The Top 10 Best Alternate Reality Movies
5. It’s A Wonderful Life
Most people might remember this as the classic Christmas movie, but it actually earns a spot on this list of alternate reality movies because George Baily is shown a world in which he never existed. That’s right, Clarence the angel messes with the very fabric of the universe to convince a guy that he’s better off not dead. It’s kind of eerie if you really stop to think about it, though I don’t think the makers of the film were really thinking too much about quantum physics when they penned the script. Because he gets a chance to visit a reality where he never existed, George decides not to kill himself and to be thankful for his terrible life that’s in the process of falling apart. In choosing to live, he realizes how many people he loves and how many people love him.
4. Coherence
You don’t need a big budget to make an incredible movie about alternate realities colliding with each other. A group of friends gathers for a dinner party while a comet passes and strange things start happening. Soon they find themselves confronting the very real possibility that the comet has caused reality to split and that there are other versions of them out there. Things go from bad to worse as the group realizes they have no idea how to tell each other from their doppelgangers and don’t know just how many different realities might be overlapping. It’s one of the more cerebral movies on this list that is told in an intimate setting without a ton of special effects. It’s a really enthralling piece of cinema.
3. The Matrix
Alright, so technically The Matrix never technically has anyone traveling from one reality to another. However, reality is based solely on perception. So, since the Matrix that everyone is trapped inside controls perception, it creates a false reality for anyone who is plugged into it. That means that when Neo travels from inside the Matrix to the real world he’s moving from one reality to another. Therefore, I argue that The Matrix films qualify for a spot on this list of alternate reality movies. I would even say that they’re some of the more unique takes on alternate realities I’ve ever seen in movies. In fact, I don’t think the next entry on this list would exist without it. Either way, The Matrix is one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time.
2. Inception
One of the key concepts presented at the beginning of Inception is that the person they’re targeting isn’t supposed to know that they’re in a dream. Which implies that they’re fooling the person into believing that they are in a different reality. That’s enough for me to count Inception as a solid pick for this list of alternate reality movies, especially because it gets incredibly intricate pretty quickly. The characters go on to create reality within reality in order to plant an idea inside a man’s head. It might be a bit of a reach at first, but it gets to a point where the characters can’t tell whether they’re in a dream or not at certain times, which means those dreams must be realistic enough for a brain to interpret it as reality. It’s confusing (kind of like the movie itself), but just trust me on this one. Inception totally counts.
1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse
Loyal followers of Stars & Popcorn remember that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse was my favorite movie of 2018. The film introduces Miles Morales to the big screen, who was the Spider-Man from the Ultimate universe in the comics. His world is incredibly similar to the one that we all know and love from the Marvel comics, except his Peter Parker dies at the hands of the bad guys before he can teach Miles the ropes. Luckily, several other Spider…individuals get pulled to his reality and team up to show him what it means to be a hero. The movie features beautiful animation, a heartfelt story, and incredibly fun characters. Here’s hoping we get to see more of Miles and his friends from alternate realities in the future.
Honorable mention: The One
Alright, I’m giving The One a shout out on this list, because the first date I ever went on was to see this flick. It features Jet Li taking on his evil counterpart from another dimension who wants to be, you guessed it, the One. It’s not exactly a great film, but it holds a… Well, it’s got a place in my heart.
There you have it! 10 of the best alternate reality movies ever made. Of course, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the list. I know there are a ton of other alternate realities out there and if there’s one you think deserves a spot on this list, leave a comment below. As always, I’ll be updating this list as new movies hit theaters. So be sure to check back from time to time to see how the rankings might change.