Articles
10 Great Sci-Fi Movies You Can Stream For Free Now
Sci-fi is one of the most important and beloved genres of both the past and present. It’s wildly popular, and for good reason—it’s both an escape and an examination of our world told through a lens that’s both hopeful and unfamiliar, pushing us to discover new things about ourselves and the world, and to imagine the never-before-imagined. It’s one genre that we can always count on being a fan-favorite, a constant in an entertainment landscape that’s always changing.
And in the age of streaming, another constant is that we will always be able to find sci-fi to binge. Whether it’s an old favorite or something yet to be watched, there’s a platform with incredible stories ready and waiting, urging us to explore concepts and ideas that would be impossible otherwise. So now, excitingly enough, these 10 sci-fi gems are streaming for free on Tubi. Time to lock in for a movie night.
10) Ad Astra
Ad Astra boasts an all-star cast, featuring Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland. The story centers on Roy McBride, an astronaut who, after surviving a near-death experience in space, is informed that his father, also a world-renowned astronaut, is not dead like he’d believed for the last 16 years. It’s not up to Roy to venture out on a perilous journey across the vast expanse of space, uncovering the truth about his missing father and the mysterious power surge that threatens the stability of the universe. There was a large ratings discrepancy between critics and audiences, with critics finding it visionary and visually stunning. Audiences, however, found that it dragged, lacking the action we’ve become used to in the genre. All in all, it’s a quietly haunting film—well worth the watch.
9) Bicentennial Man
Anything starring the late, great Robin Williams is sure to be a gem. And Bicentennial Man is no exception. Also starring Sam Neill and Oliver Platt, the film tells the story of Andrew, a robot purchased as little more than an appliance and programmed to perform menial tasks for the family it now belongs to. Soon, Andrew begins to experience emotions and creative thought, and the family who purchased him discovers that he’s no ordinary robot. While it’s a bit drawn out, and the plot drags in places, it’s a shockingly warm and heartfelt film—wildly ahead of its time as it forced audiences to answer questions about the ethics of AI long before it became a genuine issue facing society. At its core, it’s a film that simply asks, “What does it mean to be human?”
8) Chappie
While Chappie never performed overly well, it’s still a decently entertaining movie. Sharlto Copley, Hugh Jackman, and Dev Patel star, bringing to life a story set in the nebulous near future. It centers around those fighting back against a mechanized police force as it patrols the streets, violently dealing with criminals and the impoverished. But one police droid is stolen and its programming altered, enabling it to feel and think for itself. Viewed now as a threat by the same force it was once a part of, Chappie and its creators are now locked in an even more dangerous fight. The movie fails to live up to its considerable potential, feeling a bit cobbled together in places. But it comes with a unique flavor that hasn’t been repeated since.
7) Deja Vu
Deja Vu, like a fair share of sci-fi movies, fared better with audiences than it did with critics. The movie stars Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer, a powerhouse duo, and centers on ATF agent Doug Carlin as he’s brought into a top-secret team. The team’s goal? The capture of the terrorist responsible for a ferry bombing that killed hundreds. Also in possession of the team is tech that gives them the ability to travel back in time four days, allowing them to follow his movements as he plots to kill a woman who could give him away. The film’s setup is shaky at best, but despite that, it’s easy to suspend your disbelief—especially when Denzel Washington is on screen giving an incredible performance. It’s masterfully directed and incredibly tense, making it great popcorn fare.
6) Ex Machina
A near-perfect sci-fi movie, Ex Machina centers around a low-level programmer, Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), as he unexpectedly wins a workplace contest. The prize? He gets to spend a week at the private estate of the company’s CEO, the chaotic genius, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac). When he arrives, Caleb is informed of the true prize: that he has been chosen as the human component in a Turing test to determine the capabilities and consciousness of Ava (Alicia Vikander), a beautiful and incredibly lifelike robot secretly created by Bateman. However, it soon becomes evident that Ava is far more self-aware than expected, and she has plans of her own. It perfectly showcases what a great director Alex Garland is, weaving threads of anxiety throughout the runtime and tying in themes that feel both taboo and borderline sexy. It is more dialogue-heavy and relies much less on action, masterfully using only a handful of characters to tell a story that’s both engaging and intense.
5) Gattaca
Gattaca, starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, is one of those sci-fi films that immediately raises ethical questions for its audience. Enjoyed by critics and audiences alike, Gattaca tells the story of a man named Vincent Freeman who has always fantasized about venturing into space. However, Vincent has been permanently grounded, thanks to his status as a “genetically inferior invalid.” Deciding to fight his fate, he purchases lab-created genes and assumes the individual’s identity to join the Gattaca space program. It’s there that Vincent falls in love with Irene, something made all the more complicated by the investigation into the death of a Gattaca officer. It’s beautifully filmed, and forces questions about eugenics to the forefront of the conversation—confronting society’s obsession with physical perfection to the exclusion of all else. It’s tightly paced and both well-written and well-acted, featuring solid storytelling and a gripping premise.
4) In Time
In Time may have been a flop, but it was a relatively entertaining flop (like most things with Justin Timberlake at the forefront—not including *NSYNC). The film is set in the not-too-distant future, where time literally equals money, and the wealthy can live forever if they so choose. A young man named Will rarely has more than a day’s worth of life on his time clock. But when he saves a wealthy man from time thieves, he is given the gift of a century’s worth of time. But such a large transaction also brings down the attention of the police. And when Will finds himself falsely accused of murder, he goes on the run, taking one of the socially elite hostage to ensure his safety. It’s your typical Hollywood action fare that still manages to turn the mega-capitalist concept of “time as money” on its head, and Amanda Seyfried is always a great time to watch.
3) Jumper
Everyone knows Jumper. Hotly debated as to whether or not it was one of the worst movies of all time (critics certainly think so, rating it a dismal 15%), it was actually a genuinely good time. It stars Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson and centers around a young man with the ability to instantly teleport anywhere in the world. Doing the thing all of us would, he earns his money by “jumping” into bank vaults and successfully answering the question, “What would you do if you had the power to teleport?” Of course, he’s eventually captured by someone who can stop his abilities, leading him to team up with another jumper and his high school crush as he attempts to fight for his life. It’s a movie that is exactly what it sounds like—so out of pocket wacky, and a damn good time. It’s fun, and honestly, it deserved a sequel.
2) RoboCop
It must be said that RoboCop is one of the best and most iconic sci-fi films of all time, more than worth the 1 hour and 42 minutes it would take to stream. Everything about it is blood-soaked and over the top, with levels of violence that border on campy but never quite cross over the line. Set in a violent version of Detroit sometime in the future, the police force has been privatized by an evil, capitalist corporation, Omni Consumer Products. Omni begins testing its crime-fighting cyborgs, luring a perfect specimen of a street cop into a confrontation in hopes of using his body to support its untested RoboCop prototype. But RoboCop learns of the plans and promptly turns his guns against his masters. It’s an obvious dig at the hyperpoliced state of affairs in America, and done in the style that could only be mastered in the 80s, making it a nearly perfect dystopian sci-fi that continues to hold up, proving why the genre will always stand the test of time.
1) RoboCop 2
Is it as good as its predecessor? Absolutely not. Should you still watch it, especially now that it’s streaming for free? Absolutely. Compared to the original, RoboCop 2 is a bit of a mess. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t endearing and entertaining in its own way—even if that way is just being a sort of shallow repetition of RoboCop, but this time with a bonus criminal-powered Robocop. Once again, the story is set in Detroit, where Cyborg policeman Alex Murphy is the sole officer on duty after the rest of the force goes on strike against Omni Consumer Products and its push to foreclose on the city of Detroit (because apparently that’s a thing that’s possible). But that’s not all that he has to deal with. Murphy must also face crime boss Cain, as well as the spread of a dangerous new drug, and the insane attempt by psychologist Dr. Juliette Faxx to create another RoboCop—but this time, using a hardened criminal as the host body. It maintains the wacky levels of violence from the first film, but loses the heart somewhere along the way, and certainly can’t capture lightning in a bottle a second time.
Which movie on this list is your favorite? Let us know in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the ComicBook forum to see what other sci-fi fans are saying.
