Jumpers who teleport. A disfigured, masked Tom Cruise with a whack-job lover. Hungry raptors on the loose. These films — namely Jumper, Vanilla Sky, and Jurassic Park — all sound good, in theory. But these sci-fi stinkers, along with fourteen others, made our list of the worst in science-fiction cinema, from Vin Diesel’s character assassination in The Chronicles of Riddick to the dim-witted aliens in Signs.
Here’s your change to sound off about sci-fi flops we may have left off the list. Think the box-office bomb Battlefield Earth deserves a shout out? Have a least favorite Star Trek installment? Been itching to vent your hatred of Mars Attacks since 1996? Let us know below!
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Jurassic Park belongs on this list? Really, Marc?
If you were so anxious to put a Spielberg movie on there, you could’ve included either “A.I” or “War of the Worlds”. Not that I didn’t like either movie. I thought they both had brilliant moments throughout (especiall A.I.). Unfortuantely, Spielberg screwed the pooch in the last few minutes of each flick.
especially*
Please take Jurassic Park off the list.
“Blade Runner” has no business being on that list. None. I’d add the following 1) Aeon Flux 2) A.I. Artificial Intelligence 3) Gattaca (which I liked at the time but hasn’t aged well at all) 4) Lawnmower Man 5) Sunshine. I might add “The Cell” for the absolutely ridiculous premise and ludicrous plot but the movie’s absolutely gorgeous and it has a special place in my DVD collection.
“Jurassic Park” hasn’t aged well either but it was pretty awesome when it first came out. There are worse offenders out there (like, say, Jurassic Park 2 and 3)
I wish you hadn’t included “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” although I sort of understand why. I would add “Dreamcatcher” to this list. Somehow, the story of “sh*t weasels” kind of worked on the page, but REALLY didn’t translate to the screen.
Are you bloody kidding???!?!? Jurassic Park is a fantastic film that has aged extremely well considering how it pioneered CGI technology. It still looks convincing today. The story and storytelling are compelling. Truly Spielberg at his best. Perhaps even my favorite Spielberg… And then you go on ignoring the worst Spielberg, A.I., a stinker of a sci-fi film if there ever was one.
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It is also unfair to put Solaris on this list. Yes, it’s not as great as Tarkovsky’s original, but it is a compelling meditation on life and love featuring one of Clooney’s best performances.
I also can’t believe you included Blade Runner. There are just no words. I’m tempted to never come back to this site again…. (But I will
Dude, Jurassic Park is an awesome movie. Ridiculous choice.
Jurassic Park, Hitchhiker’s Guide and Blade Runner made this list? Are you people mentally retarted? Seriously, you’ve totally exposed yourself as hackish antagonists. There’s literally no way a serious author trying to pick the worst sci-fi movies of all time could EVER choose any of those 3. What a joke.
What, no Star Wars prequels on this list? For shame.
That saying, Buckaroo Banzai is wonderful because it’s so crack filled. With lines like “Remember, no matter where you go, there you are”, it’s so deliciously fun to MST3K with friends.
I was surprised that “Blade Runner” and “Jurassic Park” made this list. There are so many more terrible sci-fi movies out there, a couple of them starring Rutger Hauer. And I’m probably the only one who’ll put in a good word for “Solaris,” which probably should be classified as a drama and not as sci-fi so people don’t expect it to have lasers and massive explosions.
Are you f@#$ing retarded? Jurassic Park and Blade Runner are classic.
‘Vanilla Sky’ is a brilliant movie, and it still amazes me, EW’s hatred of it. And to consider it a sci-fi film is a bit of a stretch.
And I’ll agree with Meghan about “Buckaroo Banzai” as well. Great cult film. I’m all about the quirky.
Sci-fi is such a difficult genre to get right that there’s literally a steaming pile of films that got it wrong. Jurassic Park and Blade Runner do not belong on this list, especially with Johnny Mnemonic getting a free pass.
You’re not alone, Martha! Look below!
I love Jurassic Park and even own it on dvd. I don’t necessarily think the movie lived up to the novel, but then I don’t think they were going for the same thing. I think the movie accomplished what it wanted to quite well actually.
I stopped reading when I saw Jurassic Park. It came out 15 years ago this month (can you believe that??) and the CGI is still kind of astounding. It has likeable characters, good dialogue, and fabulous action sequences. I don’t understand its inclusion, or Blade Runner (WTF??) over other things like the clunky newer Star Wars films, I Am Legend, Johnny Mnemonic, Battlefield Earth, Lost in Space, do I need to go on? If you want to bash a Spielberg sci-fi, why didn’t you pick A.I.? You guys are crazy.
I just recently saw Blade Runner for the first time, so I kind of see why it made the list. Jurrasic Park I don’t get, though. Oh, and if you want bad to put on there? Please put Starship Troopers on the list. Please. Please oh please.
I see your inclusion of Jurassic Park and Blade Runner is to show your hipster, contrarian credentials. Fair enough. You’re entitled. But if you really want to go that route, then you should have included _2001: A Space Odyssey_, which is indecipherable and only has twenty minutes of actual story there. Or _The X Files Movie_, which was insulting on every level. Or _War of the Worlds_: stupid spaceships, stupid plot holes, and a crazy Tim Robbins. Or _The Butterfly Effect_: so laughably bad I couldn’t sit thru the whole film.
Jurassic Park? Are you serious? Thats a classic. Take that off and put something that really belongs on there (like Aeon Flux, Ultraviolet, War of the Worlds, The Star Wars prequels, the list goes on and on…)
and P.S. Am I the only person that actually likes the cheesyness of Mars Attacks? Surely its not art, but it was a good, fun, disposable sci-fi spoof.
Minority Report and War of the Worlds top my list. Spielberg and Cruise teamed up to make 2 of the worst all time movies! War of the Worlds was so bad, I tried to get my money back from Blockbuster after renting that garbage!
OK; I think part of the problem is Gretchen, not Marc. Marc prefaces the list as “misfires”. Now, this leaves it wide open – meaning, what didn’t live up to the hype, what fell short of expectations, what was only “good” when it had the potential to be “great”… The list is fairly broad enough that it doesn’t seem like any consistent definition. Nevertheless, Gretchen describes this as “the worst” in sci-fi. Uh, that’s quite a different classification. if you think Jurassic Park didn’t live up to the hype (I wouldn’t say that), you are entitled to say it’s a misfire. But to say it’s among the “worst” is flat out ridiculous. As far as AI…the potential for greatness is so apparent; what if Kubrick had lived thru filming.
The Jurassic Park inclusion has been resoundly beaten down, so thanks for that, everybody. If they wanted to go with a big shock selection, they could have picked Transformers.
While the logic is admittedly faulty, I really like Signs. I think Joaquin Phoenix does some of his best work there. Of course, I have always been a bit of an M. Night apologist. And I understand Event Horizon’s place, but I still kind of liked it. I would have replaced it with Supernova.
That is an important distinction Al. With that in mind, I have to again question the inclusion of Event Horizon, along with Bicentennial Man, Demolition Man and Solaris. I don’t remember a whole lot of hype and expectations attacehd to them.
What Jurassic Park?? At least I feel the love for it in this comment section. It’s still is, after several viewings, one of my go to movie!!!
To kyle: you have good suggestion of misfire…and I love Mars Attack!!! You are not alone!
I never saw Vanilla Sky but I saw it’s Spanish original Abre los Ojos which I loved. Oddly enough Penelope Cruz plays the same role in both.
I agree with everyone else. “Jurassic Park” is still great, and it holds up fine 15 years later. It’s not scary like it once was, but that’s only because we all know the answer to “Where’s the goat!?!?” Since you’re less gripped with fear all these years later, the funny/stupid moments just stick out a little more. My personal annoying moment is when Dr. Sattler is running to the utility building to turn on the power and she trips and slams her hands on a tree root in annoyance. For some reason that always bothered me. But I digress. I don’t think that means this movie hasn’t held up. It’s just lost the suspense that any movie does when you’ve seen it more than twice.
Oh, and I also have to profess my love for “Mars Attacks.” It’s not a good movie by any means, but it’s stupidly funny and ridiculously entertaining each time I watch it. Plus, it’s got such a weird and diverse ensemble cast.
Oh come on! You’ve included Buckaroo Bonzai and Blade Runner in your list of misfires?? Are you on glue??? They are two of the greatest sci-fi movies of the last 30 years.
You’ve included those two but missed out on the greatest sci-fi misfire ever, The Fifth Element. That movie was a disaster on every level.