Sci-fi is easily one of the most creative and innovative genres in film, but with sci-fi epics, everything is taken up to another level. Sci-fi is a broad genre that covers everything from synthetic superheroes, to aliens in distant space, and time travel. The vast expanse of the genre allows for a lot of creativity, but it doesn’t mean that the stories need to be all that complex.
In fact, many sci-fi films are built around one simple concept or idea, and they explore that singular topic in depth. But, when discussing a sci-fi epic, it needs to be more broad, more expansive, and it ultimately needs to build a world. If this requires multiple movies to tell the story, then great, but even a single film can be a sci-fi epic when done right.
10 Cloud Atlas
For example, the first entry on this list, Cloud Atlas, is a single film with vast open-ended stories contained inside. The film certainly isn’t for everyone, but in terms of an anthology-style sci-fi epic that jumps through alternate concepts and ideas to create one extensive narrative thread, Cloud Atlas does it better than most. Of course, this was likely down to the incredible talent involved both on screen and behind the camera.
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Interestingly, the film was a joint collaboration between the Wachowski sisters, the duo that brought The Matrix into the world, David Mitchell, and Tom Tykwer. Their creativity and ambitious exploration of various concepts meant the film constantly kept the audience engaged, and the film was able to explore deeper concepts throughout. Over the nearly three-hour runtime, the film sees one man transform through a kind of modern A Christmas Carol-style fairytale as his soul moves between the past, present and future.
9 Blade Runner
While Blade Runner has since been adapted into a larger franchise with multiple films and TV shows expanding on the world of Rick Deckard, the first film established a world all on its own. From the spectacular towering buildings, to the exploration of life on the streets, the movie delivers a clear insight to the spectrum of lives in its world. In addition, the film does an incredible job introducing elements that happen across planets, while maintaining a story on Earth alone.
This expansive story creates a rich viewing experience that drops the audience into the middle of an entire world that can easily be imagined stretching beyond the borders of the screen. And by way of upping the sci-fi elements, the entire story revolves around hyperrealistic androids that have advanced to such a level that they are nearly indistinguishable from humans. This masterpiece by Ridley Scott continues to set the bar high for anyone attempting to tell an epic sci-fi story.
8 Planet Of The Apes
However, even earlier than Blade Runner, the 1968 movie, Planet of the Apes was able to present a world that bore some striking similarities to our own, while simultaneously having one significant difference: the dominant species are sentient apes. The film is not as polished as later sci-fi movies, but the practical effects and the clever storytelling more than make up for it. And in one sub-2-hour movie, an entire civilization is unveiled.
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This film was creative enough and intriguing enough, that it led to numerous sequels, both shortly after its release, and with contemporary reboots that have brought the franchise back into vogue. But the interesting aspects of the film come from the exploration of the relationship between a more primitive form of man, and the advanced apes who rule the world. The films are nothing short of epic, and continue to paint a vivid picture of an alternate reality.
7 The Terminator
Speaking of alternate realities, the Terminator franchise, first brought into existence by the incredible James Cameron, did wonders both for sci-fi as a genre in terms of what was capable, and storytelling in sci-fi movies as the films crafted a dystopian future, from the safety of the contemporary era. The T-800 robot, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, creates a link between these two periods of time, and makes the story feel so much larger than what is shown on screen. As they recount the horrors of the future, and why they must complete their mission, it’s clear that a great deal of consideration and thought went into crafting this story.
The films only continued to grow in terms of their epic content as the franchise grew, with new robots, new settings, and new missions. However, throughout all the early entries, the urgency and intensity of the mission to save the future was felt. Cameron did a spectacular job crafting a narrative that would be able to grow beyond him, and it likely influenced his own later works as well.
6 2001: A Space Odyssey
When exploring the most epic sci-fi stories of all time, it would be impossible to create a list without referencing the masterpiece by Stanley Kubrick, which is 2001: A Space Odyssey. Decades before computers were an everyday device, and in an era when the concept of Artificial Intelligence was a distant and foolish dream, Kubrick looked directly into the future and depicted the most terrifying elements of AI. The movie is stunning, creative, and brilliant, but it also boasts a scale that is difficult to obtain in a single film.
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Over the course of the movie, the story can feel claustrophobic, as the pilots of Spacecraft Discovery One are trapped with the HAL 9000. However, as the story develops, and the film dives deeper into psychological elements that go beyond the confines of the story, it quickly becomes so much grander. It’s a movie that demands introspection, due to the expansiveness of its own story, and as a result, it continues to define sci-fi epics.
5 Everything Everywhere All At Once
One of the most recent entries which is worthy of a title as a sci-fi epic is the incredible Everything Everywhere All At Once. With impressive precision and conciseness, the Daniels, who wrote and directed the film, are able to create an expansive sci-fi tale that spans the multiverse. The film is not only incredibly ambitious in terms of story, as hinted at by the title, but the visuals throughout and the choreography when it comes to action scenes are outstanding.
As a middle-aged Chinese woman becomes swept up in an adventure to save all reality, the film delivers compelling action, heart-thumping thrills, and intrigue that elevates it beyond a typical story. The film also spans several genres, but with the nature of time and space travel through dimensions, it certainly fits the bracket of sci-fi epic, and stands out as one of the greatest modern classics to date.
4 Avatar
Returning to James Cameron, as his career continued to see the incredible filmmaker climb to new heights and dominate the box office with some of the only titles that can even compete with the megalithic MCU, his Avatar franchise has become one of the most successful franchises of all time. Unlike The Terminator franchise, Avatar sees humans travel beyond Earth to far-flung planets in order to mine precious resources. However, there are two camps in terms of how people believe these materials should be excavated.
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The more militaristic, corporate side of the operation believes the direct approach to be best as it barrels on and mines for what it needs, regardless of other consequences. While scientists believe it’s vital to communicate with the locals and earn their trust in order to share resources and not upset the balance of nature. These films explore the heights of human hope and the depths of despair as humans war with one another, and the alien Na’vi offer humanity a lesson in community and respecting their planet.
3 The Matrix
While Cameron’s career has continued to develop and led to even more spectacular works of science fiction, the Wachowski’s struck gold early in their careers. The Matrix is arguably one of the greatest sci-fi franchises of all time. Not only does it depict an in-depth dystopian society, but it also reveals a method of keeping the humans passive in an aptly named Matrix which keeps their minds active and engaged. The movie has had such an influence on the cultural zeitgeist, that it led to the introduction of numerous words which are now commonplace.
The film explores two forms of reality, one experienced inside of one’s own mind, but influenced and programmed by machines, and the dark and dreary reality of what the world has become in the real physical space. This layered reality, and the exploration of individuals on both sides of this led to an incredible and intricate story that the Wachowski’s may struggle to ever outshine, but the films remain some of the best sci-fi epics of all time.
2 Dune
Dune is perhaps the most easy film to define as a sci-fi epic on this list, due to the films being adapted from the epic sci-fi novels from Frank Herbert. Not only do the films explore a vast alien world, but they dig deep into the culture of its local inhabitants, their customs and traditions, and the politics that dominate the galaxy as noble houses bicker and allocate dominion of the galaxy on a whim. Everything about these stories is epic.
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And Denis Villeueve has been doing a spectacular job of delivering a series of films that feels huge in scale, both in terms of the story, the wider world and galaxy, and the future of the franchise. Dune has a significant library of source material to draw from to expand the story, but Villenueve has done an incredible job in conveying that expansiveness and depth to the films. And every detail within the films feels important, as the scenes, characters, and dialogue are all used in an incredibly effective manner.
1 Star Wars
Topping off the list, however, has to be the original space opera, Star Wars. When the first film, originally just called Star Wars, was released in 1977, these movies created a sense of scale and vastness that was nearly impossible to capture. Thanks to innovations and clever camera tricks from George Lucas and company, the films created a vast tapestry of stories, with governments, factions, religions, and criminals that spanned lightyears of a galaxy as they hop from planet to planet in pursuit of resolution.
The original trilogy focused on the story of Luke Skywalker, and it did an incredible job introducing the Jedi, as he was pitted against his arch nemesis, and a leader of the Empire. However, as a true space opera, the movies take Luke on a rollercoaster, as he meets new friends, and uncovers the truth about his father. The movies are epic in every capacity, and while the latest entries in the ever-growing franchise have failed to resonate in the same way, the sci-fi epic sensationalism of the franchise as a whole remains just as significant as when the original films first came out.