Dystopiansci-fiis a quite beloved space within the genre. Let’s be honest, there are far more sci-fi films that are set in a dystopia rather than a utopia. We can’t fully understand why, but it may have something to do with the fact that it’s just more thought-provoking, deep, complex, thrilling, and plain realistic considering where our real world is heading in these current times. Not to mention, dystopian movies are often associated with strong visual imagery that veers toward a darker nature, and most audiences these days love dark and gritty.
Any film can be written to be set in a dystopia, but for it to come alive and capture the proper aesthetic for that setting, that is entirely dependent on talent, skill, and vision. It doesn’t always succeed. It requires strong filmmaking and cinematography. But there are many that capture it quite perfectly and vividly. Here are 10 of those films.
10Blade Runner (1982)
Let’s start off with the big Kahuna. The mother load. The ultimate dystopian classic. The film that created a benchmark for the aesthetic and set a standard by which all future films in the genre are destined to compete, visually speaking. And it’s a testament to thewonderful abilities of Ridley Scott, who to this day, remains of cinema’s greatest auteurs, and who is nearly always praised for his masterful visuals and world-building.Blade Runnercaptures all the perfect dystopian elements in its cinematography, atmosphere, and VFX, which still hold up today.
9Babylon A.D. (2008)
Now we’ll pivot to the other side of the spectrum, with a film that was an utter bomb upon release, critically berated, plagued by an unforgettable amount of production issues and negative hype, and slowly but surely finding its way into becoming a cult classic of sorts. But there are a few things about this film that are criminally underrated, and one of them is its cinematography.
The dystopian world presented in the movie is impeccably constructed and shot. From the gritty post-nuclear street life of Eastern Europe (imagine riding a train over an actual bomb crater!) to bare-knuckle cage fighting in gnarly Russian clubs, to a futuristic, cold neon Manhattan, this film has one of the most stylish, unique, realistic, darkest, and coolest aesthetic ever put on film. Whatever other issues the movie may have, no one can take away that it visually captured a dark dystopian future wonderfully.
8The Matrix (1999)
Here we have another benchmark of the genre, one that isarguably more influential thanBlade Runner, even.The Matrixbrought a far scarier, sinister, and realistic dystopia to film than any other before or since, arguably.And with the rise of AI today, it may also be the most prophetic. The aesthetic of the movie’s setting is a literal dystopian nightmare brought to life, with dark, cold, and gloomy skies constantly overlooking the lifeless, drab remnants of civilization as countless industrialized walls holding pods with comatose humans, are erect everywhere.
And while the aesthetic of the inner world of the matrix is contrasted with the real world with more color and vibrancy, there is still a sinister coldness that permeates the digital world, present in every scene, every wall, every car, every person walking, and a slight drabness to the color scheme everywhere that tones down the vibrancy just a bit, to show you its “like” the real world but a little less colorful and real… and that’s another credit to the incredible aesthetic achieved here. It doesn’t only show you the nightmare setting, but also makes youfeelit through the visuals as well.
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7Children of Men (2006)
Children of Menhas one of the more harrowing settings of the genre, simply because it feels like less a stylish dystopia and more like an utterly realistic, sad, and depressing fast-forward into the future of our current real-world affairs. Horrific environmental damage that ended up affecting humankind’s ability to produce, thus, giving civilization an hourglass of existence. The furthering chaos of immigration and border control, due to deteriorating geopolitics. Society adapting a survivalist attitude, with crime, betrayal, paranoia, and terrorism, all at their most heightened, permeating every factor of civil life… all this sound familiar?
That’s exactly what makes this specific dystopian setting more terrifying in the realistic sense than any other, because it feels like we’re halfway there, hoping it doesn’t extend further. And the film’s bleak aesthetic captures it all flawlessly, in dark, drab, hopeless, depressing totality. It’s no wonder the film ended up winning the Oscar for Best Cinematography,courtesy of the maestro Emmanuel Lubezki
6The Hunger Games (2012)
The Hunger Gamesis quite an interesting example of the genre because it is one of, if not the most, financially successful film set in a dystopia, and one of the few whose target audience were teens and young adults, due to the success of the novel it’s based on being erected mainly by that fan base. You rarely see a dystopian film knowingly thrown into the mainstream like this one was. Of course, it had to do with other factors such as the lead actress and the action elements as well. But what was more surprising in the end result was that none of the hype managed to deter from the quality of the film’s aesthetic.
The talent behind the camera, Director/Co-Writer Gary Ross and Cinematographer Tom Stern, took great care in establishing the dystopian setting and the contrasting classes of societies, from the cold, drab, poor villages of our main character, to the colorful, eccentric, and unique world of the upper class, wealthy elites that live lavishly and orchestrate the title games… instead of going the easy route of throwing something together cheap and lazy just for a paycheck. Because let’s face it, the film would’ve made money regardless, and so the creative team could’ve phoned in it for easy money, expecting the film to ride on hype and star power, but they didn’t. And that passion and care came through in the visuals.
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5Elysium (2013)
This is another dystopian film that heavily deals with the struggle between social classes, but grittier and contemporary. Its thematic focus is the deterioration of our environment and our immigration system. And it has a hell of an aesthetic to match! Neill Blomkamp, who made the sci-fi classicDistrict 9, creates an atmosphere that is murky, grimy, and filthy on a barely recognizable and ghastly earth. And contrasts it beautifully with the hi-tech, clean, bright, and wealthy world ofElysium.
4Gamer (2009)
Unlike many of the genre classics already mentioned, this one is criminally underrated. At least for the world it creates. Because that world seems like another mirror reflection of our future society. Human life becomes digitally interconnected in unthinkable ways, the obsession with gaming has birthed a “virtual” type of living, capitalist monopolies have found a way for people to use bodily autonomy against others, etc. We could write a long essay about how brilliant of a satire this film is, and how it was prophetic in certain ways about the direction many things in society are being taken to, and not very good places at that. But the most underrated aspect of the film is its aesthetic and visuals.
To some, they may appear to be grimy, ugly, and cheap. But when you analyze it thoroughly, everything about the film’s aesthetic is specifically tied together to match the dystopian world it’s taking place in. A world of chaos, both physical and digital, a world of class struggle and poverty, a world under control in the most disturbing of ways, a world where the manipulation of actual humans is done in games for fun and entertainment. The combination of hectic action, grimy color combinations, weird characters, shootouts doused in sweat, spit, and bullets, ADD camerawork, and editing through a whirlwind of dirty scenes showered in neon light, the infamous “piss in a car engine” scene. It all works together both beautifully and hideously to match the chaotic dystopian nightmare of the film’s world…. a world that seems closer and closer to becoming “reality”.
3Strange Days (1995)
Another underrated gem is this ’90s cult classic, and one of the most uniquely captivating and bizarre films ever made. It takes place in a dystopian setting with a cyberpunk atmosphere, creating an aesthetic that’s a gritty, thrilling combination of the two. The streets of NYC are thoroughly dark and dystopian, mired in violent protests and clashes, social chaos, class upheaval, police brutality, and constant paranoia.
And the aspects of cyberpunk such as integrated technology andtrans-humanistic experiencesare cool but creepy, and some downright nauseating and disturbing. There are even shades of film noir in certain corners. That’s what makes the aesthetic about this film truly stand out among the genre, is the merger of different cinematic atmospheres into a singular, stylish, and unforgettable visual aesthetic while keeping all the shades feeling dystopian, gritty, and paranoid. It also has a very ’90s vibe, which gives it an air of nostalgia.
2Equilibrium (2002)
Out of all the films mentioned,Equilibriumarguably has the most “dystopian” feel and aesthetic to it. Less grandiose and stylish and more simple in its color palette, this is what a dystopian society in the real world wouldactuallyfeel like. Drab, lifeless, colorless, cold, mechanical, sad, hollow, and of course, dark. The filmmaker must have wanted the aesthetic to match the general premise of the film, humans being suppressed of their emotions and anything in their life providing depth or purpose like art, music, relationships, or love.
And boy did he knock it out of the park. The film looks exactly how the world in it feels, and how you should feel watching it. It’s pretty much a more depressing, darker, and action-packed version ofThe Giver.
1Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
How the list began, so it shall end.With the sequel to the big kahuna, the mother load, the ultimate dystopian classic. Some would see it as a cheap option since the sequel should, generally speaking, have a similar type of aesthetic to the original film. But boy, oh boy, that’s not the case! That’s why we decided to talk about the sequel separately. Because it follows the aesthetic of the first film, it doesn’t copy it. Denis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins, two of the greatest geniuses to ever work in cinema, absolutely get right what every sequel should do, which is extending the story and world, not copying it all over again. The setting and atmosphere feel familiar but fresh. The colors feel modern and lush yet nostalgic.
The technology, outfits, and designs, all feel updated and advanced. Everything about the cinematography brings back familiar shades of the original aesthetic but amplifies it to a whole new level, pushing everything to a potently futuristic degree while keeping a dystopian vibe, a sense of coldness and detachment, and a slight sense of dwindling humanity, all pulsating through virtually every shot. And very few sequels have managed to pull off something as grand and special as this. That’s whyBlade Runner 2049deserves to be seen as its own masterpiece, separate from the original, and not just another “sequel”.
