5 Sci-Fi Movie Remakes That Are Criminally Underrated

Contrary to what the internet might tell you, just because one of your favorite films gets remade, it doesn't erase the original from existence. In fact, on the rarest of occasions, remakes have done a decent job reworking their predecessor for a new audience, while still paying homage to what came before. Think Daniel Craig in "Casino Royale" and Al Pacino in "Scarface". These films gain a new life on their own and, in doing so, take the legacy of the original and become the modern go-to iteration. 

Of course, that's not always the case. Sometimes, remakes don't quite meet the standards of the original, or, thanks to devoted fandom, can't escape the shadow of the classic tale they're trying to retell. In other instances, another movie remake comes along to steal the spotlight, leaving earlier efforts forgotten. With that, we've put together a list of underrated sci-fi reboots — from "Solaris" to "Robocop" — that got either more hate than they deserved, or nowhere near enough the attention they were worthy of.

Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney went two-for-two with remakes in the early aughts. After stealing the show with "Ocean's Eleven," they headed into space the following year with a new take on "Solaris," based on the book by Stanisław Lem, which Andrei Tarkovsky adapted for the screen in 1972. Soderbergh aimed to provide his take by pulling from the source material, rather than any big-screen effort that preceded it, and the result is a movie that gets overlooked. 

Clooney plays Dr. Chris Kelvin, a therapist tasked with boarding a space station orbiting the planet Solaris and assessing the crew and their mental state while staying there. It turns out, the remaining staff are anything but shipshape. Kelvin begins to succumb to the same initially unexplainable experience that is plaguing the ship, leading him to come face-to-face with his past that takes the literal form of his dead wife, Rheya (Natascha McElhone). 

Given that Tarkovsky's original movie is considered an essential stepping stone in science fiction, which is often overlooked by "2001: A Space Odyssey", Soderbergh daring to give his own take is impressive. Clooney also gives what might be one of his best performances as a man bound to the past and worn down by it, clinging to something that clearly isn't right in the form of McElhone. Of all the remakes on this list, this is undoubtedly one of the most heartbreaking, but still worth a look.

Before he was making films that tore the internet apart, Zack Snyder teamed up with screenwriter James Gunn to try and give George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" some juice and wince-inducing gore with a remake in 2004. Shaking audiences in their seats with an incredible pre-credit sequence, Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead" stands as one of his best works and one of the greatest zombie invasion movies ever made. 

Sticking to the original premise from 1978, the film follows a band of survivors holding out in a shopping mall as the world outside succumbs to a virus that turns the dead into flesh-munching terrors. This struggling squad of strangers includes Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Ty Burrell, and Michael Kelly, brandishing exceptional facial hair and a bad attitude. To set the film apart from the original, Snyder and Gunn turn the zombies into sprinting nightmares, cranking the terror to an impressive level that has held up two decades later. 

The film also features exceptional needle drops from Johnny Cash and Disturbed. No matter which side of the Snyderverse you stand on nowadays, we can all agree that "Dawn of the Dead" has kept its teeth dug into at least his top three best projects and shows no sign of budging.

He might be remembered best for spending years in Middle-earth, but Peter Jackson's daring venture to Skull Island is a massively overlooked endeavor, particularly now given the Monsterverse consists of multiple films and television shows. The director's 2005 remake of "King Kong" still holds up, thanks to a brilliant motion capture performance from Andy Serkis as the great ape, and special effects that have stood the test of time. 

Just like his stint in "The Lord of the Rings," Serkis breathes an immense amount of life into Kong, who is both terrifying and charismatic. Kong's battle with the V-Rex is still a standout sequence, along with the stomach-churning giant worm attack on the crew of the SS Venture. Naomi Watts is the beauty to the beast, who is part of a film crew led by Jack Black heading to make a monster movie and getting more than they bargained for. 

Joining them in the Skull Island adventure are Adrien Brody, Jamie Bell, Kyle Chandler of the new HBO show "Lanterns", and Andy Serkis pulling double duty as Kong and Lumpy, the Venture's cook. Give it another watch and remember when Jackson made directing epics look as easy as a gorilla on ice.

When Paul Verhoeven gave us the first version of "Robocop" in 1987, he took a controversial look at corporate capitalism and blew it to bloody bits at every opportunity. In 2014, director José Padilha tried to give Alex Murphy's story a fresh look. The film features Joel Kinnaman (who'd eventually star in Apple TV's space race series, "For All Mankind"), stepping into the metallic boots of a cop who gets gunned down and is reborn as the new face of law enforcement. 

Even with its star-studded cast, including Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Keaton, fans of the original saw the new "Robocop" upgrade as more of a downgrade, and understandably so. Lacking the hard R-rating that the original abused to the full extent of the law, this PG-13 version focused more on surveillance and high-end technology. It might not have packed as much of a bloody punch as the original, but the dislike of this version seems to have declined over the years. 

Kinnaman does a decent job as the man transformed into a machine, aided by occasionally impressive CGI that shows how much of the one good cop remains in a corrupt town. As a somewhat timid take on a cult classic, the 2014 "Robocop" is worth buying for a dollar at least, and it may work as a decent entry point before the violence ramps up to still-shocking levels in the original.

Sometimes the most refreshing remakes are the best ones, and that is absolutely the case for Leigh Whannell's 2020 take on "The Invisible Man." After the dire effort by Universal to create a Dark Universe with Tom Cruise, their next attempt at a legendary monster was more successful. Elisabeth Moss plays Cecilia, the victim of a toxic relationship she believes is in the past after her abusive ex-boyfriend is revealed to have committed suicide. 

Unfortunately, the truth is more terrifying, as Cecilia's sanity is put to the test by an invisible presence who is hiding in plain sight and turning her life into a nightmare. Pushing the 1933 version of "The Invisible Man" into a more villainous space, Whannel works wonders, playing around with what is essentially a living ghost in some hair-raising scenes. 

The upgraded invisible man in question doesn't really make an appearance until the film's final act, but the build-up to that big reveal is where the movie sings. It's in every breath on a cold night, or something being nudged on a kitchen counter, that will have you leaning in to see just who is present. Then there's the heart-stopping moment involving Cecilia, her sister, and a knife in a restaurant that will get your pulse racing.