disowning the whole thing can’t hold down the haunting beauty of Alien 3. Set some time after James Cameron’s Aliens, Alien 3 follows Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as the only survivor who winds up in a maximum security prison where, inevitably, a xenomorph is unleashed. While David Fincher has disavowed Alien 3 due to the amount of studio meddling he endured during production, Alien 3 brings the series back to its horror origins, mixing it with righteous anger that explores the AIDS crisis in metaphor.
Predating the metaverse and speculating our future in virtual reality, the 1999 thriller The Thirteenth Floor – based on the 1964 novel Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye – interrogates themes like identity, consciousness, and our own understanding of reality. In The Thirteenth Floor, Craig Bierko plays Douglas Hall, a computer scientist overseeing a VR simulation of 1937 Los Angeles. But like the L.A. noirs of yesteryear, Douglas finds himself suspected of murdering his own mentor. The answers to all his questions is on the thirteenth floor, where a beautiful woman (played by Gretchen Mol) awaits. A 1973 German TV movie, titled World on a Wire, is based on the same Galouye novel as The Thirteenth Floor and draws more critical acclaim among cinephiles, but The Thirteenth Floor offers its own brand of science fiction goodness that is worth checking out.
It’s one of the biggest box office failures in Hollywood history, yet Waterworld endures. In a future Earth where the polar ice caps have melted to submerge all of Earth underwater, a mariner (Kevin Costner) teams up with a woman (Jeanne Tripplehorn) to escape a hostile artificial island and find the mythical “Dryland.” Between its novel world building and good old fashioned spectacle, Waterworld swims more than sinks – never mind the first shot is Kevin Costner drinking his own pee. That its legacy lives on at Universal Studios as a popular stunt show is a testament to Waterworld’s power.
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Despite its misleading poster that implies Mark Hamill transforms into a mighty morphin' superhero (he doesn’t), The Guyver is a must-see midnight classic for action aficionados and B-movie obsessives everywhere. Based on the Japanese manga series, The Guyver follows Sean Barker (Jack Armstrong), a martial arts student who becomes the host of an alien power source that turns him into “The Guyver” – a bioboosted avenger to fight against a gang of evil aliens called Zoanoids. The Guyver is directed by Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, and co-stars Mark Hamill as a CIA agent who gets caught up in the plot.
Jean-Claude Van Damme is in rare form in Timecop, a big screen version of the Dark Horse comic strips. From director Peter Hyams, Timecop follows a police officer (Van Damme) in the Time Enforcement Commission who must stop an evil politician from corrupting the past for his personal gain. Timecop is still quintessential Van Damme, with its time travel premise an excuse for JCVD to roundhouse kick dudes in the face, but Van Damme also demonstrates some serious range in the movie’s more dramatic scenes.
Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman lead this late ’90s sci-fi classic, a parable that grapples with the ethics of eugenics and class discrimination. Hawke stars as Vincent Freeman (ironic name), a genetically inferior “in-valid” who conspires to live out his dream of space travel by acquiring the genes of a lab-made “valid” man (Jude Law). Joining the Gattaca space program, Vincent falls in love with a beautiful woman (Thurman), but his plans to stay in space are threatened when a murder investigation kicks off.
Sometimes, big movies come in very small packages. From Gremlins director Joe Dante, Small Soldiers follows a teenager named Alan (played by Gregory Smith) whose family toy store becomes a war zone between warring factions of super intelligent toys manufactured with bleeding-edge computer chips intended for the Department of Defense. (A young Kirsten Dunst co-stars as Christy, the girl next door and the main character’s love interest.) A satire of the military industrial complex and its propaganda chokehold over children, as well as Reagan-era media franchises like G.I. Joe, Small Soldiers is no mere toy story.
The fate of the world and the future of humanity rests in the hands of Bruce Willis. In Luc Besson’s 1997 classic The Fifth Element, the Die Hard star plays Korben Dallas, a flying taxicab driver in 23rd century New York City who welcomes a very strange customer in Leelo (Milla Jovovich). Together, the two team up to stop an ancient evil threat from destroying Earth. While The Fifth Element didn’t win over many critics upon release in May 1997, it has enjoyed cult classic status, especially through a very meme-worthy Chris Tucker as flamboyant radio deejay Ruby Rhod.
Four words: “Duel of the Fates.” Oh, you need a little more? In 1999, George Lucas' Star Wars franchise came back to life with the first installment of the divisive prequel trilogy. While the overall execution of the prequel saga remains up for debate, there’s no question that Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was a pop culture juggernaut and merchandising monster as May 1999 rolled around and audiences went back to a galaxy far, far away. In this prequel movie, the Jedi Order discover a young slave boy named Anakin (Jake Lloyd) who wields immense capacity for the Force. Their decision to induct him as one of their own will have grave consequences for the galaxy, as civil war brews between political factions.
In the 1990s, few movies felt as big and explosive as Independence Day. From disaster master Roland Emmerich, disparate groups of humanity converge after an alien invasion and plan a massive counterattack on the only holiday that all of America can agree on: the Fourth of July. Following in the tradition of alien invasion movies like War of the Worlds and The Day the Earth Stood Still, Independence Day marked a new era for special effects filmmaking as well as energizing the career of sitcom star turned Hollywood action hero Will Smith.
Throughout the 1990s, Hong Kong director John Woo brought his operatic flavor of action to Hollywood; among his greatest movies in this era was, and still is, Face/Off. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage co-star in this improbable science fiction thriller where the two men – one playing an FBI agent and loyal family man (Travolta), the other a master terrorist (Cage) – switch faces after experimental surgery, leading to an intense showdown. The “science” of Face/Off is definitely fiction, but who cares when there’s slow-motion explosions, Mexican standoffs, and speedboat chases?
The movie that launched the Stargate empire. In 1994, director Roland Emmerich along with writer Dean Devlin oversaw Stargate, an original science fiction adventure centered around an ancient circular wormhole that allows instant travel across the universe. Kurt Russell and James Spader co-star in the film, with Jaye Davidson as an alien posing as the Egyptian god Ra. A rousing mix of space military action and archeology, Stargate plays with popular conspiracy theories which posit that aliens had a role in the history of human civilization. Stargate notably launched a franchise which includes a handful of spin-off television shows – like Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis – as well as direct-to-video sequels, comic books, and more.
Don’t close your eyes, because you don’t wanna miss a thing. A true late-’90s classic from blockbuster auteur Michael Bay, Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck co-star as blue collar oil drillers who, along with their crew, are recruited by NASA to stop an asteroid from colliding into Earth. (Add in Liv Tyler to the mix, playing Willis' daughter and Affleck’s vivacious girlfriend.) It’s silly, it’s loud, it’s peak Michael Bay. Powered by Aerosmith’s operatic rock ballad “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing,” Armageddon epitomizes the era when Hollywood movies were getting bigger and getting dumber, but hadn’t yet lost any heart.
Ak ak! Ak ak!In this ludicrous science fiction black comedy from Tim Burton, Earth is invaded by warmongering Martians who unleash hell on an unprepared human populace. With a huge ensemble cast including Jack Nicholson as the President, Glenn Close as the First Lady, and Bond-era Pierce Brosnan as a scientist trying to stop the invasion, Mars Attacks! is a loving lampoon of vintage science fiction movies, especially those by director Ed Wood. Between its visual aesthetic of an amalgamated mid-century Americana and biting humor of human behavior when in panic, Mars Attacks! lands a direct hit.
Not since Alien has there been an effective science fiction/horror hybrid like Event Horizon. While director Paul W. S. Anderson is primarily known for his video game movies, the director helmed an original film in Event Horizon in 1997. Laurence Fishburne stars as a rescue crew captain whose team is dispatched to investigate Event Horizon, a spaceship that has just surfaced near Neptune after being missing for years. But something is aboard, and it isn’t friendly. Event Horizon regrettably bombed in theaters, being rushed through post-production to make up for studio Paramount being unable to release Titanic in time. But strong word-of-mouth has made the movie a proper ’90s cult classic.
After “Arnie” Schwarzenegger took care of a Predator in the South American jungles, a new hunter surfaced in the concrete jungles of Los Angeles. Set in the near-future year of 1997, Predator 2 follows a disgruntled cop (Danny Glover) who finds his crime-ridden city at the mercy of a technologically advanced alien Predator – as if a summer heat wave and gang turf wars weren’t already headaches for the LAPD. Critics didn’t take kindly to Predator 2 in 1990, deeming it an unworthy successor to Schwarzenegger’s movie. But this franchise sequel has earned recognition as a cult classic due in large part to Danny Glover’s committed performance and the movie’s impeccably staged action. If it bleeds, you can kill it, but nothing can kill Predator 2.
Philip K. Dick’s 1966 short story comes to life on the screen with the help of Paul Verhoeven’s vision and Arold Schwarzenegger’s muscles. The Terminator star leads Total Recall as a construction worker in the year 2084 who, quite literally, dreams of Mars. Schwarzengger eventually finds out that these enigmatic visions are closer to reality than he knows, and finds himself wanted by a shadowy organization after he’s informed of his true identity as a Martian agent. A box office hit made memorable for its smart storytelling and practical effects, Total Recall proves that Arnie is capable of so much more than just beating up bad guys (although he certainly does it a lot in Total Recall).
While the original comic book it’s adapted from is quite dark and grim, the 1997 smash hit Men in Black sees Will Smith weaponize his sitcom charisma opposite Tommy Lee Jones as his straight man mentor. The result is one of the finest sci-fi movies to let loose at the end of the ’90s. Smith stars as an NYPD officer who is recruited by the “MIB,” a top secret government agency that polices alien activity within Earth’s borders. A lean and mean summer movie from director Barry Sonnenfeld, Men in Black wastes not a second to entertain and thrill in a taut 90-ish minutes.
If you haven’t seen the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, the cinematic finale The End of Evangelion will make as much sense as doing brain surgery on a rocket scientist. (Or, you know, something like that.) But for anyone whohasseen the harrowing beauty of the landmark anime, The End of Evangelion is a must-see, a declaration from creator and director Hideaki Anno to never threaten him again. On paper, The End of Evangelion ostensibly wraps up the show’s plot. This “true ending” was demanded by fans after the final two episodes of the show took a hard left turn into abstraction. Amid Anno’s emotional depression, however, the creator gave fans what they wanted in the form of a monkey’s paw, crafting a finale where everything truly goes to hell. Whether you know Evangelion or not, The End of Evangelion should be recognized as a piece of commercial art that illustrates the antagonism between an artist and their audience.
Paul Verhoeven’s anti-fascist politics underscore Starship Troopers, an action-packed classic made entirely by a filmmaker who despised the source material. (In this case, Robert A. Heinlein’s 1959 book of the same name.) In the 23rd century, humanity is ruled by a single stratocracy where certain rights are only earned through military service. When handsome teenage jock Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) joins the army, mankind is in the midst of war against intelligent bug-like aliens. Brimming with themes like patriotism, xenophobia, and propaganda, which juxtapose Johnny’s coming-of-age love story with fellow pilot Carmen (Denise Richards), Starship Troopers wants you rooting for humanity while making you question who the “bad guys” actually are in the story.
One of the most emotionally moving animated movies ever made, Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant taps into Silver Age science fiction and vintage Superman comics to tell a story about purpose, friendship, and the cost of maintaining peace when people are hungry for war. In The Iron Giant, a young boy named Hogarth (Eli Marienthal) befriends a giant robot (voiced by Vin Diesel) who comes from outer space. While the robot’s true origins are never revealed, it is implied he was made as an instrument of war. But through his friendship with Hogarth, the Giant learns to rebuke his programming and instead strive to become something better. While The Iron Giant bombed in theaters, it found its audience on home video and cable, with 24-hour marathons on Cartoon Network.
The Terminator was a big movie. Terminator 2: Judgment Day is somehow, impossibly, even bigger. In 1991, James Cameron continued the story of his smash hit The Terminator in the epic follow-up Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The fate of mankind hangs in the balance once again when a more advanced Terminator, the T-1000, is dispatched to assassinate 12-year-old John Connor before he grows up into mankind’s leader. Aiding him is a modded T-800 (played again by Arnold Schwarzenegger) who fights to protect John and his mother, Sarah (Linda Hamilton). Few sequels eclipse the original, but Terminator 2 manages to blow away its own predecessor.
All these years later, there is still nothing like it. A sensory onslaught from iconoclast directors the Wachowskis, The Matrix forever raised the bar on the eve of the new millennium by combining Hong Kong-style action with Japanese anime to spawn something totally new. Keanu Reeves leads the movie as ace hacker Neo, who is recruited by the elusive Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) to unplug from a false reality and wake up in therealworld, where humanity is enslaved by intelligent machines. Even in a jam-packed year, with massive hits like The Phantom Menace, The Sixth Sense, and The Mummy, The Matrix roundhouse kicks the competition.
Truly, life finds a way. Jurassic Park, a cultural touchstone released in 1993, is a testament to the combined forces of director Steven Spielberg and sci-fi writer Michael Crichton (with David Koepp). Their collaboration is now immeasurable, just like the eons of years since dinosaurs walked the Earth. Based on Crichton’s 1990 novel, Jurassic Park famously takes place in a cutting-edge island theme park where dinosaurs have been artificially resurrected. A group of visitors must survive when the park is sabotaged and the dinosaurs become free to roam beyond their electric barriers. Jurassic Park wasn’t just one of the biggest movies of the 1990s but one of the biggest movies of all time, ever, and a phenomenon that rekindled our fascination with dinosaurs and previewed the future of visual effects filmmaking for years to come.
Eric Francisco is a freelance entertainment journalist and graduate of Rutgers University. If a movie or TV show has superheroes, spaceships, kung fu, or John Cena, he’s your guy to make sense of it. A former senior writer at Inverse, his byline has also appeared at Vulture, The Daily Beast, Observer, and The Mary Sue. You can find him screaming at Devils hockey games or dodging enemy fire in Call of Duty: Warzone.
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