What's your favourite cyberpunk movie?

[Gucko]

What's your favourite cyberpunk movie?

mine is Hackers

[geoken]

If Blade Runner doesn't count then johnny mnemonic

[SunnyRabbiera]

Robocop by far.

[Daisuke_Aramaki]

difficult to pinpoint one. so i will give three. Metropolis, Blade Runner, and Dark City. if i include anime, boy the list would explode!

[grantemsley]

Ghost in the shell (anime, but still a movie)

My fav. cyberpunk book is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

[joey-elijah]

Dark City and Blade Runner are two absolutely phenomenal films.

Hackers is actually quite good - i don't care if the stuffy studio loving grandpas on rotten tomato's don't like it very much, i think it has it's own charm.

[ghindo]

The Matrix.

Duh.

[CharmyBee]

Escape from New York.

[danbuter]

Johnny Mnemonic. Awesome movie.

[joey-elijah]

escape from new york.

+1

Such a shame that Escape from LA was so atrocious.

[Mehall]

Johnny Mnemonic. Awesome movie.

*ignores dolphin*

I agree!

[Sealbhach]

I don't know if it's cyberpunk, but I liked Demolition Man.

.

[theluddite]

Blade Runner. No contest. Johnny Mneumonic was alright, but William Gibson's books are waaay better than the movies made from them. The book Neuromancer still defines the cyberpunk gentre even though it was written 25 years ago.

[Wra!th]

All time favourites: Screamers (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114367/) and Terminator 2 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/)
Also loved: Metropolis, Johnny Mnemonic, Bicentennial Man, Wargames, Tank girl
Worse cyberpunk movie ever created: eXistenZ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/)

edit: Demolition Man (just had to add it, can't believe I forgot)

[faceliftguide]

My favourite cyberpunk movie are The Matrix, Hardware, Dark City, Hardware, eXistenZ, Twelve Monkeys, and Terminator 2.

[Niksko]

I am a HUGE Hackers fan. Love that movie to death, even though everyone I've shown it too hates it. And Neuromancer is my favourite cyberpunk book, along with the Takeshi Kovacs novels by Richard K. Morgan.

-Nik

[Gucko]

People hate Hackers? Never heard of that before!

Maybe normal people, but geeks? NOWAY!

[infestor]

Avalon is a very nice cyberpunk piece by mamoru oshii (i like his works). also movie is taking place in poland and usually thats what i think of poland :) :
http://i38.tinypic.com/28ui7vp.jpg

A scanner darkly (i dont know if that counts as cuberpunk, nice flick though)

District 9 (might also not count)

Ergo Proxy (anime series) is the worst one i have seen lately.

[hobo14]

BladeRunner +1

[infestor]

anyone seen æon flux 1991 animation series?
sensational. especially the first short ones where there is no dialogue.

[Paqman]

anyone seen æon flux 1991 animation series?
sensational. especially the first short ones where there is no dialogue.

Those used to seriously bake my noodle. The short ones they used to show on Liquid TV were fantastically incomprehensible.

[TheNessus]

Already mentioned obvious ones:

Bladerunner, 12 monkies.


More awesome movies:

The Fifth Element, Mad Max, Children of Men, Alien series...

[crimesaucer]

How is Dark City cyberpunk? (I'm thinking punk, new wave, futurism, and computer technology..... like Blade Runner)


Dark city is set in the 1950's..... I would classify it more as "Alien-Psychic-Steampunk" since it's all mechanical gears that run on the alien's psychic power.


EDIT:

Check out this clip from Dark City: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOHn2uzriBg


The movie Brazil also had a very old industrialized look for a futuristic movie with computers and technical gadgets.

[madhi19]

Hackers a cyberpunk movie! When did that happen? I must have miss a memo or something! Don't get me wrong I like it but Cyberpunk come on!

Ever seen Strange Day?

[phrostbyte]

The Matrix

I love the movie

[infestor]

if you can stand animes bubblegum crisis might be a good series to see. but again it is anime with classic characteristics.

[Sand & Mercury]

Blade Runner by faaaaar.

And Hackers for lulz.

[TheNessus]

How is Dark City cyberpunk? (I'm thinking punk, new wave, futurism, and computer technology..... like Blade Runner)


Dark city is set in the 1950's..... I would classify it more as "Alien-Psychic-Steampunk" since it's all mechanical gears that run on the alien's psychic power.


EDIT:

Check out this clip from Dark City: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOHn2uzriBg


The movie Brazil also had a very old industrialized look for a futuristic movie with computers and technical gadgets.

It's not set in the 50's, it's set in an alien world where the aliens make it look 50's-ish

[t0p]

Hackers is not a cyberpunk movie! It's not a bad film (apart from the dumb effects whenever someone's on the net) but it's not cyberpunk! Shame on anyone who disagrees!!

My fave cyberpunk movie: Bladerunner. I'm not sure if A Scanner Darkly fits the genre, but I love Philip K ****'s stuff so I'll mention it anyway. Brazil is also great - cyber-steampunk, I guess. :p

Hackers is not cyberpunk! Heck, would you call Wargames cyberpunk? Or Sneakers? No? Then why Hackers dammit?? Just cos of the silly special effects?

[ve4cib]

Blade Runner is pretty much the archetypical Cyberpunk film, at least from a visual standpoint. Everything that came after it has tried to mimic it in one way or another.

Renaissance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_%28film%29) kind of walks the line between Cyberpunk and Biopunk. Visually it's phenomenal; almost the whole movie is in a strict black-or-white style. It's like an animated, high-contrast graphic novel. Plot-wise it's your typical kidnapping/detective story with the usual corporate intrigue tossed in. Definitely worth checking out.

[joey-elijah]

Ever seen Strange Day?

Yes! An awesome, awesome, awesome movie. It flopped so hard at the cinema so most peopel don't know about it - a real hidden gem!

[graabein]

Going to have to go with Blade Runner. Ghost in the Shell is also cool.

[koshatnik]

How is Dark City cyberpunk? (I'm thinking punk, new wave, futurism, and computer technology..... like Blade Runner)


Dark city is set in the 1950's..... I would classify it more as "Alien-Psychic-Steampunk" since it's all mechanical gears that run on the alien's psychic power.


EDIT:

Check out this clip from Dark City: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOHn2uzriBg


The movie Brazil also had a very old industrialized look for a futuristic movie with computers and technical gadgets.

Cyber punk and science fiction isnt about technology and gadgets, or about predicting a future world. Its concerned with two subjects:

1) Identity
2) Transcendence

So we have the following breakouts:

1) What is it to be human? What defines a human being? Philip K **** was obssessed with this, and its the principle theme of Bladerunner. **** had no interest in technology. Asimov also obssessed with this question, as witnessed in his robot novels, which are not about robots and technology, but about the state of the human condition. On wider level, if science has explained away the notion of God, ie, we are not made in the image of some higher intelligence, then what defines us as being human?

2) Transcendence. Science has replaced religious dogma as the priniciple form of knowledge. If there is no heaven or hell, where does man transcend to when dead? 2001 A Space Odyssey is an example of this type of sci-fi text, which also touches on the first point also. The Matrix also makes a ham fisted attempt at tackling this question. Ghost in the shell does it better.

So, sci-fi and cyber punk deal with the notion of human identity in a post-industrialised society. Aliens, technology, the future, are of no importance in a science fiction text. They are all allegories. Nor does it seek to predict a future, it just uses a future as a place to play out themes and ideas. Too many people take these things literally.

So, judging a text as being scifi or cyberpunk based on the technology addressed in the story is irrelevant.

[Tristam Green]

Ghost in the Shell.

[crimesaucer]

It's not set in the 50's, it's set in an alien world where the aliens make it look 50's-ish

Yes, I know, I've seen this movie a few times. It's a circular walled city floating in space, made by aliens called 'the strangers' and used for conducting research on the human soul.


The city is modeled after the collected memories of humans, and it looks just like the 1950's.....


The strangers conduct experiments on the people by programing new memories into their brains when the humans are put to sleep by a collective psychic tuning. The same tuning also changes the city by creating new buildings, rearranging rooms and environments, and swapping out people's living conditions to test for different results.


After watching this movie again, the ONLY scene that has anything in it that I would call cyber is the part with the microscopes.


It's a good movie, but I wouldn't classify it as cyberpunk. The movie has too old of a feel to it, even the stranger's technology has an old industrialized look, and the movie is mostly about the use of psychic mind power..... it would be like calling the movie DUNE cyberpunk.


When I think of a movie being cyberpunk, I usually think that the movie will have a continuous theme revolving around the uses of technology. The people will have a futuristic punkish-new-wave-techno-tribalistic look, basically a modern primitive society, like Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, Johnny Mneumonic, Renaissance.....

Renaissance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_%28film%29

[SunnyRabbiera]

I am probaby the only one here who is not a fan of Blade Runner

[crimesaucer]

Cyber punk and science fiction isnt about technology and gadgets, or about predicting a future world. Its concerned with two subjects:

1) Identity
2) Transcendence

So we have the following breakouts:

1) What is it to be human? What defines a human being? Philip K **** was obssessed with this, and its the principle theme of Bladerunner. **** had no interest in technology. Asimov also obssessed with this question, as witnessed in his robot novels, which are not about robots and technology, but about the state of the human condition. On wider level, if science has explained away the notion of God, ie, we are not made in the image of some higher intelligence, then what defines us as being human?

2) Transcendence. Science has replaced religious dogma as the priniciple form of knowledge. If there is no heaven or hell, where does man transcend to when dead? 2001 A Space Odyssey is an example of this type of sci-fi text, which also touches on the first point also. The Matrix also makes a ham fisted attempt at tackling this question. Ghost in the shell does it better.

So, sci-fi and cyber punk deal with the notion of human identity in a post-industrialised society. Aliens, technology, the future, are of no importance in a science fiction text. They are all allegories. Nor does it seek to predict a future, it just uses a future as a place to play out themes and ideas. Too many people take these things literally.

So, judging a text as being scifi or cyberpunk based on the technology addressed in the story is irrelevant.


This is a nice thought out post, but I don't see how it's relevant to what I said.


See, I'm not one who's big on classifications, cyberpunk isn't even a word I would normally use to describe something..... but when I read people saying Dark City was cyberpunk, it made me think that the description might be a bit off.


Not because of the plot or the deep concepts that this movie is about, but strictly for the entire theme of the movie being filmed in the make believe 1950's of timeless space.


The grinding mechanical gears, the rusty scaffolding, clock towers and the pocket watches, the 50's diners and jazz clubs, brick buildings with their metal fire escapes, dark streets and steam floating everywhere, elevated trains across an industrial landscape, age old subway stations and ancient cars stuck in traffic, even row boats. None of this gives me cyberpunk. Not even the alien technology since it's more of a mental science, a form of magic used to run their machines.



"...sci-fi and cyber punk deal with the notion of human identity in a post-industrialised society..."


Well, just read my post above this one, I was only stating that the movie Dark City is a science fiction movie, and an alien movie, and a movie about psychic abilities and the human soul, but it is in no way what I would guess to be cyberpunk. (the one scene that had any cyber feel to it would be the microscope scene and the concept of programing brains through advanced science)



Cyber punk and science fiction isnt about technology and gadgets, or about predicting a future world. Its concerned with two subjects:


See, you have me all wrong. I never said anything about science fiction having anything to do about technology and gadgets. My comment was strictly about the word and classification of Cyberpunk, which in itself is a combination of the words "Cybernetics" and "Punkrock" which to me has nothing to do with a movie like Dark City.


Staying on your theme of "Cyber punk and science fiction isnt about technology and gadgets, or about predicting a future world", I would say that David Bowie's movie "The Man who Fell to Earth" is more cyberpunk than a movie like Dark City. (even though I wouldn't call it that)

[infestor]

Cyber punk and science fiction isnt about technology and gadgets, or about predicting a future world. Its concerned with two subjects:

1) Identity
2) Transcendence

So we have the following breakouts:

1) What is it to be human? What defines a human being? Philip K **** was obssessed with this, and its the principle theme of Bladerunner. **** had no interest in technology. Asimov also obssessed with this question, as witnessed in his robot novels, which are not about robots and technology, but about the state of the human condition. On wider level, if science has explained away the notion of God, ie, we are not made in the image of some higher intelligence, then what defines us as being human?

2) Transcendence. Science has replaced religious dogma as the priniciple form of knowledge. If there is no heaven or hell, where does man transcend to when dead? 2001 A Space Odyssey is an example of this type of sci-fi text, which also touches on the first point also. The Matrix also makes a ham fisted attempt at tackling this question. Ghost in the shell does it better.

So, sci-fi and cyber punk deal with the notion of human identity in a post-industrialised society. Aliens, technology, the future, are of no importance in a science fiction text. They are all allegories. Nor does it seek to predict a future, it just uses a future as a place to play out themes and ideas. Too many people take these things literally.

So, judging a text as being scifi or cyberpunk based on the technology addressed in the story is irrelevant.

thanks for the description.


This is a nice thought out post, but I don't see how it's relevant to what I said.


See, I'm not one who's big on classifications, cyberpunk isn't even a word I would normally use to describe something..... but when I read people saying Dark City was cyberpunk, it made me think that the description might be a bit off.


Not because of the plot or the deep concepts that this movie is about, but strictly for the entire theme of the movie being filmed in the make believe 1950's of timeless space.


The grinding mechanical gears, the rusty scaffolding, clock towers and the pocket watches, the 50's diners and jazz clubs, brick buildings with their metal fire escapes, dark streets and steam floating everywhere, elevated trains across an industrial landscape, age old subway stations and ancient cars stuck in traffic, even row boats. None of this gives me cyberpunk. Not even the alien technology since it's more of a metal science, a form of magic used to run their machines.





Well, just read my post above this one, I was only stating that the movie Dark City is a science fiction movie, and an alien movie, and a movie about psychic abilities and the human soul, but it is in no way what I would guess to be cyberpunk. (the one scene that had any cyber feel to it would be the microscope scene and the concept of programing brains through advanced science)





See, you have me all wrong. I never said anything about science fiction having anything to do about technology and gadgets. My comment was strictly about the word and classification of Cyberpunk, which in itself is a combination of the words "Cybernetics" and "Punkrock" which to me has nothing to do with a movie like Dark City.


Staying on your theme of "Cyber punk and science fiction isnt about technology and gadgets, or about predicting a future world", I would say that David Bowie's movie "The Man who Fell to Earth" is more cyberpunk than a movie like Dark City. (even though I wouldn't call it that)

i would simply call dark city a dystopic/dystopian movie.
i think also most cyberpunk movies go under dystopic category.

[handy]

All of the following have the qualities of investigating the nature of humanity to some degree & also that of transcendence, of one variety or another:

12 Monkeys
24 Redemption
A Man Called Horse
A Passage to India
Angels & Demons
Braveheart
Breakfast of Champions
Bulletproof Monk
Choke
Constantine
Crossing Over
District 9
Easy Rider
Erin Brockovitch
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
Gandhi
Gigantic
Gran Torino
In the Elecric Mist
Inkheart
Jacob's Ladder
Johnny Mnemonic
Killing Zoe
Last Chance Harvey


I'm bored with making the list, it goes on & on...

Oh, yeh! I like all of them. :)

[airtonix]

film : version one point oh (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317042/).
comic : BLAME (http://www.onemanga.com/BLAME/)

[alakazam]

Blade Runner


I recently saw this at an iMax screen at the cinema and it blew me away. in my top 5


First saw it about 10 years ago and I did not like it, not one bit.

I think it's a film that for the viewer is intimate both musically and visually and one that you love or hate.

[nmccrina]

Like most other people here, I have to go with Blade Runner. I love Harrison Ford's character, the visual imagery, and the Vangelis score. Well, actually I love everything about it!

I would like to find more movies that are similar, and I was thinking about trying Dark City and Brazil. I'm glad to see both have been mentioned positively here, it will make me a little more confident about renting them. :)

Has anyone seen Gattaca? I've seen it in a couple of Top Ten science fiction lists (though I have no idea how well or how poorly it falls into the cyberpunk category).

[Exodist]

What's your favourite cyberpunk movie?

mine is Hackers
++ here also..

Angelina when she was young. /thoughts to himself.....

[PhilGil]

Another vote for Blade Runner.

Saw it during the original theatrical release (yes, I'm that old) and was absolutely stunned by the cinematography and soundtrack. Had to see it a couple more times before I appreciated the storyline.

[infestor]

Has anyone seen Puzzlehead (2005) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450367/)? is it worth watching and is it cyberpunk at all?

[Chronon]

All of the following have the qualities of investigating the nature of humanity to some degree & also that of transcendence, of one variety or another:

<snip>

Oh, yeh! I like all of them. :)
Nice list! :)

[ve4cib]

Has anyone seen Gattaca? I've seen it in a couple of Top Ten science fiction lists (though I have no idea how well or how poorly it falls into the cyberpunk category).

Gattaca was a neat movie, but it's definitely not cyberpunk. It could be described as biopunk though.

[beow]

BladeRunner +1

[Da Tutu]

For cyber punk my favorite has to be Repo Man not, Repo Men.
BladeRunner is my favorite cyber noir.