The future is the great unknown. Although we may be able to figure out everything about life on earth as we know it in the present, we don’t know what will happen in days to come. We are mapping out the human genome, learning all about what makes life and how to alter it. But, what do we know about the future? Will there be a new ice age, ending the human race? Will humans be altered into different states of being? No one knows for sure, but we think that we can predict some of what the future will be like based on how things are heading today.
Here are ten futuristic movies that show you what life may be like in the future.
1. Gattaca (1997). This is one of my favorite futuristic movies. In Gattaca, you no longer have control over what you do. If you have the right genes, you get to be part of the privileged and get a professional job. But, if your genes are faulty, you won’t have the opportunities others have. So, leave it to Ethan Hawke to find a way to circumvent this classing structure, and use the DNA of Jude Law, who has been permanently injured, to be able to work with those with good genes. Uma Thurman plays Ethan Hawke’s girlfriend. But, what happens when she finds out the truth about him. Will she stay on his side or turn against him? Will he get away with his scheme?
2. Minority Report (2002). Tom Cruise stars as a police officer in the Precrime unit, where criminals are identified before the crime occurs. The only problem is, that Tom Cruise is about to commit a crime, or so it is determined by the Precogs (three individuals who can identify the future crimes). Tom Cruise must prove that he is not going to commit this crime, in order to save himself.
3. Wall-E (2008). If you’re looking for a great animated film, look no further. This futuristic movie shows what will happen to the world when trash overtakes everything. Humans give up living on earth, and set out to outer space to live there, free from all the garbage. Wall-E is a machine that was designed to help in the trash clean up. This is a family movie that is funny but also insightful and thought provoking of what could happen to humanity in the future.
4. Idiocracy (2006). Luke Wilson, funny as usual, stars in this movie where he ends up being put to sleep for 500 years, waking up in the future. He sets out to find a way to get back, not realizing that he didn’t travel through time, but just was asleep for many years. In the future, humans are not very intelligent. Luke Wilson finds that even though he wasn’t very smart in his time, he is considered close to genius in the future.
5. Children of Men (2006). I would have to put this movie in the top 100 movies of all time. Why? It is very insightful and well written. It also gives an incredible depiction of life in the future when women have lost the ability to reproduce. This is something that probably everyone has thought about from time to time, in those moments when you find yourself with an abundance of time and can do nothing but think and dwell on things. Well, at least it’s a thought I have had.
In Children of Men, there is one woman who is actually pregnant, and the goal is to try and save her so she can have her child. Clive Owen and Julianne Moore stars as a divorced couple who sets out on the mission to get the pregnant woman to safety.
6. A Clockwork Orange (1971). This science fiction film is set in the near future. It is about a teenage psychopath who is convicted. He is then attempted to be rehabilitated through a new technique that involves psychological conditioning.
7. The Matrix (1999). This movie stars Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. Keane Reeves plays a computer hacker who gets a chance to find out what the matrix really is. It turns out, that humans are actually living in a dream world that was created by machines. Keanu Reeves sets out with Laurence Fishburne to rebel against the machines and free the human population.
8. The Terminator (1984). Arnold Schwarzenegger plays in this futuristic action movie that made him famous as the terminator. He is sent back in time to kill Sara Connor, whose son ends up being the one who leads the revolt against the machines in the future, of which Arnold Schwarzenegger is one. Sara Connor must survive, so that her unborn son can fulfill his destiny.
9. The Fifth Element (1997). Milla Jovovich is the key to helping Earth and humanity survive in the future. Bruce Willis, a simple taxi driver, has to protect her and help her save the Earth.
10. Death Race (2008). In this future movie, Jason Statham is in a futuristic prison. He must compete in a car race where death ends the race, in order to gain his freedom and save his child from foster care. In this future, the prisons have been bought by corporations and are run for profit. The profit at this institution comes by televising these ‘death races,’ where humans compete to the death in a car race to the bitter end.
What are your favorite future movies?
