Westworld

If you want science fiction that respects its own premise, Westworld is available in Australia on HBO Max, and in the UK on Sky Go and Now TV Cinema right now. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. With 1,473 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Yul Brynner leads a cast that never lets the concept overwhelm the characters. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on HBO Max.

Westworld is not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focus is exactly what makes it work. The world-building is meticulous, but it is the characters who carry Westworld through its more ambitious moments. Delos is a futuristic amusement park that features themed worlds populated by human-like androids. After two patrons have a run-in with a menacing gunslinger in West World, the androids at Delos all begin to malfunction, causing havoc throughout the park. Yul Brynner and Richard Benjamin lead a cast that never lets the concept overwhelm the characters. It was released in 1973. The world-building is meticulous enough to sustain multiple rewatches, with details early on that only make sense later. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

Sci-fi fans who want ideas alongside the spectacle will find Westworld genuinely rewarding. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single evening. Yul Brynner grounds the bigger ideas in something human. Once you are in, you will want to talk about it.