11 Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix Right Now
Editor’s Note: This post is updated monthly. Bookmark this page and come back every month to see the best sci-fi movies on Netflix.
Updated for September 2018
Even if the present feels more and more like science fiction every day, actual science fiction is still here to inspire and terrify you.
Science fiction is one of our more dynamic and inspired genres as a species. We need something to aspire to as much as we need something to fear. Science fiction provides both. And the best science fiction can provide even more. Here is our list of the best sci-fi movies on Netflix right now. Come back often to see what the future holds.
Armageddon
Armageddon is an easy target to the disaster-movie-phobes and you should not listen to their lies. Sure, it’s directed by explosion fetishist Michael Bay. Sure, it’s essentially a two-hour music video for Aerosmith’s worst song. And sure, Roger Ebert counted it as one of his least favorite films.
But Armageddon also happens to rule. It’s both preposterous and preposterously entertaining. An asteroid is hurtling towards Earth and humanity’s only hope to save itself is NASA…and Bruce Willis’ team of oil drillers. They’ve got to land and drill a hole on the asteroid so the nuke will work, you see.
Armageddon definitely leans far more toward the “fiction” part of “science fiction” and every now and then that’s exactly what we need.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
It feels weirdly reductive to call a Star Wars movie a science fiction movie. Really they’re just…I don’t know, like movies, man.
They’re fun and poignant and adventurous but they also feature distant galaxies and spaceships so they are most certainly science fiction. Rogue One deftly sets the tone for all future standalone Star Wars movies to come. Despite a seemingly troubled production, this is a fantastic, fun and shockingly coherent film about rebellion in all its forms.
Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko is a cult classic for a reason. Young pup Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the titual Donnie – a normal high school student who suddenly sees tangible “timelines” pulling people around. Oh and there’s a demented hallucinatory bunny named Frank! Oh and there’s a plane crash! Oh and there’s the most amazing cover of “Mad World” of all time!
There’s a lot going on in Donnie Darko – not all of it perfectly coherent. But all its strange, disparate parts blend into a coming-of-age science fiction masterpiece.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Marvel movies tend to occupy a genre of their own – that of the comic/superhero movie. That’s all fine and good but what that neglects is that these are often very good science fiction films. Guardians of the Galaxy in particular is like a fun version of Star Wars in which every character is Han Solo.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 builds on the fun and enchantment of the original installment. Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, and Baby Groot are a more cohesive team this time around and embark on a mission to save the galaxy once again while addressing some daddy issues along the way.
Moon
Sam Rockwell is well on his way to becoming the movie star we’ve always known he was. One of the best exhibits of his star power, talent, and appeal is Duncan Jones excellent 2009 sci-fi film Moon.
In Moon, Rockwell stars as Sam Bell, a man living on the moon and mining a precious, valuable energy resource for the Lunar Industries corporation. He’s alone, his communications with Earth have been disrupted and his only friend is the artificial intelligence named GERTY. Bell goes through his day-to-day tasks then one day, two weeks before his return to Earth he discovers that me might not be as alone as he thought.
Moon is the wonderful sci-fi experience that at first feels completely foreign and bizarre before settling into a surprising, yet logical third act.
Deep Blue Sea
Deep Blue Sea used to be a horror film. Hell, it still is. But we’re placing it in the science fiction category for a simple reason. At this point, massive murderous sharks would be a welcome respite from the social media era hellscape we already live in.
And don’t forget – the scientists’ plans for these sharks in Deep Blue Sea were pretty altruistic. It was all in the name of Alzheimer’s research. Instead it just created a hyper-intelligent, Samuel L. Jackson-hating shark in a claustrophobic research facility. We think scientists should take another run at it again though.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Mainstream film enthusiasts across the world are presumably going back through Guillermo del Toro’s catalog now that he’s won an Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture (The Shape of Water). By the time they reach Hellboy II: The Golden Army, it should become more than apparent just how much this guy loves his monsters.
Hellboy II is an awesome, exciting comic book adaptation and is far superior to the already pretty great Hellboy. Orphaned demon/agent of the apocalypse Hellboy (Ron Perlman) sets out with his B.P.R.D. teammates to prevent an angry elven prince from awakening a golden army of mechanical monsters that will destroy humanity.
Bless this sci-fi/fantasy/comic book yarn that finds time for ectoplasmic medium Johann Krauss among all the elves and machinery.
Thor: Ragnarok
Thor: Ragnarok is a gleefully insane, heavy metal album cover of a movie. It’s easily the best Thor offering yet and one of the overall best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Chris Hemsworth returns as Thor Odinson. Thor is struggling to live up to the mantle of his father’s leadership and keep Asgard safe from those who would destroy it like fire demon Surtur or dominate it like the evil goddess Hela (Cate Blanchette). Things are even more complicated when Thor is cast out to the garbage planet Sakaar. There he will encounter the gleefully strange Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), an old Asgardian warrior (Tessa Thompson), and even an old friend or two.
Thor: Ragnarok has it all. It’s a sci-fi action superhero movie that also just happens to be deliriously funny.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Despite overwhelming great reviews and an obscene global box office figure, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has proven to be a divisive film amongst Star Wars fans. And director Rian Johnson probably wants it that way.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi really puts the “War” in “Star Wars.” The Resistance takes a big hit after the destruction of Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens and the remnants are being pursued across the galaxy by General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) and Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis). Under the leadership of Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaacs), General Leia Organ (Carrie Fisher), and Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern), the Resistance struggles to stay alive. Meanwhile Finn (John Boyega) sets off in search of an important person and Rey (Daisy Ridley) begins her training with a much-changed Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) takes his shirt off a lot.
This is exhilarating, risky filmmaking that all pays off in a thrilling final act. Let the past die. Kill it if you have to indeed.
Jurassic Park
The best moment of many young people’s lives are when they saw Jurassic Park for the first time. The best moment of my life so far is when I saw that Wikipedia classifies Jurassic Park as a science fiction adventure film so it could be included on the list. Jurassic Park isn’t too interested in the particulars of this science fiction premise.
Yes, science has brought dinosaurs back from the dead is a pretty fascinating way but that’s really just an excuse for the “adventure” part of Jurassic Park‘s genre classification. Oh what an adventure it is too. Jurassic Park is the best kind of movie: the one that seeks to excite and thrill and does so effortlessly.
Under the Skin
Writer/director Jonathan Glazer worked on developing Under the Skin for over a decade and it shows.
This is a carefully crafted, artful science fiction film with something to say…even if it doesn’t always know what that is. Loosely based on a 2000 novel of the same name, Under the Skin stars Scarlett Johansson as an otherworldly being who drives around Scotland preying upon men.
Part Under the Skin‘s M.O. is certainly forwarding an inverse of sexual politics with Johansson’s character as a “predator” as opposed to a male. But the movie’s thoughts go even a bit deeper than that, viewing all of its human characters as otherworldly creatures of their own.
