I love watching all the best Netflix sci-fi movies and science fiction as a whole! It’s been responsible for some of the best moments in cinema. Who can forget Luke Skywalker destroying the death star in Star Wars: A New Hope? Roy Batty’s Tears in Rain speech in Blade Runner? Or when Neo dodged bullets in slo-mo in The Matrix?
That’s the beauty of the genre. Whether it’s an action epic, an apocalyptic thriller, or a dystopian cautionary tale, the best sci-fi movies will always have something for everyone. So, if you’re looking for your next sci-fi fix, thankfully, Netflix has an assortment of sci-fi films that you can summon a sandworm with, and what better way than from this helpful guide of some of the best releases on the platform?
So, in true fashion, let’s boldly go where no person has gone before to see what are the best Netflix movies available to all you intergalactic fans.
10. Edge of Tomorrow
Year: 2014
Director: Doug Liman
Available on: Netflix US
Well, it wouldn’t be a Tom Cruise movie if he wasn’t running! Here, he plays public relations officer Major William Cage in a time-loop story (think Groundhog Day) where he faces off against an alien invading force known as The Mimics. While time-loop movies can often feel repetitive (get it?), Edge of Tomorrow is a fresh take thanks to the work of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s novel All You Need is Kill, the book that inspired the 2014 film.
Unlike his deft-denying turn in the Mission Impossible series, Cruise gets the opportunity to play a cowardly nobody (with zero military experience) who turns into a somebody. After discovering the alien’s power of time, he is forced to learn how to become a soldier to defeat the enemy and save the world, thanks to the help of fellow time-looper Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt). Cruise is obviously the star attraction but it’s Blunt who steals the show.
Want to learn more about one of the best alien movies of all time? Read our Edge of Tomorrow review.
9. The Matrix Resurrections
Year: 2021
Director: Lana Wachowski
Available on: Netflix US
You’ve got to hand it to Lana Wachowski: making a fourth film in The Matrix saga was a risk considering where The Matrix Revolutions left fighters-turned-lovers Thomas Anderson/Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss)dead after saving humanity from an all-out war against the sentinels. For Resurrections, which sees Anderson reprogrammed as a video game creator imprisoned by the Matrix, it’s even more of a flex when their return materializes into a meta-conversation about the nature of reboots.
For Wachowski, it’s a bold, gutsy move to make a film partially in response to how The Matrix has been “red-pilled” in pop culture and embraced by unsavory figures on the internet. Resurrections act as a reclamation, recognizing the passage of time between films while recontextualizing what made The Matrix unique in the first place. While the action isn’t as refined as the original trilogy, the fun is watching its new characters embrace The Matrix’s legacy (particularly Jessica Henwick’s Bugs). Resurrections gives Neo and Trinity a deserved ending, and that alone makes it a worthy entry.
Read our The Matrix Resurrections review for more information.
8. The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Year: 2021
Director: Michael Rianda
Available on: Netflix US/UK
Released in 2021, The Mitchells vs. The Machines is a story of a father/daughter relationship and the subsequent challenges as they grow apart. The technologically savvy Katie (Abbi Jacobson) is an aspiring filmmaker and is about to attend college. Her father, Rick (Danny McBride) is more of a nature man. In a last-ditch attempt to rekindle their lost connection, the family embarks on an epic road trip, that’s until they encounter a technological apocalypse! Cue plenty of hilarious internet gags as The Mitchell family sets about stopping the evil AI virtual assistant PAL (voiced by Olivia Colman).
Having missed cinemas due to the pandemic and ended up straight to streaming, this gem is often overlooked. With an expressive style with its character designs and environment, the results are fun and incredibly inventive, especially when it’s poking fun at dysfunctional families (and how awesome they can be) and our screentime addictions. But whatever you do, just don’t upset the Furbies!
Need more animation in your sci-fi filled life? Check out our The Mitchells vs the Machines review.
7. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Year: 2013
Director: Francis Lawrence
Available on: Netflix UK
There may be a nervous trepidation with sequels on whether they can live up to the goodness of their first film. Thankfully, Catching Fire – the second installment of Suzanne Collins’s YA dystopian books – not only blows away its predecessor but is the best film in the franchise. Following on from their joint (and traumatizing) victory in the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) settle back into life in District 12.
But nothing lasts forever as the pair are forced to compete in the Quarter Quell – President Snow’s diabolical plan to reap from an existing pool of winners for the next games and stop a potential rebellion within the districts. It’s a bigger, deadlier, and much more ambitious sequel where the stakes are inevitably raised and consequences aplenty. Backed by incredible performances by late greats Donald Sutherland and Philip Seymour Hoffman, you’re witnessing great actors in their scheming prime.
Read our The Hunger Games: Catching Fire review if you need more information on this battle royale franchise.
6. Annihilation
Year: 2018
Director: Alex Garland
Available on: Netflix UK
Is it an Alex Garland film if you haven’t experienced a mind-bending adventure? You know, the one that leaves you scared, confused, excited, and in awe while questioning your existence all at the same time? Well, Annihilation is no different. Based on the best-selling book by Jeff VanderMeer, the film adaptation stars Natalie Portman as Lena, a cellular biology professor and former U.S. Army soldier.
When her husband Kane (Oscar Issac) disappears and returns mysteriously after an expedition to ‘The Shimmer’ – the result of a crash-landed meteor that is affecting life organisms on Earth, Lena is called in to investigate. As most sci-fi epics go, expect to be weirded out with Portman on point as ever. Seriously, every movie fan should experience this one at least once, so add it to your streaming queue if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s also one of the best action movies on Netflix, so what are you waiting for?
5. Okja
Year: 2017
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Available on: Netflix US/UK
Before Parasite and Snowpiecer, the Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-Ho delighted audiences with Okja, a story about An Seo-hyun’s Mija and her genetically modified super-pig that was sent to her grandfather’s farm as part of a ten-year competition hosted by the Mirando Corporation in a bid to solve world hunger. The pair form an inseparable bond until the pig is declared the winner and is sent to New York for processing. Not letting Okja resign to her consumerism fate, Mija travels to the US and attempts a daring rescue.
As with all his films, Bong is a master of humor and social commentary, blending animal welfare and capitalism greed taking center stage. There’s plenty of absurdist performances by Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, in particular as zoologist and TV personality Johnny Wilcox, which adds levity to the film’s complex ideas. But the film never loses sight of the heart, largely driven by Mija and the super-cute Okja. Even more impressive is its $50 million budget, showcasing not every sci-fi film needs a massive budget, thus putting most Hollywood productions to shame.
4. NOPE
Year: 2022
Director: Jordan Peele
Available on: Netflix UK
Jordan Peele never misses, and in NOPE, he ups the horror ante with his spin on alien abductions. Starring Daniel Kaluuya (OJ) and Keke Palmer (Emerald), when the brother-and-sister team notices some strange happenings on their family farm, they devise a plan to capture the impossible – a proof-positive sighting of a UFO. In true Peele fashion, the social commentary always proves to be the key selling point, where Black culture is given space to be the focus and heart where it hasn’t been traditionally awarded in the past.
Here, the filmmaker pulls back the curtain to tackle the lack of recognition for Black creatives in the systemic industry guilty of erasing their legacy. But NOPE also offers plenty of scares and spectacle that has rightly placed the director on the map as one of the bold voices in cinema today. Also, it’s worth noting that NOPE isn’t just one of the best sci-fis on the streaming service, it’s also one of the best Netflix horror movies, so definitely check it out.
For more information on this spooky sci-fi, read our NOPE review.
3. They Cloned Tyrone
Year: 2023
Director: Juel Taylor
Available on: Netflix US/UK
What happens when a gangster (John Boyega), a pimp (Jamie Fox), and a sex worker-turned-Nancy Drew-inspired detective (Teyonah Parris) discover an underground laboratory underneath their neighborhood, leading to the unearthing of a secret experimentation on Black people? Well, you get the hilarious They Cloned Tyrone. Juel Taylor’s directorial debut swings for the fences with its genre-bending mystery caper that would make Scooby-Doo and The X-Files proud!
Boyega, Fox, and Parris are on top form as they’re led down a conspiracy rabbit hole of strange occurrences and the ultimate revelation that Tyrone is a clone. But that’s just half of the story, and to describe what happens next would be considered a spoiler. However, laced with a poignant social commentary on Black culture and its subsequent appropriation by “The Man,” this one-of-a-kind adventure should not be missed under any circumstances. It’s also one of the best Netflix comedy movies, so give it a chance.
Read more in our They Cloned Tyrone review!
2. Arrival
Year: 2016
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Available on: Netflix UK
Most alien invasion films would feature the staple formula: aliens (well, duh!), a light beam in the sky, tons of explosions, and humanity’s fightback. But trust director Denis Villeneuve to flip the script with his 2016 film Arrival. Based on Ted Chiang’s short story The Story of Your Life, the film stars Amy Adams as a linguist enlisted by the US government to decode the hepapod’s language before the world descends into a chaotic, all-out war (no pressure then).
What brilliantly sets it apart is Adams’ tour-de-force performance, battling the pressures of deciphering a circular language while decoding tragic dreams about her daughter. There’s a clever twist to this element that breathes new life into the genre. By the end, you’ll be in agreement: for one of the rare examples where the art of communication is placed front and center, it sits in good company with Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Want to explore the best Netflix thrillers? Check out our Arrival review for more close encounters.
1. Godzilla Minus One
Year: 2023
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Available on: Netflix US/UK
No amount of atomic breath can dislodge Godzilla Minus One as one of the best Godzilla films ever made. Following in the footsteps of Ishirō Honda’s 1954 film, Godzilla again serves as a metaphor for the dangers of atomic war and a heart and soul-battle for Japan’s future. It follows kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) fleeing from duty. After surviving Godzilla’s wrath on a Japanese air base, he returns home to discover his parents had died in the bombs in Tokyo. Filled with survivors’ guilt, he tries to reacclimatise to a new life while the threat of Godzilla still looms.
The King Titan himself has never felt so intimidating. While there are many entertaining entries in the Godzilla franchise, Yamazaki’s grounded film easily bucks the trend providing plenty of sincerity and emotions throughout. Like its 1954 predecessor, it sides with its human characters as they wrestle through the moral complexities of how to respond to something seemingly unstoppable. Its presentation is stunning in color, fully deserving of its Academy Award for ‘Best Visual Effects.’
For more information on our top pick for the best sci-fi movie on Netflix right now, read our Godzilla Minus One review.
After more streaming picks? Check out our lists of the best fantasy movies on Netflix, and the best shows on Netflix.
