Five SFF Movies With Incredibly Memorable Dialogue-Free Scenes - Reactor

I tend to really enjoy films that play with form, be that the inclusion of extended long takes or an unexpected genre shift part way through. I tend to consider scenes without dialogue into this category—I find that shifting into worldess storytelling allows filmmakers to lean even harder into the visual medium and explore all of its creative possibilities.

There are some science fiction and fantasy films that take going dialogue-free to the extreme—2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Quiet Place (2018), and No One Will Save You (2023), for example—but I’m going to focus on examples of memorably quiet, (mostly) wordless scenes in otherwise dialogue-filled movies. Here are five of my favorites. (Please note that if you haven’t seen these films, be aware that there are a few spoilers marked below, and that the video clips may contain spoilers as well.)

WALL-E (2008)

WALL-E provides a master class in “show, don’t tell” storytelling. For roughly the first 35 minutes of the film, there’s almost no dialogue. We hear snippets of song from the movie Hello, Dolly! playing as the film starts, and there are small bursts of information provided via speech—little robot WALL-E rolls past automated adverts that helpfully clue us into the fact that humanity has fled Earth to live aboard the Axiom spaceship—but for the most part, we simply watch and learn.

It’s through the film’s visuals that we come to understand who WALL-E is. We watch as he traverses his little patch of the planet, neatly condensing the garbage humans left behind into cubes that he arranges into skyscraper-tall towers. We observe as he pauses to save objects he finds interesting from the trash heaps—a lighter, a spork, a Rubik’s cube—to add to his collection at home (an abandoned transport vehicle). And we’re with him as he watches an old VHS tape of Hello, Dolly! (1969), wistfully mimicking the two actors he sees holding hands.

WALL-E hasn’t quite mastered speech (his beeps and few words are provided by legendary sound designer Ben Burtt), but his personality comes through clear as day thanks to his mannerisms—from wistfully tilting his head to wildly flailing his arms. He’s curious, industrious, smart, silly, lonely, and hopeful—and we learn all of that without a word.

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is a scrawny Viking teenager who doesn’t share his village’s proclivity for dragon-killing, much to the disappointment of his chieftain father (Gerard Butler). He decides to create a weapon to make up for his lack of physical prowess and manages to capture a dragon, but finds he just doesn’t have the heart to kill it.

Curious about the creatures he’s been taught to fear, he begins observing the injured animal. Hiccup is a chatty character who is prone to anxious rambling, so it’s no surprise that he’s happy to do all of the talking as he starts getting to know the initially wary dragon (and of course, this isn’t an animated film where the animals speak, though the dragons are very expressive).

But the scene where the two finally start to form a bond is almost entirely wordless (aside from a couple of lines of dialogue at the very beginning). It’s through their actions that the pair slowly begin to trust one another, from sharing food to creating art together. Throughout all of this, John Powell’s beautiful score swells in the background, starting out gently and tentatively and building to a powerfully emotional ending, mirroring the progression of Toothless and Hiccup’s budding connection.

The Green Knight (2021)

The mysterious Green Knight (Ralph Ineson) rides into King Arthur’s court with a challenge: whoever strikes him can win his axe, but they’ll receive an equal blow in a year’s time. Gawain (Dev Patel) accepts in the hope of getting a taste of glory, but goes overboard by beheading the stranger. Then the Green Knight stands up, picks up his head, and rides out cackling. The rest of the film charts Gawain’s journey to the Green Chapel, where he’ll lose his own head when the year is up.

[Spoiler warning for the end of the film.]

When the moment comes for Gawain’s head to be chopped off, he flinches and flees. The next 15 minutes of the film show us flashes of the remainder of Gawain’s life in a grim, speechless montage. He’s crowned king after Arthur’s death, his son is born to his lover, he deserts her to marry a noblewoman, his son dies in battle, and his family abandons him as enemies besiege the castle. Through it all, Gawain had worn the girdle he believed would protect him, and when he finally removes it, his head falls off.

We then cut back to Gawain in the Chapel and realize that the past 15 minutes have been a fantasy flash-forward. The lack of dialogue gives the whole piece a suitably dreamlike quality. The scene allows us a glimpse into Gawain’s mind as he finally realizes that living a life without honor won’t serve him. With newfound courage gained thanks to this vision, Gawain is ready to keep his word and face his beheading. Whether that fate befalls him or not is left ambiguous, but his change of heart is certain.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Everything Everywhere All at Once starts with Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) feeling overwhelmed. The IRS is auditing her laundromat business, her marriage is crumbling, and she has an increasingly strained relationship with her daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu). But things suddenly get a lot more overwhelming when she learns that the multiverse is at risk and she needs to join the fight to save it.

The film is hectic and chaotic (in the best possible way!), reaching a pinnacle in the scene where Evelyn finds herself rapidly flipping through different universes. We get microsecond glimpses of these alternate realities, resulting in a (purposefully) visually and aurally overstimulating 43 seconds. And then Evelyn turns into a rock and we cut to complete silence. We spend the next few minutes in a universe where life never formed on Earth, resulting in Evelyn and Joy simply existing as rocks in a barren landscape. Since rocks obviously can’t speak, their dialogue appears only as subtitles.

Not only does this quiet scene provide the audience with a moment to catch their breath, but it’s also funny (I’ve never laughed so hard at seeing “ha ha ha ha ha” written down) and emotionally affecting (“just be a rock” is excellent life advice in context). It’s a brilliant scene on its own, but it holds even more power by standing in contrast to the wild commotion of the previous scene.

Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

“The Sword” section of Predator: Killer of Killers is bookended by a couple of spoken lines but is otherwise free of dialogue. The story begins in 1609 in Japan, with young brothers Kenji and Kiyoshi (both voiced by Louis Ozawa Changchien, who previously starred in 2010’s Predators) being forced to duel by their samurai warlord father to determine who will be his successor. Kenji is unwilling to raise the blade to his brother, but Kiyoshi succumbs to paternal pressure and attacks, leading to Kenji fleeing the castle.

We then jump ahead 20 years, with the death of their father compelling Kenji to return to fight Kiyoshi. But into this brotherly feud steps a Predator, who has his killer sights set on Kenji. While much of the 20-minute runtime of this section is taken up by fighting, there are multiple emotional moments between the two brothers that are conveyed only via facial expressions. We feel the strength of their childhood bond, the pain when it breaks, and their conflicted emotions when they meet again as adults.

The lack of speech also allows the visual beauty of the samurai fighting style—which is elegant and graceful, but also powerful and deadly—to really shine.

These are just five examples of films that brilliantly utilize a lack of spoken dialogue. There are many more out there, so please feel free to leave your own favorites in the comments below.