10 Greatest Meta Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time

The wonderful thing about science fiction as a genre is that literally anything can happen and things are not always what they seem to be. What a character thinks is reality is often times not reality at all.

However, it can go a step beyond reality not really being real. These films can take us to worlds where fiction and reality become interchangeable and the lines between what is real and what is imaginary become blurred.

To put it simply, sci-fi movies can get really freaking meta. It doesn't always work out, though - infamous bombs like the 2015 film Pixels can attest to that. Sometimes meta elements are just too weird, too heavy handed or just plain too dumb to land with an audience. But when it works we get very special films, movies which can make the audience believe that maybe their world isn't as it seems.

This is a collection of those films that are most enhanced by their meta narratives and fourth wall breaking elements. These are movies that in one way or another stand out as true classics of science fiction. Here are some of the greatest meta science fiction movies of all time.

Here are some films that didn't quite make the top ten list but still deserve some recognition for their meta elements and general greatness.

My Name is Bruce

This is a fun exercise in meta filmmaking, in which Bruce Campbell plays a fictional version himself recruited to fight real monsters. Alas, in spite of being a really good film it just doesn't qualify as sci-fi.

Men In Black 2

Men in Black 2 is a meta narrative because of Mysteries in History, an old In Search Of style UFO documentary series focused on the adventures of the men in black. The hokey conspiracy show opens the movie, providing backstory and returns later to play a key part. Unfortunately this meta element is just one small part of the larger plot

Cloak & Dagger

This is a movie about an apparently mentally ill kid with a spy computer game and an hallucinated spy friend, being chased by real spies. While it sounds cute this kid is in petty serious danger and even straight up shoots a guy. It's got sci-fi elements but leans more heavily into the spy genre.

Naked Lunch

Sure, it's pretty meta but this movie is more of a bad acid trip than sci-fi.