3 Sci-Fi Movies Worth a Look

3 Sci-Fi Movies Worth a Look

With the continued popularity of streaming services and the content they provide on tap, it can be challenging to dedicate your free time to shows and movies actually worth watching, because, let's face it, there's a ton of low budget trash in the mix when it comes to endlessly searching the catalogue. The pandemic saw many of us turn to the likes of Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime to watch shows we probably would otherwise never had considered watching.

The sci-fi genre tends to come as a very mixed bag at the best of times, filled with either really low budget dross, big studio hits or intelligent time travel gems that give you something to ponder long after the film has finished. With the rising capability of technology and lower costs for Special FX tech, we're seeing even YouTubers creating movie shorts on par with the best a Hollywood super budget movie could create, Fix it in Post's ANH  Vader Vs Kenobi fight is a prime example.

Some low budget sci-fi is utterly horrendous where even the thumbnail or poster looks utterly crap, but there's also the stuff you probably skip past on Prime or Netflix because none of the actors seem familiar or its probably a film you've never heard of. Last year I'd skipped past REBOOT for the best part of 6 months before deciding to take a chance and I'm so glad I did, it was one of the best Sci-fi movies I'd seen for a long, long while, and while its left Netflix for a while if you get the chance to catch it anywhere else  you'll be in for a treat.

Here are 3 ci-fi movies worth a look that you might have skipped or avoided.

Monsters of Man

Budget $2 Million

Streaming on: Amazon Prime

Low budget in the sense this was made for $2 Million  but before that turns you off completely hear me out, I'm a huge fan of Sci-f, love Blade Runner, love Star Wars, a dash of Start Trek a sprinkle of Battlestar Galactica and Termnator and Aliens, Predator etc, all of which have at least one pillar movies that defines them all. These all set the standard and that benchmark is pretty high. This took me completely by surprise, I had the TV to myself, saw the trailer and thought why not. Turns out it was a great decision because the FX work in this is on par with anything Hollywood has going and the film features over 2000 VFX shots, 600 of which feature the intricate robots. That's a bold statement for a $2 Million budget but check out the trailer at least before you walk away from it.  Another reason to give this is a chance is the fact the director shot the movie on high-quality cameras, shooting on four REDs at both 6K and 8K. You only go to that effort if you believe what you're shooting is going to make an impact.

The film was shot in Cambodia with an entirely Cambodian crew, the film was self funded and distributed by the films director Mark Toia who gained enough directing experience from shooting ads for Apple, Coca-Cola, Toshiba, Yamaha. Mark actually states in interviews that choosing to shoot in Australia saved $2-3 Million on the films budget alone. The biggest star in the film is actually Neal McDonagh, The guy from Band of Brothers who played Buck, you'll probably know him as Damian Darhk from Arrow or DC's Legends of Tomorrow as well as regular appearances in Suits and Yellowstone.

The premise of the movie

A robotics company teams up with a corrupt CIA agent trying to win a lucrative military contract. They illegally airdrop 4 prototype killer robots into the middle of the infamous Golden triangle to perform a live field test on unsuspecting drug lords that they figure the world will never miss. Volunteer doctors witness the slaughter of an entire  village and become the prime targets as the CIA look to cover up the mission.

What works: The VFX really shines in this movie, its extremely believable to the extent that the robots really do look like physical effects, especially since the lighting effects on the VFX models is superb, this gives you sense that they are physically there, not CGI. The film has a very dark sci-fi theme of self aware A.I as a sub plot which adds to the drama and overall tone.

What doesn't work: There are some pretty daft plot holes in the film and moments where you'll shout at the TV like "pick up the bloody weapon!" but nothing that's going to wreck what is essentially a well put together movie considering its budget.

Summary

Mark Taoi is likely to move in similar circles to South African film maker Neil Blomkemp, the films VFX are just as good as District 9 without a doubt and what this movie achieves on such a small budget is incredible. Actor Neal McDonagh gives a solid performance as an angry CIA baddie and the non named cast actually deliver  decent and invested performances. If you go into this one with zero expectations you'll come out the other side suitably impressed I guarantee it. This one gets a form 9/10 from me, loved the concept, the FX work is absolutely astonishing and the sinister tone of the movie is great.

Spectral

Budget $70 million

Streaming on: NETFLIX

Max martini, you know the one, the moody, no shit guy from The Unit (Mack Gerhardt) who also starred in The Purge TV series as Ryan Grant. Then there's the other guy you can never remember the name of but has been in a decent amount of TV and movies including the fiery superheated baddie from Iron Man 3, no not Guy Pearce, the other one - the guy who gets it in the elevator in The Departed after headshotting Leo and as a spec ops guy in 13 Hours -  I am of course talking about James Badge Dale.

As sci-fi movies go this got shelved in the 'we don't know if we want a cinema release' pile, it was due to be director Nic Mathieu's feature debut with Legendary Pictures and Universal. Mathieu also cut his teeth doing commercials and Spectral was co written by him and Ian Fried and John Nolfi (Oceans 12 and The Bourne Ultimatum).Netflix stepped in and secured distribution saving it from gathering any more dust and as movies go, I found this to be a good sci-fi romp with a great mix of action, tension and some great VFX work.

Spectral is positioned as a supernatural Black Hawk Down, which is pretty well sums it up perfectly, but if you want the general Wikipedia overview "soldiers on mission come face to face with a force they cannot see or combat against -  footage captured by the troops' goggles show a mysterious, translucent, humanoid apparition that kills almost instantaneously." Its got a sprinkling of Predators 'adaptive camo' type thing going for it but budget and action wise it holds up pretty good. VFX is pretty impressive, as you'd expect from a $70M movie, not to mention the fact Peter Jackson's WETA Workshop is responsible for it.

Production wise the film was shot in Budapest and shot over the course of a year, the film holds a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

What Works :Action and VFX are extremely well done, the stunt work and Special Forces aspect of this movie creates a great atmosphere coupled with a premise of unseen enemy it really pitches a great sci-fi action flick. Put it this way - If you gave me the choice to watch the Shane Black Predator movie and this as a my Death Row movie, I'd choose this, put it that way, it delivers more reward for the time you spend watching it.

What Doesn't work: Pace in the movie gets a little bit slow towards the third act and while the film pays off with a big finale piece the film doesn't quite leave you wanting more, as opposed to the feeling that it wasn't an entirely horrible way to burn 107 minutes of your life. That might sound harsh, sci-fi fans will probably go in for a second or even third time though.

Summary

Spectral is a decent effort, its certainly one of the better sci-fi movies you've never heard on Netflix and well worth a look, while it doesn't leave you wanted more it brings a very cool supernatural sci-fi story with a Black Hawk Down vibe to it that will keep action fans happy too. Performances by Mack Gerhardt and James Badge Dale are also great. Loved the concept of this one, a firm 8/10 from me.

Kill Command

The story focuses on a group of US Marines attempting to survive after a training mission against warfare A.I. goes wrong. 

In a technologically advanced near future, Katherine Mills, a cyborg working for Harbinger Corporation, discovers a reprogramming anomaly regarding a warfare A.I system located at Harbinger I Training Facility, an undisclosed military training island. Suited and booted she takes along a small infiltration team to find out what's going on and rectify the anomaly.

Budget: £1Million

Streaming on: Amazon Prime

Rotten Tomatoes 75%, again this is similar review territory to Spectral but even the Guardian Newspaper praised it as a "superior sci fi action thriller", so there you have it. This is another movie where I took a chance on the film having watched the trailer, I'd say that' always  risky move but backed up by a half decent Guardian review I figured I'd take a chance. Video FX work in the film is pretty good, they didn't scrimp on the pyro either since there's a decent amount of firefights as the Marines go head to head with automated mechs that look like walking sentry guns with 4 legs. Flying drones, complex mechs and some really impressive work on the bigger S.A.R mech are beautifully realised and really work well in the scenes giving you a sense they are almost practical effects.

The only thing that really bothered me about the film was the complete lack of tactics employed by the Marines, woefully equipped and caught in the low ground on more than one occasion, all hell lets loose and with very little cover other than the trees the Marines get a pounding and for something so lethal as a cyborg entity that might be emerging a self aware, you'd probably want to drop in more than a small team to sort this stuff out. It smacks of Aliens in that sense, a small team investigating a problem with an outpost only to end up fighting for their lives when the shit hits the fan - no points for originality but I will doff my cap to some very cool looking Marine hardware in the form of the futuristic Osprey aircraft.

Vanessa Kirby, she of Mission Impossible Fallout fame, is the female cyborg assigned to fix the anomaly with a small bunch of rag tag and entirely forgettable Marines in tow. The Marines search for the mission object and they discover autonomously operating surveillance drones monitoring them. A Larger more formidable S.A.R. unit, (Study Analyze Reprogram) which looks like a cross between a jet engine and and a cool looking Decepticon.

The movie was shot in the Surrey Hills with some great external woodland as the backdrop, and the finale was filmed at the EMI Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes, Middlesex.

Budget wise the film was made for £1Million with 1000 VFX shots, all of which were  built by a core team of seven artists with no more than 20 artists during crunch periods. BanditoVFX who did the work managed to negotiate an extended post production period to get the better quality out of the VFX, something pretty unheard of in today's production practices. The film required a lot of camera tracking and drones were textured and rendered out in Lightwave.

What works: VFX and action are pretty good in the movie and overall the film does a decent job of creating that futuristic atmosphere to set the tone of the movie.

What doesn't work: The script and story are the weakest aspect of the whole movie, while the action keeps things interesting, the film has some frustrating moments where logic and tactics go completely out the window and where the viewer will inevitably question the choices made by the characters within.

Summary

A sci-fi movie that looks like a multi-million budget affair, it blends a healthy dose of heavy action in the third act with some stellar VFX work that delivers a decent looking movie badly let down by a poor script and forgettable characters. Not outright terrible, but not great either, just good enough to be worth a go if you've no other sci-fi lined up.

I will go as far to say that while the FX work is pretty stellar in this movie, it's the weaker one of the three where story and script are concerned so I'd give this a 6/10.