Hard science fiction is a sub-genre of sci-fi that celebrates the science aspect in the genre. Instead of leaning on fantasy tech or impossible shortcuts, these stories root themselves in real scientific principles and plausibility. The classics of this genre include Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odysseyand Andrei Tartakovsky's Solaris. The movies in this genre explore how humanity might realistically respond to extraordinary circumstances, where the drama doesn’t come from bending science, but from pushing it to its very limits.