Will Smith’s 5 Best Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked From Great to Greatest

Will Smith’s film career has covered an extraordinary amount of ground. He has taken on intimate dramas such as “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “Collateral Beauty,” slick crime films including “Focus,” and virtually every other mainstream genre capable of producing a box-office hit. For years, Smith was considered one of Hollywood’s most dependable movie stars, thanks largely to his instinct for choosing accessible, crowd-pleasing projects. That strategy was already evident in his early work, when the star of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” began making the leap into science-fiction blockbusters.

Science fiction has not always been kind to Smith — his experience with “After Earth” is proof of that — but the genre has also delivered some of his biggest and most enduring hits. These five Will Smith sci-fi movies, ranked from least successful to best according to this writer’s subjective judgment, demonstrate why he has remained such a reliable presence in futuristic cinema. Even as Smith has moved between vastly different kinds of films, science fiction continues to draw him back, producing memorable big-screen spectacles along the way.

Smith’s strongest sci-fi performances also reveal why he has become such a beloved star. His appeal goes well beyond catchy songs such as the “Men in Black” theme; it is rooted in the effortless charisma and emotional openness he brings to even the most outlandish material.

“Men in Black 3” contains plenty of worthwhile material, though viewers have to wait a while before the film finds its rhythm. The third installment brings Will Smith back as Agent J, but it stumbles out of the gate, with jokes such as Emma Thompson’s Agent O speaking an alien language at a funeral landing especially badly. For a time, the movie seems destined to become a disappointing conclusion to the trilogy. Fortunately, everything improves once the central story begins: Agent J travels back to the 1960s to save Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K. From there, the comedy becomes sharper, including a clever moment when J reveals that he already knows the names of the younger O and K before either character introduces themselves.

Moving the story to the 1960s also gives Josh Brolin plenty of room to deliver a hilarious impression of Tommy Lee Jones as a young Agent K. Brolin’s performance is both remarkably precise and genuinely funny. Michael Stuhlbarg adds another memorable touch as an alien capable of seeing the future, while the time-travel storyline ultimately gives the finale an unexpected emotional weight.

The road to that finale can feel unnecessarily long, but “Men in Black 3” succeeds more often than it falters.

Like “Men in Black 3,” “I, Robot” is an uneven science-fiction thriller that remains entertaining despite its rough edges. Directed by Alex Proyas, the film is set in 2035, when robots have become a routine part of everyday life. Will Smith plays Detective Del Spooner, a man deeply distrustful of artificial intelligence who is assigned to investigate the death of a robotics pioneer — and the possibility that a robot named Sonny, voiced by Alan Tudyk, was responsible. Proyas occasionally reaches for a noir atmosphere, but “I, Robot” is ultimately more interested in explosive car chases and buildings being blown apart than in the restrained mood of “Double Indemnity.”

That clash of styles is only one of the film’s problems. The story makes some questionable choices, product placement is hard to ignore, and the finale leans too heavily on computer-generated robots. Even so, “I, Robot” is surprisingly watchable. Its flaws prevent it from becoming a true classic, but they also come with a steady supply of action scenes and suspense beats. Smith provides a dependable center, while Tudyk nearly steals the movie as Sonny, a digital creation audiences cannot help but embrace in his pre-K-2SO role.

Composer Marco Beltrami and the rest of the creative team also contribute solid work, helping lift “I, Robot” into the category of undemanding but consistently entertaining blockbuster fare. Anyone looking to watch Will Smith plow through hordes of robots in a futuristic car will find exactly that here.

Many of Will Smith’s biggest star vehicles derive their energy from his chemistry with an eccentric co-star or a colorful ensemble. “I Am Legend” takes the opposite approach. As Dr. Robert Neville, Smith spends most of the film with no human companion at all, apart from his loyal dog. A virus has devastated humanity, leaving Neville alone in an abandoned New York City populated by undead, mutated vampires. It is a considerably darker role than many of Smith’s usual crowd-pleasers, and he handles the challenge impressively.

The film’s emphasis on grief and isolation showcases a more dramatic side of Smith’s range, giving him space to convey profound loneliness. Pairing him with director Francis Lawrence was also a smart decision; Lawrence’s work on “The Long Walk” and the “Hunger Games” sequels demonstrates his ability to build compelling worlds shaped by apocalyptic despair. The theatrical ending of “I Am Legend” is less successful, abandoning the movie’s quiet, reflective mood for a barrage of explosions. The alternate ending is stronger and would have brought the grim sci-fi epic to a more fitting conclusion.

Even in its more frustrating theatrical form, however, “I Am Legend” remains evocative for much of its runtime. Much of that impact comes from Smith’s committed performance, which is more subdued and haunting than audiences were accustomed to seeing from him.

It is difficult to recreate the impact of a surprise phenomenon. No matter how much money Roland Emmerich’s later movies made, few could match the energy, polish, or sheer entertainment value of 1996’s “Independence Day.” Some of his post-“Independence Day” blockbusters, including “2012” and the 2013 film “White House Down,” still offer plenty of fun. Yet attempts to repeat the original’s formula, from “Independence Day: Resurgence” to “Moonfall,” have largely fallen short, weighed down by tangled plots and oversized casts.

The original “Independence Day” struck a far better balance, pairing a large ensemble with a straightforward story about humanity fighting back against alien invaders. Emmerich and his collaborators continually deliver memorable action sequences and spectacular visuals, but the movie is held together by its cast — including Will Smith in his breakthrough film role as Captain Steven Hiller. Smith is magnetic throughout, bringing an instantly likable everyman quality to a character confronting an invasion beyond anything he could have imagined.

“Independence Day” did more than establish Smith as a bankable leading man in expensive studio movies. It also highlighted one of his most valuable strengths: the ability to react to absurd, larger-than-life situations as if he were experiencing them alongside the audience. That quality became central to Smith’s appeal throughout the rest of his career. It is also a major reason Emmerich never quite managed to capture the same lightning-in-a-bottle success again.

The entire “Men in Black” timeline began with the inaugural “Men in Black” from 1997 that introduced the world to Will Smith’s Agent J and Tommy Lee Jones’s Agent K. In it, J is recruited into the Men in Black organization to help protect the planet from devious aliens, including the nefarious Edgar (Vincent D’Onofrio). This title was utterly delightful in every respect, with much of its entertainment coming from it being an absolutely perfect star vehicle for Smith. This actor has bounced off many movie stars across his career, but rarely has he had a more inspired scene partner than Tommy Lee Jones.

The no-nonsense gruff air Jones always exudes proved a perfect contrast to Smith’s rapid-fire comedic sensibilities. Smith was also perfect at reacting like a normal person to outlandish cosmic situations like helping an alien lady give birth or watching Agent K try to get answers from an extraterrestrial that looks like a pug. He even keeps his charisma when interacting with a CG version of Edgar’s true alien form in the finale. Not every actor can effectively perform against basically nothing on-set when inhabiting a scene with a digital character. Smith, though, did it with ease. 

In every respect, Smith is absolutely perfect in “Men in Black.” No wonder it is always ranked highly when people discuss the best Will Smith movies of all time.