The Top 10 Best Dystopian Movies
5. Escape From New York
Turns out there’s still an issue with prisons being overcrowded in the future. So much so, that the entire city of New York is walled off and criminals are tossed in to fend for themselves. No guards. No warden. Just no way back out alive once you’re inside. When the President’s plane crashes inside the city, the government is forced to send in the most dangerous man at their disposal, Snake Plisskin, to help the Commander-in-Chief escape. Dropped in the city with a bomb in his neck set on a timer counting down to zero, Snake doesn’t have time to play nice as he searches for the President. Along the way, he meets a lot of crazy, dangerous, and colorful characters (most of whom he kills), and learns that the prison system is just as corrupt in the future as it is today.
4. Avengers: Endgame
In an instant, half the life on the planet simply disappears. Your friends, your loved ones, maybe even your pet dog, just fades away until there’s nothing left. Even if society can pull itself together, nothing will ever be the same. Avengers: Endgame might seem like a strange pick for this list of dystopian movies, but the fact is that the movie takes place in a future where everyone is suffering from that one fateful moment when that purple jerk snapped his fingers. For those that were there and gave everything possible to try to stop it, the guilt is almost too much to bear. They at least knew what was coming. For the rest of the world, even 5-years later it’s still hard to figure out what to do with their lives. A future where hope is dead is the very definition of a dystopia, and that’s what Endgame gives us.
3. Children of Men
They say that the children are our future. Seriously, those little things running around and screaming at the top of their lungs are our future. As far as dystopian movies go, Children of Men is less of a bang and more of a whimper. In it, children just stop being born. That’s it. I mean as far as extinction-level events go infertility is a heck of an ending for the top of the food chain. Of course, if it was just that simple there wouldn’t be much of a movie. So, Clive Owen finds himself protecting one of the last pregnant women in the world. It’s one of the more subtle films on this dystopian movies list, but it’s still one that shows just how easy it all could end for us.
2. A Clockwork Orange
The future is filled with ultra-violence. Perhaps the most disturbing movies to make this list, it’s also probably the most critically-acclaimed of all the dystopian movies. Malcolm McDowell stars as the kind of guy we all would be terrified to meet in a dark alley. His idea of a fun night on the town involves brutalizing men and women in the worst possible ways. It’s actually one of the most disturbing movies I’ve ever seen (though I’ve never watched the Human Centipede). The notion that anyone could be into that sort of violence is just sickening. Then again, we see all sorts of horrible acts on the news every night. Guess I should start putting together my gang now.
1. Blade Runner
Those of you who know Stars & Popcorn, know that I will put Blade Runner on any list I can. Luckily, a dystopian movies list is actually a perfect place for this film. A dark and dreary future where man has turned to creating Replicants to work as slave labor. The only problem is that technology has gotten away from them a bit, and now they need men to kill their creations. Despite it being a world filled with hard men who have to find and kill artificial beings who only want a lot nothing more than a chance to live. Almost as if the opposite of Terminator or the Matrix, it’s man that’s killing it’s creation. It’s almost as depressing a thought as the other way around.
Honorable Mention: Idiocracy
Why is this movie an honorable mention? Because we’re living the damn thing right now. It’s not one of those dystopian movies, it’s a damn documentary of where we’re heading as a country. I remember laughing at how absurd it all was. Surely we’d never fall so far? Well, we’re free falling right now, baby. We’ve got hate groups that are trying to bogart memes we used to love. There’s a reality star in the white house who tweets during his 3 AM bowel movement. Worst of all critics have no idea what audiences want to see in movies anymore. I don’t know what the world is coming to, but I think that Idiocracy gave us a terrifying glimpse of what the future might hold.
There you have it. The 10 Best Dystopian Movies to prepare you for all the horrors the future might hold. There are a ton of other ones though, so be sure to comment on what your favorite is and toss me a few recommendations of what you think should go on this list.