Netflix has a lot of content to sift through what is the best sci-fi movies what are the worst and what are the oddest. Take a look at the Top 5 oddest Sci-Fi films!
Netflix and their relationship to the sci-fi genre is a bit of a hit and miss. For Every Stranger Things, you can get a Bandersnatch. Here are five of the best examples of the kind of genre films that Netflix has either imported or brought as an original to its viewers.
The Titan
The premise: Escaping an unlivable Earth and to be transported to Jupiter’s moon of Titan, volunteers undergo experiments to become creatures that can survive there.
The Good: It’s not always easy finding a new way to look at eugenics and ethics, but this films does so with a filter of desperation vs. survival and takes in to account the perspective of the ‘lab rat’ and his family, as well as the science types to impart this.
The Bad: Although this is about colonizing another planet, so to speak, the story never moves in that direction, instead uses the idea as the McGuffin to propel the action. Sam Worthington’s low key performance as military man accepting what comes, is easily interpreted as an actor not invested in his role. And Tom Wilkinson’s character as the lead scientist is hard to root for or against.
The Weird:Humans becoming aliens, what more do you need?
Spectral
The premise: A military unit is dealing with bogeymen, that they cannot see clearly, that are killing them. In comes a science guy with a spectrum analysis system to help find out what is going on.
The Good: Military sci-fi, with bits of horror, this film functions on a few different levels, and where the plot stays tight, those shifts in concept work well. And several actors who have done military TV shows or movies before, help make up the ensemble cast and add to its merit.
The Bad: Those same genre connections that make this film unique, also come loose in a few scenes where they are meshing concepts while the tension and/or action is ratcheting up.
The Weird: Ghostly villains, human experimentation, Pseudo-Slavic folklore, and an ending that disturbs you. ‘Nuff said.
Extinction
The premise: So, imagine right, that the guy from Ant-Man, right, Michael Peña, was somehow clairvoyant, you know see-saw future things. But, he’s an engineer and family man, so he should be grounded, because, that’s ow he’s supposed to roll.
The Good: An invasion movie with a few twists, Extinction take things a whole different direction. And Michael Peña’s relatable every-man haunted by terrifying visions gives this film some needed grounding.
The Bad: Despite some attempts at originality, there are some ideas you can’t but help tell are telegraphed, and the movie cannot decide if it is a message movie or not.
The Weird: Embedded batteries, androids, an invasion, can’t give more or will spoil.
Orbit or Orbita 9
The premise: This Spanish language film takes into consideration mankind’s fluid ethics for survival against a unique and melancholy love story. A woman raised by a computer in a long-range space vehicle comes face to face with another human and her own humanity.
The Good: This film takes a serious look at how human beings can treat one another when the survival of the world is on the line. Filled with moment s of honest anguish, love, and resolve, this film is a different type of film.
The Bad: With an overarching back-story/McGuffin of ‘environmental-break-down-we-must-leave-home’ scenario played out again, the apologizing for the absence of ethics on the part of the governing people as well as the scientists who set all of the shenanigans into motion.
The Weird: Space isolation, possible clones, your parent is a computer. Plenty of weird there.
Rim Of The World
The premise: Mismatched kids meet at summer camp, aliens invade, kids are supposed to save the world.
The Good: The plot is a fun throwback to a Goonies-meets-Space Camp kind of romp that lets the kid leads play in a sometimes scary, weird, playground. There are some honest humor and emotion given to our characters and there are plenty of meshing and fighting moments given to the young cast.
The Bad: Between some contrived dance scenes, cringy borrows and references from other films and unnecessary tension, this film gets off track. Or in other words, Imagine McG channeling the best cliches of John Hughes, Dean Devlin, and Michael Bay, but with lower expectations. Also, the director can’t seem to figure out if his main cast are stereotypes or their own unique characters.
The Weird: Alien invaders that generate their own hound tracker/sentinel things, a cold war orbital system used to blow stuff up. How about a jet engine that fries above mentioned aliens?