Every year should have at least a few greatsci-fireleases to be considered a good movie year, and2024 undoubtedly delivered on the sci-fi movie front. FromDune: Part TwotoFuriosa: A Mad Max SagatoThe Substance, the past year saw plenty of sci-fi titles bringing audiences to theaters all over the world. In doing so, they immersed themselves in epic universal conflict, dove into the horrors of generating a younger version of oneself, or were introduced to morecomplicated sci-fi movies that needed to be viewed twice.
Several elements work together to make atruly great sci-fi movie masterpiece, but one with importance that obviously can’t be overstated is the quality of the performances given by the movie’s cast.The uniqueness that usually comes from a sci-fi plot allows actors to really stretch their muscles, something that has considerable chances of resulting in excellent performances as well as some pop culture-defining moments. 2024 had some incredible sci-fi performances, in both the genre’s best and worst titles.
10Tom Hardy As Eddie Brock
Venom: The Last Dance
As silly as theVenommovies are, Tom Hardy is committed.Venom: The Last Danceis the latest installment, which garnered more of the negative reviews the series has become known for but can still boast a dedicated niche following. The story picks up from the post-credits scene ofSpider-Man: No Way Home, with Eddie and Venom suddenly finding themselves transported to Earth-616. Once they return to their own Earth, however, they have to deal with the consequences of their battle with Carnage and a new enemy chasing after them.
Hardy clearly enjoys playing the character of Eddie Brock, making him dance the line between undeniable charisma and complete cluelessnessat what is going on at any given moment. He also manages to have incredible chemistry with Venom, which is enviable considering that the symbiotic is all CGI and also played by Hardy. His performancemakesVenom: The Last Dancewildly entertaining, despite the movie’s other problems.
9Pedro Pascal As Fink The Fox
The Wild Robot
Pedro Pascal is no newcomer to the sci-fi genre, and his role inThe Wild Robotproves once more that he doesn’t even have to show his face to deliver a great performance, just like inThe Mandalorian. Pascal stars inThe Wild Robot, which is now contending for an Oscar, as Fink the Fox. Sly and sarcastic like every good fox character should be, Fink is the first animal that Lupita Nyong’o’s Roz the robot meets after she crash lands on a remote island.
Fink is opportunistic but ultimately goodhearted, guiding Roz through her new life in a place she was never programmed to be in. When he reveals the deep hurt that loneliness has left at the center of his character,Pascal’s voice is enough to tug at the audience’s heartstrings in a classic tear-jerking moment that every animated movie has, designed to hit home for adults even more so than children.
8Hugh Jackman As Logan
Deadpool & Wolverine
Hugh Jackman might be a man of the theater who feels most at home doing musicals, but his return to the role of Wolverine — more than five years after his apparent demise inLogan— is yet another testament to how he has really made this character his own and that he may very well go on playing him until he’s 90 years old, just like Deadpool says in the movie.
“It’s clear from their performances that they gave 110% to this movie, and had a ton of fun filming it. Reynolds' fast-talking, rude-mouthed superhero pairs well with the gruff, straight man stoicism of Jackman’s Wolverine; the actors' comedic chemistry shines in every scene they’re in.” - Molly Freeman,Screen Rant’sDeadpool & Wolverinereview
Jackman makes this new variant of Wolverine even more bitter and angry than the original ever was, a perfect counterbalance to Ryan Reynolds' mouthy and quippy Deadpool. Their dynamic really is whatDeadpool & Wolverinerests on. It’s also what has generated countless memes over the summer of 2024, as well asDeadpool & Wolverine’s major box office success all over the world. After decades of playing the character,Jackman’s Logan is still a complex figure who can drive drama and comedy.
7David Jonsson As Andy
Alien: Romulus
Alien: Romulusis the latest installment of theAlienfranchise, set chronologically between the first two movies—AlienandAliens.Alien: Romulusfollows a ragtag group of people trying to escape the Weyland-Yutani Corp who find themselves the new target of a whole batch ofparasitic facehuggers and a new xenomorph. Space horror ensues, as it always should in any goodAlienmovie, this time with a particularly standout performance by David Jonsson.
While there are plenty of great performances to go around inAlien: Romulus, Jonsson shines as the reprogrammed android Andy, whom protagonist Rain considers her adopted brother.Jonsson manages to strike a balance between emotions and detachment that characterizes many android characters, but he also perfectly switches it all up when Andy ends up reprogrammed once more and his allegiances shift.
6Owen Teague As Noa
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesis the fourth installment of thePlanet of the Apesreboot franchise. The movie is set a long time after the ape Caesar’s death, when the apes are the undisputed dominant species on the planet and have established a varied society with numerous clans, while the surviving humans live in hiding. ThePlanet of the Apesmovies of the 2010s mastered CGI which allows for performance subtleties, and Owen Teague steps up to fill Andy Serkis' shoes with his own thoughtfulness on-screen.
Teague stars as Noa, a young chimpanzee who one day meets a human scavenger capable of speech named Mae — and the two soon find themselves confronting the intimidating Proximus Caesar, a king who has enslaved several of his fellow apes and is forcing them to help him obtain human technology. While all in motion capture,Teague gives a nuanced and emotional performance that makes Noa a very likable and credible young protagonist.
5Kristen Dunst As Lee Smith
Civil War
Civil Warisn’t exactly textbook sci-fi — nothing is set in space, there are no monsters or aliens or superheroes of any kind, and the story doesn’t take place thousands of years in the future. Still, dystopia is a genre that is more often than not associated with sci-fi.Civil Waris definitely a perfect example of a dystopia movie that is too relevant for it to be a comfortable, lighthearted watch, spearheaded by a performance that is meant to reflect on one’s role in such a scenario.
WhileCivil Wargained mixed reviews upon its release,Kristen Dunst’s performance as the main character Lee Smith was universally acclaimed. Her character is a renewed and jaded war correspondent— named in a homage to World War II photojournalist Lee Miller — who travels through the civil war-torn United States to interview the authoritarian president who is soon expected to be captured while dealing with the many dilemmas of her job in the current circumstances.
4Lupita Nyong’o As Sam
A Quiet Place: Day One
Lupita Nyong’o gave two great sci-fi performances in 2024 —a brilliant voice acting example as the titular character ofThe Wild Robot, and arguably an even better one inA Quiet Place: Day One, the prequel to 2018’sA Quiet Placeand the third installment of its ever-growing franchise. The strange horror series relies on Oscar-worthy actors like Nyong’o and Emily Blunt to deliver tense performances and elevate the often eerily silent setting.
Nyong’o stars as Sam, a terminally ill cancer patient, who finds herself — withher cat Frodo— in New York right as the invasion of the aliens who have completely altered life on Earth as we know it by the time the events ofA Quiet Placeroll around begins.Nyong’o shows off her incredible acting ability by capturing all the different and, at times, conflicting aspects of Sam, from sheer terror to a ferocious will to survive despite her terminal illness.
3Chris Hemsworth As Dementus
Every story needs a memorable villain, sci-fi more than many other genres — and memorable villains are made with great performances like the one Chris Hemsworth gave as the warlord Dementus inFuriosa: A Mad Max Saga. Maybe Dementus is not really a villain in the bigger narrative, but he is undoubtedly the one who completely derails Furiosa’s life and so the object of her revenge. Dementus is a product of the wasteland that George Miller created, over the top and brutal like almost everything and everyone else.
Hemsworth plays Dementus with the perfect balance of indiscriminate bloodlust and grotesque humor, making his character a great, loud counterpart to Furiosa’s steely silence. Their final confrontation in the desert and his horrific ending are truly such stuff as sci-fi movies run on. The larger-than-life quality of both main characters lends itself to the feeling of a Wasteland legend coming together, the enigmatic story behindMad Max: Fury Road.
2Demi Moore As Elisabeth Sparkle
The Substance
The Substancetakes a more body horror approach to the sci-fi genre, telling the story of a once-celebrated Hollywood actress who would do anything to be as loved as she was when she was younger. That includes taking a mysterious substance that creates a perfect clone of her 25-year-old self through whom she can experience life and demands a psychologically complex performance from the lead actress.
Demi Moore’s performance as main character Elisabeth Sparkle has been front and center during the current award seasons, and she has already received various accolades, including a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy).Moore perfectly encapsulates the sense of grotesque that permeates the entire movie and delivers some brilliant satire, which contributes toThe Substancebeing one of the most talked about movies of 2024.
1Timothée Chalamet As Paul Atreides
Dune: Part Two
IfDune: Part Twois the sci-fi movie of the year, then the performance sitting right at its heart also has to be the sci-fi performance of the year.Paul Muad’dib Atreides is the most grandiose role in Timothée Chalamet’s career so far,a complex leader torn between doing good and a terrible quest for revenge and, therefore, ultimately for power. Paul has always been one of sci-fi’s most controversial characters, ever since he was first introduced by Frank Herbert back in 1965, and Chalamet perfectly conveys that.
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The scene of his speech at the Fremen gathering, where Paul finally declares himself the Lisan al-Gaib,is both powerful and chilling, just like Paul himself is. The impact Chalamet’s performance had on the internet is also apparent:Dune: Part Twogenerated a wide variety of viral memes and videos, starting with Paul’s declaration that he is “Paul Muad’dib Atreides, Duke of Arrakis.” Performances like this almost guarantee a compellingsci-fimovie, only elevated by the quality of the rest.
