The Wachowski siblings’ The Matrix took the world by storm when it was first released back in 1999. This was more than just your average, run-of-the-mill sci-fi actioner. This was a groundbreaking masterpiece that challenged moviegoers’ conception of their own reality. It combined influences from William Gibson’s cyberpunk novels, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Japanese kung fu cinema to deliver a movie unlike any we’d ever seen before.

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But it was not the first or last science fiction film to capture the hearts and minds of the moviegoing public like that. So, here are 10 Mind-Boggling Sci-Fi Movies To Watch If You Like The Matrix.

Updated on May 22nd, 2020 by Ben Sherlock: The Matrix remains one of the most beloved science fiction movies ever made. Its worldbuilding, set pieces, and themes make it a high benchmark for the genre. A fourth film in The Matrix saga had been in production before the outbreak of the coronavirus; now, filming has been delayed indefinitely. So, as long as the wait for The Matrix 4 is going to be even longer, we’ve updated this list with a handful of entries.

Minority Report

Tom Cruise in Minority Report

Adapted from a Philip K. Dick story, Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report is a rare science fiction film with an incredibly rich premise that actually explores that premise in the depth it deserves. Tom Cruise plays a cop in a future where law enforcement agencies can predict crimes before they take place – and he’s found guilty of the murder of a man he’s never met that’s set to take place in a few days.

On the surface, it’s a fun sci-fi twist on the fugitive-tries-to-clear-his-name thriller, but going deeper than that, it’s an exploration of how time works and the ethics of this crimefighting concept.

Snowpiercer

Curtis points a gun at an enemy in Snowpiercer

Set in a world ravaged by a new ice age where the last surviving humans live on a constantly moving train, Snowpiercer is a poignant study of class struggle. Chris Evans stars as the leader of a revolution by the poorer classes against their rich, gun-toting overlords.

From director Bong Joon-ho, who recently won a boatload of Oscars for his film Parasite, Snowpiercer is a sci-fi epic that realizes the full potential of its ripe premise.

Arrival

Amy Adams in Arrival

Movies about humankind’s first contact with alien life are ten a penny, but Denis Villeneuve’s take on this sci-fi subgenre stands as a truly cerebral, thought-provoking example. The aliens in Arrival come in peace, and they’re trying to communicate with us.

Amy Adams plays a linguistics expert who’s recruited to decipher the aliens’ language and figure out what they’re trying to say. Arrival’s greatest asset is its poignant twist ending, which touches on what it really means to be human.

The Terminator

Arnold Schwarzenegger aiming a gun in The Terminator

Inspired by a fever dream James Cameron had in which a relentless flaming android was coming toward him, The Terminator masterfully blends contemplative sci-fi concepts and visceral thrills by way of a slickly constructed neo-noir.

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as the titular cyborg, while Linda Hamilton plays the soon-to-be mother of the Resistance that he’s sent back in time to ruthlessly hunt down. Once the movie gets going, it doesn’t let up – sort of like its eponymous antagonist.

Children Of Men

In a world where all women are infertile and the last human beings are quickly aging towards death, Clive Owen is tasked with protecting the only pregnant woman from swarms of post-apocalyptic crazies who want to get their hands on her baby.

Alfonso Cuarón’s direction brings an intense realism to every scene – particularly one long tracking shot, which was nailed by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. Amid wannabes like The Hunger Games, this movie represents dystopian fiction at its best.

Inception

The hallway fight in Inception

Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way right off the bat. As soon as Christopher Nolan’s Inception was released, parallels were drawn with The Matrix. But aside from its combination of lofty sci-fi concepts and breathtaking action sequences, the two really don’t have much in common.

Inception is a heist movie, but instead of stealing money or jewels, Dom Cobb and his team are plotting to steal an idea by entering a man’s dreams. The film gets very complicated when it delves into dreams within dreams within dreams, but much like The Matrix, it is a viewing experience unlike any other.

Annihilation

Natalie Portman faces a monster in Annihilation

The best thing about Annihilation is that its premise is never fully explained. There’s nothing scarier in the real world than unexplained scientific phenomena, and as it turns out, there’s nothing scarier than that in the movie world, too.

Alex Garland’s follow-up to his fantastic directorial debut Ex Machina stars Natalie Portman as the leader of an all-female group of scientists heading into “the Shimmer,” a quarantined zone filled with plants and animals that are mutating to become distorted, disturbing versions of themselves. It’s a visual delight, and as with all the best sci-fi movies, there’s an overriding human theme: grief.

Ghost In The Shell

A still from Ghost in the Shell (1995) of Major Kusanagi

Not the whitewashed, CGI-laden live-action remake starring Scarlett Johansson – the 1995 anime original. With the deceptively simplistic premise of a security agent hunting down a hacker, Ghost in the Shell explores the philosophical reflections of a world dominated by advanced technology.

Director Mamoru Oshii masterfully uses the world of the future to hold a mirror up to the world of the present, all with beautiful animation and an impeccable score by Kenji Kawai. Ghost in the Shell actually had a tremendous influence on the Wachowskis when they were mapping out The Matrix trilogy and visualizing how it was going to look.

Total Recall

Arnold Schwarzenegger in the memory implant machine in Total Recall

This is the 1990 original, not the 2012 remake. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a blue-collar guy in a near-future world who hears about a new company that implants memories of vacations in your head, which is cheaper than actually going on the vacations.

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So, he goes to their offices, asks for the memories of a spy mission to Mars, and midway through the simulation, he comes to and thinks he is actually a spy who went to Mars. The movie is a mind-bending tapestry of plot twists. Just when you think you know what’s going on, someone comes along to tell you that you’re wrong. It’s a real head-trip.

The Thing

Kurt Russell looking through a cloud of smoke in The Thing.

John Carpenter’s The Thing is probably closer to a horror movie than a sci-fi movie, but there are sci-fi elements and it is mind-boggling, so it earns its inclusion on this list. It stars Kurt Russell as one of a group of American scientists at a remote Arctic outpost who are faced with a malicious alien creature that can take the form of anything – including any of them.

This leads to all the scientists becoming paranoid and not trusting each other. Ennio Morricone provided the tense musical score, which helps to create a sense of claustrophobic terror, while Carpenter’s typically sharp direction carries the whole thing.

Moon

Moon is the directorial debut of Duncan Jones, the son of David Bowie, and it’s just as simultaneously thoughtful and surreal as his dad’s music. The premise seems boring on paper, but it slowly becomes an introspective ride.

The plot sees Sam Rockwell’s lone character on a three-year mining expedition to the Moon in the near future, excited to complete his third year and return to his family on Earth, when he begins to realize that his reality isn’t all that it seems and his mental state devolves. Plus, not to spoil anything too specific here, but there’s an earth-shattering plot twist that makes a second viewing vital.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Joel Clementine

Charlie Kaufman’s incredible screenplay for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind uses a sci-fi premise to tell a very human story. It stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as a couple who enjoy a short but passionate relationship before Winslet breaks up with Carrey, leaving him heartbroken.

That’s where the sci-fi element comes in: there’s a company that claims to be able to remove memories from people’s heads. So, Carrey hires them to erase Winslet from his memories, but something goes wrong and he’s left stranded in his own mind, sifting through murky memories. It’s a breathtaking movie, directed spectacularly by the great Michel Gondry.

Twelve Monkeys

Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys is a feature-length remake of the seminal French short film La Jetée, which has a cyclical narrative that gives the audience an existential shock. Gilliam’s film has that, but it also has two A-list stars – Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt – and a sci-fi plot involving time travel, dystopia, and a devastating viral outbreak.

Its bleak vision of the future is simply unforgettable. The movie was followed a couple of decades later by a TV adaptation on Syfy, which ran for four seasons and, to a lot of people’s surprise, was pretty fantastic.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey might just be his finest film, and sci-fi cinema’s defining work. It released back in 1968 – before Star Wars, or Close Encounters, or Alien, or even the Moon landing. A cinematic epic in the truest sense, 2001 begins with the seminal “Dawn of Man” sequence, which suggests that apes first evolved into humans when they discovered violence and began using it to solve all their problems.

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The movie only gets deeper and more thought-provoking from there, with musings on artificial intelligence, extraterrestrial existence, and the meaning of life. Dozens of viewings later, you’ll still be discovering new things.

Blade Runner

A wide shot of Los Angeles in Blade Runner

Ridley Scott’s sci-fi neo-noir Blade Runner might have bombed at the box office when it was first released, thanks to competition from mega-hit E.T., but it has gone on to be regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. Harrison Ford stars as Rick Deckard, a “blade runner” whose job is to hunt down androids who have left their post and assimilated themselves into society.

But it’s not just a schlocky pulp action movie about a cop chasing robots – it’s a contemplative, existential masterwork that makes you question the nature of identity. It was followed by a surprisingly great sequel, but no matter how great the sequel was, nothing could top the original.

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