For genre un-enthusiasts, it's easy to dismiss science fiction as a land of make-believe—a place where androids can become sentient and no one bats an eye. But for those who are willing to suspended disbelief and don't mind looking beyond CGI, the best sci-fi titles are filled with more than enough action, drama, comedy, and even romance to keep any movie fan glued to the screen. You just need to know where to look. Below is a selection of the best sci-fi movies you can currently stream on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Fire up the Roku, indoor kids.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
We hate to state the obvious, but with a seemingly infinite number of new films in the works, the Star Wars franchise is getting dangerously close to oversaturation. Fortunately, this space opera is so legendary it's still able to attract some of Hollywood's most talented players to keep telling stories, and Rogue One is a prime example. While it relies on the series' canon for its plot line—a group of rebels band together in order to steal the plans to the Death Star—it also successfully establishes a new cast of memorable characters (droids included) who have opened up a world of possibilities for new narratives and adventures.
Where to stream it: Netflix
Star Trek (2009)
J.J. Abrams had a lot riding on his big-screen rendition of Star Trek. Though the idea was to reimagine Gene Rodenberry's legendary creation for a new audience, there was also the property's rabid fan base to consider. Fortunately for all involved, Abrams—plus Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, and Zoe Saldana as Uhura—managed to strike the same balance of action, drama, humor, and sexual tension that made the original series such a hit, then package it all into a summer popcorn movie that was adored by old and new fans alike.
Where to stream it: Amazon Prime, Hulu
Moon (2009)
Sam Rockwell just won his first Oscar, but the accolade was long overdue—and there's perhaps no better evidence of the actor's ability to carry a movie than Moon. Duncan Jones (David Bowie's son) directs this brainy, BAFTA-winning film, which sees Rockwell as astronaut Sam Bell, the sole human at a lunar mine who encounters his own doppelgänger just weeks before he's set to return home to his wife and daughter following a three-year stint in space. Is it a clone? A hallucination? Or something even more otherworldly? Rockwell commands the screen as he desperately tries to figure out what's going on before he heads back to Earth.
Where to stream it: Netflix
Arrival (2016)
Denis Villeneuve may be a relative newcomer to the sci-fi scene, but he's disrupted the genre in a relatively short amount of time thanks to movies that tick all the boxes of what it takes to make a great sci-fi feature (striking visuals, intriguing storylines, and cool-looking aliens), but with an underlying dramatic heartbeat that can be unexpectedly moving. Call him the thinking person's sci-fi filmmaker. In the case of Arrival—which was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture—Amy Adams provides the heart as a linguist who is tasked with deciphering an alien language, only to realize that effectively communicating with her fellow humans might be the more challenging task.
Where to stream it: Amazon Prime, Hulu
The Matrix (1999)
The sequels may have ultimately watered down the impact of the original, but The Matrix is still a classic. Melding visionary direction, a thought-provoking script, and action sequences that people still talk about (remember "bullet time"?), the Wachowskis put themselves at the vanguard of the sci-fi scene with this one. Folks haven't looked at spoons—or Keanu Reeves—the same way since.
Where to stream it: Hulu
Metropolis (1927)
Fritz Lang's iconic sci-fi film is a boy-meets-girl tale—but in this case the boy tries to help the girl upend the social strata of a futuristic society causing the boy's dad to create a robotic version of said girl to tamper dissidence. Though it was originally released 91 years ago, Lang's early stab at a silver screen dystopia still feels amazingly fresh. Maybe that's because the silent film has been reworked a handful of times since its original release, most recently in 2010, when a 16mm negative of the film was discovered in Buenos Aires, allowing filmmakers to restore the bulk of what Lang had intended his audience to see. Or perhaps it's because the issues the film tackles—the divide between rich and poor, the potential hazards technology can pose to society—are subjects people are still wrestling with today. It could also be that the film's visual design was so far ahead of its time that some genre filmmakers still haven't even caught up. Whatever the case, pretty much every sci-fi film released after 1927 owes a debt of gratitude to Metropolis for showing filmmakers that anything is possible.
Where to stream it: Netflix
The Road (2009)
With his dense prose and sentences that go on for days, the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy might not seem ripe for big-screen adaptation. But if the Coen brothers' Oscar-winning 2007 film No Country for Old Men proved one thing, it's that—in the right director's hands—McCarthy's deft understanding of the human mind (both good and bad) can make for one hell of a movie. For The Road, John Hillcoat and screenwriter Joe Penhall remained faithful to McCarthy's post-apocalyptic story of a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) making their way across a ravaged American landscape in the wake of an environmental disaster. Toward what? The coast, but even they don't know if that will offer any refuge. Still, with nothing but the clothes on their backs, a pistol for protection, and all the time in the world (at least what's left of it), what else are they supposed to do? The film seemed to fly a bit under the radar upon its initial release, perhaps because of its unrelenting nature and bleak view of the future. But hey, if you're looking for a happy ending, go try the comedy section instead.
Where to stream it: Netflix