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Naturally, when narrowing down a decade’s worth of genre film to five entries, some excellent flicks didn’t quite make the cut. For instance, Independence Day, Mars Attacks!, 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Galaxy Quest, Total Recall, Face/Off, and Men in Black. All excellent, but not quite 10 out of 10 movies.
5) Starship Troopers
Let’s start out with the one people may very well not think is perfect, Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers. But here’s the thing, what would be considered flaws elsewhere (acting quality and level of character development, for instance), are actually part of the plan here and just as much a part of the final product’s appeal.
Everything that Robert A. Heinlein’s novel was a proponent for Verhoeven’s movie is tearing apart. And what’s odd about its pulling that off is the fact that it’s doing it in a way that is both subtle and bombastic. Critics at the time just saw the bombast element of that, but what Verhoeven was doing was really waving a finger at fascism and shoot first ask questions never attitudes. Not to mention, on top of the fact that it’s a smarter movie than it appears to be on the surface level, it’s also incredibly fun and does a great job of making this space war seem horrifically unwinnable. It’s exciting, but tense.
Stream Starship Troopers on fuboTV.
4) The Iron Giant
It may have tanked in theaters, but The Iron Giant is now seen as exactly what it is: a classic. Making a so-called kids movie that takes place during the height of the Cold War was nothing short of gutsy, but through that The Iron Giant is able to craft a story about a growing bond that stands in direct opposition of the rampant paranoia of the time.
The result is a PG, animated movie that absolutely has as much appeal for adults as children. It’s one of the decade’s most heartfelt, moving works, and its mixture of traditional 2D hand-drawn animation and 3D CGI looks even more charmingly alluring today than it did in 1999.
3) Terminator 2: Judgment Day
It’s odd to call The Terminator straightforward, considering it’s a seamless blend of sci-fi, action, and horror, but compared to Terminator 2: Judgment Day it definitely is. The world that The Terminator introduced Judgment Day expanded considerably, all while still showing us just faint hints of the titular event and subsequent war itself.
Judgment Day is the gold standard of subverting the audience’s expectations. What was formerly a no-blooded killing machine has become a savior. Even more importantly, it’s become a father figure. Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor has become a full-on badass. Everything is a perfect blend of sticking with what sold the original film while turning everything up a notch, from the scope of its storytelling to the memorability and threat level of its villain.
Stream Terminator 2: Judgment Day on Paramount+.
