Sci-fi has always been the perfect genre to explore with action-packed thrills. Whether humanity is caught in bouts with aliens, enhanced soldiers looking to kick butt, or even dystopian futures that inspire conflict, there’s plenty of room for action and science fiction to go hand in hand. Some of cinema’s most beloved classics even fall into the genre, like The Terminator, Minority Report, and The Matrix, demonstrating its impact.
Still, for every RoboCop and Predator, numerous genre entries fall through the cracks. Some movies were beloved by critics but missed by audiences, cultivating a fan base long after release. Others were maligned by reviews, causing them to disappear from the cultural zeitgeist despite genuinely being worth a look. These sci-fi action films were sadly overlooked for one reason or another, but they each have fantastic qualities that are sure to please anyone seeking a unique mix of world-building and bombastic thrills. Whether it’s a multiverse adventure, a killer AI, or even space prisons, these massively underrated movies offer an eclectic array of choices.
‘Soldier’ (1998)
Kurt Russell stars in Soldier as Todd 3465, the perfect futuristic name for an obsolete piece of combat technology. Todd 3465 is not a robot or AI, as he’s still human, yet his upbringing was anything but ideal. He was raised from birth to be an emotionless killing machine, instilling him with extensive combat experience and tactical training while weeding out traits like fear and hesitation.
However, Todd is discarded on a trash planet, where a defenseless community takes him in. Through his newfound friends, the super soldier begins to tap into his emotions, breaking his hardened exterior. His new community eventually comes under threat from more soldiers like himself. Still, this new batch has undergone genetic modifications to make them stronger and faster, posing a new threat and plenty of action.
‘Upgrade’ (2018)
Upgrade is a dark, sci-fi action thriller from writer-director Leigh Whannell that explores a near-future where technology controls nearly every aspect of life. Grey loses his wife in a tragic car accident, which also leaves him severely injured. Luckily, there’s an experimental new AI computer chip that can be implanted into his head, changing his circumstances.
With Grey being paralyzed from the neck down, the chip in Upgrade is meant to give him his mobility back, but it’s also a voice in his head that can talk to him. Grey eventually uses the chip to investigate his wife’s death, which grants him heightened combat abilities, leading to violent, frantic action sequences that won’t soon be forgotten.
‘Equilibrium’ (2002)
Equilibrium is set in a dystopian future where emotions are outlawed, with the citizens taking pills every day to suppress them. The movie has shades of George Orwell’s 1984, with the featured totalitarian society’s iconography being influenced by distinctly fascist imagery. Christian Bale stars as a Grammaton Cleric, a highly skilled enforcer who hunts down people who feel emotions, with an early scene showing him burning art because it violates their dour world.
Bale’s character is an expert in “Gun Kata,” a form of martial arts that relies on perfect gun placement, created specifically for the film. Thankfully, he misses a dose of his medicine and begins to feel emotions, sending him down a bloody path that sees him shooting his way to the ruling body, determined to change things forever.
‘Impostor’ (2001)
Impostor envisions a future where humanity is at war with an alien race. Those aliens use terrorist bombings as an attack strategy, with the added twist that their bombs are androids made to look like normal people. To complicate the issue, there’s no clear way to determine whether someone is an android bomber, since even the bomber doesn’t know the truth. When Gary Sinise’s Spencer is accused of being an android bomber, he goes on the run to prove his innocence, leading to plenty of action-packed conflict.
Impostor also has a PG-13 version and an R-rated director’s cut. However, it’s widely accepted that the director’s cut is far superior, as it restores full action sequences, such as the tunnel fight, and adds back much of the violence and gore that was trimmed for its initial release.
‘Spectral’ (2016)
Spectral centers on a team of special ops soldiers who are attacked and killed by what appear to be ghosts. What follows is a futuristic battle between well-armed military forces and a threat they can’t shoot, with even a wall proving no hindrance. There is a scientific investigation to get to the bottom of the ghostly presence, which fuels the story.
The soldiers need to employ unique technology and weaponry to help combat the ghosts, which turn out to be something far different from what they thought, as the mystery of their origin is revealed. Spectral does a fantastic job of taking the military combat audiences know well and infusing it with sci-fi concepts that make it an engrossing and thrilling watch.
‘Nemesis’ (1992)
Nemesis is nearly wall-to-wall, relentless, high-energy gun battles that look far better than the film’s small budget would normally allow. The post-apocalyptic movie is set in a world where humans are at odds with cyborgs. The protagonist, Alex, is a burned-out cyborg cop tasked with tracking down his ex-partner, who is selling information to cyborg terrorists.
There are numerous cyborgs in Nemesis, as the story is built around its sci-fi elements. Still, the movie’s nonstop action is where it shines, as the violent, kinetic shootouts impress throughout. Nemesis also features notable scenes that inspired later films, which fans often cite as evidence of its quality, such as the infamous shoot-through-the-floor moment.
‘The One’ (2001)
The One embraced the concept of the multiverse long before superhero franchises like the MCU. Jet Li turns in a dual performance as the hero and the villain, with a plot that sees him hopping between universes to kill other versions of himself, thereby becoming stronger. There are spectacular fights in which Li battles a version of himself, and the movie employs unique camera techniques that set it apart.
With a killer hopping between universes, there are police on his tail, with Jason Statham playing one of the agents tasked with tracking Li’s character down. The One is a stellar mix of sci-fi concepts and the martial-arts action Li and Statham are known for, and it was ahead of its time in many ways, going on to thrill audiences in recent years.
‘Lockout’ (2012)
Lockout is one of Guy Pearce’s best and most underappreciated roles, as he perfectly captures a character who is the height of action clichés and turns him into a witty, charming scoundrel type that audiences love to root for. There are also plenty of sci-fi thrills to be had, as the movie is set in a prison orbiting Earth. When the prisoners overtake the facility, with the U.S. President’s daughter among the hostages, there’s only one man for the complex rescue mission.
Pearce constantly balances humor and action throughout Lockout, with a character who is beyond capable but obviously in a place he never wanted to be. His chemistry with the President’s daughter is fun, as she proves capable of handling herself, and the two fight off waves of maniacal prisoners in an attempt to get back to Earth.
‘Hardcore Henry’ (2015)
Hardcore Henry is one of the most unique sci-fi action movies ever made, as it is shot entirely in first-person. This camera gimmick lets viewers see the entire film unfold through the protagonist’s eyes. Every fight, death-defying chase, and thrilling action beat is experienced as if the audience were in it themselves. While the movie’s style isn’t for everyone, potentially being one of the reasons it never caught on, there’s no other action flick quite like it.
Henry is resurrected from the dead, and while he doesn’t have much in the way of memory, he’s tasked with rescuing his wife from a warlord with telekinetic powers. The plot involves bioengineered soldiers, plenty of gunplay, hopping from moving vehicles, falling from the sky, and violent kills put squarely into the audience’s gaze. Hardcore Henry gives moviegoers the feeling of a first-person shooter video game come to life.
‘Boss Level’ (2020)
Boss Level is best described as a Groundhog Day-style setup in which the protagonist repeats the day over and over, only to be forced to fight for survival, killing his way through an eclectic group of assassins who want nothing more than to end him. The entire movie concept is built around action-packed moments, as every time he restarts the day, it begins with a helicopter firing a massive Gatling gun into the side of his apartment while he’s trying to sleep.
The reason he’s forced to repeat each day stems from a device that manipulates time, which his ex-wife is working on. Each time he repeats the day, he learns new information that helps him figure out what’s happening, while also improving his fighting skills, as he spends quite a few days learning swordfighting. Mel Gibson also plays a distinctly imposing villain for a fun final battle, with much of the film’s aesthetics based around video games, hence the name.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
