The year 2025 is upon us, and there are exciting new sci-fi film releases on the horizon. Star Trek: Section 31, The Gorge et Mickey 17 are expected on streaming platforms and in cinemas in the coming months, without forgetting other films planned for the second half of the year. If you’re looking for sci-fi to watch from the comfort of your home right now, you’ve come to the right place.
This month, we bring you a two-part modern epic, a critically-tested star film set in a post-apocalyptic future, and an American adaptation of a French comic book by the one of the greatest Korean directors of our time.
Let’s see what the month has to offer!
Editor’s Pick: Dune and Dune: Part Two
Image: Warner Bros.
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Distribution : Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson
Denis Villeneuve’s two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic work is a masterpiece of our time. The story of Paul Atreides, heir to a powerful noble family in the distant future, is both unreal and fundamental: a fantastical depiction of the dangers of the quest for revenge, the ennobling power of love, and the dangers of ‘a faith hijacked by imperialism. The depiction of the desert planet of Arrakis, the native Fremen and the enormous sandworms are spectacular, as are almost all of the on-screen performances, notably those of Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya. If you haven’t seen yet Dunehere’s your chance to do so — and if you’ve already seen Duneconsider this an opportunity to rediscover it. —Toussaint Egan
Image: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
-Director: Kevin Reynolds
Distribution : Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, Jeanne Tripplehorn
In the vein of environmental extremes, the often criticized film Waterworld from 1995 is, as its title suggests, about a world where the polar ice caps have melted, where sea levels have risen, making the globe almost entirely covered in water.
The action of the film follows Kevin Costner, a man known as “The Mariner”, who travels the world sailing aimlessly. If you think this looks like a copy of Mad Maxbut in an aquatic universe, you’re not completely wrong on paper. However, in practice, Waterworld is much more fascinating, and its world is both bizarre and beautifully realized — a fact that led to astronomical budget overruns. Costner proves to be a perfect protagonist in this post-apocalyptic setting. Far removed from its reputation as a Hollywood disaster and an ill-fated attempt to start a franchise, Waterworld remains a captivating adventure film, in an almost vanished vein of modern cinema, which owes its rarity in part to its own heritage. —Austen Goslin
Image: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Distribution : Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton
Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi action film, which follows humanity’s last survivors aboard a massive post-apocalyptic train, remains just as excellent today as it was in 2013 The film follows Curtis (Chris Evans), who leads the poor passengers at the back of the train in a rebellion to take control of the human locomotive, hoping to create a better and more equitable place for all passengers.
The journey of Curtis and his band of fighters, who access from the back of the train to the front, resembles a horizontal version of The Raidwith a whole gallery of strange and ridiculous characters lining their way to the lead car. Although the class metaphor isn’t as complex here as in the Best Picture Oscar winner Parasite of the director, the absence of subtlety allows the concept to be wielded like a club rather than a scalpel, thus creating one of the most intriguing and angry hidden works of the 2010 decade. —AG
