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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sci-fi genre holds dark humor, lesser-known work

When it comes to finding science fiction films on Netflix’s instant streaming services, your choices are mostly limited to the classics (“Metropolis,” “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”) and a whole lot of direct-to-DVD garbage (would you rather sit through “Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark” or “Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation”?). Inspired by the release of the Tom Cruise vehicle “Edge of Tomorrow,” which opens today, I decided to compile a handful of overlooked films that belong to a genre which is so frequently mishandled and disrespected. Here are five, in alphabetical order:

• “eXistenZ” (1999) Canadian auteur David Cronenberg (“Videodrome,” “Naked Lunch”) has always used hallucinogenic imagery, flagrant sexuality and gooey special effects in his work, and “eXistenZ” plays out like a winking compendium of all his pet themes. Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as a video game designer whose creations involve deeply immersive virtual reality – umbilical-like cords are plugged directly into players’ spines – and she’s on the run from a crazed fan who wants her dead. With her impromptu bodyguard (Jude Law), she must retreat into the realms of her own game before she and it are destroyed. The film was unfairly compared to “The Matrix,” which had taken over theaters a month earlier, and was effectively buried, but it’s a crafty, twisty, darkly funny head-trip.

• “Gattaca” (1997) Andrew Niccol’s directorial debut is a striking look at the complex relationship between identity and technology, and although it’s developed a cult following since its release, it still deserves more attention than it gets. Set in a vivid universe in which genetically engineered citizens occupy higher social standings than regular people, a normal guy played by Ethan Hawke assumes the role of a wheelchair-bound man with superior DNA (Jude Law again) in order to travel to Saturn. The film is patient, thoughtful and analytical, which essentially cemented its failure in a sci-fi marketplace that favored the spectacle of “Independence Day” and “Men in Black,” and Niccol (“S1m0ne,” “In Time”) has yet to top it.

• “Silent Running” (1972) This unassuming but charmingly retro parable-meets-PSA has all the conviction of an early ’70s eco-warrior, complete with an underlined environmental message and preachy Joan Baez songs on the soundtrack. Bruce Dern stars as the most docile member of a scientific team tasked with preserving the last of a now-barren Earth’s remaining vegetation and wildlife in an orbiting space station. When the government gives orders to destroy the greenhouses, he’s the only one left willing to defend them. “Silent Running” was directed by Douglas Trumbull, who designed some of the visual effects for “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and although it never approaches the transcendence of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, it influenced everything from Pixar’s “WALL-E” to the British TV series “Red Dwarf.”

• “Starman” (1984) Of all the films on this short list, John Carpenter’s gentle, funny sci-fi romance is probably the only one that could qualify as a real success: It was a big Christmastime release for Columbia Pictures, star Jeff Bridges’ performance was nominated for an Oscar, and it remains Carpenter’s second-highest-grossing movie behind his horror breakthrough “Halloween.” But its legacy seems to have faded considerably since it came out, even though it holds up as an engaging and offbeat look at an alien acclimating to Earth customs. Bridges is terrific as an extra-terrestrial who crash lands on Earth resembling the dead husband of Karen Allen, who must accompany the alien to a crater where he’s scheduled to hitch a ride back to his home planet. Part road movie, part fish-out-of-water comedy, “Starman” is a sci-fi gem in the mold of old-fashioned Hollywood entertainment.

• “Strange Days” (1995) More than a decade before director Kathryn Bigelow took home an Oscar for “The Hurt Locker,” she directed this sprawling, overreaching sci-fi saga, co-written by her ex-husband James Cameron. Inspired by the Rodney King beatings and the ensuing L.A. riots (and pre-dating the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.), the film imagines a dystopian 1999 in which a former cop (Ralph Fiennes) – who sells black market virtual reality tapes – discovers a possible conspiracy involving an assassinated rapper and the LAPD. A massive box office flop, “Strange Days” may be a violent, overlong mess, but it’s never boring, and its ambition and scope (an opening chase shot entirely from a criminal’s point of view is particularly breathtaking) is unheralded in terms of mainstream science fiction.