I’ve always been fascinated by geniuses.   Mainly because of how their brains work.  It’s as if they’re always 3 steps ahead and you sit and wonder why they can think this way while here you are sitting at home watching television like a mindless zombie.    Where are they?  Solving complex equations and ridding the world of potential problems.

At times it makes me feel small but at others it makes me want to work that much harder to gain more knowledge.  Anyway, if there’s one medium that expresses the idea of genius quite well it’s film.

Here are seven awesome fictional movie geniuses…

S.R. Hadden in Contact

eccentric and reclusive billionaire industrialist who is fundamental in deciphering the alien’s message. Hadden eventually dies while aboard the Mir space station. He’s a little wacky from being in space for so long but it’s evident how smart he is and how little he’ll listen to others, a key point in being a genius.

Chris Knight in Real Genius

is definitely one of Val Kilmer’s best roles.  Chris Knight is a wise ass genius at a school for well…geniuses.  His task is to build a super powerful laser for a purpose he doesn’t know (yet).  That purpose being a weapon that could blow targets away from space.  The humor of this character is unmatched not to mention the T-Shirts he wears.  I absolutely loved this movie.

Tony Stark in Iron Man

face it, you kind of have to be a genius to build an Iron Man suit from a cave.  He’s cocky.  He’s witty.  He’s charming.  He gets tons of chicks, and the man is friggin’ Iron Man.  What’s not to love about Tony Stark?  Oh not to mention his computer lair.  You can’t mess with that thing.

Will Hunting in Good Will Hunting

one of my all time favorite movies.  This is a fantastic portrayal of a boy, yes boy, who is extremely conflicted by his own genius.  Sure he may know a lot about the world from books but he hasn’t experienced any of it for himself.  He never allows personal relationships to grow too deep and the movie is excellent at depicting this.  Not to mention the Boston accent.  Kind of a nice twist considering he’s a genius.

Raymond in Rain Man

different kind of genius, in fact a savant, Raymond is both amazing with numbers but even has a sense of humor once he warms up to you.  From “Kmart Sucks” to “Uh oh fart” to “One for bad, two for good” the adventure he goes on is memorable and Rain Man will always remain a classic.

Doc Brown in Back to the Future

Perhaps one of the most memorable lines in movie history:  “1.21 gigawatts!”  Doc Brown is the eccentric mad scientist that we’ve all come to know and love in movie history.  When you think white hair and craziness from movies you’re definitely thinking of the Doc.  A time machine from a Delorean?  Come on.  Of course that’s genius!

Louis Skolnick in Revenge of the Nerds

can forget that laugh?