10 Sci-Fi Movies One Step From Perfection
Just one little change would have put The Faculty in the hall of fame...
Is there anything more frustrating than an almost-perfect movie?
You know the sort we mean—four star near-miss would-be classics which are one fatal flaw from being perfect, the sort of movie you’ll still champion to friends and family even as you stand there knowing they’ll leave the multiplex perplexed by the same small problem that’s still playing on your mind.
These aren’t bad films by any means—and if anything that’s what makes this phenomenon so uniquely annoying. Some of the flicks listed here are stone cold classics, but they’re nonetheless plagued by one persistent problem which we can’t help but wish away every time we sit down to a re-watch. Others are just solid genre efforts which deserve to be seen, but will always come accompanied by the addendum “Yeah it’s well worth a watch—I just really wish they hadn’t…”
Whether it’s a misjudged ending, a third act twist we wanted to write out, or a character who should have been jettisoned one draft before production began, here are ten science fiction films which were just one step from reaching genre nirvana.
10. Annihilation's Pointless Infidelity Sub-Plot
We’re well aware that calling 2018’s Annihilation anything other than an instant classic will result in some furious debates, but there is an issue with The Beach scribe Alex Garland’s sci-fi horror adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel of the same name, and like the helmer’s earlier Ex Machina, we refuse to avoid criticizing the flick just because it’s so close to perfection.
Okay so admittedly half of our staff here at WhatCulture HQ love the bleak ending of Ex Machina. But that half are, unfortunately, objectively wrong.
Early on in the moody, esoteric sci-fi thriller, we’re given glimpses of what seems to be a flashback to our protagonist’s affair during her marriage to soldier husband Oscar Isaacs. The plot hole isn’t the lack of explanation as to why anyone would cheat on Isaacs, though that’s also a fair question—he was Lewellyn Davis, no one would miss their chance.
No, the problem is—why does this subplot exist? It’s generous to call it a “subplot”, given that the momentary flashes don’t serve to flesh out the protagonist’s character, nor do they deepen the story or change its outcome. We’d understand if Portman’s heroine was plagued with guilt, but she seems to have forgotten any infidelity has happened—just like most of the movie has.