By Brian VanHooker Published Sep 29, 2026, 10:05 PM EDT Polygon Lists It's been a solid decade for science fiction cinema, and there's still a few years left to go
Image: Warner Bros. Pictures Sign in to your Polygon.com account Add Us Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Thread 1 Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap There are still a few years left in the 2020s, but it’s already been a fantastic decade for science fiction movies. The Dune films are likely the biggest highlight, as director Denis Villeneuve has finally brought the proper scale to Frank Herbert’s novels from the 1960s. The 2010s were certainly a better decade for the superhero sub-genre of sci-fi than the 2020s have been, particularly for Marvel Studios, but there have still been some breakout comic book films like Deadpool & Wolverine , Superman , and Spider-Man movie that broke every box office record in Hollywood history. Even some non-franchise sci-fi films have managed to achieve greatness, like Project Hail Mary .
Of course, a huge part of the success of these films has been their scripts, which is why I decided to take a crack at figuring out the best sci-fi quotes of the decade thus far. There are a lot of good ones to choose from and plenty of room for debate. And surely, as the 2020s advance, at least a couple of these quotes will be eclipsed by others. But for now, these five are the best I could find.
Image: Warner Bros Pictures/The Everett Collection Bong Joon Ho’s 2025 film Mickey 17 , which he both wrote and directed, features a wonderfully original, darkly funny concept. In a not-too-optimistic view of the year 2050, the dirtiest jobs done by mankind are given to “expendables,” people who consent to being cloned over and over again if they die on a job. Once an expendable dies, a new one is printed out at the same age and they’re uploaded with the most recent backup of the previous clone's memories. Robert Pattinson plays Mickey Barnes in the film, as well as his various clones. It’s Mickey’s 17th clone, however, that the story focuses on, hence the title.
The movie is quite funny and the most darkly humorous line comes from Mickey’s narration, when he says the following:
Even on my 17th go-around, I hate dying.
The line is absurd on its face, but Pattinson delivers it with hilarious understatement, like someone complaining about bad weather. Mickey 17 is a very good film, largely because of writing like this.
Credit: Sony Pictures 23 years after the release of the 2002 zombie thriller 28 Days Later , director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland returned with the follow-up 28 Years Later . With so many zombie movies out there, it might be hard to imagine anyone finding new ground to explore, but Boyle and Garland did exactly that with the wholly original character of Dr. Ian Kelson, played by Ralph Fiennes.
Dr. Kelson was a general practitioner before the world ended, and nearly three decades later, he lives on his own, studying those infected with the rage virus. Meanwhile, he has erected a morbid, beautiful monument to the dead called the Bone Temple, made up of thousands of skulls. At one point in the film, Kelson explains his monument to Spike (Alfie Williams), the boy at the center of the film’s story, and his explanation is nearly Shakespearean.
There were so many dead, infected and non-infected alike. Bec…