Epic space operas, post-apocalyptic hellscapes, and possibly the most underrated Disney movie
of all time — these are the best sci-fi westerns ranked.
But here's the real question: how many have you seen?
Even before Buck Rogers, Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1912 novel A Princess of Mars was the original
sci-fi western adventure.
The first in Burroughs' long-running series of Martian adventures introduced the hero
John Carter, a former Confederate soldier turned outlaw who evades the justice of local
sheriffs in the 1880s.
When Carter is transported to Mars through a mystical portal, however, he ends up the
prisoner of an alien race.
It took a century and years of development hell, but Pixar mainstay Andrew Stanton finally
brought John Carter to the big screen with his 2012 adaptation.
It's an absolute shame that the film's poor box office performance resulted in the cancellation
of a planned trilogy, because John Carter is much better than its reputation suggests.
It's not just the early sequences set within the Arizona Territory that carry a western
influence, either, and the intergalactic adventures of Taylor Kitsch's titular outlaw hero are
as true to the genre as they are thrilling.
Some sci-fi westerns meld the two genres in subtle ways, but subtlety is never going to
be the name of the game in a film titled Cowboys & Aliens.
Based on the beloved graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Jon Favreau's 2011 adaptation
is, remarkably enough, not a spoof of either genre.
Sullen, amnesiac outlaw Jake Lonergan wakes up in the southern town of Absolution with
no memory of his past and a mysterious intergalactic band attached to his arm.
Lonergan is brought to the mercy of the powerful local figure Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde, who
thinks there could be a connection between the outlaw and the disappearance of his son;
together, they set out to infiltrate a nest of aliens that threaten the town and everybody
in it.
Among other things, Cowboys & Aliens offers a stark reminder of how helpless humanity
might be to an advanced technological invader, and the limited technology of the Old West
makes the characters' plight all the more challenging.
The movie also subverts traditional western themes with a more sensitive depiction of
the relationship between settlers and native indigenous people — which is never a bad
thing.
The success of the original Mad Max launched a unique subgenre of dystopian Australian
sci-fi westerns, although few imitators of George Miller's style have been able to live
up to his groundbreaking original trilogy.
However, David Michod's 2014 thriller The Rover is a rare exception.
The film perfectly combines the hopeless disparity of gritty westerns with a world that's just
10 years removed from a devastating economic collapse.
The Rover follows former soldier Eric, who lives in isolation on a secluded homestead.
Eric's daily life is disrupted when a gang led by the thug Henry steals his car after
a robbery gone wrong.
Eric is unable to stop them, but he does manage to capture Henry's disabled brother Reynolds.
Eric and Reynolds form an uneasy alliance in order to track down the other criminals,
each attempting to influence each other's actions along the way.
"The only thing that means anything right now is that I'm here… and he's not."
Guy Pearce has rarely given a more devastating performance than this, and — as a bonus
— The Rover also happens to be one of Robert Pattinson's best post-Twilight roles.
Gareth Edwards' 2010 sci-fi movie Monsters follows Andrew Kaulder, a cynical photojournalist
who lives as a recluse as he copes with a personal tragedy.
Kaulder is recruited by his boss to embark on a dangerous cross-country mission to find
his daughter, Samantha, who is trapped behind the Mexican border.
Monsters' sci-fi elements are only gradually introduced during their travels, as they must
avoid extraterrestrial creatures that landed on Earth years earlier.
Westerns often force their characters to the edges of civilization and beyond, and Monsters
follows suit by taking place within an "infected zone" between the U.S. and Mexico.
This limited exposure to the outside world also allows Edwards to focus solely on the
relationship between Samantha and Kaulder, which only grows more fascinating as more
of the film's greater mythology is revealed.
It's no secret that Star Wars popularized the space western, and recent movies and shows
in the franchise have made a point of leaning into its genre origins.
In fact, when the Star Wars IP was relaunched under Disney, Lucasfilm producer Kathleen
Kennedy decided that the spin-off anthology films would act as straight-up genre vehicles.
Having largely shed the mythological roots of the Skywalker saga, 2016's Rogue One: A
Star Wars Story, became a war film, while 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story reverted to
the series' western theme.
Solo explores the "hive of scum and villainy" that forms the franchise's criminal underbelly,
and here the stakes aren't centered around the fate of the galaxy.
Instead, the film focuses its attention on a relatively small-scale heist story.
"I've got a really good feeling about this."
Alden Ehrenreich gives a terrific performance as the titular young smuggler, quite unlike
the world-weary cynic Harrison Ford played decades prior.
Solo also reimagines a number of western archetypes for the Star Wars galaxy, such as the mob
boss, in Dryden Vos, and the shady double-crosser, in Tobias Beckett.
George Miller's Mad Max series is arguably the definitive sci-fi western franchise.
The later films explored a gritty, run-down, post-apocalyptic future in which mankind has
been reverted to a chaotic Old West state, but the original 1979 film was pivotal in
showing how it all went wrong.
Mad Max chronicles the collapse of society through the eyes of the police officer Max
Rockatansky, who only gradually becomes "Mad" as the story unfolds.
Compared to subsequent installments, which are more action-packed and over-the-top, Mad
Max is a relatively low-key character drama.
Max pursues the dangerous motorcycle biker Nightrider after he kills one of his friends
on the police force, but Nightrider's allies Toecutter and Bubba Zanetti throw a spanner
in the works when they begin wreaking havoc throughout the outback.
Mad Max explores the tragedy that sets the events of the franchise into motion, as the
protagonist loses his wife and child and becomes deeply skeptical about humanity's future.
Many western heroes have traumatic origin stories, of course, but few are quite as disturbing
as this.
The first two Back to the Future movies certainly weren't inspired by westerns.
Marty McFly isn't an outlaw or a sheriff, and while Robert Zemeckis' 1985 original explored
developments in technology and science, it utilized a premise that was closer to that
of a classic screwball comedy.
1989's Back to the Future: Part II took the series in a dystopian direction, in which
Marty travels to a dark vision of the future where his parents don't end up together.
"Great Scott!"
The ending to that movie, however, teased another genre mashup for the series' third
installment.
Back to the Future: Part III is a delightful tribute to classic westerns, and having a
character who's fully aware of western cinema archetypes makes the story both funnier and
more engaging.
The western elements are well handled too, and in particular the villainous "Mad Dog"
Tannen makes for a fearsome, no-nonsense gunslinger.
The original Flash Gordon character was introduced shortly after Buck Rogers made his debut,
having been designed to directly compete with that iconic space cowboy.
First appearing in comic strips in the mid-'30s, Flash Gordon was a cosmic adventurer with
the same noble origins and deadly combat skills as his classic western counterpart.
Flash Gordon finally made his way to the big screen in 1980, in a film directed by Mike
Hodges.
Hodges told the origin story of the titular New York Jets football star who is transported
from Earth into the vast reaches of space.
Flash is gifted with superhuman powers by the brilliant scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov, but
he's soon captured by the intergalactic supervillain Ming the Merciless.
Flash subsequently gathers his allies and leads the campiest revolution the universe
has ever known.
Flash Gordon is utterly silly, entirely unpretentious, and totally happy to diverge from the original
serials.
The movie's depiction of good and evil is completely earnest, however, making for a
near-perfect translation of one of the original sci-fi westerns.
While 1979's Mad Max was no doubt a brilliant film, it wasn't nearly as popular in the United
States as it was in Australia.
The 1981 sequel was therefore marketed simply as The Road Warrior, and some viewers weren't
even aware of the connection to George Miller's original film.
The story is essentially standalone, too; like classic western heroes, "Mad" Max Rockatansky
embarks on adventures that can basically be viewed as an anthology.
The Road Warrior leaned even more heavily into the western influences than its predecessor
had, and as a result, makes for one of the greatest sequels ever made.
While Mad Max explored how humanity fell into a post-apocalyptic state, The Road Warrior
is set within a brutal desert in which the world is already beyond hope.
Like any classic western hero, Max is a drifter who prizes his own survival first, having
abandoned his career in law enforcement.
When a gang of violent bikers threatens a small village, however, he decides to lay
down the law — the same arc followed by many classic gunfighters in the tales of the
Old West.
George Miller is a bona fide genius at directing thrilling action sequences, of course, but
Road Warrior has a softer side, too.
Amidst all the excitement, Max's relationship with the young Feral Child gives the film
a real sense of heart… without being too schmaltzy.
The X-Men franchise went in many different directions over the years, but the solo films
focused on Wolverine tended to pinpoint his isolation and inability to find inner peace.
They weren't all successful: 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine was an awkward blend of
iffy storytelling and convoluted world-building.
But James Mangold's more serious 2013 film The Wolverine threw its hero into a Samurai
epic that felt closer in tone to the films of Akira Kurosowa than a traditional superhero
story.
Mangold experimented with genre once more in 2017 with Logan, a film so indebted to
its western influences that it even features clips from the 1953 Alan Ladd classic Shane.
Compared to the apocalyptic events of the previous films, Logan tells a relatively stripped-down
story that finds Wolverine living on the outskirts of Texas.
Asserting that stories of the "X-Men" are wildly exaggerated, Wolverine cares for the
dying Professor Charles Xavier.
He's reluctantly called back into action, however, when he discovers the young mutant
girl Laura, who is on the run from a mysterious organization.
Placing Wolverine in a full-blown western was a superb choice, and one that served to
make his final screen appearance that much more emotional — while the movie's R-rating
allowed Mangold to deliver a thrilling, no-holds-barred portrayal of the violent side of superheroics.
"I am a leaf on the wind… watch how I soar."
Joss Whedon's beloved science fiction western adventure series Firefly won the hearts of
fans with a season's worth of charming and stirring stories, each of which took place
in a distinctly western-themed depiction of Outer Space.
The crew of the Serenity embarks on a number of smuggling missions across the galaxy, often
being called into acts of heroism — despite the misgivings of their roguish captain, Malcolm
Reynolds.
Firefly was sadly canceled after its first season, leaving fans with only 14 episodes
and no proper conclusion to the greater story.
Thankfully, Whedon was able to round off the franchise with his 2005 film Serenity.
The film reunited the original cast for a new adventure, in which they're stalked by
a mysterious government assassin known simply as "The Operative."
Serenity's western credentials are plain to see, of course, but the Operative in particular
fits within the mold of a classic western antagonist: he's bound by duty above all else,
and will kill pretty much anybody who gets in his way.
It also just so happens that the Operative — and Chiwetel Ejiofor's portrayal of him
— is one of the film's strongest points.
Three decades after the conclusion of the original trilogy, expectations ran high for
George Miller's fourth entry in the Mad Max franchise.
Luckily, Fury Road surpassed all expectations.
The film explores classic western themes of an isolated society, a former law enforcement
officer returning to his noble calling, and heist-caper elements led by glorious, madcap
action.
Tom Hardy stepped into the titular role that Gibson had made iconic, and though his grizzled
bluntness fit the role perfectly, Hardy was outshined by the new protagonist Furiosa,
played by Charlize Theron.
An imperator for the warlord Immortan Joe, Furiosa rebels against her vicious boss when
she sets out to rescue the five young women who he enslaved.
Westerns are at their most effective and surprising when they challenge traditional notions of
masculinity, and Fury Road arguably does this better than any other film in the genre.
Meanwhile, the stark imagery of the desert and the movie's eccentric rogue's gallery
feel lifted from the classics of western cinema, particularly considering the importance of
Immortan Joe's control of precious natural resources.
Max also fits the mold of a lonely gunslinger, of course; he doesn't have a personal stake
in the conflict, but he steps up to be a hero nonetheless.
As far as sci-fi westerns go, it really doesn't get much better than this.