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.

UPGRADE - A Sci-fi Film on NETFLIX You Should be Watching

 

You know how it is, you've signed your life away to Amazon Prime,Netflix and Disney+ but yet there you are, sitting on your couch scrolling and scrolling and scrolling, "nope, nope, nope, nope, seen it, nope, looks shit, iMDB 4.5.....nope'. Then you remember somebody mentioning a movie to check out, but the screenshot doesn't do it justice, but the trailer actually looks half decent.

This was the scenario when I took a leap of faith on Upgrade, a little know Sci-fi movie written and directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Logan Marshall-Green. The film was produced by Jason Blum, he of Blum House productions (Saw series, Get Out, The Purge).

Wrapped up in a sentence that best describes it, and to mirror the best possible positioning I've read elsewhere it is indeed 'The Six Million Dollar Man meets Deathwish'. It's very much a Cyberpunk revenge flick but a really well told and visualized one at that.

Whannell spent his incredibly low budget very wisely, choosing to invest in very minimal areas of effects that would deliver bigger impact for its sci-fi tone as well as in practical effects that also helped support the narrative and setting. Above all that, Upgrade is, at its core just a really well told story, and its the narrative that keeps you hooked. When protagonist Grey Trace played by Logan Marshall Green is left paralysed after a brutal car jacking he's given a second chance at life with STEM, a new nanotech chip implant attached to his spine that can take control of his limbs thus helping him walk and function again. This implant comes with some interesting side effects which I won't spoil here, and this is where Upgrade sets itself apart from the myriad of sci-fi junk populating Netflix and other streaming platforms.

The action in the movie is unflinchingly visceral at times, again, it underscores Whannels investment into practical and digital effects where he knows he's going to get bang for his buck and not just for the sake of propping up its sci-fi cyberpunk roots. Fight choreography is also a highlight as shown in an awesome knife fight in a kitchen.

Upgrade is visualized with some great cinematography from Stefan Duscio (The Invisible Man, Audi Q8 advert) and I'm looking forward to seeing more from this guy because there are some, dare I say it Blade Runner 2047 visuals in this film with interiors that really sell the sci-fi vibe.

I'm a sucker for revenge movies, and Upgrade will sit alongside some of the best revenge stories including movies on Netflix like Prisoners, John Wick, Man on Fire, Law Abiding Citizen and Jackie Chans, The Foreigner (another Netflix gem you're missing). 

If you're still on the fence just check out some of the reviews, it currently has a respectable Rotten Tomatoes score of 88%.

Leigh Whannell is currently tackling the proposed remake of sci-fi classic Escape from New York and rumour has it Kurt Russell's son Wyatt might be taking on his fathers iconic role.

Anyway, do yourself a favour and check out Upgrade on Netflix.

5 Films that should become a TV series

John Carpenter's: They Live

A cult sci-fi classic from the master himself, They Live remains a firm favourite and much loved sci-fi movie even by today's standards. Sure it's got that cheesy dialogue in places, its low budget effects (the film was made for $4 Million)  still manage to do the job (just), and while we could sit here and pick holes in various aspects of the film (assault rifles with endless rounds of ammunition that never get reloaded) it oozes some great sci-fi storytelling with a real kicker of a story. They Live is actually an adaptation of Ray Nelson’s science fiction short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning,” Carpenter saw a deeper metaphor ripe for turning into a film, and one that could that tie the aliens to Reagan-era Republican politicians, and it's this undertone that brought together alien invasion and its Orwellian themes to give us a true classic.

Carpenter had once commented that the movie was his 'primal scream against Reaganomics' but that aside I think the movie could say the same about most governments anywhere in the world. Starring the late "Rowdy"Roddy Piper, a wrestler turned actor and Keith David  (Platoon), it created not only some superb comedy,  it also delivered one of the longest fight scenes ever shot on film, it lasts for 5 minutes and the actors choreographed it for a full month before shooting.

The film also gave us one of the all time greats in movie one liners too as Piper's character goes into a bank and identifies several aliens among the staff and customers with his special sun glasses and armed with a shotgun, “I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubble gum.”

Chew gum kick ass pin badge over at Beastwreck

Okay so why a series? As  TV show I think its a perfect fit, even for a short run series which could either be another origin story or pick up the insurgency against the embedded aliens that have infiltrated planet Earth. Previous sci-fi shows like V and Falling Skies have both used the premise of alien invasion as part of a story arc but I think They Live could be great since it could really play with character arcs, as in characters you love actually turn out to be aliens in a shock Season one finale type reveal, this could be great at setting up an explosive season two opener. Beyond that though it's got huge potential as a series made for TV with Carpenter as exec producer.

Assassins Creed (Update!)

The video game series from Ubisoft went from strength to strength if not for maybe a minor hiccup here and there and has spanned several different eras from the crusades through to 17th Century pirates and the French revolution and more recently, Vikings!.

While the Michael Fassbender film didn't really deliver the same grandeur (18% Rotten Tomatoes rating) that the game series has managed to, it did have a decent shot at putting across some rather impressive visuals and a small number of cool stunts and fight scenes featuring the assassins and their capabilities.

With Disney scooping up 21st Century Fox's assets, a planned sequel was shelved, the films scathing reception at review pretty much killed its cinematic aspirations.

Rotten Tomatoes commented "Assassin's Creed is arguably better made (and certainly better cast) than most video game adaptations; unfortunately, the CGI-fueled end result is still a joylessly over plotted slog"

However, Assassins Creed is so stuffed full of lore and historical events it's pretty rich for storytelling material, hence why there are more than 10 novels based on the franchise. The series actually covers around 2,500 years dating back all the way to 1191 up to modern day so it has the potential to feed off major events throughout time to define aspects of its setting and story.

Okay so why a series? - well creatively there's more time to tell more of a story with a series, again, even a short series of 6 or 8 episodes could work with each series depicting a different time era, in the same kind of way everyone who watched Westworld was hoping for a quicker jump to other worlds and stories to explore. While a series could be expensive a solid writing team could help embrace a viewership that isn't wholly reliant on being overly familiar with the video game series to be drawn to it. As mentioned above, 10 novels and over a dozen games in the series there's more than enough to define a series that can create great characters and thrilling story arcs.

(Update) Streaming Service Netflix will be developing an Assassin's Creed live-action series. @Ubisofts's Jason Altman and Danielle Kreinik will serve as Executive Producers.

Bladerunner

Another defining moment in sci-fi cinema was the original Bladerunner from 1982, Starring Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, a Bladerunner who hunts down rogue Nexus 6 replicants. Even by today's standards the original Bladerunner is a timeless classic, it doesn't really age. Director Ridley Scott's stunning visuals helped by cinematographer Jordan Croneweth gave us a highly crafted detective sci-fi film noir that not only drives a narrative that questions the moral compass of humanity and mortality, but also the ethics of genetic engineering.

Character wise, Bladerunner has the legs to spin off a well crafted series since the film could bring in new Bladerunners and replicants to build out the story, a notable mention must go to the late great Rutger Hauer of course whose portrayal of Roy Batty, leader of the replicants in the original Bladerunner was a showstopping performance to drive characterisation in the 1982 film. Hauer actually rewrote his character's "tears in rain" speech himself and presented the draft to Scott on set prior to filming the climatic scene, it remains a beautiful epic vision of chaos and turmoil told with a romanticism that will never age.

There are lots of films of rogue replicants, cyborg hybrids, Universal Soldier, The Terminator etc but Bladerunner has a crime story element where a story told over the course of a series could really carry it.

While Bladerunner 2047 is one of those films that divided many sci-fi fans, notably because Harrison Fords screen time was pretty light, it actually stands up pretty well all things considered. Ryan Gosling brought a brooding and complex character who also questioned the underlying themes of humanity and genetics that were seeded throughout the film.

Okay so why a series? Well, for a start its got an awesome backstory, Bladerunners hunting down rogue replicants. If we take the underlying story from the 1982 film we could either tell this from the Nexus-6 point of view, the replicant's backgrounds as combat operators giving them more of a backstory and building a narrative about their origins and story arc, the battles they fought in. This could create an interesting viewer dynamic whereby the protagonist is skewed from the Nexus-6 replicants perspective bringing the viewer more into the backstory. The perception of Bladerunners could be flipped so that they almost become the bad guys, thus creating empathy for the Nexus -6 replicants for the viewer, which could then be crafted by a talented set of writers to turn that on its head as the lifespan of the replicant's deteriorate and drives them to more erratic questionable actions and behaviour that then sees the Bladerunners as the heroes and entirely necessary to humanity rather than just replicant killers. 

The Crazies

Hugely underrated movie which could at first glance be mistaken for a zombie movie, the fact that it isn't helps it stands out as a well constructed horror thriller instead, and thus helps it move away from a clichéd zombie label. The film is in fact a remake of the 1973 film of the same name from none other than George A. Romero. The 2010 version directed by Breck Eisner (Sahara) tells the story of a fictional Iowa town infected by a military virus that has infected the towns water supply from a crashed military plane. Those in the know will recognize Timothy Olyphant, him from the superbly funny Netflix horror Santa Clarita Diet starring opposite Drew Barrymoore and as sheriff Bullock in HBO's Deadwood, and more recently Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

The Crazies was shot for $20 Million and took a modest $55 Million at the Box Office, not a huge film by any imagination but certainly a solid sci-fi horror thriller none-the-less. With the virus slowly taking hold of the town's otherwise placid and friendly residents the infection turns them into crazed violent killers.
The films themes of military suppression and cover up conspiracy underpin the paranoia and very real threat from the deranged residents who are on the rampage killing others in the community. The military hospital scene being a particular stand out moment as Olyphant's wife Judy played by Radha Mitchell is strapped to a hospital bed as a lunatic with a gardening fork makes his way from bed to bed stabbing other strapped down patients one by one.

Ok so why a series? more-so why not?, it's got a pandemic story that can develop over the course of a series, even a limited one, maybe the comparisons of having a town sheriff is a little close to Walking Dead but I think you'd need that authoritarian figurehead to spearhead a clear head of thinking in a crisis. A sinister government role could give you that ,black SUV driving NSA character to give us a villain to despise'  - bring in the military for a cover up with maybe a defecting soldier thrown into the survivor group and it could be a great premise. Opening episode could have the President killed at his desk with a letter opener by his press secretary who drank some funky water in a brutal scene with plenty of gore to wake up the audience. If The Walking Dead can string it out over a decade I'm sure someone could squeeze 3 short seasons out of this horror gem.

Halloween

Despite the fact I've chosen another John Carpenter project it goes without saying that this franchise has given us one of the all time horror villains in Michael Myers, the psychopathic slasher maniac / demonic force that terrorizes Haddonfield.

While some would agree that later films in the series including the daft Halloween III: 'Season of the Witch' film about killer masks and Rob Zombies poorly received version lost traction for the franchise, it was 2018's masterful return to the screen that gave Halloween its mojo back. Written by non other than Danny McBride (yes, the pyro man in Tropic Thunder!),Jeff Fradley and David Gordon Green, it brought Halloween back from the dead with a near enough refreshed reboot story with some truly no holds barred brutal kills and Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie Strode.

The 2018 film continued the legacy and mythology of the previous films, Blumhouse productions also came on board to help handle production duties which I think really helped steer this in the right direction, they handle the horror genre extremely well if films like The Purge,Insidious, Get Out and Split are anything to go by.

Halloween's appeal has always been the kill count, as characters go, having a silent villain that is just a total bad ass at dealing out death and destruction to Haddonfield residents has carried the series pretty well. 'The shape' as Michael is known in the script and book is a dark force, an evil energy that simply does not stop, can't be stopped, he's been shot, stabbed,sliced, run over and thrown down wells but bounces back again and again much to the audiences delight.

Ok so why a series?

I'd probably say a series would be good to consider after two more films, once Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends come out I think it would be time to call it quits as a strong trilogy of films and look at options for TV and build this as a series. The decent films in the series have all been driven with a strong character for Michael Myers to go against, in this case Laurie Strode played by Jamie Lee Curtis who provides an anchor point. With a TV series this would be harder to do since I don't think it works with Jamie Lee reprising her role, it would need another character to drive that balance in the show. However since Friday 13th tuned into a show there's no reason why Halloween can't either.

I'd still play this with the high school providing the slaughter meat, maybe Laurie's daughter or grandaughter is the backstory with something else thrown in for good measure such as cop who's career is on the wane and ends up being a show favourite when he saves the day, tempered with some good occasional laughs I think this should look to retain the sheer brutal horror of Michael's capabilities as a killer to lift the audience and then crush them back down to earth with some good strong kills of key characters in the series.

What other films could become TV shows, got other suggestions? comment below!