10 of the Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 21st Century

1. Children of Men (2006)

Sure, Gravity got all the critical praise, but Alfonso Cuarón’s masterpiece — and the best science fiction film of the new century — is Children of Men. The film paints a bleak portrait of a world without children and the man who is tasked with transporting the first pregnant woman in years to a seaside sanctuary. The long cuts used to such great effect in Gravity first appeared here to ramp up the tension in some really excellently staged action scenes. Meanwhile, Clive Owen’s harrowing journey through a world on life support is bolstered by turns from the likes of Julianne Moore, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Michael Caine. Both poignant and suspenseful, Children of Men is that rare science fiction film that works as both grim futurist fantasy and a reflection of the world in which we live.