Most critically acclaimed science-fiction movie

The most critically acclaimed science-fiction movie is Metropolis (Germany, 1927), specifically the 2002 remastered edition of this influential silent film, which has a weighted average score of 98 out of 100 on Metacritic as of 31 March 2025.

Metropolis was first released on 10 January 1927, but met with mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office. The original prints of the film were lost in the turmoil and war of the 1930s and 1940s, and only fragmentary scenes were thought to survive.

Beginning in the 1970s, however, archivists have worked to reconstruct the film that director Fritz Lang considered to be his masterpiece, tracking down surviving copies in places as far afield as New Zealand and Argentina to piece together the original's 153-minute runtime. Today this movie is revered for its striking expressionist visual style and cinematography.