Catch Dune and 2 more sci-fi classics before they leave Netflix at the end of February

Three great sci-fi movies are approaching escape velocity and will leave Netflix at the end of this month

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As any sci-fi fan knows, all moments are eventually lost in time, like tears in the rain. And sooner or later sci-fi movies on thebest streaming servicesare lost too when contracts expire or deals are renegotiated.

That means you haven’t got long to watch three stone-cold sci-fi classics onNetflix, as they’re all leaving at the end of February 2024. The movies in question areDune,DreddandSnowpiercer, and they’re all firm favorites here. Here’s why.

Dune

As we said in ourDunemovie review, it’s an absorbing and visually striking sci-fi epic. If you’re not familiar with the film or the book it’s based on, it’s “an atmospheric, brooding and expansive cinematicmarvel[with] shades of2001: A Space Odyssey,Mad Maxand evenGladiatorin its execution. It’s also a thematically dense movie that explores familial legacy, politicking, the longevity of empires and environmentalism.”

While the ending is maybe a little too focused on setting upDune 2than on delivering a truly satisfying conclusion, it really does justice to Frank Herbert’s novel – not an easy task given its complexity and convoluted story, something that defeated David Lynch’s previous attempt to adapt book. Although to be fair that version did have pop star Sting in his faintly frightening plastic underpants, a costuming choice that this 2021 adaptation rather wisely chooses not to replicate.

Dredd

I can bang on about this superb and exceptionally violent comic book adaptation for hours, which is why I don’t get invited to parties any more. It’s effectively a sci-fi equivalent of the equally violentThe Raid, with Carl Urban as the proto-fascist law enforcer who is judge, jury and, frequently and increasingly gorily, executioner. Along with his rookie partner, played by Olivia Thirlby,Dreddhas to bring justice to a 200-storey high-rise run by Lena Headley’s malevolent drug lord Ma-Ma.

Is it as good asThe Raid? Maybe not, but it’s from a completely different universe than the God-awful 1995Judge Dredd, the Sylvester Stallone vehicle that was so out of tune with the ethos of the 2000AD comic book that you have to wonder if anybody involved in the movie had even heard of the comic. ThisDreddis the same Dredd we’ve loved and hated for decades, and once the film gets into its groove it’s a thrilling, balletic epic that doesn’t let up for a moment. And it’s a real tragedy that unlikeThe Raid, Dreddnever got a sequel greenlit.

Snowpiercer

Snowpiercer –not to be confused with the2020 series remake– is based on a French graphic novel calledLe Transperceneigeby Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. As we said in a previous roundup of thebest Netflix sci-fi movies, it’s “a brilliant allegorical sci-fi film about a train powered by perpetual motion that continually circles the globe 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 it up at the front”.

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Directed by the incredibly talented Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, Okja, The Host), it was his first English language debut and received glowing reviews – it has a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score from the critics and a 72% rating from the audience. As The Wall Street Journal puts it: “Once Mr. Bong sets his monorail in motion the movie assumes an irresistible momentum, accelerated by nonstop mayhem, gallows humor and an immersive visual style that possesses a heady sense of thesteam-punk Apocalypse.”

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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.

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