The best sci-fi movies to watch on Netflix this January
Greetings, Polygon readers!
This month marks a brave new year, with an exciting new slate of sci-fi releases on the frontier. Dune: Part Two, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Mickey 17 are all primed to be among 2024’s biggest releases, not to mention a new Alien movie from Evil Dead director Fede Álvarezand the latest installment in the Planet of the Apes franchise.
You won’t have to wait long in order to get your speculative thrills, though. We’ve pulled together a list of the best sci-fi movies available on Netflix this month, from post-apocalyptic adventures to present-day parables of scientific hubris.
Let’s dive in and see what this month has to offer!
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Cast: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
More than a decade since it was first released in theaters, Alfonso Cuarón’s survival thriller about a woman stranded in the most inhospitable environment known to humanity is still as visually and emotionally spectacular to watch in 2023. Sandra Bullock stars as Ryan Stone, a medical engineer and mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Explorer, who is sent tumbling into space when the ship is bombarded with a shower of debris from a nearby satellite. Rescued by her crewmate Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), the pair must find a way to reestablish contact with Earth and do the impossible: return home with no functioning shuttle or hope for rescue.
Inspired by Cuarón’s childhood love of space travel, Gravity was applauded by both critics and scientists for its stunning visuals, captivating lead performances, and scientific accuracy. The innovative “lightbox” rig technology used to capture Bullock’s and Clooney’s performances and simulate the 360-degree zero-gravity movement of the film’s cinematography was a breakthrough in entertainment technology akin to the motion-capture technology in 2009’s Avatar or the “bullet time” effect in 1999’s The Matrix. Cuarón’s film is not only a captivating portrait of human perseverance triumphing over adversity, but
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