As surreal as the real world might already be sometimes, the creative imagination of
sci-fi filmmakers proves that sometimes truth simply isn't stranger than fiction.
Throughout 2021, there were a ton of new films that dared to expand the already-infinite
possibilities of the movie universe in new and exciting ways.
Of course, there were quite a few gems that you might've missed.
Here's a look at some of the sci-fi movies that might've slipped under your radar but
are definitely worth your time.
In "Outside the Wire," we meet a determined drone pilot named Harp, who's reassigned to
an active war zone after disobeying a direct order.
He's assigned to work under Captain Leo, an autonomous android that's been created to
carry out elite special operations.
When they're assigned to a mission outside the military safe zone, Harp gets an up-close
and visceral glimpse at what his work looks like from the ground for the first time in
his career.
With a mix of slick futuristic action combined with deeper questions of the morality of endless
warfare, "Outside the Wire" offers a surprisingly complex story for sci-fi fans.
unfolding as they engage in their perilous journey, giving a deeper layer to this thrilling
sci-fi original.
If you like films that nimbly combine intense action with some deeply compelling questions
of right and wrong, "Stowaway" is a new sci-fi gem that'll get under your skin in the best
way.
The film centers on a small team of three uniquely talented astronauts who embark on
a two-year mission to help colonize Mars.
Their takeoff is a complete success -- until they realize they're not alone on the ship.
The trio of scientists soon discover that an injured support engineer has been trapped
in the vessel with them, and worse, he's accidentally damaged the emergency support systems.
"We only have enough oxygen onboard for two people."
With limited resources and dwindling oxygen, the crew is forced to make some difficult
decisions that have life-or-death consequences.
Compelling and thought-provoking, "Stowaway" makes for a richly rewarding sci-fi experience.
Another harrowing film that will take your breath away is "Oxygen."
The French-language thriller from director Alexandre Aja centers on a woman who wakes
up in a sealed cryogenic tank with no memory of who she is or how she got there.
If that weren't terrifying enough, the unit's artificial intelligence aide informs her that
her oxygen is running dangerously low, which means she has a very limited amount of time
to figure out what's happening and how she can survive.
"Oxygen" is a tight and tense thrill ride that might just give you a bit of secondhand
claustrophobia before it's all said and done.
The energetic and massively entertaining "Space Sweepers" takes place in a future where the
Earth has become virtually uninhabitable.
The world's wealthy have taken up residence in an orbital habitat, leaving the poor to
scrape by on a polluted Earth.
The story centers on the eclectic crewmates of the space ship Victory who manage to eke
out a living by hunting down and selling orbital debris.
They get more than they bargain for, however, when they discover a child hidden in the back
of a junked ship and learn that the kid is a highly sought-after AI weapon.
With white-knuckle action scenes, memorable characters, and a ton of heart, "Space Sweepers"
is an epic sci-fi adventure that's destined to become a modern classic.
"Awake" begins in a familiar version of our world, with a troubled young mother named
Jill working to overcome some hard times and win back custody of her two children, Noah
and Matilda.
However, everything changes in an instant when all of the electricity in the world stops
working, and suddenly, no one can sleep.
No one, that is, except Matilda, who narrowly survives as the family's car crashes amid
the outage.
While everyone else is grappling with the fact that they can't get the rest they desperately
need for sanity and survival, Matilda's ability makes her an automatic target for an increasingly
desperate and deranged society.
As Jill and Noah try to find a safe haven for her, they're also succumbing to the perils
of always being awake.
Similar to "Awake," the perils of endless insomnia are also at the center of the Thai
mystery-thriller "Deep."
The film follows a group of insomnia-stricken students who decide to make a profit from
their affliction by participating in a paid German pharmaceutical study.
In the "Deep experiment," scientists are attempting to harvest a wakefulness-inducing chemical
from the students' brains with an implanted chip.
All our characters have to do is stay awake for extended periods of time, and they will
be rewarded.
At first, this seems like a pretty easy cash grab for these debt-riddled youths, but as
they continue to engage in each of the three layers of the experiments, they find that
there are some dangerous consequences to what they're doing.
Worse still for our exhausted heroes, the officials overseeing the experiment might
not exactly be on the up and up.
"Level 2 will take longer than level 1, so that we will get more concentrated Qratonin."
Last but not least, prepare for a post-pandemic world like you've never seen before in the
Indonesian thriller "A World Without."
The film takes place in 2030, after a cataclysmic disease and environmental blight have decimated
ordinary society.
At the center of the story are three young girls who decide to seek happiness by joining
a social media-savvy community called The Light, with the explicit promise of a happily
ever after in utopia.
Led by a charismatic leader and his wife, The Light claims to use methodically structured
factors and formulas to match young people with their ideal partners to create healthy
marriages and children.
As the three lifelong friends at the center of the story become immersed in this society,
however, they begin discovering some disturbing truths about the group, and suddenly, their
future in the place doesn't seem so bright.
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