The best sci-fi movies to watch on Netflix this February

17.02.2024 - 15:21 / polygon.com / Denis Villeneuve / Daniel Kaluuya / Frank Herbert / Pete Volk

Greetings, Polygon readers!

We’re mere weeks away from the premiere of Dune: Part Two, the second installment in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic adapted from Frank Herbert’s acclaimed book series. You don’t have to wait that long to enjoy some great sci-fi, though, as we’ve pulled together a list of the best sci-fi movies available on Netflix in February. This month, we’ve got a post-apocalyptic action thriller starring Ma Dong-seok of Train to Busan fame, a dystopian drama about a father and son living in an occupied estate co-directed by Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Nope), and a classic kaiju mecha action drama from Guillermo del Toro!

Let’s dive in and see what this month has to offer!

Director: Heo Myeong-haeng
Cast: Ma Dong-seok, Lee Hee-joon, Lee Jun-young

When you’re looking for a great sci-fi movie to watch, sometimes you’re looking for a thoughtful meditation on humanity’s role in the galaxy, with hard science elements and beautiful, almost fantastical cinematography. Other times, you’re looking for Ma Dong-seok absolutely laying into fools in a post-apocalyptic hellscape. Badland Hunters is for those other times.

A (bizarre, tonally speaking) sequel to the serious apocalyptic earthquake drama Concrete Utopia, Badland Hunters is a Mad Max-esque story of a hulking man looking out for his found family and destroying anyone who gets in his way (including a mad scientist up to some twisted experiments). While it doesn’t reach the high heights of Ma’s work in Train to Busan or the Roundup movies, he is such a reliably entertaining and charismatic movie star that you can’t help but enjoy this B-movie experience. (And director Heo Myeong-haeng, a former stuntman who will helm the upcoming The Roundup: Punishment, knows exactly how to shoot the big man’s action sequences.) It’s one of Netflix’s standout international releases of 2024 so far, and a fun time for people looking for some popcorn-worthy sci-fi. —Pete Volk

Directors: Kibwe Tavares, Daniel Kaluuya
Cast: Kane Robinson, Jedaiah Bannerman, Hope Ikpoku Jnr

Despite being Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya’s feature directorial debut, The Kitchen premiered on Netflix last month to little more than a handful of reviews. Which is a shame, because the film itself is awesome. Actor-songwriter Kane Robinson stars as Izi, a man living alone in an occupied estate known colloquially as “the Kitchen” in a dystopian London where social housing has all but been eradicated.

Working at a funeral service, Izi crosses paths with Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman), a young boy grieving the recent loss of his mother. Suspecting the boy may in fact be his own estranged son, Izi reluctantly takes Benji in right as the estate is about to be assailed by the police. A poignant,