8. Gattaca
The best science fiction films are more about ideas and less about special effects (see: Looper). Gattaca is a film planted firmly in the realm of its futuristic world, where men and women are genetically engineered to be successful, wealthy members of society, or the worker bees who keep things running but will never find fortune. Hawke plays Vincent, a man genetically inferior in this future world who finds a way to use the identity of a genetically superior man in order to realize his life long dream of space travel. Hawke, again, embodies the yearning for a better life as well as any actor in history. And as the screws tighten on Vincent's scheme he remains calm while still conveying the adequate amount of nervous tension.