Bigger
ships, bigger explosions, bigger sets. While no single science fiction
film broke through the mass consciousness this decade as did 2001
in the '60s or Star Wars in the '70s, SF movies dominated the '90s
as perhaps never before. Bigger didn't always mean better, but the decade
still gave the genre its share of classics.
| |
Top-Grossing SF Films of the Decade:
The Phantom Menace - $429M
Independence Day - $306M
Men in Black - $250M
Terminator 2 - $204M
Armageddon - $201M
Apollo 13 - $172M
The Matrix - $171M
Star Wars (Special Edition) - $138M |
The decade started off strong.
In 1990, Paul Verhoeven's adaptation of the Philip K. Dick story "We Can
Remember It For You Wholesale" hit screens with a bang, delivering top-notch
fun, elegant metaphysics and a wildly inventive thrill ride. Of course,
we remember the film under its less unwieldy title, Total Recall.
With Arnold Schwarzenegger
in top form, Total Recall took us to Mars and back (or did it?),
and offered up an inventive idea of ancient alien life and a bleak future
on another planet -- and it had campy fun the whole time. Definitely one
of the decade's highlights.
Hot on the heels of Total
Recall came the definitive breakthrough in '90s science fiction, Terminator
2: Judgement Day (1991). Featuring amazing computer graphics,
piquant commentary on family and responsibility and a new cyborg made of
liquid metal, the film allowed Ahh-nold to follow up Total Recall's
one-two SF punch with a modern classic. T2 had it all: great effects,
great sets and cool new ideas to chew on.
Everything solid melts into
CGI
The age of mass production
And then came the flood of
imitations and uninspired sequels. The dull Alien3 (1992), which
had as much to do with science fiction as Friday the 13th. Bland
bang-em-up blockbusters like Demolition Man (1993) and Judge
Dredd (1995). Cyberpunk disappointments like Lawnmover Man (1992)
and Johnny Mnemonic (1995).
A slight reprieve came in
1994 with the engaging Stargate, which featured an inventive alien/Egyptian
tie-in (predating the similar plotline that would later appear on The
X-Files) -- not to mention James Spader's funky hairdo. Still, overall,
the concept of "bigger" took precedence. Plot, character and inventive
science just didn't get much play for the decade's middle years.
Of course, there were exceptions,
sleeper films where the resilience of the SF genre conventions could display
itself.
One such film was the visionary
Dark
City (1997). A unique vision of a dark world where people are
controlled by dream masters who have enslaved them in a fake reality (Matrix
anyone?) Dark City reveled in a stylish SF noir style not seen since
Blade
Runner. While the film marked one of the decade's highlights, it was
overlooked by both critics and audiences at the time of its release.
Also enjoyable was The
Arrival (1996). Despite the presence of Charlie Sheen, the film wrung
a fair share of thrills out of a very basic premise -- a quiet invasion
by aliens out to terraform the Earth.
Verhoeven struck again with
Troopers
Big budgets, big bangs
Starship Troopers
(1997) was a hysterical B-movie that featured great effects and an absurdly
cartoon plot about interstellar war that seemed misunderstood by those
who didn't seem to get the film's campy humor.
The rest of us got a fun
ride that put a nice subversive anti-fascist spin on space-opera stereotypes.
This time, the human race were the aggressors in the battle for the stars,
but those looking for an innocent throwback to the world of pulp comics
and cartoon heroes failed to get the joke. Plans for sequels were scrapped.
On the blockbuster side,
Independence
Day (1996) proved that big-budget SF popcorn movies could still entertain
a mass crossover audience, encouraging record crowds to pack into movie
theaters to cheer the destruction of major cities and the death of millions.
Some wildly inventive set design and hammy ensemble acting not only helped
cover up the obvious plot holes (good thing those alien computers were
Mac compatible) but ensured that ID4 delivered a fun high-tech thrill
ride.
The first event movie to
break records since 1989's Batman, ID4 meant we'd be seeing
a lot more SF, and that most of it wouldn't be very good. Follow-up effects-driven
ID4
clones included the pointless and gruesome Alien: Resurrection
(1997),
the dull Armageddon (1998) and the unwatchable Lost In Space
(1998). All three forgot the basic tenet of good science fiction - good
science.
Putting a brave and human
face on space
Where's the science?
In fact, hard science saw
little light in '90s film, with only Robert Zemeckis' Contact (1997)
offering an intellectual perspective on a potential first contact with
alien life. Jodie Foster turned in an excellent performance as a scientist
obsessed with the stars, expressing all the joy and wonderment that all
science fiction fans feel when gazing at the night sky.
Contact offered a
tantalizing glimpse at what really may lie on the edges of our galaxy.
The late Carl Sagan would have been proud.
Special mention also goes
to Apollo 13 (1995), which wasn't technically a fictional story
but still gave everyone a jolt of the sheer joy and excitement that the
space program can offer. On the flip side, Barry Levinson's Sphere
(1998) was less successful, as would be any film with Sharon Stone playing
a scientific expert.
Prequel as sequel: Taking
the circular route
Points of light
As the decade saw the emergence
of the independent film scene as a viable force, science fiction -- often
thought of as a stronghold of the big-budget major studios -- certainly
found itself included. Pi: Faith In Chaos, a story of how the cosmic
order of numbers and patterns take on personal significance in the life
of one scientist, won a directing award at the 1998 Sundance film festival,
and was a big hit in limited release.
The 1990s closed with The
Matrix, the first big-studio effort from Sundance darlings Andy and
Larry Wachowski. Perhaps the only cyberpunk film to date to actually deliver
the goods, The Matrix offered a creative, intense exploration of
a virtual world that looks set to spawn its own line of sequels.
The other big SF movie to
close out the decade was Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. While the
film was a visual treat, it explicitly set out to lower its target audience
from kids aged 12-14 -- the "golden age of science fiction" -- to kids
aged 6-9. Hampered not only by this but by the absence of any truly heroic
characters, the story never achieved the magic of the first trilogy.
And Jar Jar may have become
the least-liked alien since the guys with the big foreheads in This
Island Earth. One popular debate this year centered around which animated
character was more lifelike, Jar Jar Binks in Phantom Menace or
Keanu Reeves in The Matrix.
What will the new century
bring? Certainly more of the big-budget event movies that offer deep space,
gross aliens, large spaceships and big explosions in seemingly interchangeable
profusion.
But hopefully it will also
bring us a glimmer of the wonder and imagination that the best of the genre
has offered us over the years -- a chance to dream about what our future
lives might end up being like, long after the year 2001 is ancient history.
Unless of course the monoliths
arrive first....
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