Netflix often feels as though it’s packed with dozens of new shows and movies to watch and has nothing you want to see at all. That’s why you need a list of what’s good on there.
Whenever I sit down to watch something new on Netflix, I feel paralyzed. It’s a pretty common feeling, choice paralysis, and it comes from having so many options for what you could invest the next few hours in that you end up not wanting to invest them in anything at all. That’s why a list of the best sci-fi movies on Netflix is handy. It can help you figure out what you’re putting on before you’re overwhelmed by the choices.
The best sci-fi movies on Netflix right now
Below, I’ve listed the 10 best sci-fi movies you can watch on Netflix at the time of writing. Movies are added and removed pretty regularly on the streaming service, but I’m keeping this list as up-to-date as possible so you’ve always got something to look forward to watching at the end of the day.
11. Green Lantern
Just kidding.
10. In Time
Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. In Time is a phenomenal sci-fi film with a few flaws, but they’re easy to overlook thanks to the phenomenal acting on show and the incredibly intriguing story. It stars Justin Timberlake stars as Will Salas in a strangely familiar future: a time when humans have successfully stopped the aging process, so we’re 25 forever.
Don’t think that’s a good thing, though. At 25 years of age, every human’s built-in timer starts. It gives them a year to live. You have to work to earn time, and time is a currency spent on everything from food to luxury cars. After what equates to a billionaire leaving all his time to Will, we’re taken on a wild ride that explores how capitalism can ruin immortality and what justice and fairness look like in this world.
I adore this movie and go back to it often. It’s a wild ride and certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s fun, fast-paced, and has a fairly solid plot for the most part.
9. The Martian
Based on the book by Andy Weir, The Martian tells the gripping story of an astronaut left stranded on Mars. I rewatched this recently and was struck yet again by the grounded realism that Weir brought to the source material and all that is present in the movie.
Astronaut Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon, is left stranded on Mars in a habitat designed to last him about one month after a storm forces his crew to leave the planet earlier than planned. He survives the injuries he’s sustained, but has to use every ounce of his brainpower to figure out how to survive on Mars much longer than intended, get a message back to Earth to let them know he’s alive, and thrive through questionable, yet sustainable, farming methods.
I do think the movie skips over a lot of the science some viewers might want to dive into, but it’s no less enjoyable for being more approachable. Matt Damon’s performance as a man fighting against all odds as he hits setback after setback on a world with an atmosphere that actively wants to kill him is stellar. If you like Apollo 13, you’ll love this.
This is a movie you can recommend to anyone, not just sci-fi fans, so it’s a great pick for a movie night.
8. Divergent Trilogy (Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant)
The Divergent series stars Shailene Woodley as Tris Prior, in a city where people are divided into factions based on their inclinations within a few specific ideals. This includes serving others, defense, political ruling, or living off the land. They all work together, but are very separate. That’s where divergents come in, because they don’t fit into this formula.
Tris is divergent, but she has to pick one group if she wants a home, so she picks the fighting, fun-loving Dauntless. Through her training, her understanding of divergence grows, but so too does her understanding of how those in power abuse the system. Soon, her purpose becomes setting the world on the right path, not earning herself an easy life within the faction system.
This trilogy is great, because its cast puts in fantastic performances that really make you believe their characters. It also helps that the books each film is based on have unnerving sci-fi concepts in them that make your skin crawl and poke that part of your brain that’s always asking, “What if?” They’re too good not to watch but will have you squirming as you do.
The setting starts relatively small and grows in scale with each movie. I think the last one, as is so often the case with these trilogies, drops the ball a bit. But it’s not unwatchable, you just have to power through it to get to the conclusions. I promise you it’s worth the payoff of seeing everything that’s come before settling into a world that’s genuinely different from when you first encountered it.
7. The Maze Runner and Scorch Trials
The Maze Runner and Scorch Trials movies are the best parts of what was a fairly disappointing trilogy for me. They’re based on a book series of the same name but fail in places where the books managed to knock it out of the park.
Starring Dylan O’Brien, these movies tell the story first of a group of young men and one woman who are all left trapped in a glade in the center of a giant maze. They’re forced to figure out how the ever-changing maze works and escape to uncover the truth of the world around them. Scorch Trials builds upon this but on a much larger scale and explores a bit more of the world’s history, too. Each one has a fairly large reveal that’s both expected and surprising in a way that’s really enjoyable because you’re rooting for it.
I love these movies, but the last one didn’t work for me. That’s okay, though, because it’s not on Netflix right now. Instead, you’ve got the two best movies that you can watch and enjoy without having them ruined by what comes next. That might not sound like a good idea, but I think the overall concepts presented in these movies are enough to warrant anyone watching them if they’ve got the time.
6. The Matrix Resurrections
This is a must-see if you’re a fan of The Matrix franchise. Though, if you’ve never seen the series before, you need to go back and watch the originals before dropping in on this one. Keanu Reeves returns to the role of Neo, but not quite as you know it. He and the Matrix are back, but they’ve changed, and it’s not all for the better.
As with a few of these movies, I can’t begin to unpack the details without spoiling the plot, so watch whatever you need to and then watch this. As a fan, I was blown away by how this movie manages to return to the basics while advancing the franchise in a direction I didn’t think it would go.
The Matrix Resurrections takes something that should have had a final conclusion and manages to breathe new life into it. Your expectations are thrown out the window by the end, but the movie also pays homage to all that came before, with little cameos, visual nods, and music that all links back to something from the original trilogy that will have you screaming, crying, and laughing as a fan.
5. Dune
I don’t think I need to introduce what Dune is. This is the first part of what will be a massive cinematic universe, following Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as his family’s house is given control of Arrakis. It’s the most important planet in human space because it produces Spice, an almost ethereal substance that makes long-distance interstellar travel possible, and makes those in control of it incredibly wealthy.
However, the gift of Arrakis is a curse. A grudge between Atreides and the previous stewards of Arrakis, the brutal Harkonnen, sets in motion a story that will see Paul become so much more as we get into later films.
Don’t think this is a sci-fi action film, though. Instead, it’s all about the politics of this universe, through all the scheming of factions like the Bene Gesserit. And despite the world of Dune also being incredibly high-tech, and everything looks tangible and functional.
This is all without mentioning the biggest draw of the Dune universe: Sand Worms. These colossal sci-fi creatures eat massive sand-crawlers for breakfast. But there’s something godlike about them, and they’re an ever-present danger on Arrakis. While the scenes with them aren’t even the best in the film, they’re an inescapable part of this universe and one of the main reasons I read the books in the first place.
4. Edge of Tomorrow
Edge of Tomorrow is the perfect movie for fans of time-loop tales like Deathloop. Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt star in this fast-paced sci-fi story about Earth clashing with a devastating alien invader.
William Cage (Tom Cruise) is thrust into the invasion and soon gets caught in a loop; he can repeat the day over and over, dying and coming back to the same day. He and an elite soldier named Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) try to use this to uncover a way to break through the enemy’s attack pattern. To me, it’s the perfect sci-fi romp because it escalates on all fronts until its crescendo, at which point you get a satisfying conclusion and nothing less.
There’s really very little I can tell you about the plot that isn’t going to spoil it, so please just watch it. If nothing else, the VFX on the aliens is astounding.
3. Arrival
Arrival is a very different kind of sci-fi movie. It’s a quiet thriller that sneaks up on you with its impactful moments, instead of blasting them out front and center. Rather than a violent alien invasion, large black ships simply appear on Earth one day. It’s a quiet entrance for a species so advanced that no one can even begin to comprehend its language.
That’s the crux of this movie: the way in which the aliens communicate. It stars Amy Adams as a linguistics professor named Louise Banks, who is enlisted by the government to work out how to speak to these aliens and figure out what they want. But the story goes so much deeper.
Watching the process of understanding how a language that you’ve never seen or heard before works is fascinating, and a treat in itself if you’re into movies that really push you to think. The twist towards the end of the movie is what I think is best, though.
2. Men in Black
I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’ve watched the original Men in Black well over 100 times. Yes, that ages me, and while this movie has also aged, it’s aged well. Starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, the movie pulls back the curtain on the titular suited dudes who are allegedly managing every alien incident on Earth.
I always loved the idea that this organization could be real as a kid, and I think that sense of unknown still stands today, even if some of the CGI isn’t as great. Mercifully, a lot of the effects in this movie are practical, so all the gross aliens that give you a sense of body horror look genuinely lifelike. Many of the actors in it weren’t as big as they are today, so you’ll see a few cameos from their much younger selves when their careers were just starting to take off.
At its heart, this is a movie about an outsider finding his place in the world, and a mentor who can’t let go. It’s amazing sci-fi action with a heartwarming message behind it, and a non-stop thrill ride of comedy and questioning the universe.
1. District 9
District 9, in my opinion, is an iconic sci-fi movie that not enough people have seen. It’s set in the near future, asking what the world would look like if the first aliens we met were actually refugees fleeing from their dying home. The ‘Prawns,’ as they’re referred to in the movie, are bedraggled and arrive with a single, fairly large ship. They’re crammed into an area of South Africa that’s little more than a refugee camp, and are left to rot.
The movie follows Wikus van de Merwe, played by Sharlto Copley, as he interacts with the aliens before coming into contact with a harmful substance and subsequently mutating into one. We see the underbelly of the ecosystem built around District 9 by humans, a weapons research facility that wants to exploit the aliens and any technology they have.
It’s a sad story, really, and a thought-provoking one. By the end of the movie, you feel sorry for the protagonist we’ve watched, who is almost butchered the whole way through, and you glimpse the hope that a species can cling to when faced with dire circumstances. There are so many amazing moments that you need to see and feel to understand. What I think is so impressive about it is how it can bring you to the edge of raw emotional reactions when many of the characters speak in alien clicks. If you only watch one movie from this list, let it be District 9.
