As any sci-fi fan knows, all moments are eventually lost to time, like tears in the rain. And sooner or later, sci-fi movies on the best streaming services are also lost when contracts expire or deals are renegotiated.
That means you don't have much time to watch three sci-fi classics on Netflix, since they're all coming out at the end of February 2024. The movies in question are Dune, Dredd and Snow Punch, and all are firm favorites here. This is why.
Dune
As we said in our Dune movie review, is an absorbing and visually stunning sci-fi epic. If you're not familiar with the film or the book it's based on, it's “an atmospheric, haunting, and expansive cinematic marvel.” [with] shadows of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Mad Max and even Gladiator in its execution. It is also a thematically dense film that explores family legacy, politicking, the longevity of empires and environmentalism.”
While the ending is perhaps too focused on the setting Dune 2 Rather than offering a truly satisfying conclusion, it really does justice to Frank Herbert's novel, which is no easy task given its complexity and intricate story, something that defeated David Lynch's previous attempt to adapt the book. Although, to be fair, that version had pop star Sting in his slightly scary plastic boxers, a costume choice that this 2021 adaptation wisely decides not to replicate.
Dredd
I can talk for hours about this magnificent and exceptionally violent comic book adaptation, which is why I don't get invited to parties anymore. It is effectively a science fiction equivalent of the equally violent The raid, with Carl Urban as the proto-fascist lawman who is judge, jury and, frequently and increasingly bloody, executioner. Along with his rookie partner, played by Olivia Thirlby, Dredd has to bring justice to a 200-story skyscraper run by Lena Headley's malevolent drug lord Ma-Ma.
Is it as good as The raid? Maybe not, but it's from a completely different universe than God-awful 1995. Judge Dredd, the Sylvester Stallone vehicle that was so out of tune with the spirit of the 2000AD comic that you wonder if anyone involved in the film had even heard of the comic. This Dredd It's the same Dredd we've loved and hated for decades, and once the film gets into its groove, it's a thrilling ballet epic that doesn't let up for a moment. And it is a true tragedy that unlike The Raid, Dredd It was never greenlit for a sequel.
Snow Punch
Snow Punch – Not to be confused with the 2020 remake of the series: it is based on a French graphic novel called Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. As we said in a previous roundup of the best Netflix sci-fi movies, it's “a brilliant allegorical sci-fi movie about a train powered by perpetual motion that circles continuously around the world after a climate change experiment kills all life.” on earth… [when] “A new class system emerges, all the poor and impoverished struggle to survive at the back of the train, while the rich live at the front.”
Directed by the incredibly talented Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, Okja, The Host), was his first English-language debut and received rave reviews: it has a score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a rating of 72% from audiences. As The Wall Street Journal puts it: “Once Mr. Bong sets his monorail in motion, the film assumes irresistible momentum, accelerated by relentless chaos, dark humor and an immersive visual style that has a heady sense of steam apocalypse.” -punk”.
