5 Most underrated Sci-Fi Movies

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

The load-bearing columns supporting Nolfi's intricate, slow-burn sci-fi romance between actors Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are themes of fate and destiny, which are here made the duty of beings best described as almost heavenly bureaucrats. Damon played a promising politician who lost his Senate bid after a revealing image of him from college was leaked to the media. He meets a stunning woman (Blunt) with whom he has tremendous sparkage the same night he loses his election. Their relationship, however, gets in the way of the "great scheme of things," particularly the politician's life path. Damon and Blunt soon find themselves racing against the clock to outrun the underground directors of their fate while attempting to reclaim control of a fate that their pursuers believe was never truly theirs to begin with.

Predestination (2014)

Predestination is a complex and engaging story wrapped in a suspenseful time travel thriller. This little-known indie stars Ethan Hawke as a time-traveling spy attempting to stop a bomber in 1970s New York, based on Robert A. Heinlein's 1959 short tale "All You Zombies." The identity of the bomber, as well as that of a bartender with a mystery history (and destiny), threatens to unravel our reality as the film screams to a shocking conclusion. The ultimate product is a convoluted storey on how to define one's existence when one can exist in numerous timelines and locations. What is the value of a life when it has been distilled and fragmented over time? That's just one of the film's many ponderous, thematic concerns — and, as Hawke's character and the audience realise, the solution isn't easy to come by. However, it is entertaining to see.

Coherence (2013)

Coherence is Ray Bradbury meets Agatha Christie, shot in five days with no script and a shoestring budget. Coherence is filmmaker James Ward Byrkit's confident feature film debut, and it follows a group of friends whose dinner party is turned upside down as a comet shoots through the night sky, ripping a tear through reality in its aftermath. The main characters are drawn into multiple parallel realms, each filled by different versions of themselves.

As a result, As Byrkit turns the screws on a thought-provoking sci-fi tale that needs to be viewed at least twice to truly appreciate the degree of artistry here, this friend circle unravels into foes.

About Time (2013)

It's a time travel tale unparalleled, combining timey-wimey science fiction with rom-com sensibility. About Time is a charming romantic comedy with a clever high-concept surprise tossed in for good measure. Domhnall Gleeson portrays the son of a time traveller (Bill Nighy) who is trying to make a relationship work with his sweetheart, Rachel McAdams. When their courtship reaches a snag, he travels back in time to “fix” it and defy fate. Death, on the other hand, is something he can't avoid, as he sadly realises when his father falls ill. Curtis' excellent portrayal of the more intimate repercussions of defying the laws of physics — especially when viewed through the perspective of a father-son bond — makes this bittersweet twist a devastating one. However, the portions of the film that work, particularly the performances, make About Time worth revisiting.

Sunshine (2007)

This 2007 science fiction thriller, directed by Danny Boyle, follows the occupants of a spacecraft on a risky voyage to the sun. The year is 2057, and eight professionally experienced astronauts aboard the Icarus II are on an expedition to use a nuclear bomb to re-ignite the fading sun. I know, it's insane, right? While this tale appears to be far too fantastical to be true, it does give a fascinating narrative and a genuine sense of desperation for the team tasked with saving Earth and the human species. The crew sets off on a 16-month voyage to the sun, encountering numerous challenges along the way, including the finding of a distress signal from the original Icarus ship, which went missing 7 years ago.