20 Greatest Sci-Fi Films Of The 21st Century

5. District 9

Something about sci-fi seems to lend itself to young filmmakers; most of the films on this list are either debut films or are some of the first by their directors and even historically, movies like Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind were movies made by young, hungry filmmakers. Since the turn of the century, no debut science fiction filmmaker has bettered Neil Blomkamp's District 9, a movie that blends old-fashioned sci-fi craft with a biting social commentary. In the near future, years after a lone alien spacecraft comes to rest directly over Johannesburg, South Africa, Wikus van de Merwe becomes the most wanted man in the world after he is exposed to alien technology that begins to alter him genetically, forcing him to take refuge in the alien slum that sprung up in the aftermath of first contact. With a fiercely original story, special effects that hold up well with movies made for six or seven times as much, and fascinating ideas hiding beneath the surface, District 9 is one of the best debut films of the 2000's and one of the best sci-fi films of the century, period.