Favorite Non-Adaptation/Non-Franchise SFF Movies since 2000
- Thread starter JD
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I like the first half of District 9 but I get annoyed with the 2nd half, when it suddenly drops the documentary conceit that the first half of the film was built around. Cloverfield was able to sustain the found-footage premise for the entire thing, even including flashbacks. Why couldn't they?
Her is, I suspect, one of the more prescient sci-fi films ever to come out. I fully expect this to be a reality within my lifetime.
Lucy is one of the most batshit crazy movies I've ever seen. I especially like the scene where she's in the airplane bathroom and a whole bunch of her cells decide that they're just going to split off and evolve on their own.
I wasn't going to count Pitch Black because I thought it was before the cut-off date but I guess I'm wrong. At any rate, it's a better Aliens rip-off than most of the actual Alien movies.
And while The Chronicles of Riddick is technically a sequel, it's such a jarring departure from Pitch Black that I think it still counts. I didn't really "get" The Chronicles of Riddick when I first saw it. What finally cleared things up for me was when I saw David Lynch's Dune, which really seemed to inform the visuals of the interiors from The Chronicles of Riddick.
I don't think it counts because it's clearly an origin story for Abe Sapien from Hellboy.
Original film, or based on real events starting a few days from now????
I don't really recall it being sci-fi. Maybe sort-of speculative fiction but I don't believe that the technology or anything else was anything beyond what's already possible today.
I can't believe I'm the first one to mention Reign of Fire. Total kickass post-apocalyptic dragon movie. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be a tie between this, Pitch Black, and What We Do in the Shadows.
I'm also tempted to mention Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Yes, technically it's based on the Disneyland ride but none of the main characters from the film were in the original ride and the ride doesn't have an actual story to it. The screenwriters just kinda wrote an original ghost pirate movie, Disney slapped a recognizable name on it, and then the filmmakers added a few easter eggs as homages to the ride.
The funny thing for me, and one reason why I count it, is because I had not seen Pitch Black. I saw the trailer running before Lord of the Rings and I was super excited for it. In my opinion, it is one of the more underrated genre films. But, it definitely is not a for everyone movie with the visuals and directing.
I too saw The Chronicles of Riddick before Pitch Black. They were handing out free tickets at my college to a sneak preview of an upcoming sci-fi movie but they wouldn't tell us what it was. I was hoping for Spider-Man 2 or possibly I Robot. I hadn't even heard of The Chronicles of Riddick (except for maybe 1 brief magazine blurb a couple years earlier). It was very much a test screening as they hadn't even finished all of the effects. The stuff from the final fight between Riddick & the Lord Marshall in particular was very rough.
Did you watch the final cut?
I did see the completed unrated cut of The Chronicles of Riddick on DVD a few years later. I enjoyed it more the 2nd time around, mostly because I had more context by then and had seen Pitch Black and Dune. And even though the first version that I saw of it wasn't entirely finished, it was still very much a complete experience. I just think maybe I wasn't ready for it yet at the time. Judging by the box office, I guess the general public wasn't ready for it either and they probably still aren't. I'm not saying that it was "ahead of its time". It's not even that weird of a movie on paper. But there's something singular about its outlook and it's a shame that we never got a genuine follow up. (Riddick isn't a true follow up. It's just a cynical regurgitation of Pitch Black.)
I wish I could put my finger on what exactly puts The Chronicles of Riddick just barely outside of the mainstream. It's not like Dune, where you can just point to every scene with Baron Harkonen and say, "Yeah, that's way too extreme for most people." Heck, Tim Burton has found mainstream success and he totally wears his weirdness on his sleeve.
I think it's Vin Disel and the character of Riddick. He is not a great viewpoint character, and while I enjoy him as Riddick, he's a bit too murderous to be the audience's buy in for a character for a different universe. Kira would have been better pick but she is not introduced until too late.
So, it's just slightly off putting for the world building and the viewpoint character. I've met plenty of cinemaphiles who just can't get onboard with Chronicles of Riddick-unfortunately.
So, it's just slightly off putting for the world building and the viewpoint character. I've met plenty of cinemaphiles who just can't get onboard with Chronicles of Riddick-unfortunately.
Moon.
"Happy Death Day."
A slasher-movie scenario goes "Groundhog Day" in a surprisingly entertaining horror-comedy. I figure the time-loop makes it SFF.
Apparently we're getting a sequel soon, but the original was not a franchise movie with it debuted last year.
"I Kill Giants" is also interesting, although the fantasy element is somewhat ambiguous. With Zoe Saldana.
A slasher-movie scenario goes "Groundhog Day" in a surprisingly entertaining horror-comedy. I figure the time-loop makes it SFF.
Apparently we're getting a sequel soon, but the original was not a franchise movie with it debuted last year.
"I Kill Giants" is also interesting, although the fantasy element is somewhat ambiguous. With Zoe Saldana.
I Kill Giants is a comic book adaptation.
