Best Dystopian Films – While the word “dystopia” can conjure up many associations, it remains somewhat elusive as a stand-alone concept. The Oxford English Dictionary defines dystopia as: “A fictional state or society in which great suffering or injustice exists, usually a totalitarian or post-apocalyptic state or society. Meanwhile, Webster’s Dictionary gives another definition: the Greek for the word “dystopia.” It’s also worth considering the origin, which roughly translates to “bad place”, of course, there are endless interpretations of what a “dystopian” or even a “dystopian” movie is.
Finally a dystopian film that meets the Oxford English Dictionary definition. So the best dystopian films present society in a state of great suffering or injustice. Each emerges from the collective well of human experience, holding up an ominous mirror to an exaggerated depiction of underlying reality. In turn, these dystopian films evoke an uneasy sense of familiarity, as if today’s peaceful civilization is a decision away from some cataclysmic event or nightmare.
Best Dystopian Films
To compile this list of the best dystopian movies of all time, we used IMDb advanced search, in-depth movie news, and academic research. Each game requires at least 1,000 IMDb user rating votes to qualify, and in the event of a rating tie, the game with more votes will be ranked higher on the list. Zombie films and isolated post-apocalyptic survival films are deliberately omitted. Some consider such films dystopian, but they do not depict oppressive ruling institutions or populations large enough to warrant “massive suffering or injustice”. For these reasons, films like I Am Legend were excluded, while films like Mad Max: Fury Road were included. Any other cases of suspected “dystopian” films will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Best Dystopian Movies Of All Time, Ranked
Without further ado, here are the best dystopian movies of all time. May it always be an embodiment of imagination.
George Lucas adapted his student film into his first feature film, set in a tightly controlled futuristic society. Humans are confined to seemingly impenetrable fortresses, reduced to alphanumeric names and alienated from basic desires. After recovering from his brainwashed state, factory worker THX 1138 (Robert Duvall) devises a plan to escape.
Director Luc Besson’s first feature film is set in a post-apocalyptic future where all living humans have lost the ability to speak. Relying only on non-verbal communication, two loners engage in a harrowing battle for survival. Lacking dialogue and tiresome surroundings, the film at times resembles a wildlife documentary.
In his feature debut, controversial director Lars von Trier depicts Europe as a dark and dystopian world. A detective (Michael Elphick) resorts to unorthodox methods in hunting down a feared serial killer. The director plays a character called “The Fool of Time”, a role his biggest critics might say he was born to play.
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After his scientific creation destroys nearly all life on Earth, a man (Bruno Lawrence) finds himself virtually alone in the world. He eventually meets two other survivors, but can he trust them? The same goes for this 1985 sci-fi drama, which critic Tom Keigh described as “a strange and vivid film”.
The semi-reputable film draws on youth culture’s distrust of adults, imagining a future where everyone is secretly executed by the time they turn 30. After pulling back the curtain on the pretense of an urban utopia, Logan Five (Michael York) and Jessica Six (Jenny Agutter) are on the run in search of a place called Sanctuary. A modern remake is in the works.
Released in the same year as films based on themes such as The Matrix and 13th Floor, this unconventional thriller mixes sci-fi and body horror just like David Cronenberg. The film follows a game designer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and her marketing intern (Jude Law) as they try to save her latest virtual reality creation. Or are they playing this game all day?
This 2013 horror comedy is a clever take on the zombie genre, following the relationship between an infected boy (Nicholas Hoult) and a living girl (Teresa Palmer). As Zombie Boy regains his humanity, many of the walking dead also resurrect. Critic Helen O’Hara claimed in her review for Empire magazine that the film “manages to make the apocalypse look glamorous.”
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The big-budget thriller, starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson as two subdued humans living in a post-pandemic world, was a rare box office failure for director Michael Bay. Their only hope for redemption is an obscure paradise called “The Island”, but it turns out that there is no place for paradise in a dystopia.
In the first part of the Maze Runner trilogy, young Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) wakes up in a strange place called “The Glades” with no memory of where he came from. Surrounded by others who have gone through similar situations, Thomas realizes that the only way out is through the deadly maze. As the movie’s original slogan goes: Get ready to run.
The central characters of this Hungarian drama are 13-year-old Lily (Zofia Sota) and her dog Hagen. When the two separated, they began a long and difficult road to reconciliation. According to Variety critic Guy Lodge, the film is both a story of “interspecies hierarchy” and “a simple and elegant allegory of racial and class oppression”.
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Best Dystopian Movies Of All Time
A true cult classic, Alex Cox’s sci-fi punk comedy stars Emilio Estevez as Otto, a young misfit. Otto is lured into a job as a repo man, entering a strange world of cosmic intrigue and endless adventure. Set in a retro-futuristic Los Angeles landscape, the film is an unflinching critique of American consumerism.
By the time the film was released, a strict one-child policy had been implemented due to overpopulation and famine. That’s bad news for seven sisters (all played by Noomi Rapace) who try to outwit the Child Allocation Bureau by pretending to be themselves. Things take a turn for the worse when a sister goes missing.
In retrospect, the original Mad Max almost felt like a prequel, set at a time when society hadn’t yet entered its post-apocalyptic phase. The drama tells the story of an Australian police officer named Max (played by Mel Gibson) who sets out on a quest for revenge after his family is killed by a gang of bikers. The film cost only $200,000 to make but grossed nearly $100 million at the international box office.
The Netflix original movie “Platform” is a Spanish film set in a “vertical self-administration center,” a prison where inmates are fed via a platform that runs from top to bottom, with only the inmates receiving leftovers on each floor. upper floor. This dystopian horror film highlights racial and class inequality. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2019 and became popular the following year in the real-life dystopia of COVID-19.
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Originally an unpublished graphic novel by Joseph Kosinski, it ended up as a somewhat maligned science fiction film directed by Kosinski. The film tells the story of a drone repairman named Jack (played by Tom Cruise) who travels to an abandoned Earth in search of resources. After discovering a crashed alien spacecraft, Jack questions the stories he’s been told about Earth’s death.
Dr. Like a cross between Strangelove and The Terminator, this forward-thinking thriller centers on the supercomputer Colossus. Designed to monitor America’s missile defense systems, Colossus eventually developed its own consciousness and intelligence. Chaos naturally ensues.
French New Wave legend Jean-Luc Godard brought his unique sensibility to the science fiction genre to create this critically acclaimed work. Filled with rich imagery and cultural references, it depicts a futuristic city ruled by an evil scientist and his humanoid computers. When an American private eye (Eddie Constantine) falls in love with a scientist’s daughter (Anna Karina), the city-wide ban on love and self-expression threatens to crumble.
In this iconic sci-fi thriller, the year is 2022 and New York is overpopulated and polluted. As resources are scarce, humans survive on plankton food called Solent Green. While investigating the murder of a Solent executive, Detective Thorne (Charlton Heston) uncovers the terrifying secrets behind the world’s most beloved food.
A Comprehensive Guide To The Best Dystopian Films
Although 1984 actually bears little resemblance to George Orwell’s cautionary novel, it provides a perfect excuse for a big screen adaptation. Like its source material, the film takes place in a war-torn totalitarian society. When an office worker (John Hurt) learns that the Ministry of Truth is lying about the state of world affairs, he goes on the run as a “thought criminal.”
Director Richard Linklater and his team used an animation technique called interpolated rotoscoping to bring the novel to life. Technology provides the perfect visual foundation for this exciting sci-fi drama, which follows an undercover cop as he slowly loses his grip on reality in a world plagued by addiction. Starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr.
Adapted from Kazuo’s best-selling novel
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