Film fans would undoubtedly look at science fiction whenever they hanker for films that range from the awesome to the bizarre, as this is precisely the genre that deals with all things crazy for science. Be it an adventure in far-off planets, exploring how people thrive in a dystopia, or solving mysteries that peer from the curtains of everyday life, it’s sci-fi that represents these stories best.
However, while films such as Back To The Future, the many Star Wars, and the multiple Star Trek movies remain hallmarks of the genre, some films still retain the recognition of being great sci-fi movies while still remaining mysteries of their own. In fact, there still exist great sci-fi movies that don’t make much sense - and for fans, this is still OK! Just what are films that are great for sci-fi fans but are still hard to understand today?
10 Inception (2010)
Perhaps the reason why the term “mind blown” has seen a surge in the 2010s, Christopher Nolan’s Inception remains one of those films that people just had to rewatch to make sense of what is truly going on. And even then, its most pivotal moment - its ending - is never entirely explained. At its core, it tells the story of Dom Cobb and Arthur, who are “extractors” or thieves that perform heists via manipulating the subconscious of their targets through dream-sharing technology.
In the story, Cobb is hired to perform “inception” in a young business heir to plant an idea, and succeeding in said mission will clear Cobb of his criminal past. Cobb agrees, as doing so may allow him to be reunited with his children. After trials and tribulations, Cobb and his team succeed, and Cobb is finally reunited with his children. However, as the film’s events depicted, there’s a chance Cobb might be trapped in limbo, a realm of infinite subconsciousness. This is where the infamous top comes in, which usually acts as a “totem” that reveals if Cobb is in the real world or not. However, in the ending, Cobb disregards the totem entirely - leaving fans wondering whether Cobb is in the real world or chose a reality of his mind’s design.
9 The Endless (2017)
It’s not often for a sci-fi film to fall under the genres of horror and drama as well, but this is exactly what The Endless does. The film chronicles the journey of brothers Justin and Aaron Smith as they discover a video cassette that urges them to return to Camp Arcadia, a UFO group they belonged to as children. As soon as they return, however, things start to get weird on the get-go. Aside from former members not having aged a bit, constant talks to “ascension” begin to worry Justin, while Aaron is becoming fond of his former home.
Soon, the brothers discover that their former members are stuck in time loops, alongside other people in the vicinity. At the end of each “loop,” people who die by themselves or at the hands of an enigmatic entity are returned to start it again, never finding an escape. Viewers who watched The Resolution, a 2012 film from The Endless directors, will realize the two films occur in the same universe. And just like in the first film, The Endless doesn’t really bring viewers to a conclusion, nor does it explain the full nature of its premise.
8 Predestination (2014)
Time travel is always a messy subject for time travel, and Predestination tries to take the concept to its limits. Based on the " '—All You Zombies—' " 1959 short story by Robert A. Heinlein, Predestination talks of the adventures of a time-traveling agent who is desperately trying to stop the Fizzle Bomber, and a person the agent encounters in a bar who resorts to writing after losing their child.
In an odd adventure, the time-travel agent and this person end up meeting various mysterious figures during their time-traveling journey together. Soon, the agent realizes the Fizzle Bomber has hints of being a time-traveler themselves, and the film unravels into a plot that involves self-generated loops, paradoxes, and the reality that time travel is just as messy as people think it could get.
7 Coherence (2013)
While time travel films often dwell on the realm of magnificence, some time travel films can be just as complex even if it occurs in a single place, which is what Coherence does. Set in a dinner party gathering of friends, sightings of a comet in the sky cause power outages in the area. When they explore the only other house on the other block that has power, they leave a note… that they see in their own house.
Things get haywire as the group soon discovers that the other house contains alternate “versions” of themselves, with the comet opening some sort of portal between dimensions. And with “alternate versions” implying there may be more than one, the idea of multiple dimensions soon reveals not just messy realities but secrets between friends that threaten to break them apart.
6 Primer (2004)
It’s when time travel is explored by an experimental film that things can really get wild, and Primer proves a limited budget could still create a compelling film. Primer tells the story of engineers Aaron and Abe conducting side projects in the hopes of creating a tech wonder. One such wonder, however, was the electromagnetic reduction of an object’s weight causing temporal anomalies. Soon, they create a version of their machine capable of transporting someone into the past.
However, the personalities of both Aaron and Abe begin to clash, with Aaron being the more impulsive while Abe being the more controlling. As such, while Aaron tries to profit from this discovery out of personal gain, Abe is stuck trying to prevent the box from ever being created in the first place. Thing is, it doesn’t seem like the film will be providing a resolution any time soon.
5 Ex Machina (2014)
While a lot of sci-fi films that “don’t make sense” often stem from a confusing ending, Ex Machina is as straightforward as it gets but with an ending that is equally baffling. The film tells the tale of Caleb Smith, a programmer who gets invited to the home of CEO Nathan Bateman, who wanted him to partake in a live Turing Test. Bateman wanted to see if Smith could judge Ava, a female robot, as human or not.
Throughout their series of interactions, Smith not only seems to fall for Ava, but Ava seems to reciprocate those feelings. And when Smith discovers Bateman’s more sinister intentions towards his robots, Smith helps Ava break free, so they could be together. This is where things get confusing, as while Ava kills Nathan, she locks Caleb and ignores him as well. Fans wonder - why even kill the person who helped her escape? Is it because, like Nathan, Caleb treats Ava as an object of desire but in a different way?
4 A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Viewers often praise A.I. Artificial Intelligence as a sci-fi drama, especially when it tells the story of David, a prototype mecha capable of feeling love in a post-climate-change society that has become dependent on complex human-like robots. Unfortunately, poor David experiences bullying and sees fellow robots being dismantled, with a tragic tale having him end up almost dying while wishing he were a real boy.
Then comes its ending sequence, where advanced mecha two thousand years later resurrect David and his adoptive mother for one last day together. In the end, as his mother slept, it’s said that David can finally go to “where dreams are made.” Critics often fire at the film’s ending, which they said was too “soft” for producer Stanley Kubrick, and may have been the doing of director Steven Spielberg. Thing is, Spielberg affirmed in interviews that the ending was Kubrick’s idea after all. While the ending is left unexplained, David finally going to “where dreams are made” may have been an allusion to David being shut down after this final day together.
3 Donnie Darko (2001)
It’s one thing for a film to have a confusing ending, but another to have a confusing ride altogether, and this is what Donnie Darko does. At its core lies Donnie Darko, a smart but troubled teenager plagued by sleepwalking episodes and visions of a figure in a rabbit costume that insists on being called Frank. It says the world will end in around 28 days, and somehow the next day a jet engine crashes into Donnie’s room.
The next several days become one confusing mess after the other, with Donnie’s psychiatrist Dr. Thurman believing Donnie may be detached from reality. Frank starts to influence Donnie into committing crimes around town, while things such as space-time vortexes and wormholes become involved in the last few minutes. And as the film ends, no one can really make sense of what really goes on - and even the characters seem just as confused as the viewers.
2 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
If there’s any film any sci-fi film would say can become one of the best movies in the genre, it was definitely 2001: A Space Odyssey. Based on “The Sentinel” by Arthur C. Clarke, the Discovery One crew of Dr. David Bowman and the ship’s advanced computer HAL 9000 become embroiled in a clash between man and machine just outside Jupiter, all the while an alien monolith is key to the film’s message about extraterrestrial-directed evolution.
However, what’s truly bizarre is the film’s rather obscure ending. When Dr. Bowman escapes HAL 9000, he is sucked into a spacetime tunnel outside Jupiter before getting into a room. He ages rapidly in this sequence until a monolith once again appears before him. However, when he touches the monolith, he is transformed into a giant floating fetus that soon looms over Earth. What this means and what this implies for the film is still unknown.
1 Beyond The Black Rainbow (2010)
While not as big a budget as other films, Beyond The Black Rainbow is a science fiction horror film worthy of praise, both in execution and its sheer approach. With a screenplay said to be only 11 pages long, this 110-minute film takes time to build its pacing. Set in the 1960s, Mercurio Arboria created the Arboria Institute in an effort to bridge science and spirituality to create happiness. It mainly tells the story of Dr. Barry Nayle, Arboria’s protege with a sinister personality, and the psychic girl Elena who is held captive for mysterious reasons.
While the film simply chronicles Nyle’s descent to madness and Elena’s escape from the institute, the film put a lot of work in its imagery and soundtrack, with its overall presentation having received poor ratings at first but picked up steam with a cult following. However, despite the film’s straightforward premise, a lot of things remain unclear in its setup - just what is “transcendence” in the Arboria Institute, what is the glowing crystal, and what exactly are the men in red?