2009: Bringin' Sci Fi Back?

It's pretty much fact that science fiction cinema had its heyday back in the 1970's and to a lesser extent the 1980's, with the genre stretched from thought provoking parables like Planet of the Apes and 2001: A Space Odessy, to fantasy space operas like Star Wars, to gritty visions of humanity's future like Blade Runner. After that strong 20-ish year run, Sci Fi has occupied a place of neglected bastard-childism, with it's strong entries more thoroughly entrenched within larger genres like horror and action. However, after slight glimpses of the genre reaching back up from the ashes, with films like Danny Boyle's Sunshine and arguably the new Battlestar Galactica showing us what the genre could be. With those films as the exception, Sci Fi has been relegated to a minor role in the cinematic landscape, often the foundation for the most egregious direct-to-dvd schlock and George Lucas' psycho-sexual little man fantasies called the prequel trilogy...until now.

2009 has become the official year of Science Fiction, with the genre making its triumphant return over the course of a summer that most thought would be lackluster at best. Starting with May's release of JJ Abrams' Star Trek, movie that brought back the fun action fantasy of the orginal Star Wars trilogy, with an exciting, hero's journey-based adventure story, great special effects, extremely likeable characters and kickass action. Sure, some old-school Trek fans were a bit put off by this entry in the series' turn toward a more crowd pleasing tone and its closeness to the Star Wars franchise, but a higher quality, more fun science fiction flick can't be found within the last decade.

Next up, in June, would come a successor to the deeply thoughtful, intense practical and model effects put forth by films like Blade Runner in Duncan Jones' Moon. For all intents and purposes, the film features Sam Rockwell by himself for the entire runtime, reminding us once again of his way under-appreciated talent. The atmosphere the film manages to create is also impressive, instilling a sense of loneliness and isolation with relative ease, and spreading a palpable sense of paranoia over the audience. The effects are also amazing, making use of practical sets and models to an extent that's not seen very often these days. The film establishes itself as a modern Sci Fi classic and Jones as a filmmaker to keep an eye on.

The slow lead up to the next film that would further establish 2009 as the year of Sci Fi's triumphant return only helped it's surprising critical and financial success. The story of aliens stuck on Earth and enduring the prejudices and poor treatment that the human race is capable of that grounds Neill Blomkamp's District 9 was also what made many people doubt the film's possible success. However, the Peter Jackson-produced film keenly mixed its humanist message with jaw-dropping digital effects and astonishing action to create a memorable cinematic experience, that went much farther than simply being the Planet of the Apes of our time.

We've yet to see James Cameron's return to the Science Fiction genre, Avatar, but promises to cap off the year and and seal 2009 as the year that brought Sci fi back. Here's hoping it lives up to half the hype it's generated for itself.