Steven Spielberg has practically become synonymous with movies. He may be the most influential filmmaker in the world, with movies that have shaped Hollywood forever; he is definitely the most successful filmmaker of all time, with his filmography having grossed $10 billion dollars. He has received multiple awards, including three Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, a Cecil B. DeMille Award, an AFI Life Achievement Award, and a Kennedy Center Honor just to name a few. His career has spanned seven decades and has taken audiences to faraway worlds, introducing iconic characters and telling heartfelt emotional stories.
The director has dabbled in practically every imaginable genre, with action-adventure, horror, historical dramas, and now musicals, with his first being the magnificent remake of the classic musicalWest Side Story. Yet, one genre has defined the director, and that is science fiction. Since the early days of his career, the director has used the genre to tackle a wide array of topics from extraterrestrials, artificial intelligence, genetic manipulation, and more. The director has used science fiction ideas to tell contemporary stories, or ones that take audiences to the far future. In a vast career, these are Steven Spielberg’s best science fiction movies.
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8 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Universal Pictures
Other than the Indiana Jones franchise, Spielberg has often avoided sequels, but in 1997 returned to one of his biggest franchises with The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Set four years after the events of the first film, Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) goes to Isla Sona, the second island John Hammond used to breed dinosaurs, to rescue Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) while also dealing with InGen coming to the island with the attempt to bring dinosaurs back to the mainland.
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The film has great action sequences near the end that shows the fun of having a T. Rex interacting with the modern world in what has become an iconic moment in cinema, yet as good as the movie is, it often feels to be reiterating the original without really adding much more. The biggest thing working against The Lost World is that it is a sequel to one of Spielberg’s greatest films, and while that is not fair to the individual movie itself, it was always destined to live in its predecessors’ shadow.
7 Ready Player One
Warner Bros. Pictures
Ready Player One was a notable, if not a slightly contentious, book when it was published. The novel was filled with pop culture references and callbacks, but also many have raised concerns with the novel’s inflation of knowledge over pop culture gives one power and opened a conversation of gate keeping. The story is set in 2045 and involves Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a young man who, like the rest of the world, spends a lot of time in the virtual world of OASIS, and enters a contest in order to control the OASIS against an evil corporation who wants to profit off of it.
The film adaptation fixes some issues with the novel, as it is a visual medium that can show references instead of having to write them all out, and also dives deep into the Willy Wonka outline, with the trailer even using a cover of ‘Pure Imagination.’ While Ready Player One might not be his best film, even just an above average movie from Spielberg is still often much better than a lot of other filmmakers’ work, and there likely would not have been a better film version than this.
6 War of the Worlds
Dreamworks / Paramount Pictures
Released in 2005, War of the Worlds is an adaptation of the classic H.G Wells story of the same name about Martians who come to Earth to conquer and destroy. While the 1953 film was a parable for the fear of the Cold War, Spielberg’s version become a parallel for the fear America was dealing with in the wake of September 11th. The film uses quite a bit of 9/11 imagery, from the destruction leaving individuals covered in ash to the panic of the everyday person on the ground who has no idea what is happening or why.
The film has a great start but loses a bit of momentum in the third act when Tim Robbin’s character enters the story, an aspect of the book that likely needed to be reworked in the film adaptation. The film was a sharp departure from other Spielberg films, which tended to showcase aliens not as evil invaders but curious beings who came in peace; the brutality of the scary extraterrestrial monsters makes for an interesting piece of Spielberg’s filmography.
5 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Columbia Pictures
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a very special film for Spielberg. It was the first movie where he wrote the script himself (he would later go on to write A.I: Artificial Intelligence and The Fablemans, in theaters this Thanksgiving) and was a long-held passion project for the filmmaker. The film is about humanity’s attempts at first contact with alien life, seen through the eyes of blue-collar man Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfus), whose pursuit of the aliens begins taking over his life.
The movie was a massive success when it was released and was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, and in 2007 was selected by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. It is often regarded as one of the best sci-fi movies of all time and has influenced countless other films. Interestingly, Spielberg says there are elements he would change about it, as he is now a father himself he would not have the lead character leave his family behind for the aliens. Despite his feelings about the ending, Close Encounters of the Third Kind remains a marvel to behold.
4 Minority Report
20th Century Fox / Dreamworks
Loosely based on the short story by Phillip K. Dick, Minority Report is set in a 2054 when a special division of the police department (known as Pre-crime) apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge provided by three psychics called “pre-cogs.” At the center of the story is John Anderton (Tom Cruise), the Pre-crime commanding officer who finds himself on the run when he uncovers a conspiracy about the programming that then shows him committing a murder he will be arrested for.
Minority Report is both a non-stop action film but also a meditative neo-noir thriller. It tackles issues of free will versus determinism, and while the film’s theme of exploring a government protecting civilians at any cost regardless of ethical implications at the time was in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the war on terror, the themes and messages remain relevant to an audience today, as these conversations about government surveillance continue. Layering complex themes and an intricate plot into a blockbuster film is a tricky act, but Spielberg does it with such ease.
3 A.I: Artificial Intelligence
Warner Bros. / Dreamworks
A.I: Artificial Intelligence tells the story of David (Haley Joel Osment), a childlike android uniquely programmed with the ability to love. Like Ready Player One dug deep into the Willy Wonka comparison, A.I. uses references to Pinocchio literally in the text of the film, as David believes a blue fairy can make him a real boy. The movie was originally set to be directed by the late, great Stanley Kubrick, but he believed no child actor could pull of the role and handed the film off to Spielberg in 1995. The project gained traction following Kubrick’s death in 1999, as Spielberg wanted to make a tribute to his friend. Spielberg stuck very close to the film Kubrick wanted to make, and the ending, which is often attributed to Spielberg as being more his style of sentimentality, was actually from Kubrick, showcasing another side to the filmmaker.
Originally dismissed at the time of its release for being too sentimental, A.I. has grown in estimation among many as both a love letter to Kubrick and a rare insight into a film that might have been, and showing a darker side to Spielberg that would go on to define much of the director’s 21st century, post-9/11 work. The movie is incredibly dark, often disturbing, and an emotional gut-punch that brings the audience through the journey of a young boy and asks questions of love and what defines a soul. Even the ending has a hint of sadness to it, and makes it one of Spielberg’s darkest and possibly his most underrated film that gets better with time.
2 Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park is one of the most groundbreaking movies of all time, an icon of cinema where people the world over know it. The basic premise of a theme park where dinosaurs were brought to life was an instant hit with audiences, and for a time Jurassic Park was the highest-grossing movie of all time. It shattered expectations and is a testament to movie magic.
The film showcases Spielberg at his best, perfectly mixing the childlike wonder and awe of seeing a dinosaur in the modern day but also shifting tones midway through the film to the terror of what happens when these animals are let through. The visual effects still work after all these years and remains a marvel to behold, but what has made Jurassic Park endure so much over generations and keeps bringing people back is the characters, so much that part of the appeal behind Jurassic World: Dominion is uniting the original three characters for the first time since 1993.
1 E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
Universal Pictures
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is one of the most iconic films in the world, with the image of Elliot and E.T. flying across the moon almost a universal shorthand for movie magic. The image was used as the logo for Spielberg’s company Amblin, which just signed a multi-movie deal with Netflix. Projects like Stranger Things, Super 8, Goonies, and more all trace their influence back to E.T. This simple story of a young boy finding a lost and scared alien and forming a friendship is both a simple story but one that is rooted in such a deeply personal place for Spielberg.
Divorce and broken families have often been at the center of many Spielberg movies, and Elliot in many ways is a Steven Spielberg stand-in, a young man who cares for his younger sister after their parent’s divorce and a kid who is caught up in this amazing world. Even the idea of E.T. as a friendly alien, in contrast to many other aliens on film, speaks to Spielberg’s optimism and humanistic view of the world and others. It could be said that E.T. is the director’s quintessential movie, one of Spielberg’s best of all time.
When E.T. opened it was a massive hit, and even overtook Star Wars to become the highest-grossing movie, a record the film would hold until Spielberg topped it with Jurassic Park. It received multiple award nominations, is often regarded as not only one of the best sci-fi movies but best movies period, and even today after all these years is an entertaining, sweet, and heartfelt story that can be enjoyed among families.
