The 40 Best Sci-Fi Movies & Shows on Netflix to Watch

There is no doubt that science fiction is one of the best genres of movies. This is an incredibly flexible, open-ended process that allows writers, filmmakers, actors, and everyone else involved in the process to fully express their creativity. Despite Sci-Fi having romantic elements, action, drama, mystery, and suspense, we can still identify it as the best Sci-Fi on Netflix.

In a sense, all movies about aliens, fantasy movies that involve technology, and science fiction movies set in a post-apocalyptic world can be considered science fiction. Therefore, sci-fi remains from a viewer’s perspective one of the most exciting genres. The number of films available on Netflix these days is overwhelming, and the number of Netflix shows is even greater.

Finding exactly what you’re looking for can be difficult when you narrow your search by genre. Below is a list of a few good sci-fi movies you can stream now on Netflix. In addition to romance sci-fi movies, there are some top horror sci-fi movies on the list.

40. Terminator 2: Judgment Day

• Director: James Cameron
• Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong, Joe Morton
• Rating: R

James Cameron and co-writer William Wisher Jr. created an almost perfect action movie script that turned the original on its head and allowed Ahnold to be the good guy, making this one of the rare sequels that outperforms its predecessor.

But what makes the movie so noteworthy is Linda Hamilton’s journey from helpless victim to badass hero. Why should the men get to see all the exciting action films?

39. Annihilation

• Director: Alex Garland
• Stars: Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Lason Leigh, Oscar Isaac, Tuva Novotny, Gina Rodriguez
• Rating: R

Though it might not be the first movie you’d instantly identify with “Lovecraftian” horror, Alex Garland’s contemplative adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel Annihilation fits the description pretty well. The “Shimmer” appears to owe a great deal to Lovecraft’s short story “The Colour Out of Space” from 1927.

The plot of Annihilation is similar to that of Lovecraft’s tale: a mysterious force of extraterrestrial origin descends to Earth, where it infiltrates the countryside and starts to change and warp reality around it. One of the first signs of this transformation is the spread of otherworldly colours and visual distortion from the centre of what is essentially an alien infection.

38. Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack

• Director: Yoshiyuki Tomino
• Stars: Toru Furuya, Shuichi Ikeda, Hirotaka Suzuoki, Maria Kawamura, Nozomu Sasaki, Koichi Yamadera
• Rating: TV-14

Char’s Counterattack has the weight of three TV seasons behind it. It is the first Gundam theatrical feature and the conclusion of the original narrative started in 1979 with the “Universal Century Timeline” of the Mobile Suit Gundam TV series. The movie was written and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the man behind the Gundam television series, and it was a faithful adaptation of his book Hi-Streamer.

Char’s Counterattack, often regarded as the best movie in the Gundam trilogy, excels at putting an end to the 14-year rivalry between Char Aznable, the leader of Neo-Zeon, and Amuro Ray, the “hero” of the Earth Federation.

37. The Mitchells vs. The Machines

• Director: Mike Rianda
• Stars: Danny McBride, Abbi Jacobson, Maya Rudolph, Mike Rianda, Eric Andre, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen
• Rating: PG

In The Mitchells vs. the Machines, animated generational differences resemble a sci-fi funfair more than any other animated series. The feature film debut of writer/director Mike Rianda is a mix of absurd, adorable, and horrifying (he and co-writer/director Jeff Rowe got their start on the superbly spooky, hilarious programme Gravity Falls).

It’s simple to feel as disoriented or overpowered by the flashing lights and electrifying visuals as the central family fighting on one side of the title’s grudge match, but it’s also simple to leave with the worn-out joy of a protracted, exhausting theme park outing.

Its genre-integrated family surges through each cluttered, crammed frame like they’re trying to escape (which they frequently are), creating the most energizing, charming, animated comedy thus far this year.

36. The Platform

• Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
• Stars: Iván Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, Antonia San Juan, Emilio Buale Coka, Alexandra Masangkay
• Rating: NR

The Platform gains a lot from the power of its straightforward, high-concept idea and all the extraneous details that are kept hidden from the viewer. It doesn’t matter if we don’t fully understand why people are confined to this dreadful, vertical prison construction, where the sole food is a steadily falling, increasingly repulsive stone slab stacked high with perishables that is delivered once daily.

We also don’t really need to understand how this apparent social experiment works, despite the fact that our curiosity is undoubtedly piqued by the frequent glances we get of chefs toiling away on flawless delicacies to be served to the condemned inmates. What matters is that we track how people respond to this situation differently.

35. Dune

• Director: David Lynch
• Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Jurgen Prochnow, Francesca Annis, Patrick Stewart, Sting, Brad Dourif, Virginia Madsen
• Rating: PG-13

Before Denis Villeneuve, the general opinion on Frank Herbert’s renowned science fiction book Dune was that it might not work as a movie. because the great David Lynch attempted to do it in 1984, with varying degrees of success. Although Lynch’s adaptation of Dune has not always had the finest reputation among average moviegoers, Lynch’s filmography enthusiasts and cinematic aesthetes are often seen vehemently defending it.

It unquestionably has grandiosity in visual flair and panache, with amazing, overdone costuming and set dressings that suggest the cosmic peacocking that is unmistakably evident in Herbert’s book. The story of Dune and its concepts of the unavoidable evils involved in attempting to exercise and wield power, even with noble intentions, are less accurately translated.

34. Oxygen

• Director: Alexandre Aja
• Stars: Mélanie Laurent, Mathieu Amalric, Malik Zidi
• Rating: NR

Allow me to issue a word of warning if you choose to view the brand-new sci-fi horror movie Oxygen during your most recent Netflix and chill: This movie isn’t what you believe it is. The renowned New French Extremism director Alexandre Aja, who created Haute Tension, is well-known for his extreme work.

He’s not afraid to put his characters in intense, terrifying situations where the entire foundation of their existence hangs in the balance at impossible heights. But Oxygen stands out from his other works in that it is ultimately a love poem to human survival—a horror shows with catharsis coursing through it.

33. Vivarium

• Director: Lorcan Finnegan
• Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots
• Rating: R

The strange real-estate tale Vivarium, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots as newlyweds Tom and Gemma, is a low-key sci-fi nightmare of the everyday in the style of early David Cronenberg.

The movie, directed by Lorcan Finnegan, also serves as a metaphor for relationships as Tom and Gemma are imprisoned in a hip neighborhood of cookie-cutter houses where having children is not only expected of them but also forced upon them. Although it isn’t as gory as a game like Shivers, it’s strange design and desperation make it more powerful.

32. The Old Guard

• Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
• Stars: Charlize Theron, Kiki Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Chiwitel Ejiofor, Van Veronico Ngo, Henry Melling, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli
• Rating: R

Given a budget more than sufficient for the best DTV action movie anyone could dream would become a permanent Netflix browsal, Gina Prince-Bythewood succeeds in towing and then mildly defying the genre line.

She demonstrates that she is capable of directing a high-concept action blockbuster while putting together a film that feels like one that “they” simply don’t produce anymore. Everything adds up to a one step forward, one step back assessment: Even though Prince-Bythewood’s action chops confidently step up, one wishes for more capably clear action auteurism.

Andromache the Scythian (Charlize Theron) is an immortal warrior who, thousands of years later, still wonders what the point of her own endlessness is. Sequels are all but guaranteed given Netflix’s ostensibly unlimited resources.

31. Don’t Look Up

• Director: Adam McKay
• Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Meryl Streep
• Rating: R

There are more valid grounds to worry about the end of the world in 2021 than one might have been comfortable with in the past. Don’t Look Up, directed by Adam McKay, is a new doomsday comedy/”timely” political satire that attempts to congeal populism, the pandemic, climate change, and all that causes us to recoil against the unknowable future into one immediate, planet-killing orb.

However, the end of humanity probably won’t come as expeditiously as an extinction-level threat heading on a crash course for Earth. McKay doesn’t make the road to future devastation simple, even if in retrospect it appears like a better and easier way for us to leave. 

30. Another Life

• Director: Aaron Martin
• Writer:
• Cast: Katee Sackhoff, Samuel Anderson, A.J. Rivera
• IMDb Ratings: 5.3
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 6
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

Set in the not too distant future, an anomaly from space appears in Earth’s orbit and plants a stalk-like object into the ground. A team of researchers goes into space to discover what the object is and why it has been placed there, but it is taking too long to break the code, so they send another team into space to find out more.

In his search for alien intelligence, astronaut Niko Breckinridge explores the world. A crew of hers is investigating the origin of an alien artifact that has been discovered on Earth. On what could turn out to be a one-way mission, Breckinridge and her crew face unimaginable dangers. Among the cast members is Selma Blair as well as Katee Sackhoff, who stars as Niko.

29. IO

• Director: Jonathan Helpert
• Writer: Clay Jeter; Charles Spano
• Cast: Margaret Qualley, Anthony Mackie
• IMDb Ratings: 4.7
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 33
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

Due to too much toxic air on Earth, humans were forced to live in a space station near Jupiter’s moon, Io. In her high altitude home, Sam raises bees so that they can pollinate plants and she can grow plants as pollinators. Micah, who is about to leave for the new habitat for humans, is another scientist she meets. Has Sam given up hope that Micah will choose her or will she go with him? In terms of plot or content, ‘IO’ is not very interesting, except for the performances.

28. Anon

• Director: Andrew Niccol
• Writer: Andrew Niccol
• Cast: Clive Owen, Afiya Bennett, Morgan Allen
• IMDb Ratings: 6.1
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 36
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

A dystopian future, set as in ‘Black Mirror’, is the setting for ‘Anon,’ a novel about how privacy no longer exists and all private information is recorded on a grid known as “Ether”, which is then viewed by law enforcement using the “Mind’s Eye”.

Agent Sal discovers a woman who has no description of herself while he’s investigating a serial murder spree. A loophole is also found in the system that Sal needs to fix before other people are harmed. Although ‘Anon’ begins well, plot twists are few and far between, making it seem a bit boring by the end.

27. Extinction

• Director: Ben Young
• Writer: Spenser Cohen
• Cast: Michael Peña, Lizzy Caplan, Amelia Crouch
• IMDb Ratings: 6.1
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 36
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

As Peter, portrayed by Michael Pena, the movie portrays the life of the engineer as he experiences strange visions of an alien invasion. While visiting a doctor to discuss his anomaly, he discovers that another patient has been experiencing the same symptoms. Peter and Alice are attacked by aliens, and they seek refuge in a factory.

An android called a synth turns out to be Alice (Peter’s wife). A long time ago, synths invaded and occupied Earth and humans, erasing human memories and making them part of their existence. An android named Peter may be able to save Alice. ‘Extinction’ disappointed as it had a shallow script and little twists and turns, and was pretty bland and passive than what viewers expected.

26. Kill Command

• Director: Steven Gomez
• Writer: Steven Gomez
• Cast: Thure Lindhardt, Vanessa Kirby, David Ajala
• IMDb Ratings: 5.7
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

‘Kill Command’ shows a group of marines, led by Captain Damien Bukes, embarking on a training mission to a remote island for a routine exercise in a dystopian future. There is only one problem – no one knows how to approach the island in case of an emergency.

The team is accompanied to the island by Katherine Mills, a cyborg who uncovers a grave anomaly in the AI. Suddenly, they find themselves being overwhelmed by the AI – in a classic man vs. machine scenario. There is no doubt that ‘Kill Command’ is an exciting thriller that will appeal to audiences of all ages.

25. Gattaca

• Director: Andrew Niccol
• Writer: Simon Pegg, Doug Jung, Gene Roddenberry
• Cast: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law
• IMDb Ratings: 7.8
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

The Sony Pictures movie Gattaca grapples with real scientific ideas and how they might affect humankind. In the pursuit of his lifelong dream of space travel, a genetically weak man takes on the identity of a powerful one. This film focuses on eugenics but also examines how we can combat determinism by questioning predestination.

To achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut, a job reserved for only the candidates with the perfect human body, Ethan Hawke’s Vincent Freeman takes on the identity of another man to become an astronaut. The job is only available to the most genetically perfect individuals.

Vincent, a genetically inferior man who has always dreamed of traveling in space, assumes the identity of a paraplegic because the only way he knows of accomplishing his goal is by getting disabled.

24. Starship Troopers

• Director: Paul Verhoeven
• Writer: Edward Neumeier, Robert A. Heinlein
• Cast: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Neil Patrick Harris
• IMDb Ratings: 7.3
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 66
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

Johnny Rico, a young soldier in the Mobile Infantry, is following his exploits in the story. After completing basic training, Rico is promoted to non-commissioned officer status, then finally to officer status, while mankind is waging an interstellar conflict with an insectoid species known as the Arachnids. After graduating, Johnny Rico enlists in the Mobile Infantry, serving his country. Aliens soon set out to destroy the Earth, and he finds himself fighting them.

Arachnids, commonly known as “Bugs”, are hostile species of insectoid encountered by humans while they colonized new planets in the 23rd century. Though there is speculation that the Bugs may have been provoked by human intrusion into their habitat, they are perceived as savage, unrelenting killers in starship troopers.

23. Johnny Mnemonic

• Director: Robert Longo
• Writer: William Gibson
• Cast: Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, Dina Meyer
• IMDb Ratings: 5.6
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 19
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

Though you may think Keanu Reeves’ entry into the Matrix began in 1999, he had conquered the digital world four years earlier. It’s not surprising that this movie seems to be so far ahead of its time with all the bizarre stuff and futuristic visions it introduces.

John acts as a “courier” in a dystopian future where megacorporations rule and information is too sensitive to be uploaded over the internet. His brain slowly boils with the strain of uploading massive data as he is hunted by the Yakuza just as he agrees to complete a sensitive job.

Although Ice-T plays a renegade anti-establishment hacker with giant goggles and cool face tattoos, critics didn’t enjoy this one, maybe because of the strange digital effects or the talking cyborg dolphin.

22. I Am Mother

• Director: Robert Longo
• Writer: Michael Lloyd Green, Grant Sputore
• Cast: Luke Hawker, Rose Byrne, Maddie Lenton, Hilary Swank
• IMDb Ratings: 6.7
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

Science fiction continues to be influenced by artificial intelligence, perhaps even at a greater rate as it becomes more and more integrated into daily life. In I Am Mother (voiced by Rose Byrne), a young girl (Clara Rugaard) is raised by a robot known as Mother in a post-apocalyptic underground shelter.

Mother is programmed to nurture a new generation of humans, ultimately bringing them back to the surface, where humans have been wiped out for most of history. When Hilary Swank, who plays the woman who visits the facility out of nowhere, arrives, the girl is forced to reevaluate everything the teenage girl has known, including her trust in Mother.

In the sci-fi genre’s tried-and-true trope of cautioning us not to become dependent on technology, it’s a simple setup, but ominous nonetheless.

21. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2019)

• Director: David Slade
• Writer: Charlie Brooker
• Cast: Fionn Whitehead, Craig Parkinson, Alice Lowe
• IMDb Ratings: 7.1
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

It was the most Black Mirror thing ever when Netflix’s sci-fi hit Black Mirror released its special Bandersnatch. Fionn Whitehead plays a young video-game programmer who wants to adopt a renowned adventure novel into a game.

The episode transforms itself into a full-on interactive program. Although at times it can be quite frustrating to figure out how the special functions or find the “right” ending, it is formally daring in its willingness to take on a technologically advanced storytelling approach.

Fans like it nonetheless – if you have are interested in the 1980s video games, especially those produced by Imagine Software, a company that went bankrupt before it could produce the original, you may find this special particularly touching. The experimentation is certainly commendable.

Read More: The Best Action Movies on Netflix To Watch Right Now

20. Last Action Hero (1993)

• Director: John McTiernan
• Writer: Zak Penn, Adam Leff, Shane Black
• Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney
• IMDb Ratings: 6.4
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 39
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

In Columbia Pictures’, Last Action Hero; Slater, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as LAPD-turned-action hero Jack Slater, Austin O’Brien lives his childhood dreams as he travels into the alternate universe of the popular film series, the Slater franchise. Benedict is being hunted by the duo and must be stopped. It is another great one from the sci-fi movies on Netflix.

19. Looper 

• Director: Rian Johnson
• Writer: Rian Johnson
• Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt
• IMDb Ratings: 7.4
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

It wasn’t hard to see why Rian Johnson (Knives Out, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) got so much attention with this sci-fi thriller. In a dystopian future, time travel does not yet exist, but it will eventually appear, and it is used interestingly by a shadowy crime syndicate.

They send people back to present-day 2044 when they want someone executed or essentially erased, where loopers are on hand to do the dirty work – terminating the targets and disposing of evidence. This job comes at a cost, however. When the time finally comes for Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), he discovers that his much more prepared older self (Bruce Willis) has an entirely different plan, leading to an intense cat-and-mouse game filled with mind-bending twists, heart-racing suspense, and dazzling action sequences.

18. The Discovery

• Director: Charlie McDowell
• Writer: Charlie McDowell, Justin Lader
• Cast: Robert Redford, Mary Steenburgen, Brian McCarthy
• IMDb Ratings: 6.2
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 46
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

There is an afterlife in the movie The Discovery. Robert Redford’s character, a scientist, breaks through to the other side to confirm its existence, causing a suicide epidemic, with millions of people killing themselves in the hope they might see the light.

We follow Will (Jason Segel), who inherits his father’s laboratory/isolated mansion where previous suicide attempts are sent to work. In examining Heaven as a plane of existence, and the subsequent effects of knowing what comes after life on Earth, The Discovery may have a dark tone, but the intriguing plot (and an amazing ending) about human connections makes it a worthwhile concept that occasionally falters, but ultimately proves interesting to watch. It is another great one from the sci-fi movies on Netflix.

17. Watchmen

• Director: Zack Snyder
• Writer: Dave Gibbons, David Hayter, Alex Tse
• Cast: Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Billy Crudup
• IMDb Ratings: 7.7
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 65
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

A superhero feature film may be incapable of depicting the philosophy of Alan Moore’s “unfilmable” landmark graphic novel at times, but when it comes to Ozymandias’ argument for cold, calculating utilitarianism, the movie comes through. Its “futurepast” qualities are gorgeous and dreamlike to look at, and the universe has a fabulous look.

Watchmen often involves viewers focusing on one of several potentially important issues, from the unnecessary to the pragmatic (if we’re being honest, the finale ties things together much more completely than it did in the graphic novel).

Watchmen is by far Snyder’s best film, even after Batman vs. Superman was widely derided after its release.

16. Blade Runner 2049

• Director: Denis Villeneuve
• Writer: Denis Villeneuve
• Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas
• IMDb Ratings: 8
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

Officer K (Ryan Gosling), a new Los Angeles Police Department Blade Runner, uncovers a long-buried secret that could bring society to a standstill. Three decades have passed since “Blade Runner” (1982). A lost Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) has been missing for 30 years. As a result of K’s discovery, he embarks on a journey to find him.

As a modern science fiction movie, it is among the best, and a worthy sequel to the original. There is a lot of depth to the story, and the cinematography is breathtaking. Denis Villeneuve has directed some impressive movies, such as “Arrival,” “Sicario,” and of course, “Dune,” but in all honesty, this is his best film to date.

15. Spectral

• Director: Nic Mathieu
• Writer: Ian Fried, Nic Mathieu, George Nolfi
• Cast: James Badge Dale, Emily Mortimer, Bruce Greenwood
• IMDb Ratings: 6.3
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 78
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

Originally slated to play in theaters, the horror-action flick was instead sold to Netflix. Maybe the box office would have crushed Spectral, but the home screen is pretty damn entertaining with this genre mash-up about a bunch of soldiers who are sent to destroy a mysterious enemy (a ghost, in essence). There’s a big difference between Spectral and the movie version: there’s velocity, character, and enough mystery to keep you interested.

14. Space Sweepers

• Director: Jo Sung-hee
• Writer: Jo Sung-hee
• Cast: Song Joong-ki, Kim Tae-ri, Jin Seon-kyu
• IMDb Ratings: 6.5
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 69
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

A futuristic number of bounty hunting spaceships chase after careering trash can right from the opening credits, Space Sweepers portrays a diverse, multilingual, multicultural future that’s as exhilarating as it is staggeringly dystopian.

Pilot Tae-ho is aboard the freighter Victory, along with Captain Jang, engineer Tiger Park, and a robotic bug named Bubs, who are bounty hunters who collect junk from outer space and sell it for parts.

The crew finds a nanobot-filled android that has been fitted with a hydrogen bomb while chasing a derelict spacecraft, which is home to a little girl who is hiding in a derelict spaceship. When the Victory crew first meets the “little girl” they intend to sell her back to the terrorists who lost her before realizing she has much more of a special gift than they anticipated.

13. The Midnight Sky

• Director: George Clooney
• Writer: Lily Brooks-Dalton, Mark L. Smith
• Cast: George Clooney, Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo
• IMDb Ratings: 5.6
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 50
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

It’s set shortly after Earth has recently undergone a catastrophic event, and George Clooney plays a scientist racing across the tundra to contact an exploration spacecraft still in space, warning them not to return to Earth. As he travels, he comes across and rescues a very young girl, with whom he forms an inseparable friendship.

Sci-fi is a character-driven film with very little action, that barely qualifies as a sci-fi film. It is a very important portfolio piece for George Clooney, who directed and stars in it. Those who enjoy Apple TV+’s “Invasion” will enjoy this, although not everyone will enjoy it.

12. Okja

• Director: Bong Joon-ho
• Writer: Bong Joon-ho, Jon Ronson
• Cast: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Seo-hyun Ahn
• IMDb Ratings: 6.5
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 69
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

During the first five minutes of Okja, the filmmakers take more creative risks than most films do in their whole runtime. It is the erratic tone that critics and audiences, particularly western ones, seem to be troubled by, from sentiment to suspense to giddy action to whimsy to horror to whatever Mr. Gyllenhaal is doing.

The symphonic swing of a Bong film’s rhythmic tonality is perhaps best exemplified in Okja. Also not a vegan film, Okja is a film that looks at ethics and human rights, and, above all, at how we can live in harmony with our fellow creatures, including humans.

For Parasite, Bong Joon-ho won the Best Director and Best Picture Oscars, but he had already made some remarkable films before that ( Okja isn’t the only entry on this list). His sci-fi drama, Okja, for Netflix, takes on capitalism and the meat industry in a touching way.

11. Advantageous

• Director: Jennifer Phang
• Writer: Jacqueline Kim, Jennifer Phang
• Cast: Jacqueline Kim, James Urbaniak, Freya Adams
• IMDb Ratings: 6.1
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

With its near-futuristic tone, Jacqueline Kim stars as a single mother in the story about a mother’s dedication, the objectification of women, and the future of consciousness. The contemporary sci-fi trope of consciousness uploading is familiar to you (hello, Black Mirror). However, Advantageous’s depth of story prevents it from becoming yet another trite retread.

That it never forgets whose tale it is what makes it so evocative. The film shows how terrifying, and yet intriguing, the future can be without oversexualizing or sidelining women. Advantageous is not a solution to a problem that women face.

It is a radicalization of these problems by Jacqueline Kim, the movie’s other co-writer is presented with an unnerving and eerie future that isn’t too far from what we know now, breaking the rules and stretching our imaginations. It is an interesting sci-fi movie.

Read More: The Best Thrillers on Netflix Right Now

10. ARQ

• Director: Tony Elliott
• Writer: Tony Elliot
• Cast: Robbie Amell, Rachael Taylor, Shaun Benson
• IMDb Ratings: 6.3
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 43
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

Unlike other science fiction films, Tony Elliot’s ARQ relies on a plot point that has been used before, most successful in the Bill Murray film ‘Groundhog Day. In this film, Renton is the main character.

He lives in a world in which energy sources are dwindling drastically, creating a situation reminiscent of warfare between governments and big industries. One reason Renton is being sought after by the Bloc is that he has a machine that can generate unlimited energy.

This would have been a relatively easy kill for Rennton, but the problem is that the time loop he created by the machine he carries around is preventing that. Rennton keeps waking up no matter what he does. Despite the serious subject matter, it’s a better movie at 88 minutes long, which isn’t too long for a thriller.

9. Contagion

• Director: Steven Soderbergh
• Writer: Scott Z. Burns
• Cast: Robbie Amell, Rachael Taylor, Shaun Benson
• IMDb Ratings: 6.8
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

Steven Soderbergh’s outbreak movie follows the rapid spread of an unknown virus through the multiple narratives of an epidemiologist trying to discover a vaccine, a conspiracy theorist claiming a cure, and a father protecting his child from the dangers of the outside world converge- in a story of an invasion nearly bringing the world to its knees. This is terrifying because it’s never too melodramatic, never overly dramatic, and, as we know from experience, it’s closer to reality than we’d like to admit. It is an amazing Sci-Fi movie by Warner Bros.

8. Altered Carbon

• Director: Laeta Kalogridis
• Writer: Laeta Kalogridis
• Cast: Chris Conner, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Dichen Lachman
• IMDb Ratings: 8
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

An astronaut returns to earth in a new body after 250 years on ice and has only one shot at winning his freedom: solving a mind-bending mystery.

There is a lot of Season 2 to get through if you’ve not watched Season 1. We recommend watching the first season as well since it is considerably better than the second. Anthony Mackie brings a visual aesthetic similar to Blade Runner to this story thanks to the unmatched production design.

The third season of Netflix’s “Altered Carbon” was canceled, otherwise, there would have been three seasons of the best sci-fi tv series. However, these are without question still worth watching.

7. Project Power

• Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
• Writer: Mattson Tomlin
• Cast: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback
• IMDb Ratings: 6
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 61
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

In New Orleans, a pill that for five minutes gives users the ability to do all kinds of impossible feats requires a teen dealer, a local cop, and an ex-soldier to work together to take down the group responsible.

6. Sorry to Bother You

• Director: Boots Riley
• Writer: Boots Riley
• Cast: Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Armie Hammer, Stephen Yeun, Terry Crews
• IMDb Ratings: 6.9
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

A sarcastic satire of corporate greed and racism, Riley’s directorial debut follows Cassius “Cash” Green (LaKeith Stanfield), a telemarketer who uses a “white voice” to propel himself to the top company, leaving all others behind. As the true nature of Cash’s workplace is revealed, the movie shifts from a comedy of errors to a science fiction horror movie. Indeed an amazing sci-fi movie.

5. Stargate

• Director: Roland Emmerich
• Writer: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich
• Cast: Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson
• IMDb Ratings: 7
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 53
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

In addition to spawning a slew of television shows—Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe, to name a few—Roland Emmerich’s interplanetary sword-and-sandals epic is perhaps most notorious for setting the stage for one of the show’s most pivotal elements: Kurt Russell’s renaissance-era Colonel Jack O’Neil.

James Spader’s befuddled, the nerdy archeologist is perfectly balanced by the hardened commando mode of Kurt Russell, with his flat-top, fatigues, and macho swagger. Taking audiences lightyears away to an ancient civilization much like ancient Egypt through a teleportation system, the movie’s complicated story and production design puzzled audiences upon release, and still do today.

4. The Wandering Earth

• Director: Frant Gwo
• Writer: Gong Geer, Junce Ye, Yan Dongxu
• Cast: Jing Wu, Chuxiao Qu, Guangjie Li
• IMDb Ratings: 5.9
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 69
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

As the sun is dying out, people all around the world build giant planet thrusters to move Earth out of its orbit in the solar system and sail Earth to a new star system. As a result of the 2500-year journey, there are many unexpected dangers, and young people have to fight hard to save humanity in this era of a wandering Earth. This may not be one of the best sci-fi movies but we can give it a green light.

3. Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus

• Director: Jhonen Vasquez
• Writer: Jhonen Vasquez, Breehn Burns, Eric Trueheart
• Cast: Richard Steven Horvitz, Rikki Simons, Andy Berman
• IMDb Ratings: 7.4
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

An alien species based on height determines social hierarchy: Zim, the smallest member of its species, is assigned the task of conquering a planet on the edge of the universe named Earth, which is an insignificant planet on the edge of the universe. It is Zim and his malfunctioning erratic robotic drone GIR who decide to take over the planet even though he was ordered to gather undercover data and remain out of harm’s way.

In addition to his inexperience, Zim is always thwarted in his attempts to take over by Dib, who realizes Zim is a ghost. Thankfully, the show’s creator and voice actors return for a new Netflix movie featuring Zim and his maniacal laugh. Set shortly after Dib watches surveillance monitors for months as he tries for signs of Zim, hiding in a toilet with his useless pizza-loving robot sidekick GIR, phase one of Zim’s plan has come to fruition as Dib becomes feeble and disgusting.

Phase Two would be helpful to him if he could remember it. Zib’s demoralization changes Dib’s goal from saving the world to earning his father’s praise again. Nevertheless, collaborating with Zim proves to be a terrible idea. This movie is definitely worth watching.

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

• Director: Rian Johnson
• Writer: Rian Johnson, George Lucas
• Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill
• IMDb Ratings: 6.9
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the eighth installment of the Star Wars franchise, Luke Skywalker returns as the revered Jedi who had been hiding out in The Force Awakens to guide Rey, a young fighter, with how the Force works for him.

In the meantime, Leia begins gathering all resistance against the First Order and Kylo Ren’s tyranny. Although the film was not as popular and profitable as its predecessor, it continues to be one of the best sci-fi fantasy movies of all time and one of the most adored. It is one of the greatest sci-fi films present.

1. Star Trek Beyond

• Director: Justin Lin
• Writer: Simon Pegg, Doug Jung, Gene Roddenberry
• Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban
• IMDb Ratings: 7
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86
• Streaming Platform: Netflix

On the outskirts of Federation space, the USS Enterprise is ambushed by unknown aliens during the middle of a five-year mission. After that, James Kirk and his crew are stranded on an uncharted planet and have to engage in battle with its inhabitants.

Kirk’s new ally is an alien, resulting in a highly entertaining “Trek” movie (with Idris Elba in some extraterrestrial makeup). The film, Star Trek Beyond is worth checking out if you’re a fan of the Beastie Boys and is amazing science fiction. And without a doubt is one of the best sci-fi movies.

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