Rebel Moon Part 2 isn’t the epic sci-fi sequel we were hoping for – here are 3 better sagas to stream
Rebel Moon – Part 2: The Scargiverthe second part of Zack Snyder’s Star Warsepic to scale, is receiving some decidedly mixed reviews. The guard says it’s fun, but also bombastic and derivative, Variety says the story is worse than the first, but the fighting is better, and Empire magazine pretty much cuts it in half with a laser sword that just happens to look like a lightsaber.
According to the film magazine, the sequel is “marginally better than Rebel Moon – Part Onebut still a weird, messy and humorless sci-fi”. Empire isn’t exactly waiting with bated breath for more films, describing the tease of further adventures as “half-arsed” and saying that the second film “gives you little reason to possible continuation of this Snyderverse.”
If that’s put a hole in your weekend viewing plans, don’t worry. There are plenty of fun sci-fi movies you can stream. Here are some of our favorites currently streaming on Netflix in the US (not in the US? We’ve also listed where you can watch them in the UK and Australia).
The Matrix
Of a fifth part of the trilogy now in development, it seems like an eternity since the original Matrix film shook up the science fiction film and introduced us to bullet time. But despite its age, this remains an incredibly fun sci-fi action game, and it’s largely free of the pseudo-religious talky bits that weigh on increasingly heavy sequels. I rewatched this recently and I’d forgotten how funny it is, intentionally or otherwise. There are some great zingers in the script and Keanu’s seriousness is often accidentally amusing. But what really makes this a must-watch are the kinetic action scenes. Time hasn’t made them any less fun.
Also available on Now TV in the UK and Prime Video in Australia.
Jurassic Park
It’s easy to forget that this is a science fiction movie because it’s about dinosaurs. But of course, the dinosaurs here are scientific dinosaurs, saved from extinction through the power of preserved DNA and with considerable help from scientists who were not at school the day the class was taught about pride. It turns out that if you put incredibly dangerous things in a theme park and then cut every corner that can possibly be cut, things are likely to go very wrong in an “aaagh munch munch munch” kind of way. And despite the cast’s best efforts, you’ll spend most of the movie looking for the dinosaurs instead of the people.
Also available on Now TV in the UK and Netflix in Australia.
Godzilla
Some of the best sci-fi takes real-world fears and puts them into mythical monsters, and you don’t have to do much analysis to see why a city-wrecking monster became such a staple of Japanese pop culture. Grant Edwards’ take on the legendary monster movie is a lot of fun, a modern take on 1950s monster movies that delivers an exciting and satisfying climax. It also feels very much like a Spielberg film in the way it takes time before the big reveal happens, making it sort of Jurassic Park takes place in an entire city.
Also available on Now in the UK and Binge in Australia.