Looking for the best sci-fi movie to watch on Netflix or other streaming services this April? Watch Inception or Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow right now at home.
Greetings, Polygon readers! We’re officially halfway through April, the fourth month of the futuristic-sounding year of 2023. This month, we’re widening the playing field of our best sci-fi movies on streaming, reaching out beyond the terrestrial bounds of Netflix to explore previously uncharted corners (and streaming platforms) of the universe.
Our April selections include contemporary fare and eccentric cult classics, from the 2014 time-loop sci-fi actioner Edge of Tomorrow starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt to David Lynch’s unfairly maligned 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Read on to get the lowdown on the very best sci-fi movies on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max (soon to be renamed “Max”), and more.
Let’s get into it!Inception
Year: 2010
Run time: 2h 28m
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page
Whether you think Inception is overrated or whether you think Christopher Nolan’s intricately plotted, painstakingly rendered dream-inside-dream heist flick is the bee’s knees, you can agree on one thing: Inception is among his most influential films, if only for being the reason every trailer now has to go BWAAAAAAHHH.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, and Tom Hardy play thieves who steal secrets from the dreams of their targets, hired by Ken Watanabe’s businessman to do the opposite: implant an idea in a rival’s mind without him ever realizing that he didn’t come up with it in the first place. Someone’s past (literally) comes back to haunt their dreams, and complications ensue. —Susana Polo
Inception is available to stream on Netflix.Dune
Year: 1984
Run time: 2h 17m
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Francesca Annis
Of all the so-called unfilmable classics of science fiction and fantasy, Frank Herbert’s Dune might be the most tantalizing. But it wouldn’t be half so intriguing of a challenge if not for David Lynch’s Dune — a fascinating, masterful absolute disaster.
The experience of watching Dune is the experience of ping-ponging between some of the weirdest things you’ve ever seen compellingly rendered on screen and some of the most baffling choices you’ve ever seen outside of experimental film — sometimes from scene to scene. And yet you must watch Dune, starring Kyle MacLachlan, Sting, Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, Dean Stockwell, and many other actors absolutely committing themselves to the work. If only so you can see the movie that turned Lynch off from Hollywood forever. —SP
Dune is available to stream on Criterion Channel.Edge of Tomorrow
Year: 2014
Run time: 1h 53m
Director: Doug Liman
Cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton
Okay, stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Tom Cruise stars in this time-loop sci-fi action movie as Maj.
