Works of sci-fi are often inspired by a particular vision of the future that dwells in the mind of an author, a filmmaker, or even a comic book artist. These tales are thrilling escapes into realms of futuristic societies, technology akin to magic, and intergalactic adventures. Some of the most thrilling sci-fi concepts of the past are slowly turning into our current reality. These mind-bending ideas shape the present’s escapism and the future of the next generation.
If you’re a die-hard science-fiction fan or simply seeking an exhilarating movie that challenges your perception, Netflix has you covered with its diverse selection of sci-fi offerings. You can explore captivating worlds and take a look at the future as it’s been envisioned by many filmmakers. The most popular online streaming service has its own titles and licensed popular properties, so you can enjoy a great evening with futuristic films packed with thought-provoking ideas, suspense, and plenty of action. Let’s take a look at the best sci-fi films on Netflix, in no particular order.
The Adam Project (2022)
Ryan Reynolds has a great deal going strong with Netflix, and The Adam Project is one of his latest offerings. Directed by Shawn Levy, with a script by Jonathan Tropper, Reynolds takes the lead alongside Zoe Saldana and Mark Ruffalo. This visually stunning sci-fi adventure follows Adam as he travels back in time, seeking the help of his younger self to save his father in the past. It’s a great time travel story that doesn’t get muddied with the usual antics about alternate realities, with tons of humor and excellent family dynamics.
The Platform (2019)
Spanish cinema has brought audiences some of the most thought-provoking sci-fi films of all time. The Platform is an intriguing offering directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, with a script by David Desola, and featuring the talent of popular Spanish actors such as Ivan Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, and Antonia San Juan. The story is set in a dystopian era, in a strange prison.
Without spoiling too much of the plot, we can firmly say this sci-fi drama explores the dark side of human nature with many metaphors, as inmates in prison must fight for their survival while contending with limited resources provided in the mysterious platform that falls daily, offering food for those on the top.
Level 16 (2018)
Several sci-fi films deal with the treatment of so-called ‘social undesirables,’ and none paint a great picture of how the elites and powerful treat the marginalized among us. Level 16 is one of these offerings, written and directed by Danishka Esterhazy, with a young all-female cast including such as Katie Douglas, Celina Martin, and Sara Canning.
This dystopian thriller takes place in an all-girls boarding school where the students are educated to be clean and obedient while disregarding negative vices such as anger or curiosity. Two friends get curious and embark on a journey to discover the real secret behind their existence in this thrilling movie exploring control, conformity, and rebellion themes.
Battleship (2012)
Battleship was supposed to be a tentpole blockbuster for 2012 that bombed at the box office, but in the past decade, it’s had a small critical reevaluation as a fun, wacky movie with a Starship Troopers-type military allegory. The movie, directed by Peter Berg and written by the Hoeber brothers, is based on the classic board game, and has an all-star cast including the likes of Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna, and Liam Neeson.
When an alien invasion threatens Earth, a naval fleet must engage in an epic battle on every front. The impressive special effects are on par with most Transformer films, making for an exciting, explosive sci-fi adventure.
Bird Box (2018)
Sandra Bullock made a remarkable comeback with this sci-fi horror story. The actress would publicly thank Netflix for giving her a second chance after Hollywood studios began favoring younger faces. Bird Box is an atmospheric and tense movie directed by Susanne Bier, based on a screenplay by Eric Heisserer.
Trevante Rhodes and John Malkovich star alongside Bullock in a post-apocalyptic world where unseen entities cause anyone who sees them to commit suicide. A woman and her two children must embark on a dangerous journey while blindfolded to save themselves.
The Giver (2014)
Imagine a world where emotions are repressed for the sake of an orderly society. This is the question posed by Lois Lowry in the novel The Giver. The film of the same name was written by Michael Mitnick and directed by Phillip Noyce. The stellar casting includes veterans such as Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, alongside newcomers Brenton Thwaites and Odeya Rush.
The story follows a supposedly utopian society where emotions and memories are suppressed after the fall of mankind until a young man named is chosen to be the Receiver of Memory. He would discover the dark truths that created this new, seemingly perfect facade.
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
After Pitch Black became a sleeper hit, Universal saw the potential to expand on the lore of this character. The result was a bold entry in the Riddick saga. The Chronicles of Riddick is written and directed by David Twohy, with Vin Diesel returning to the role of the rogue Furyan.
The stakes escalate quite a bit in this story as Riddick finds himself at war with the Necromongers, a race of intergalactic zealots. The action-packed film features a large ensemble cast and some of the best action shots in the franchise, with Riddick fighting for his life and unwillingly becoming the ruler of a new empire.
The Colony (2013)
Imagine a world where climate change gets so bad, that humanity is forced to develop technology to control the weather at will until the machinery fails. The Colony tells a story about that scenario; this excellent sci-fi flick is written and directed by Jeff Renfroe and features the talents of Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Zegers.
In a post-apocalyptic frozen world, a group of survivors living in underground colonies receives a distress signal from another colony. A crew gets together to embark on a dangerous journey facing the elements and threats from within. The film was overshadowed by another, and admittedly superior, 2013 sci-fi film about a frozen post-apocalyptic world, Snowpiercer.
Oxygen (2021)
Suppose you enter a cryogenic chamber to take a long nap in the future, and you suddenly wake up with no memory, running out of oxygen, only to find out from the manufacturer your chamber was damaged years ago. This claustrophobic sci-fi thriller Oxygen is written by Christie LeBlanc and directed with style by Alexandre Aja, featuring Mélanie Laurent as Liz.
With no memory of who she is, how she got there, and her oxygen supply running out, Liz faces the ticking countdown to her survival. She must do whatever she can to unravel the mystery of her identity and try to escape before it’s too late.
Mute (2018)
Many critics gave this film an undeserved bad rap, but we’d like audiences to make up their own minds. Set in a futuristic neo-noir society and written and directed by Duncan Jones (who made waves with his excellent sci-fi film Moon), Mute features the talents of Alexander Skarsgård, Paul Rudd, and Justin Theroux.
A mute bartender named Leo is searching for his missing girlfriend, and has to navigate the city’s underworld; he soon finds himself entangled in a web of crime and corruption. It’s a great story with all the tones of a detective pulp novel with a futuristic set-up, half Blade Runner, half Brick. The solid cast and enchanting visuals make it one solid offering in the ranking.
Dune (1984)
The first time we got Dune on the big screen was at the hands of David Lynch. The story is based on the novel by Frank Herbert, deemed unfilmable by multiple studios. Lynch co-wrote the script with Eric Bergren and assumed direction duties. The diverse cast includes Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Patrick Stewart, and Sting.
Set in a distant future where interstellar travel and political intrigue are the norm, the story follows the adventures of young nobleman Paul Atreides as he witnesses the downfall of his family while surviving power struggles and becoming the ruler of a new race. The original Dune has been regarded as a failure for a long time, but in recent years received a bit of a critical reevaluation, if only because it’s so bonkers. It’s a film with a lot of charm but doesn’t hold a candle to the current remake. Still, it can be appreciated for what it is and the novelty of it.
Project Power (2020)
Some of the most brilliant superhero films are not from Marvel or DC. Project Power presents an exciting premise: what would you do with a pill that grants you superhuman abilities for five minutes each time you take it? The story is written by Mattson Tomlin and directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. The cast has an all-star lineup including Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Dominique Fishback. We follow a former soldier, a cop, and a drug dealer who must join forces to take down the people behind the drug distribution.
Stowaway (2021)
What would you do as a crew member in an interstellar mission if you suddenly find out you have a stowaway passenger in your ship? That’s the question posed by Stowaway, written and directed by Joe Penna with the assistance of Ryan Morrison. The outstanding cast includes Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, and Toni Collette. The story explores the consequences of an uninvited guest whose sole presence threatens the stability of the mission as all supplies in the ship are measured to cover the basic needs of the crew. It’s a film that explores pragmatism, humanity, and moral dilemmas.
The Wandering Earth (2019)
Netflix
The Wandering Earth explores the idea of humanity’s contingency plan by the time the sun begins to die. Based on a novel by Liu Cixin, the author behind the massive hit The Three Body Problem, the film is directed by Frant Gwo, with the screenplay adapted by Gong Geer and Junce Ye. We follow a team of scientists looking to save humanity by moving the Earth out of the solar system and turning the planet into a giant spaceship. You can’t fault the story for going big to try and save us, and while the Chinese sci-fi film wasn’t a big blockbuster ot anything, its visuals are extremely imaginative and surreal.
What Happened to Monday? (2017)
If you ever wondered about the acting range of Noomi Rapace, you only need to watch What Happened to Monday. The wild story, written by Max Botkin and Kerry Williamson, is directed by Tommy Wirkola and features the talents of Rapace, Willem Dafoe, and Glenn Close. In a dystopian future with strict population control measures, seven identical sisters (all portrayed by Rapace) must live a single life, each named after a day of the week and a distinct personality in order to hide their existence. When Monday suddenly goes missing, the other sisters must uncover the truth while evading the ruthless government enforcers.
Starship Troopers (1997)
You can never go wrong with anything directed by Paul Verhoeven. His bananas satire Starship Troopers is a clever adaptation of the novel by Robert A. Heinlein that explores themes of colonialism, warfare, and fascism. The incredible screenplay by Edward Neumeier is masterfully crafted for the talents of Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, and Neil Patrick Harris. The satire is very tongue-in-cheek, but it flies past many audiences. In the story, we follow the ongoing war between humanity against giant insectoid aliens, which has led to a complete reorganization of society as only the people who serve in the military are considered citizens.
World War Z (2013)
World War Z has become something of a guilty pleasure for many people out there. While the film failed to capture the nuances of the novel by Max Brooks, it tells a competent story, even if it’s predictable. The script written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard, and Damon Lindelof had to be reworked multiple times at the studio’s request. Marc Forster did his best to direct the feature, with solid acting from Brad Pitt as a former UN investigator who must travel the world to find a way to stop the global pandemic from turning people into zombies.
Circle (2015)
Circle follows the same premise as Saw but ramps up the higher stakes. Written and directed by the duo of Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione, the film features a cast of working actors such as Allegra Masters, Michael Nardelli, and Julie Benz. The whole movie is set in a single room, where a group of strangers awakens to find themselves trapped and standing in marked circles. Someone in the circle dies every few minutes, forcing the remaining survivors to make difficult choices. It’s a great movie with tense pacing, and explores the moral dilemma of the lifeboat thought experiment and questions the weight of someone else’s death on a group.
Replicas (2018)
Replicas offers something entirely different: an underrated performance by Keanu Reeves. The intriguing writing of Chad St. John, and the direction of Jeffrey Nachmanoff, put Keanu in the shoes of an incredibly talented neuroscientist named William Foster, who loses his family in a car accident. Without thinking clearly and being overwhelmed by the grief, he becomes obsessed with bringing them back using the experimental cloning technology he’s been developing in his line of work. Foster delves deeper into the ethical and scientific ramifications by testing the limits of his own ethics and defying the laws of nature.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Terminator 2: Judfgment Day or T2 is the sci-fi blockbuster that marked an entire generation. Written and directed by James Cameron, the second entry in the Terminator saga is considered by many as the last good film in the franchise. Cameron went all out and brought Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton back to pair them up with newcomers Edward Furlong and Patrick Stewart. The T-800 is back again, but he’s here to protect John Connor from the new menace represented by the T-1000. It’s a classic story full of twists and turns and plenty of action that remains the ultimate milestone in sci-fi cinema.
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