The best science fiction movies to watch on Netflix in March

Greetings, Polygon readers!

Dune: part two has finally arrived and swallowed the expectations of the box office like a mighty sandworm over the plains of Arrakis. For audiences who haven’t yet had the chance to head to the cinema to see this year’s sci-fi epic du jour, there are plenty of other exciting films on the horizon to look forward to, like those by Bertrand Bonello. The beast, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagaand more.

For those looking for a great movie to enjoy at home, don’t worry: we’ve rounded up our pick of the best sci-fi movies to watch on Netflix this month, including an explosive double feature with the Robbie cousins and Stephen Amell, a space drama starring Adam Sandler, and a multiverse mashup that offers a little bit of everything, everywhere, all at once.

Let’s see what this month has to offer!

Editor’s Choice: Code 8 and Code 8 Part II

Director: Jeff Chan
Form: Robbie Amell, Stephen Amell

In 2020, a small Canadian science fiction film, supported by more than 30,000 Indiegogo contributors, arrived on Netflix. Code 8produced by and starring real-life cousins ​​Robbie Amell (upload) and Stephen Amell (Arrow), would become a huge hit on the platform and help spawn a direct Netflix sequel a few years later. It’s easy to see why they became hits: their dedication to building an interesting world and the obvious passion behind the projects make them fun to watch, warts and all.

In the world of Code 8Super-powered people have existed since the early 20th century. Those people became a working class and used their strength to perform dangerous work. But as the Industrial Revolution progressed and automation became more common, society decided that the dangers of super-powered workers outweighed the benefits, turning those former workers into a heavily controlled, marginalized class of people. When a young man with electrical powers looks for a job to help pay his mother’s medical bills, he falls in with a gang of powerful criminals looking to make a big profit.

The Code 8 films aren’t the most polished projects – the version of Code 8 Part II uploaded to Netflix has multiple apparent editing errors that are merged into asynchronous shooting for a single frame. But in some ways that works to the films’ advantage, combined with the ‘low-budget passion indie’ vibe of the projects. (It also makes you realize how good the evil robot agents look in the series – some are reminiscent of Automatons in Hell divers 2while others are outright riffs on Boston Dynamics’ terrifying robot dogs).

Part heist films, part sci-fi, part stories about power and who wields that power, the Code 8 films aren’t always executed to a high standard, but they work with some interesting ideas and are determined to see them through. Sometimes that’s what you want from low-budget science fiction. —Piet Volk

Spaceman

Image: Netflix

Director: Johan Renck
Form: Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano

Adam Sandler doesn’t get nearly as much credit as he deserves. While his roles in films like Stupid-drunk love And Uncut gemstones While they may seem like outliers compared to his more comedy-oriented work, the sheer contrast of those roles speaks to his extraordinary range as a performer. His role in Spacemanthe new science fiction drama from director Johan Renck, fits perfectly alongside the aforementioned roles and showcases Sandler’s talent for dramatic acting at its best.

Sandler stars as Jakub, a Czech cosmonaut sent on a lone mission to investigate a mysterious particle cloud that has appeared at the edge of the solar system. Separated from his wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan), who has seemingly stopped receiving or sending messages to him, Jakub begins to feel the effects of his long-term isolation from humanity… until he makes an unexpected new ‘friend’ in the form of a telepathic spider-like creature who wants to better understand humanity.

Is this being real, or just a hallucination resulting from Jakub’s poor mental health and the abnormal effects of the particle cloud? While that question remains open for much of the film’s running time, what is certain is that Sandler delivers a great against-type performance, capturing the nuances of a man struggling with his regrets, his hopes and fears for the future , and the eternal question of humanity’s place in the universe. Spaceman is a moving, unconventional science fiction drama about the redemptive power of connection and the will to change. —Toussaint Egan

Everything everywhere at once

Photo: Allyson Riggs/A24

Director: The Daniels
Form: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan

Multiverses are like that in straight away. There is perhaps no greater proof of this than Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s sci-fi spectacle that took home the Best Picture Oscar in 2023 and, among several other awards, gave Michelle Yeoh her first Best Actress Oscar. If you haven’t experienced it somehow yet Everything everywhere at once haven’t seen it yet, or haven’t seen it since its first theatrical run, now that it’s on Netflix is ​​a perfect time to watch it.

The film combines the directing duo’s anarchic, offbeat sense of humor with a compelling drama about regret, forgiveness and personal growth across generations. Michelle Yeoh delivers an award-winning performance, as does Jamie Lee Curtis as an insufferable IRS auditor turned nemesis. But the real MVP of EERAO is none other than Ke Huy Quan, who bursts onto the screen with a performance that encapsulates the full range of the film’s strengths through its breathtaking fight scenes, dorky humor and captivating vulnerability. As popular as multiverse stories are right now, there’s nothing else that feels different rather like it Everything everywhere at once. -AT