Before anyone wonders why Star Wars, which had one of the most iconic openings of all time, isn’t on this list, it’s more or less because Star Wars is science fantasy as well as fiction, while a lot of the picks on this list are a little easier to claim as science fiction given their content and the overall commentary that can be derived from the stories they tell. Science fiction has become something of a relative term in Hollywood since a lot of people would use to describe a number of movie that cross over into other genres since it’s a very versatile concept that does lend itself out to other uses that make it stand out in a big way. But science fiction is at times best represented when there’s some basis for reality to act as a foundation to the story, whereas fantasy tales tend to go off on their own tangents and don’t often come back to a reasonable grounding point all that often. It’s true, some of the most impressive movies in the science fiction genre have gone far wide of the reality mark and still done just fine in their storytelling, but there are those that manage to tell the story and ground the facts in a way that make it a little more believable and not so out of control.
Here are the opening scenes to a few very noted science fiction movies.
5. Wall-E
Remember what I said about commentary? Well this is perhaps one of the most saddening examples of that since in the future all but the most resilient of life is absent when it comes to earth, and humanity only exists in a massive spaceship as useless blobs of flesh that can’t even move on their own. Wall-E is a miniature trash compactor that’s somehow gained a bit of sentience, as well as a conscience, and when he finds a green plant growing amidst the waste he does his ample best to protect it, going on an adventure that promises to be an eye-opener to many individuals as to the state of humanity and the world we call home.
4. The World’s End
It takes a while to really get into the science fiction aspect of this movie, but the opening is still a lot of fun since it shows a group of friends making their way out on the town in an attempt to cover the Golden Mile, a trip along a dozen different pubs that terminates at The World’s End. When Gary King, a strung-out alcoholic and all-around loser, tricks his old friends into reliving their younger days however things go awry when it’s discovered that their former home has been taken over by the Network, an alien force that replaces human beings with sentient robots that are made to look just like the residents of the town.
3. Children of Men
Just imagine if humanity could no longer reproduce. The world would appear to age far too quickly in the minds of many people, and the last youngster would be a true prize and possibly a superstar. But what would cause such a thing? And what kind of measures would people go to in order to keep youngsters safe? When one man is tasked with protecting a young woman that has somehow become pregnant the story becomes more inherently dangerous as extremists and the government clash in an effort to obtain the woman and her baby, as she might be the key to unlocking the problem of how to keep the human race going.
2. Snowpiercer
There’s really nothing uplifting about this story as it’s depressing all the way through. The last of humanity is loaded onto a train that continues along its track somehow with nary a bump or a slip unless there happens to be something in the way. The worst part is that the train is divided by class, with the tail passengers being the poor and wretched refuse that are basically fed crap and forced to give up their children every so often in order to power the train, as the protagonists, those that are left, find out later on. As a movie it’s just a saddening state of affairs that the world has come this, but visually it is rather striking, as well as disturbing.
1. Moon
Imagine being stuck on the moon as a one-man crew and being isolated from anyone and everyone you care about. Now imagine that you believe you have only a short time until you get to go home, and then finding someone that looks just like you while checking out an accident that’s happened on the moon’s surface. The fact that neither clone is all that disturbed at the revelation that they’re being used to further the company’s ends is pretty disturbing in itself, but thinking that the original is still alive and has no idea what’s going on until later is even worse.
Even science fiction can be a little depressing now and again.
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