The sci-fi genre has always dared to ask big questions, as in movies like Blade Runner, and sometimes the answers to those questions become clearer and more profound on a second viewing. With some movies, the premise and themes hit the viewer immediately, while others take time to surface. Some projects leave questions deliberately unanswered, leaving the audience to puzzle out the meaning afterward. That intentional ambiguity is part of what makes repeated viewings so satisfying. While sci-fi films generally take place in alien settings in the distant future, the stories are strikingly human. By exploring the unknown and extraterrestrial, the characters can often learn something about themselves and humanity in general.
The thrill of the unknown is an exciting theme that drives the plot of much of the sci-fi genre. By challenging the audience’s understanding of reality, filmmakers can experiment with complex narratives that force the viewer to become an active participant in how it all unfolds. A great sci-fi film is a film that makes the audience think. Each rewatch can feel like a new adventure, because there’s always something that was missed or wasn’t fully appreciated the first time around. But there are some sci-fi masterpieces that hit harder on subsequent viewings and might change the way they are perceived.
Arrival is Part Sci-Fi Mystery and Part Tragedy
Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 sci-fi film Arrival stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner as they attempt to learn how to communicate with an extraterrestrial species that has recently landed on Earth. Adams’ character, Louise Banks, is a linguist who gradually begins to understand the aliens’ complex language. Throughout the process, Banks has flashbacks that are eventually revealed to be premonitions. The language of the aliens has been hardwired into her brain, and she perceives time in non-linear increments. This is a major twist in the film’s narrative. Behind the scenes, the team developed the alien language so that it had no parallels with any recognizable human language.
Arrival hits harder on a second viewing, after the audience is aware of Louise’s ability to see the future. It transforms the story from a mystery into a tragic character study. The perceived memories of her daughter are actually a case of the future seeping into the present. By the end of the first watch, the story reshapes itself. Upon a second viewing, the twist is clear, and the viewer can experience the story through fresh eyes. Everything that was thought to be initially clear turns out not to be the case, which is why Arrival rewards the audience for their repeated viewings and becomes a sci-fi masterpiece for the century.
Stanley Kubrick’s Sci-Fi Masterpiece is the Gift That Keeps on Giving
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most celebrated sci-fi films of all time, even by iconic directors like Martin Scorsese, and for good reason. HAL 9000, the eerily calm AI that slowly descends into homicidal behavior, is especially terrifying in retrospect, considering the AI world of today. The calm, robotic voice was also famously the inspiration for Anthony Hopkins’ cadence as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. Director Stanley Kubrick and famed science fiction author Arthur C. Clark were meticulous with their depictions of space and time travel, giving the film an eerily grounded and realistic feel. Kubrick wanted to avoid sci-fi tropes of aliens and chose instead to represent higher intelligence with the depiction of the black monoliths.
The initial viewing of 2001: A Space Odyssey can be a bit confusing due to its minimal dialogue and ambiguous story structure. Subsequent viewings truly unlock the genius behind Kubrick’s approach. HAL’s rebellion becomes clearer and doesn’t come off as an evil computer trope. The philosophical questions that 2001: A Space Odyssey raises don’t have easy answers, which is exactly the point of the film. Without the first-time burden of trying to unpack the story, the viewer can immerse themselves in the more visual style of storytelling and the deeper themes being explored. The special effects in the movie alone are worth a rewatch and were revolutionary for the time.
Annihilation is a Psychedelic Sci-fi Experience
Natalie Portman delivers an amazing performance in 2018’s Annihilation. The film introduces viewers to “The Shimmer,” a quarantined zone where reality itself seems to mutate. Portman’s character, Lena Jones, is a biologist who leads a secret expedition into “The Shimmer.” The effect was caused by the appearance of an extraterritorial figure that appeared after a meteor impact. Other expeditions into the zone have resulted in the parties not returning or coming back under psychological torment. Director Alex Garland blends science fiction with horror in a way that makes the movie feel unpredictable at times. Garland displays confidence in the audience to follow along without over-explaining each minor detail.
Annihilation was subject to a lot of behind-the-scenes conflict between director Alex Garland and producer Scott Rudin. The two had creative differences about certain aspects of the film, with Rudin wanting to take a more commercial approach, but Garland refused the changes. A second viewing allows viewers to catch the subtle hints that foreshadow Lena’s fate. The ending of Annihilation is both haunting and ambiguous, bringing together the horror and sci-fi elements of the film beautifully.
Predestination is a Puzzle Best Solved Through a Second Viewing
Starring actor Ethan Hawke, 2014’s sci-fi action film Predestination is a time-traveling puzzle that messes with the viewer’s perception in all the right ways, and unfortunately, few have seen this outstanding film. Predestination is based on the short story All You Zombies by Robert A. Heinlein and starts following a temporal agent chasing a mysterious criminal across decades. The plot evolves into a single-character time loop that is nearly impossible to describe without spoiling the film. Hawke’s character is pursuing a villain known as The Fizzle Bomber, which leads him to a bar where the story begins to take a dramatic twist.
Subsequent viewings are nearly necessary to understand the genius of the time loop pulled off by the Spierig Brothers. Every scene foreshadows the true nature of the characters. Actress Sarah Snook delivers a memorable performance as she plays multiple variations of the same character. Predestination is the kind of movie you watch with others and talk about for hours after it ends.
Christopher Nolan’s Sci-Fi Masterpiece Rewards Those Who Rewatch It
Christopher Nolan went through painstaking efforts to ensure his 2014 masterpiece Interstellar was as scientifically accurate as possible. Nolan famously consulted theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, who co-wrote a book about the science behind the movie. ActorMatthew McConaughey stars as Cooper, a former pilot turned reluctant hero, leaving his family behind to search for a new home for humanity as Earth faces environmental collapse. Cooper’s mission is plagued by issues, but he eventually enters a black hole, where he recounts the information he finds back to his daughter in order to save humanity.
Upon the first watch, viewers are dragged into a deeply emotional story of survival and the love between Cooper and his daughter. Subsequent viewings allow the audience to recover from the emotional gut punch and further appreciate the cinematography, scientific concepts and the sheer amount of foreshadowing throughout the film. Nolan takes a story about something as grand in scale as space and time travel and does a masterful job at rooting it in humanity.
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner Set the Tone for a Generation of Sci-Fi Films
Released in 1982, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is a timeless film where classic noir meets sci-fi dystopia. Harrison Ford stars as Officer Rick Deckard, a Blade Runner, who specializes in hunting down synthetic humans called replicants. An advanced group of these humans is led by Roy Batty, portrayed by the late Rutger Hauer. Hauer delivers one of the most impactful and memorable performances of his career and is often pointed to as the shining star of the film.
There are a lot of deeper themes about humanity and what it truly means to be human beneath the visual spectacle that is Blade Runner, and they become more apparent on subsequent viewings. In addition, there are multiple cuts of the film. Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner: Final Cut was released in 2007, which fixes a major mistake and is a much darker experience. The cut even implies that Deckard himself is also a replicant and adds to the already epic story.
Christopher Nolan’s Inception Requires Multiple Viewings to Understand the Scope of the Plot
Christopher Nolan’s 2010 film Inception is a near psychedelic journey through the subconscious. The project was years in the making, with Nolan spending a decade or more meticulously tying together the various plot points and story beats. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Cobb, leads a team that enters people’s dreams to steal or implant ideas, but the emotional core keeps the stakes personal and relatable. Nolan has stated that the final piece to the puzzle of Inception was figuring out how to make the audience emotionally connect with Cobb, something he pulls off brilliantly.
The first viewing of Nolan’s Inception can cause whiplash for someone trying to keep up with all the various dream world rules. It can most certainly be a bit confusing to grasp initially. After the first watch is out of the way, fans can dive deeper into the layers of the storytelling and appreciate what is happening on the screen. The ending is intentionally left a mystery by Nolan, but that is also foreshadowed throughout the film.