The best sci-fi movies to watch on Netflix this February
Greetings, Polygon readers!
We’re mere weeks away from the premiere of Dune: Part Two, the second installment in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic adapted from Frank Herbert’s acclaimed book series. You don’t have to wait that long to enjoy some great sci-fi, though, as we’ve pulled together a list of the best sci-fi movies available on Netflix in February. This month, we’ve got a post-apocalyptic action thriller starring Ma Dong-seok of Train to Busan fame, a dystopian drama about a father and son living in an occupied estate co-directed by Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Nope), and a classic kaiju mecha action drama from Guillermo del Toro!
Let’s dive in and see what this month has to offer!
Director: Heo Myeong-haeng
Cast: Ma Dong-seok, Lee Hee-joon, Lee Jun-young
When you’re looking for a great sci-fi movie to watch, sometimes you’re looking for a thoughtful meditation on humanity’s role in the galaxy, with hard science elements and beautiful, almost fantastical cinematography. Other times, you’re looking for Ma Dong-seok absolutely laying into fools in a post-apocalyptic hellscape. Badland Hunters is for those other times.
A (bizarre, tonally speaking) sequel to the serious apocalyptic earthquake drama Concrete Utopia, Badland Hunters is a Mad Max-esque story of a hulking man looking out for his found family and destroying anyone who gets in his way (including a mad scientist up to some twisted experiments). While it doesn’t reach the high heights of Ma’s work in Train to Busan or the Roundup movies, he is such a reliably entertaining and charismatic movie star that you can’t help but enjoy this B-movie experience. (And director Heo Myeong-haeng, a former stuntman who will helm the upcoming The Roundup: Punishment, knows exactly how to shoot the big man’s action sequences.) It’s one of Netflix’s standout international releases of 2024 so far, and a fun time for people looking for some popcorn-worthy sci-fi. —Pete Volk
Directors: Kibwe Tavares, Daniel Kaluuya
Cast: Kane
