5FFF: 1997 Sci-Fi

Contact
I did a big 180 on this—it seemed so stupid and eye roll-inducing for the first half, but the second half reeled me in and really made me care about Jodie Foster’s journey. The conversation this film is having between science and faith is great and nuanced, and while the “twist” was something I somewhat saw coming, it was exactly what I was hoping for. In a lot of ways, this movie reminds me of the The Andromeda Strain or the first Star Trek film with its long runtime and clinical, bureaucratic plot lines… which is to say, I really really like style of science fiction.

Gattaca
Ethan Hawke has never looked so good, has he? This is a movie that has loomed over me since high school, for the simple reason that so many of my classmates watched this movie during class (Science, I think?) and I never did! Well, now I’ve seen it and I really get the hype.

Ethan Hawke steals the show, but Jude Law and Uma Thurman make for a great trio. The world-building is exceptional and though the plot isn’t necessarily the most groundbreaking, the execution is clean. One thing I really liked in comparison to some of the other sci-fi movies I’ve been watching is that Gattaca plays up the melodrama without being overly cheesy. The sheer amount of sci-fi sad boi energy oozing off the screen is amazing.

Starship Troopers
Yes yes yes.

I want to watch this movie like 12 more times right now. It’s so so dumb and it’s so so smart at the same time. The genre elements work perfectly, the visual effects are incredible, the performances are hilariously cheesy and the social commentary is on point. There is not a chink in this movie’s armor. Robocop was fun, but this has to be Verhoeven’s masterpiece. I have not stopped thinking about this movie and I anticipate many more watches in the months and years to come.

Face/Off
Yes yes yes yes yes.

Cheesy, over-the-top, melodramatic science fiction is so good when done well. Travolta and Cage literally could not be a more perfect pair in this nonsensical, ridiculous action romp. None of the plot makes sense and it does not matter AT ALL. Nicolas Cage grabs an ass within the first five minutes. John Travolta tries and fails to act convincing as a police detective. I just re-read the entire plot description on Wikipedia and I don’t even remember half of it… in a good way! Sometimes all you want in a movie is something that goes all out and never lets up, and this movie does that and more.

Event Horizon
Noooooo, my 5FFF hot streak has ended with Event Horizon. The movie this most reminds me of is The Cloverfield Paradox, which is to say it’s a mediocre trapped-in-space movie that uses generic horror tropes to try and emulate the Alien franchise without ever coming close. I don’t even know if I truly liked anything in this—the effects and set design were pretty good for the time? Still, the plot was pretty banal and none of the performances really did it for me, so this was mostly just a miss unfortunately.

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