The dumb inherit the Earth.
Private Joe Bauers, the definition of "average American", is selected by the Pentagon to be the guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program. Forgotten, he awakes 500 years in the future. He discovers a society so incredibly dumbed-down that he's easily the most intelligent person alive. (Source: IMDb)
Ridley Scott’s vision of Phillip K. Dick’s story is a bleak, noir-ish world.
Deckard, a blade runner, has to track down and terminate 4 replicants who hijacked a ship in space and have returned to earth seeking their maker. (Source: IMDb)
Brazil (1985)
On the other hand, Terry Gilliam’s world is delightfully bizarre but an administrative nightmare.
A bureaucrat in a retro-future world tries to correct an administrative error and himself becomes an enemy of the state. (Source: IMDb)
Dark City (1998)
The IMDb blurb describes this fantastically dark vision pretty well:
A man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans. (Source: IMDb)
Soylent Green (1973)
It’s people.
In an overpopulated futuristic Earth, a New York police detective finds himself marked for murder by government agents when he gets too close to a bizarre state secret involving the origins of a revolutionary and needed new foodstuff. (Source: IMDb)
Children of Men (2006)
The children won’t inherit the Earth if they’re not being born.
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind. (Source: IMDb)
Handmaid’s Tale (1990)
Right-wingers take over—and they’re having trouble procreating, too.
In a dystopicly polluted rightwing religious tyranny, a young woman is put in sexual slavery on account of her now rare fertility. (Source: IMDb)
We’re all living underground because of Brad Pitt. (Actually, it was the other guy, the one from St. Elsewhere.)
In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet. (Source: IMDb)
Matrix (1999)
We’re basically batteries with a fulfilling fantasy life.
A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers. (Source: IMDb)
Zombieland (2009)
There’s just Woody Harrelson and bunch of zombies left. Rule 1: Cardio.
A shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, and a gun-toting tough guy trying to find the Last Twinkie and a pair of sisters trying to get to an amusement park join forces to travel across a zombie-filled America. (Source: IMDb)
The Road (2009)
Not much of anything left. I haven't actually seen this one, but the book painted the bleakest imaginable future--with only one faint sliver of hope at the end.
A post-apocalyptic tale of a man and his son trying to survive by any means possible. (Source: IMDb)
Also rans:
- The Day After Tomorrow
- I am Legend / Omega Man
- 1984
- Brave New World
- Planet of the Apes
- Boy and His Dog
- The Day After
- Road Warrior
- Minority Report
- Metropolis
- The Day After