The best sci-fi movies to watch on Netflix in May 2024

We are in the middle of May and when the reviews of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Are there any signs that moviegoers are in for one hell of a show when it hits theaters next week. If you’re looking for a fantastic film to tide you over until then, you’ve come to the right place as we’ve taken another look at the Netflix catalog to bring you the best sci-fi films, which you can stream on the platform this month.

We have a brutal and hilarious cyberpunk revenge thriller starring Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus) as a vengeful mechanic controlled by a malevolent AI, Ang Lee’s underrated Marvel film and a chilling sci-fi thriller about the horrors of suburbia and parenthood.

Let’s see what this month has to offer!

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Editor’s tip: Upgrade

Image: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Director: Leigh Whannell
Pour: Logan Marshall Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson

Leigh Whannell’s cyberpunk action thriller feels like a film in need of reevaluation and appreciation; a brutal, hard-hitting tech nightmare about a borderline idiot whose body is hijacked by an amoral AI in a dystopian future.

After witnessing his wife’s murder and a near-fatal gunshot, Gray (Logan Marshall-Green) is seemingly given a second chance at life when he is implanted with an experimental chip that allows him to walk again. Determined to hunt down his wife’s killers, Gray’s mission is complicated by the fact that the chip, known as STEM, is not only an ideal passenger, but a fully sentient being who finds sadistic satisfaction in the pain of others. Whannell’s film is a fantastical, violent revenge drama that imagines a world where AI assistants are the devil on the shoulder, exploiting a person’s grief and anger to further their own unfathomable plans. Come for the brutality, stay for the inventive cinematography and gorgeous production design. –Toussaint Egan

Hulk

Image: Universal Picture Home Entertainment

Director: The Lee
Pour: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott

Quickly afterwards Spider-Man, X MenAnd Blade II as part of the turn-of-the-century superhero film boom, Ang Lee’s Hulk is largely ignored in conversations about the best of this time. But it deserves to be included as a highly stylized comic book adaptation that doesn’t shy away from the visual influences of the source material.

You know the Hulk story – Bruce David Banner is a mild-mannered scientist exposed to a lot of gamma radiation (this film earns its place on this list as a far more sci-fi superhero story than most), and then you win. I don’t like it when he gets angry. This time, Banner is Eric Bana, supported by the game’s supporting cast including Sam Elliott, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Connelly and Josh Lucas.

While some of the CG elements haven’t aged well, Ang Lee’s commitment to comic book visuals certainly has and stands out in a genre that has lost some of that visual luster. (This was his sequel to Crouching tiger, hidden dragon!) With split screens set up like comic panels, cut transitions that look and feel like turning a page, and a fitting combination of silliness and epic stakes, Lee has absolutely nailed it. A planned sequel was significantly less successful The incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton, which in turn led to Mark Ruffalo playing the Hulk The Avengers. While there are certainly some highlights from Ruffalo’s run as the character, Ang Lee’s role is one Hulk will always be the pinnacle of Hulk canvas art for me. —Pete Volk

Vivarium

Image: Saban Films

Director: Lorcan Finnegan
Pour: Imogen Poots, Jesse Eisenberg, Jonathan Aris

The science fiction horror film Vivarium It lacks the polish and reliability that could place it among the great science fiction films, but it certainly doesn’t lack for unsettling chills. Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots play a young couple trying to come to grips with the commitment of buying a house together. When they agree to tour an eerily homogeneous new housing development, they find themselves in a surreal, nightmarish world that’s better experienced step by step than described – but with plenty of reference Creepy arena of horror.

A little bit Twilight zone and a bit Donnie Darko, Vivarium is one of those “suburbs are hell” movies that goes against all American clichés about domesticity with 2.5 kids and a dog as the ultimate comfort and pleasure – but with a shrill, violent edge that’s genuinely fascinating, disturbing and likely to appear in your dreams at some point. –Tasha Robinson