Science fiction works are frequently influenced by a certain future vision that an author, filmmaker, or even a comic book artist has in mind. These stories are exhilarating excursions into worlds of advanced civilizations, magical-looking technology, and interplanetary adventures. Some of the most exciting sci-fi ideas from the past are gradually becoming our present reality. These novel concepts influence the next generation’s future and the escapism of the present.
With its wide variety of science-fiction titles, Netflix has you covered whether you’re an avid fan of the genre or just looking for an exciting film that alters your perspective. You can peek at the future as it has been imagined by various filmmakers and visit fascinating realms. The most popular streaming service offers both its own original content and licenced popular franchises, so you can spend a terrific evening watching futuristic films that are full of tension, thought-provoking themes, and lots of action. Here are the top sci-fi films available on Netflix, in no particular order.
Annihilation (2018)
In 2018, Natalie Portman quietly starred in the underappreciated science fiction movie Annihilation. It wasn’t a commercial success, whether for poor marketing or other causes. However, it was a fantastic movie, as anyone who saw it can attest. The story revolved around Portman’s character Lena, a cellular scientist with military experience, as she looks into a paranormal occurrence that has produced the Shimmer, a sort of otherworldly landscape.
Lena joins an all-female squad that risks their lives by going into the Shimmer to try to find out what happened to her own husband and others who entered it and never came back. The Shimmer turns out to have some disturbing and mind-bending properties to it, giving the film several intriguing and unusual angles. The movie had some lovely, imaginative, and eerie components.
Anon (2018)
Anon, a British-American science fiction movie that surpasses expectations, starred Amanda Seyfried and Clive Owen in a dark future where everyone wears an occular implant that records every action they make. A heads-up display with an augmented reality interface is provided by the implant, which gives you knowledge about everyone and everything you come into contact with in the outside world.
Because no information about Seyfried’s character “Anon” appears on his display, Owen’s character, a detective, runs into her. When he tries to retrieve his records for the day, she mysteriously also erases any recordings of herself in his implant. This creates a lot of suspense as the movie develops into a mystery with a lot of tension, intense character interactions, and a convoluted plot that runs throughout.
Battleship (2012)
Battleship was intended to be a tentpole blockbuster for 2012, but it underwhelmed at the box office. Over the following 10 years, it has received some minor critical reevaluation as a silly, entertaining film with a military metaphor akin to Starship Troopers. The Hoeber brothers and Peter Berg’s film, which is based on the well-known board game, stars an all-star cast that includes Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna, and Liam Neeson.
A naval fleet must fight an epic war on all fronts when an alien invasion threatens Earth. A thrilling, explosive sci-fi adventure is produced by the excellent spectacular effects, which are comparable to those in most Transformer films.
Bird Box (2018)
With this sci-fi horror film, Sandra Bullock makes an impressive comeback. After Hollywood studios started favouring younger looks, the actress would publicly praise Netflix for giving her a second shot. Susanne Bier’s atmospheric and dramatic film Bird Box was adapted from a screenplay by Eric Heisserer.
In a post-apocalyptic world where unseen beings compel anybody who sees them to commit suicide, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, and Bullock co-star. In order to save themselves, a mom and her two children must travel on a perilous journey while wearing blindfolds.
Circle (2015)
Saw’s basic idea is followed by Circle, but the stakes are raised. The movie, which was written and directed by Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione, stars a cast that includes working performers including Allegra Masters, Michael Nardelli, and Julie Benz. The entire film takes place in one room, where when a bunch of strangers wakes they discover they are bound and are standing in designated circles. Every few minutes, someone in the circle perishes, forcing the surviving survivors to make difficult decisions. It’s a terrific movie with a fast pacing that investigates the lifeboat thought experiment’s moral conundrum and queries the impact of another person’s death on a community.
Dune (1984)
David Lynch was responsible for bringing Dune to the big screen for the first time. The tale is based on Frank Herbert’s novel, which several studios rejected as unfilmable. Lynch took on the role of director after writing the script with Eric Bergren. Patrick Stewart, Virginia Madsen, Sting, and Kyle MacLachlan are among the eclectic cast members.
The novel recounts the exploits of young aristocrat Paul Atreides as he watches the demise of his family while surviving power battles and becomes the ruler of a new race. It is set in a distant future where interstellar travel and political intrigue are the norm. Long considered a failure, the first Dune has recently undergone a slight reevaluation in the eyes of critics, if only for the sake of its absurdity. Although it has a lot of charm, the latest remake is far better. Nevertheless, one can enjoy it for what it is and the novelty of it.
Level 16 (2018)
No sci-fi movie does a good job of depicting how the wealthy and powerful treat the weak and marginalised among us, despite the fact that many of them deal with the treatment of so-called “social undesirables.” One of these productions is called Level 16, which was written and directed by Danishka Esterhazy. It stars a young all-female cast that includes Katie Douglas, Celina Martin, and Sara Canning, among others.
The setting of this dystopian thriller is an all-girls boarding school where the students are taught to be obedient and clean while ignoring vices like rage or curiosity. In this gripping film that explores themes of control, conformity, and rebellion, two buddies get intrigued and set out on a quest to learn the true secret of their existence.
Mute (2018)
The film received unfairly negative reviews from many critics, but we want viewers to form their own opinions. Mute, written and directed by Duncan Jones (who gained notoriety with his superb science fiction picture Moon), stars Alexander Skarsgrd, Paul Rudd, and Justin Theroux in a futuristic neo-noir society.
Leo, a mute barman, must traverse the city’s underground while looking for his missing lover. He eventually finds himself caught up in a web of crime and corruption. It’s a fantastic narrative that has all the noir detective pulp novel undertones with a Blade Runner/Brick hybrid futuristic setting. It is a standout entry in the ranking due to its strong cast and captivating aesthetics.
Oxygen (2021)
Imagine going into a cryogenic chamber in the future to take a long nap. If you suddenly wake up from the nap, running out of oxygen, and have no recollection, you might learn from the manufacturer that your chamber was damaged earlier. In Christie LeBlanc’s stylishly claustrophobic sci-fi thriller Oxygen, Mélanie Laurent plays Liz, and Alexandre Aja handles the directing.
Liz is facing a ticking time bomb as her oxygen supply runs out and she has no recall of who she is or how she got there. She needs to take every action possible to figure out who she is and try to flee before it’s too late.
Project Power (2020)
The best superhero flicks aren’t always produced by Marvel or DC. What would you do with a pill that gives you superhuman skills for five minutes each time you take it? That is the intriguing question posed by Project Power. Mattson Tomlin wrote the story, and Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman are in charge of the direction. Dominique Fishback, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Jamie Foxx are among the all-star cast members. We follow a former soldier, a police officer, and a drug dealer as they band together to bring the drug distributors to justice.
Replicas (2018)
Replicas provides something quite new, namely Keanu Reeves’ underappreciated performance. Chad St. John’s interesting screenplay and Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s direction put Keanu in the role of William Foster, a brilliant neuroscientist who loses his family in a car accident. He loses his ability to think rationally and is so distraught that he gets fixated on bringing them back via the experimental cloning technique he has been working on. By pushing the boundaries of his own ethics and breaking the laws of nature, Foster delves deeper into the implications from an ethical and scientific standpoint.
Star Trek (2009)
Since it revived the original series, 2009’s Star Trek generated a lot of hype among fans as one of the most cherished and well-liked sci-fi franchises ever. The movie was a unique one where fans got to witness their favourite characters for the first time in a new rendition thanks to new actors like Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto taking up the legendary roles of Kirk and Spock, respectively.
It depicted the circumstances of how the most well-known crew of the USS Enterprise initially came to be together, serving as something of a prequel movie. It has a lot of familiar aspects and a fantastic new nemesis in Eric Bana’s portrayal of the Romulan adversary Nero from the future. Trekkies showed up in droves to see the movie, which was a commercial success as was to be expected. With a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it was likewise highly regarded by critics.
Starship Troopers (1997)
Anything Paul Verhoeven directs is always a success. The ingenious adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein’s novel that addresses themes of colonialism, warfare, and fascism is his wacky satire Starship Troopers. Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, and Neil Patrick Harris are expertly suited for the roles in Edward Neumeier’s outstanding screenplay. Although the humour is highly tongue-in-cheek, many viewers miss it. In the narrative, we follow the ongoing conflict between humanity and enormous insect-like aliens, which has resulted in a radical restructuring of society in which only those who have served in the military are regarded as citizens.
Stowaway (2021)
What would you do if you discovered you were carrying a stowaway passenger while on an intergalactic mission? Stowaway, a film written and directed by Joe Penna with assistance from Ryan Morrison, poses that query. Toni Collette, Daniel Dae Kim, and Anna Kendrick are among the noteworthy cast members. The ramifications of an unexpected visitor whose lone presence jeopardises the mission’s stability are explored in the novel, which takes place while all of the ship’s resources are assessed to meet the crew’s essential demands. In this movie, pragmatism, humanity, and ethical conundrums are all explored.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The sci-fi juggernaut Terminator 2: Judgement Day, also known as T2, changed an entire generation. Many people believe that the second installment of the Terminator story, which James Cameron wrote and directed, is the final strong entry in the series. In a bold move, Cameron reunited Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger with newcomers Edward Furlong and Patrick Stewart. The T-800 is back, but this time he’s coming to shield John Connor from the T-1000’s brand-new threat. It’s a timeless tale with plenty of action and twists and turns that continues to be the pinnacle of science fiction filmmaking.
The Adam Project (2022)
The Adam Project is one of Ryan Reynolds’ most recent productions for Netflix, which he has a great deal of success with. Reynolds stars opposite Zoe Saldana and Mark Ruffalo in the Shawn Levy-directed film, which also features a narrative by Jonathan Tropper. With the aid of his younger self, Adam travels back in time in this graphically breathtaking sci-fi adventure to try to save his father in the past. It’s a fantastic time travel novel with lots of humour and strong family dynamics that avoids the usual nonsense about parallel dimensions.
The Call (2020)
The Call, a terrific Korean movie, has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has received a slew of prizes throughout Asia. It centres on a strange phone call that links two ladies from different times. The movie develops into an atmospheric treat as they utilise it to discover the shared experiences of their pasts in an effort to alter how they were impacted by them.
The Call is a clever movie that captivates you with some masterful tension-building. It completely immerses spectators in its eerie atmosphere with its sci-fi and horror fusion while illuminating the mysteries of its idea. This fantastic genre film, which is not to be missed, makes for a superb cinema night and demonstrates once more why k-films are so well-liked all over the world.
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
After Pitch Black became a surprise hit, Universal realised there was room to develop this character’s backstory. The outcome was a daring chapter in the Riddick story. David Twohy is the writer and director of The Chronicles of Riddick, which stars Vin Diesel as the rebellious Furyan once more.
As Riddick finds himself at war with a species of interplanetary fanatics known as the Necromongers, the stakes in this story significantly rise. With Riddick fighting for his life and unwittingly taking control of a new empire, the action-packed movie boasts a sizable ensemble cast and some of the best action scenes in the franchise.
The Colony (2013)
Imagine a scenario in which climate change is so severe that humans are compelled to create tools to manipulate the weather at whim until the tools break down. That scenario is the subject of the superb science fiction film The Colony, written and directed by Jeff Renfroe and starring Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Zegers.
A group of survivors in underground colonies in a post-apocalyptic freezing world receives a distress signal from another colony. A group of people come together to go off on a perilous voyage where they will face external and internal threats. The 2013 sci-fi movie Snowpiercer, which is undoubtedly better and is set in a freezing post-apocalyptic world, eclipsed this one.
The Giver (2014)
Imagine a society where people suppress their emotions in order to maintain order. In her book The Giver, Lois Lowry asks the reader this question. Phillip Noyce and Michael Mitnick collaborated on the same-titled movie. Along with established actors like Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, the film also stars rookies Brenton Thwaites and Odeya Rush.
After humanity’s fall, emotions and memories are suppressed in this ostensibly utopian society, but a young man named is selected to be the Receiver of Memory. He would learn the sinister secrets underneath this brand-new, flawless façade.
The Platform (2019)
Some of the most thought-provoking sci-fi films ever have been produced by Spanish film. Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s interesting film The Platform, whose script was written by David Desola, stars Ivan Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, and Antonia San Juan, among other well-known Spanish performers. The story takes place in an odd prison during a dystopian era.
Without giving away too much of the story, we can say with certainty that this science fiction drama uses numerous metaphors to explore the dark side of human nature. Inmates in prison must struggle to survive while coping with the meagre resources provided by the enigmatic platform that mysteriously descends each day, providing food for those on top.
The Thing (2011)
The Thing, a 2011 prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 film of the same name, successfully combined science fiction and horror. When an alien body is found encased in Antarctic ice in 1982, the story begins. However, a group of scientists who want to investigate it quickly learn that it isn’t actually dead.
The creature can mimic people and combine different people, therefore the movie continued to use the fantastic but spooky special effects that made the first so memorable. The movie had a strong cast, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton leading the way, and it was exciting to watch. Fans of the original movie, which has since become a cult classic, have been given a strong indication that there may soon be a sequel.
The Wandering Earth (2019)
In The Wandering Earth, the notion of humanity’s backup plan as the sun starts to fade from view is explored. The film is directed by Frant Gwo, and Gong Geer and Junce Ye adapted the screenplay from a novel by Liu Cixin, the author of the hugely successful The Three Body Problem. We follow a group of scientists who are trying to escape the solar system and transform Earth into a massive spacecraft in order to save civilization. You can’t fault the plot for trying to save humanity by going large, and even if the Chinese sci-fi movie wasn’t exactly a massive hit, its graphics are incredibly innovative and strange.
What Happened to Monday? (2017)
You only need to watch What Happened to Monday to get an idea of Noomi Rapace’s range as an actor. Rapace, Willem Dafoe, and Glenn Close lend their talents to Tommy Wirkola’s bizarre narrative, which was penned by Max Botkin and Kerry Williamson. Seven identical sisters (all played by Rapace) are forced to live together in a single life and are each given a different personality and a name based on a day of the week in a dystopian future with severe population control laws. The other sisters have to find out the truth while avoiding the merciless government agents when Monday mysteriously disappears.
World War Z (2013)
For a lot of individuals, watching World War Z has turned into a guilty pleasure. Even though the film fell short in capturing the subtleties of Max Brooks’ novel, it nevertheless does a good job of telling a compelling, albeit predictable, tale. The studio required numerous revisions to the script written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard, and Damon Lindelof. Brad Pitt had a strong performance as a former UN investigator who must travel the world to find a solution to prevent the global virus from turning people into zombies. Marc Forster did his best to helm the film.
Since it revived the original series, 2009’s Star Trek generated a lot of hype among fans as one of the most cherished and well-liked sci-fi franchises ever. The movie was a unique one where fans got to witness their favourite characters for the first time in a new rendition thanks to new actors like Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto taking up the legendary roles of Kirk and Spock, respectively.
