The selection of sci-fi films is one of its strongest departments within the larger list of movies on Netflix, and it has a nice mix of classics alongside a number of newer, stranger films. Navigating digital volumes one Netflix can be a little tricky, but the fact is that most of its selection makes for an enjoyable watch. Still, there are always going to be films that skip through the cracks, and that’s why it’s good to seek out recommendations. For a little help navigating that 3500+ Netflix inventory, these are some of our favorite selections.
You can also take a look at our list of the best sci-fi movies of all time for a deeper selection.
Vesper (2022)
Taking a different view on the apocalypse, Vesper imagines a world in which humanity’s attempts to slow climate change allowed engineered organisms to escape the labs and ravage human populations while likewise taking out most of the food system. The world now is a muddy, grimey affair, in which food is found almost exclusively through foraging. Enter Vesper, a teen who wanders the wasteland with a droid channeling her paralyzed father. Her life changes when she finds a crashed vehicle from a place known as the Citadel, and a young woman named Camellia who was fighting to escape it. Vesper is both a dense story and a visual delight, with a lot going on both with the narrative and on the screen as little creatures flutter at the periphery. Steering away from a “chosen one” narrative and refocusing on sustainable communities, this tale flirts with solarpunk themes while delivering a lived-in environment and new ideas for navigating a post climate catastrophe world, all under two hours.
Jung_e (2023)
As with so many films on this list, Jung_e imagines a world in which climate change has made the earth uninhabitable, with humanity forced to take residence in scattered shelters in space. A civil war among these colonies breaks out, further threatening humanity’s future. Seo-hyun’s mother is a mercenary in the conflict, and trades her service for life-saving operations to save her daughter’s life. Decades later, Seo-hyun is tasked with imparting her mother’s consciousness into a robotic body, an experiment that spirals out of control as it becomes clear that humanity still has a long way to go in learning to coexist with AI respectfully. Genre fans that found Yeon Sang-Ho through prior gems like Train to Busan and Hellbound will not be disappointed in Jung_e, which taps into similar themes of exploring humanity’s reactions to catastrophe while packing in the awe-inspiring action for which he’s known. This film also features the final performance of Kang Soo-yeon, who turns out an emotional performance as Seo-hyun.
In Vitro (2019)
Though In Vitro taps into a number of sci-fi tropes, including implanted memories and a dystopian future, it remains very much its own thing due to its black and white format, its use of split-screen, and its overall experimental nature. After a great ecological disaster, survivors intend to rebuild the human race. One scientist carries on a conversation with a young clone who has been implanted with memories, leading to a series of philosophical questions that the film may not answer, but very much delights in asking. Short and to the point, this peak into the future comes complete with a breathtaking sequence in which a black, oily substance floods the streets of Bethlehem, and that alone is worth the price of admission.
Extinction (2018)
Visions of an apocalyptic invasion plague Peter, and his wife and daughters bear the brunt of his increasing disconnect from reality as a result. Yet, when he goes to seek help, he is warned by an in-patient that he needs to leave because the visions are real and the doctors will only work to convince him otherwise. Shortly, the events that Peter saw in his mind begin happening in real time, which initially gives him and his family an edge in temporarily gaining the upper hand during a home invasion.
However, Extinction is full of twists and turns, and Peter very quickly finds himself questioning everything he thought he knew about the world. Without giving away any of the more shocking moments, this is a top-notch heady sci-fi thriller, ground by top-notch performances from underrated greats Michael Pena and Lizzy Caplan.
Sleight (2016)
Superhero media tends to have a fairly limited view of what the world would be like if everyday people had superpowers, which is why it’s always refreshing to see a take exploring how a unique ability might upend a person’s life. In Sleight, Bo has the ability to control metal, which he uses to perform street magic in hopes of providing for his sister after they are orphaned.
Bo should have been able to go to college to pursue a STEM career, but was limited by a series of circumstances, which led him to become entangled in illegal activities. Getting out of them is a bigger obstacle than he first guesses, and the journey to a more autonomous existence is a major part of the journey. Regardless of his mistakes, Bo is a deeply sympathetic character whose charming dialogue and knack for performance defines the film.
The Discovery (2017)
What would you do if you knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that there would be an afterlife after you died? According to The Discovery, the answer isn’t particularly pretty. When scientist Thomas Harbor announces he’s proven the existence of life after death, there is an enormous global spike in death by self-harm. While Harbor himself appears completely unrepentant, his son Will commits to convincing him to publicly recant his statement, but discovers that instead his father has been busy doubling down attempting to engineer technology that can record a person’s afterlife experience.
The Discovery is a particularly bleak premise, and while it might not have quite the resources at hand to fully address these heavy questions of life and death, it is a beautifully shot, curiosity-driven film that nudges toward the possibilities of an afterlife as limited by the perception of its very human protagonists.
The Mist (2007)
Based on the Stephen King novella of the same name, The Mist was Frank Darabont’s third King adaptation following the success of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. A rare horror film featuring a true ensemble cast, with several recognizable faces stepping in to tell the tale of a town hit by a mysterious storm and shrouded in inescapable fog. Centering on David Drayton, the townspeople are forced to convene in a neighborhood supermarket while attempting to understand what has befallen their town. Significantly moodier than many entries on this list and soundly falling on the “horror” side of sci-fi, the bleak overtone gives way to a study of the desperate things humans do in moments of crisis. An underrated hit among King adaptations, The Mist doesn’t offer any solutions, but it will leave you with many questions.
Don’t Look Up (2021)
This star-studded black comedy introduces us to two scientists that discover a dangerous comet that threatens to destroy the planet. It then shifts focus to public response to their discovery. With a pending extinction event at hand, world leaders refuse to act due to an unwillingness to do anything that would reflect poorly on their public image or campaign donors. As such, you don’t have to stretch too far to find an analogy for current real world anxieties in Don’t Look Up.
Watching these fictional politicians meander and deflect as a deadly comet rockets toward the planet adds humor to some of the more upsetting elements of modern-day life while also assuring us that it doesn’t have to be this way. Not hopeful by any stretch, Don’t Look Up still remains darkly humorous as it warns us of allowing planetary threats to go unchecked.
In the Shadow of the Moon (2019)
In 1988, a Philly cop and his partner are entangled in a bizarre mystery in which four seemingly unrelated people die in various places across the city in the same uniquely gruesome way, united apparently by nothing except the way they died. Though he finds a suspect in a mysterious woman in a hoodie, the case goes unsolved, but in nine years, the exact same circumstances repeat, and the cop finds himself at the heart of a time traveling crime thriller, attempting to uncover how the suspect seems to know so much about him.
In the Shadow of the Moon is a grim thriller that pulls in enough seemingly disparate themes to keep it interesting even during its lulls. The harrowing action sequences and gorgeous cinematography make for a film that is easy on the eyes. Though it doesn’t always completely nail the pacing, its premise sets the bar high, and it raises plenty of questions and keeps the plot reveals flowing.
Bubble (2022)
In this sci-fi parallel to Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid, a number of reality-bending bubbles are isolated to the city of Tokyo after an explosion at Tokyo Tower, but they make the city uninhabitable for the general population. Despite the danger, a number of young people engage in high-stakes parkour tournaments, bouncing around the abandoned city with Tokyo Tower considered the ultimate, as of yet unreachable, goal.
A teen named Hibiki is shocked to find a girl who appears to have little to no context for human interactions who he names Uta. As the bubbles become increasingly unstable and threaten all who reside within the city, Hibiki and Uta are forced to act.
Attack on Titan and Death Note creator Tetsurō Araki has created a number of influential anime series, but Bubble hits a decidedly more fanciful note. The central characters are charming, but this is a film that leans into the full action capabilities of parkour and anime combined to weave a gorgeous vision of a post-apocalyptic Tokyo. It might not necessarily break new ground, but it’s a beautiful movie to take in nonetheless, and full of all the bleak overtones one might expect of any proper dystopian film. Read our Bubble review for more info.
The Midnight Sky (2020)
Taking a reclusive work-addicted scientist seeking out habitable planets for humanity should earth become uninhabitable as its central character, The Midnight Sky visits Earth’s very near future to show a planet on which an unspecified disaster has decimated the population. Our protagonist identifies a shuttle returning from Jupiter’s apparently habitable moon K-23, which he himself discovered. The ship’s crew believes it has simply lost contact with Earth, and so it falls upon our hero, isolated in a remote bunker in the Arctic, to tell them not to return home.
Directed by and starring George Clooney, this humanistic view of “the end of the world” shows us a very flawed man who nonetheless finds himself plagued with regret, detachment, and perhaps most terribly, hope for the future. Poignant and occasionally heart-wrenching, The Midnight Sky vacillates between the melancholy and the uplifting to tell a story that isn’t particularly unique, but is telling of our concerns as a species.
Awake (2021)
Jill and her children, along with the rest of the world, find themselves suddenly unable to sleep. Regardless of the impossibility of rest, humanity begins suffering all the known effects of sleep deprivation, including fatigue, hallucinations, mood instability, and an inability to tell the difference between reality and dream. With a deteriorating understanding of consequences, the world rapidly becomes a more dangerous place. Meanwhile, Jill’s daughter is sought after by a government that seeks to use her for experimentations due to her apparent immunity. Not limited to overall societal observations that are par the course for dystopian sci-fi, choosing a single mother forced to extremes to make ends meet before the chaos breaks out adds an extra element of commentary to the bleak feeling of the movie. Though it’s a film that has left critics polarized, to say the least, the level of paranoia and dread that permeates Awake will be catnip for audience members that enjoy sci-fi that goes heavy on the horror vibes. Another film with an A+ cast, including Gina Rodrigez, Shamier Anderson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and many more, this is a well-acted anxiety-driven thriller that fits nicely in the modern sci-fi canon.
Stowaway (2021)
Sporting a legendary cast including Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson, and Toni Collette, Stowaway takes the Bugs Bunny-style concept of our protagonist falling asleep in a rocket to Mars and turns it into a tense sci-fi flick about human resiliency and sacrifice. After our lead is told there’s no way to get him back to safety until the ship has completed its mission, things get even worse as they realize that the oxygen supply is rapidly leaking and won’t last through the trip. For anyone who is a little exhausted by some of the bleaker dystopian themes that sci-fi has long made a home for, Stowaway manages to be heartbreaking and heartwarming all in one go. Focusing on the sense of horror that would come realizing that you’re trapped in space to the escalating fear of hearing you may indeed never get back, it leans into character development amid the high-stakes action and encourages its audience to bond with the cast as they struggle with one no-win situation after another.
See You Yesterday (2019)
While the title might make it sound like this is a run-of-the-mill time travel movie, See You Yesterday is a surprising entry to one of the genre’s favorite tropes. Deceptively light in its opening scenes, the central premise of the story kicks off when teenage scientist CJ loses her brother in a police shooting, leaving her and her family reeling. However, unlike so many that have experienced a similar loss in the real world, CJ can actually change things to ensure it never happened. Implementing her newly discovered secret of time travel, she and her friend Sebastian go back in time to prevent this tragedy from ever occurring. Yet, the cyclical nature of time means that new threats and disasters appear every time she attempts to correct the mistakes of the past.
While staying soundly in the realm of an improbable sci-fi adventure, See You Yesterday deals with some of the heaviest real-world issues imaginable while remaining disarmingly good-intentioned. Full of lovable homages to sci-fi of yesteryear while keeping its feet firmly grounded in the possibilities of the future, this is a remarkable debut from director Stefon Bristol that is braced by impressive performances from lead actors Eden Duncan-Smith, Dante Crichlow, and Astro.
I Am Mother (2019)
Mother is a humanoid robot that tends to embryos in an apparently deserted underground facility. Raising one of these to young adulthood and referring to the young woman as Daughter, the two form an emotional bond that is both unsettling and endearing. When a stranger appears at the base telling Daughter of the genocide that AI like Mother has unleashed on the human population, the once safe (if creepy) world that Daughter has known becomes uncertain and terrifying.
Hinging on its disturbing, horror-infused vibes and solid acting by Hilary Swank and Clara Rugaard along with the collaborative performance of Mother, this is not to be missed by fans that love a good ominous sci-fi film. I Am Mother is one of those stories that is remarkably difficult to describe without inevitably giving away a major twist, but that’s all the more reason for genre fans to seek it out for themselves. Claustrophobic dystopian tales that keep you on your toes until after the credits roll like Solaris (1979) or Moon (2009) will delight in the heady concepts tucked into a roller coaster plot.
The Adam Project (2022)
Encountering serious issues mid-flight, rocket ship pilot Adam flies right into a wormhole that takes him into the “distant past of 2022.” Immediately connecting with his younger self, the two Adams must work together to return the elder to his respective time. Though time travel is a tried and true staple of sci-fi, one of the most intriguing elements of this story is the way it shows how the early trauma in the young Adam has crystalized into a serious lack of emotional connection in later years, giving this one an unexpected punch to go along with the fast-paced action sequences. Fun but not as light-hearted as one might think, The Adam Projectleans just as hard into the skill of its actors as it does the kookiness of its premise. Surprisingly providing one of Ryan Reynolds’ most down-to-earth performances after a long series of successes capitalizing on his over-the-top antics, The Adam Project asks heavy questions and never forgets to lead with its heart.
For more of his best work, check out our guide to the best Ryan Reynolds movies of all time.
Mobile Suit Gundam (1989)
A compilation film collecting the first part of the Mobile Suit Gundam series that kicked off in 1979, this is on a lot of lists of the best anime of all time for great reason. When humans colonize outer space to solve the issue of overpopulation, some of the furthest colonies branch off and a war begins in which much of the human population on Earth perishes. Enlisting the help of a teen boy named Amuro Ray to pilot the enormous fighter robot RX-78-2 Gundam, the door swings wide open to giant robot fights in space. Yet, by treating the pilots as regular soldiers fighting an ugly war, Gundam revolutionized its genre and became one of the most important anime series ever produced. All the Gundam films are great, but you’ve got to start somewhere.
If you're looking for more like this, take a look at our list of the best anime on Netflix right now.
What Happened to Monday (2017)
In a dystopian future where the solution to overpopulation is to limit each household to only one child, twins and other births involving more than one child result in euthanization. A grandfather works to hide seven identical girls by having each go out one day of the week pretending to be the same person. Naturally, this goes haywire in this film, and a dystopian sci-fi action movie is born. There is no getting out of this write-up without commending Noomi Rapace’s juggling of the various personalities of each sister. Watching the women interact, it’s easy to forget that they’re all quite literally the same person offscreen. Further, it’s the characterization that makes the story click as well as it does, as each death is meaningful, felt through the other sisters.
AI Love You (2022)
In this futuristic world, AI is powered by human emotion. A worker at an advertising firm named Lana goes on agonizingly bad blind dates, not realizing that she already has a secret admirer. The AI of her office building Dob possesses the body of a particularly bad date and uses him to woo her with its encyclopedic knowledge of the things that she loves. A strange rom-com as well as a sci-fi movie in which a woman quite literally falls for a building, this is custom-made for anyone looking for a little more romance in their science fiction.
Okja (2017)
Fans of Bong Joon-Ho rejoice! This film features a massive cast with many celebrity appearances, and it tells a surprisingly heartwarming tale of a young girl named Mija and her beloved genetically-engineered superpig. Though the corporation that created Okja inevitably wants their creation back at a point, Mija fights them tooth and nail, showing the level of dedication a person can have for their pets.
Bandersnatch (2018)
The Black Mirror TV series is well-known for telling a number of challenging sci-fi tales set in a not-so-distant future where technology is rapidly advancing but humans remain very much the same as we ever were. Surprisingly, when given the opportunity to create a feature-length experience, the series opted to go to the past, looking at the Choose Your Own Adventure style of storytelling as well as the popularization of home video game systems in the 1980s to create this bizarre, sometimes-unpleasant, always trippy take on the genre. Regardless of whether you enjoy Bandersnatch or not, the fact is that there’s nothing quite like it, and it must be experienced to be believed.
Mirage (2018)
Married couple Vera and David move with their daughter Gloria into a house where seriously traumatic effects leading to several deaths occurred years before. One of the dead is a boy named Nico, who, during an electrical storm, appears to Vera through the TV. She urges him to avoid his death, then wakes up to a world completely changed in which her daughter was never born and her husband has married someone else. Haunting and strange, this film leans into the issues of using technology to change the timeline and features some brilliant performances along the way.
Synchronic (2019)
Anyone who loves Anthony Mackie’s portrayal as Sam Wilson in the MCU will be pleased to know that he’s a certified genre star, with break-out performances in Black Mirror, Io, and even Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. One of his best performances, genre or otherwise, remains Synchronic, in which he portrays a paramedic sent out to investigate a number of mysterious deaths. Apparently caused by a new designer drug, he takes the drug and discovers it has time traveling capabilities. An ominous film with likable protagonists, Synchronic is a must-watch in the realm of haunting time-travel movies.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)
After an ugly fight between young filmmaker Katie and tech-phobic father Rick leaves her laptop destroyed, he tries to make it up to her by getting the family together in order to drive her to her new college. However, when a soon-to-be obsolete home robot decides to take vengeance upon her creator by launching all of humanity into space, the Mitchells find themselves suddenly on the run and fighting to survive. The Mitchells vs the Machines features an all-star voice cast with the likes of Maya Rudolph, Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, and Eric Andre, this is a story of a family laying down their differences when it matters, but with plenty of chaotic robot fights in the mix.
Spiderhead (2022)
In an isolated prison, inmate Jeff struggles with feelings of guilt and remorse after his drunk driving led to the death of his friend and girlfriend. A charismatic overseer named Steve allows for the prisoners to roam unguarded, but administers experimental drugs daily as part of their imprisonment. As circumstances grow more heated and one drug leads to the sudden death of another inmate, it becomes clear that there is a lot more to Spiderhead than meets the eye.
Unsettlingly taking inspiration from a number of real-world prison experiments, Spiderhead questions control, complicity, and the nature of accidental acts of violence while offering up a top-notch cast. Though criticized for not quite living up to the potential of its own ideas, there’s little denying that the actors fit perfectly into their roles, and the humorous dialogue and character work makes for an entertaining watch.
Take a look at our guide to the best Chris Hemsworth movies for more great films from the Thor actor.
The Platform (2019)
Like many of the entries on this list, The Platform takes systemic injustices to the next level in order to question how much free will any of us truly have when necessities like shelter and food are weaponized against us. Inmate Goreng is dropped into a “Vertical Self-Management Center” nicknamed The Pit which consists of many different levels. A platform filled with food is lowered level by level, with those near the top eating as much as they want while those closer to the bottom end up with little or nothing. The platforms arbitrarily reassign, making it impossible to plan for when or how much one can eat.
Attempting to find new ways to beat the system, Goreng is faced with the truth that an essentially capitalist structure that leans into concepts of “survival of the fittest” is rigged in ways that makes it nigh impossible to get ahead of, making this a disturbing allegorical tale that darkly mirrors our own day-to-day reality.
Advantageous (2015)
A woman who has risen to the top of her field is primed to lose everything due to her status as “lesser” due to race and gender. She is fired suddenly due to simply aging out of the position according to her superiors, and the conditional privilege she experienced immediately vanishes as she fights to provide for her daughter.
As with so many of the best sci-fi films, Advantageous is about a sci-fi premise, but the important part of the story is the human cost. By showing us a mother struggling with a series of complicated decisions she makes in order to protect her daughter while sadly failing to change the future that will require much the same from the child, the lines between reality and fantasy all but disappear.
Best Movies on Netflix by Genre:
- Best horror movies on Netflix
- Best horror TV shows on Netflix
- Best anime series on Netflix
- Best action movies on Netflix
- Best Netflix original movies
Please note: This list pertains to U.S. Netflix subscribers. Some titles may not currently be available on international platforms. This article is frequently amended to remove films no longer on Netflix and to include more action films that are now available on the service.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/best-sci-fi-movies-netflix