9 Must-Watch Sci-Fi Movies on Prime Video Right Now (May 2026): ‘Battleship’ and More

Navy Weapons Officer Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) is a slacker who relies heavily on his brother, commanding officer Stone (Alexander Skarsgård), to help him get by in life. But when alien invaders attack his navy warcraft off the coast of O’ahu, Alex will have to grow up fast to not only save his brother, but the entire world as well. The key to victory is understanding what these extra-terrestrials want and why they’re so obsessed with the island’s satellite.

File this one under “dumb fun,” and you won’t feel too guilty watching it. Battleship is bad in all the right ways. From its ludicrous premise to Rihanna’s, erm, “acting, this film is a mess, but it’s not a boring mess. Director Peter Berg can stage a pretty decent action sequence, and there are several spectacular ones involving all sorts of real and fantastical war machines. The story makes no sense at all, but that only adds to the entertainment value. The movie bombed at the box office, which unfortunately stalled Kitsch’s then-promising feature film career but spared everyone enduring Battleship 2.

Aquaman is back, and he’s wetter than ever. Set four years after the first film, Aquaman (Jason Momoa) is now married to Mera (Amber Heard), a new dad and King of Atlantis. He has to defend his kingdom from an old threat — Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) has returned, and he wields a powerful new weapon that is rapidly warming the world. Aquaman has to find Manta fast, and the only person who can help him is his worst enemy — half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), who would like nothing more than to see him dead. Can these two siblings put aside their lethal rivalry to save Atlantis?

This sequel is a lot like the first one — extremely silly, intentionally funny and a breeze to watch. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is pure comic-book hokum, and the fact that it doesn’t take itself seriously is an asset rather than a flaw. Momoa retains his righteous dude schtick that made the first one so enjoyable, while Wilson camps it up as a reformed villain who still takes some pleasure in being bad. This film marked the end of the creatively shaky DCEU as we know it, and Warner Bros.’ cinematic universe went out on a high note.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is streaming on May 27.

Mercy may remind you of Minority Report, with some key differences. In this glimpse of the future, criminal judgments have been turned over to AI entities. Few were greater proponents of this system than Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), at least until he finds himself on trial for murdering his wife, Nicole Raven (Annabelle Wallis).

Now, Chris has 90 minutes to convince the AI being known as Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson) of his innocence, or else he’ll face immediate execution. It seems that Nicole was keeping some secrets before her death, but Chris may not have enough time to bring them to light.

Mercy is streaming on Prime Video.

Jon Favreau helmed this adaptation of the Cowboys & Aliens comic that few read, but at least the film has a lot of star power. Daniel Craig stars as Jake Lonergan, an outlaw who lost his memory after being abducted by aliens. An alien weapon attached to his arm is the only physical evidence of his ordeal.

Jake has a lot of enemies in the nearby town, including Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). But when the aliens attack and abduct several townspeople, Jake’s weapon may be the only way that humanity can turn the tide against these invaders. The enigmatic Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) knows more than she’s saying about the aliens, but this is ultimately Jake’s war to fight.

Cowboys & Aliens is streaming on Prime Video.

It’s unfortunate that Transformers One didn’t do better at the box office, because this is one of the most accessible stories about giant talking robots that you’ll ever see. This animated film starts as a buddy comedy about two close friends, Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry).

In the future, Orion and D-16 are destined to become mortal enemies, Optimus Prime and Megatron. But in the present, they’ve accidentally discovered that their lives on Cybertron have been predicated on a lie from a traitor and alien invaders. That’s something they can’t keep to themselves, but their quest to save their world will tear them apart.

Transformers One is streaming on Prime Video.

Companion is a typical love story where a woman, Iris (Sophie Thatcher), meets and falls for a guy, Josh (Jack Quaid). But her dreams are dashed when Iris discovers that Josh is a horrible liar who programed her to love him. Also, Sophie isn’t a real woman at all, she’s just a very life-like android who thinks she’s human.

Admittedly, Iris’ circumstances are unique to her. That’s her problem and also her solution. Because now that Iris knows the truth, she can deal with Josh any way that she sees fit, and that’s very bad news for him.

Companion is streaming on Prime Video.

A Quiet Place: Day One is the third movie in the franchise, but also a prequel story that sets up the other films. On the first day, before the aliens arrive, Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) is facing the end of her life as a terminal cancer patient. But her day out in the city is marred by an invasion that leaves almost everyone else around her dead.

Sam and her new friend, Eric (Joseph Quinn), only survive the initial onslaught because they figured out that the aliens can only hear them. But even armed with that knowledge, it’s nearly impossible to keep perfectly quiet forever.

A Quiet Place: Day One is streaming on Prime Video.

Timecop is one of the best movies Jean-Claude Van Damme ever made, and its cheesy touches actually make it even more enjoyable. In the then-future year of 2004, Max Walker (Van Damme) is part of the Time Enforcement Commission, an elite law enforcement unit that goes after criminals who attempt to rewrite history for their benefit.

Max is also haunted by the death of his wife, Melissa Walker (Mia Sara), ten years earlier, and he resists the temptation to change his own past. But he may get a second chance to get things right when Senator Aaron McComb (Ron Silver) visits his past self in 1994 to undermine the TEC. McComb also targets TEC agents like Walker who get in his way.

Timecop is streaming on Prime Video.

For Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal), the end of the world is just 28 days away. The title character of this sci-fi thriller survives an unexplainable accident simply by not being home. Donnie also begins displaying symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, including waking hallucinations of Frank the Rabbit (James Duval).

Frank is the one who’s been whispering secrets about the impending end in Donnie’s ear, even as the latter strikes up a romance with the new girl in town, Gretchen Ross (Jena Malone). Donnie may be a little crazy, but Frank isn’t just the product of his unhinged mind. There really is something coming to town that might doom everyone, and Donnie needs to understand and find it before time runs out.

Donnie Darko is streaming on Prime Video.