10 Most Complex Sci-fi Movies of All Time (Taste of Cinema)

Created by Armoreska.

Favorited 0 times, disliked 0 times, added to 0 watchlists.

By its very nature, the sci-fi genre is relatively complex: the short stories, novels, TV series and films that comprise speculative fiction necessitate detailed expository passages to build its far-flung futures, reality-bending premises, and stories set in a galaxy far, far away.

Whether the story is set on an alien world populated by creatures markedly different from human beings, in a future separated by centuries or eons from the present in which society, technology, science, and civilization itself have evolved into a nearly unrecognizable state, or center around time or space travel, sci-fi stories require complex set-ups to create a believable reality that’s very different from our own.

Because of this, the sci-fi genre also allows for its stories to become quite complex. Time travel stories thrive on complexity while, depending on the story, other elements may be willfully obtuse to create an air of mystery or disorientation in the viewer–and some sci-fi stories are much more complex than others.

Here are 10 sci-fi films that are purposely complex, either in order to replicate the extraordinary events occurring in the story, to mirror the effect an advanced technology that’s in use as part of the plot, or simply to keep the viewer in the dark about unknowable creatures and the nearly inexplicable that happens during the film.