Now that 2018 is well over, I’ve had a chance to see most of the year’s main science fiction films. It was not a great year, but there have been worse. Here is my ranking of 10 of the main science fiction films from 2018. I don’t include purely superhero movies like “Aquaman”.

1. Ant-Man and the Wasp – Scott Lang (actor Paul Rudd) as the small guy, and his love interest the Wasp / Hope (Evangeline Lilly), have all kinds of adventures as they battle villains and try to rescue Hope’s mother from the quantum realm. Excellent combination of plot, acting, humor. Grade = A-.

2. Upgrade – Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) is left as a quadriplegic after bad guys shoot him. He gets a microchip that basically gives him super powers. Bad news for the bad guys. I didn’t think I’d like this movie, and it’s no Academy Award winner but I enjoyed it (even if it is quite a bit too violent for me). Grade = B.

3. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – Another movie that I liked more than I thought I would. Dinosaurs again. Volcano. Pretty much all you need to know. The emphasis is on action rather than plot or characterization, but this film kept my attention and interest. Grade = C+.

4. Ready Player One – Before I watched this movie, I feared it would be like watching someone play a video game. Unfortunately, it was like watching a video game for the most part. Ridiculous plot but I was able to suspend disbelief and enjoy most of this movie. Grade = C+.

5. Pacific Rim Uprising – The original Pacific Rim (2013) was much better than I expected. This sequel was quite a bit worse than I expected. Like several films on this list, there was simply too much chaotic action for my liking, and not enough plot. Grade = C.

6. Annihilation – This was the most disappointing movie of 2018 for me. The plot is loosely based on a 1927 story by H.P. Lovecraft about a meteor that lands in a swamp and unleashes mutations. The idea has been filmed several times and this version adds nothing. Starring Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh as empowered military scientists. Seriously? Grade = C-.

7. The Predator – A space ship crash lands on earth. A military team is attacked by a very bad alien. Basically a retread of the original (and much superior) Predator movie from 1987. Not a terrible movie, but nothing I hadn’t seen before. Except a depiction of autism as a forward step in human evolution. Huh? Grade= C-.

8. Mortal Engines – After watching the trailers for this movie for several months before its release in December, I had a very bad feeling. Giant rolling cities in a post apocalyptic world. But I had hope. And then . . . holy smack. What a disaster of a movie. And a huge money loser. Basically, everything was wrong — plot, acting, editing, you name it. Grade = D+.

9. Solo: A Star Wars Story – Director Ron Howard has done some fantastic movies. This is not one of them. I just didn’t care about a young Han Solo. Apparently many movie-goers shared my opinion. Weirdly, I suspect that the same basic story, but with characters other than Solo and Chew and all the baggage associated with the whole Star Wars thing, could have been much better. Grade = D+.

10. Black Panther – Oh my goodness. Wakanda. Vibranium. Oakland. A teenaged genius African scientist. All-female special forces with high-tech spears. I really wanted to like this movie but it is just flat-out bad. It might have been interesting as satire. Absurd plot, poor acting, uninspired special effects, indifferent editing. Watching this movie was about as much fun as a trip to the dentist. A very bad dentist. Grade = D-.

Some movies that didn’t get on my list for one reason or another include:

Maze Runner: The Death Cure – I didn’t like any of the previous Maze movies.

The Humanity Bureau – Starring Nicolas Cage. Enough said.

Mute –

Hotel Artemis – A miss.