Entertainment
6 Worst Sci-Fi Movies of the 1990s
Science fiction was experiencing a renaissance in the ‘90s, even if not every film within the genre was successful. Independence Day and Jurassic Park shot to the top of the list of highest-grossing films ever made, and there were a number of “out there” sci-fi blockbusters that ended up being both critical and commercial successes, such as Total Recall and Twelve Monkeys. This was the decade that launched the Men in Black series, brought about Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and brought about a number of “guilty pleasure” sci-fi films starring the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone, and Keanu Reeves. Of course, the genre changed in 1999 thanks to two of the most influential sci-fi films ever made; The Matrix opened up a new era of visual and philosophical possibilities for cyberbunk and tech noir, and Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace initiated a divide within the Star Wars fanbase that has only grown more complicated as the franchise has grown into different iterations.
There are still a number of studio executives and marketing gurus who didn’t “get” sci-fi, and that resulted in some astounding failures that entirely missed the mark. It’s often that the sci-fi films that didn’t resonate were those that were either based on nostalgic properties or attempting to evoke classical traditions that were no longer in touch; even if audiences showed that they were interested in hip, inventive new sci-fi films like Gattaca and Dark City, there were still attempts to dig up the past and offer the same thing as before. The fact that there were so many genuine masterpieces of sci-fi within this decade makes the misfires stand out even more.
6
‘Alien: Resurrection’ (1997)
Alien: Resurrection is about as disappointing of an ending as fans of the Alien franchise could ask for because it seemed to understand none of what made the previous films successful, and worst of all failed to do anything interesting with the character of Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). Even though there is a charm in the fact that every subsequent entry in the series has more or less ignored the events of its predecessor, Alien: Resurrection felt completely out of place with how it skipped past the noble sacrifice made by Ripley at the end of Alien 3. While both of these films were messes, David Fincher had at least presented a number of compelling ideas in Alien 3 and made a visually stunning spectacle; in Alien: Resurrection, the aesthetic sensibilities of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and sardonic dialogue of Joss Whedon simply did not congeal.
Alien: Resurrection is simply not very scary, exciting, or intelligent in its plot, and it reduces the mythology of one of the greatest science fiction franchises of all-time into a cheap creature feature.
5
‘Lost in Space’ (1998)
Lost in Space is one of the more disastrous attempts to reboot a classic television show because it did not make the right choices in what to adopt from the original series. Although it is easy to criticize the CGI of an older film that had less advanced effects, Lost in Space looked terrible at the time, especially in comparison to other films of the same decade, like Men in Black or Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace. The outer space battles contain no sense of scale and the interiors, planets, and cockpits are all remarkably flat and uninteresting.
The biggest issue with Lost in Space is the cast, as it never feels as if the Robinsons are an actual family that care about one another, and the film can’t seem to settle on a main character. Matt LeBlanc’s portrayal of a hotshot pilot is so ridiculous that it could basically stand-in for an in-universe Friends project that looked at what Joey Tribbiani’s acting career might look like. It’s hard to not feel bad for the late great William Hurt, one of the greatest actors of all-time, who seems to be thoroughly embarrassed by what he’s signed up for.
4
‘Inspector Gadget’ (1999)
Inspector Gadget is another misfire of a television adaptation that simply didn’t understand the right tone to crack in order to be compelling in a different medium. One of the reasons that the original cartoon series was so popular was that it incorporated visual inventiveness and quirky humor that worked specifically within the realm of animation; when translated into live-action, it’s blunt and awkward, feeling closer to the dark satire of Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop than a family-friendly adventure film.
Matthew Broderick’s performance doesn’t work at all, as it was a bad idea to cast someone known for their gregarious, charismatic persona and give them the role of a robot. Broderick is a great actor who proved within the next decade that he was perfectly suited for independent dramas and stage work, but the double blow of Inspector Gadget and Roland Emmerich’s completely derided 1998 Godzilla film proved that he should stay far away from blockbusters altogether.
3
‘Memoirs of an Invisible Man’ (1992)
Memoirs of an Invisible Man is the film that broke the hot streak of John Carpenter, who had been making nothing but genre masterpieces since his 1974 directorial debut Dark Star. Although the idea of seeing Carpenter take on a concept associated with H.G. Wells’ classic novel The Invisible Man seemed like an exciting prospect, Memoirs of an Invisible Man fell apart because of the casting of Chevy Chase, one of the most notoriously “difficult” actors in Hollywood. Chase caused such stress and frustration for Carpenter on set that the film is barely comprehensible, and doesn’t feel like the product of anyone’s vision; even though there are problems baked into the script from the beginning, it’s easy to imagine that Memoirs of an Invisible Man might have at least been somewhat watchable had someone else taken on the lead role.
Chase was a poor casting choice, as the character is designed to be free of charisma and completely haunted. The best work Chase has done is when he plays charming, snarky tricksters who are given the room to do physical gags, so restricting him to playing an invisible character was a terrible idea.
2
‘Star Trek: Insurrection’ (1998)
Star Trek: Insurrection isn’t quite the worst film in the Star Trek franchise, as it isn’t as utterly incompetent as Star Trek V: The Final Frontier or as tonally misjudged as Star Trek: Nemesis, but it is by far the most boring. The advantage that the crew of the original series had is that their show had never been completed, and they went on to take on older, more seasoned versions of their characters over a decade after they had been off the air. Star Trek: The Next Generation was a massively successful show that ran for seven seasons and cycled out through nearly every good idea with the characters, and the films didn’t start coming out long enough after for them to feel like events. While Star Trek: First Contact at least had fun because it was basically “Die Hard on the Enterprise,” Star Trek: Insurrection just felt like an overlong television episode.
Star Trek: Insurrection features another metaphor for the “Fountain of Youth” that felt derivative of the show, and included one of the worst villain performances in the franchise from F. Murray Abraham. There was also a strange decision to try and create a friendship between Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Data (Brett Spiner) that was equivalent to that of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in the prior films, despite the fact that it didn’t bear anything in common with the dynamic that they had on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
1
‘The Postman’ (1997)
The Postman was a massive disaster for Kevin Costner, who was directing his second feature after Dances With Wolves, a gigantic hit that had won him the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director (in what became known as a controversial victory over Goodfellas and Martin Scorsese). Costner clearly loves the Western genre, but The Postman was a strange roundabout way of making a classical gunslinger film because it is set within a post-apocalyptic America in which technology has regressed to that of the 19th century. Costner doesn’t even play the titular “postman” that the title refers to, as he is actually a Shakespearean actor who disguises himself as a mail carrier and becomes regarded as a messianic figure.
Costner put too much on his own shoulders by investing in a script that had to do a tremendous amount of worldbuilding, but still sparked more questions than it did answers. It wasn’t the only massively unsuccessful science fiction, post-apocalyptic action film that Costner made in the ‘90s, but Waterworld is a fairly enjoyable guilty pleasure with entertaining performances, and is not a slog like The Postman. Costner may have been able to get away with a three hour long running time for Dances With Wolves, but nothing in The Postman justified a length that was so excruciating.
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