When a movie’s opening credits include “Poems by,” you know you’re in for something different. The success of 3 Body Problem and Dune: Part Two made it clear audiences are crying out for sci-fi with more on its mind than how cool spaceships are, but there’s “Spaceships are cool… but is giving Timothée Chalamet power bad?” and then there are lethargic meditations on the fundamental nature of human existence. That may explain why Hollywood hasn’t yet tried to reboot Stalker, a movie where seeing trees rustle counts as an action scene, despite its premise inviting endless reinterpretation.
