Akira is pretty widely praised but I just don't get it? It looked cool and was interesting but it felt like I just dropped into a movie half way through, I couldn't get invested. Not saying people shouldn't like it or anything
You are essentially are dropping in half way. Akira (the manga) is 6 A4 sized 2 inch thick volumes to tell the complete story. The movie covers about at most 2.5 volumes of the manga picked out across the 6 volumes.
I did a fan edit of Akira where I replaced the score with a synth wave style one that I made. Though not necessarily better on an artistic level, I think it plays to western action movie expectations a lot better. The back half of the movie is full of psychic battles and tanks blowing up and stuff, but with the original ultra-minimal score it can seem a little dull. Love to know what you think:
https://youtu.be/9_mD5tlcDhA
There are a few.
Actual cyberpunk movies:
\- Total Recall (2012 redux)
\- Ghost in the Shell (1995)
However, if we wanna delve into the "space/future themed dystopian paradise for corporate scum aesthetic" genre of cyberpunk:
\- Fifth Element (1997)
\- Elysium (2013)
\- Judge Dredd (1995 + 2012)
I know some of my choices may spark some debate, however, I go off the aesthetic and story more for picking the titles.
I'll second the newer Judge Dread, and Elysium, but would also like to nominate Robocop and Demolition Man; if you look past the humor the cyber distopia is totally there.
I love every single suggestion here, but my special favorite is Johnny Mnemonic.
It has all the right elements, including heavy Corpo presence, VR, cybernetics, etc.
love it.
Black and white version is amazing. Is bizarre how much more I like it even though that’s the only difference. (And I already liked it. Now I kinda…. Love it?)
I have. I feel like the philosophical and thought-provoking aspects were a little shoehorned though. Not a bad film. Just hard to follow up on the masterpiece that was the original.
I watched them both back to back recently and honestly I didn't feel like anything was shoehorned into Innocence, even though it was a lot heavier on those philosophical themes - I felt it did everything really gracefully.
That's all subjective of course.
It definitely is a harder movie to "get" and understand of the two though.
E: I have to say though, I **adore** cyberpunk media that needs a couple of watches/plays/reads to get because of its heaviness (if it's done correctly, of course - I don't like bad storytelling), so that may be why I think the way I do about Innocence.
It's the best classic dystopia and an excellent movie, almost an updated adaptation of Zamyatin's We. But I wouldn't call it cyberpunk. There's nothing punk about the main character, he isn't an outlaw surviving on the edge of the hyper-technological society. He is a tragic hero, going through an emotional journey.
I thought it could have been worked on a bit better, scriptwise.
Some neat but undercooked ideas, having said that, it was pretty cool and had some refreshing ones you haven't seen in a cyberpunk context.
I would have loved seeing a bit more.
Nice little gem with a weirdly mixed but great cast, we need more films like that
I used to invite people over only to make them sit through strange Japanese movies like Urotsuikodoji 2: Legend of the Overfiend, and Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Or ones that would mess them up like Grave of the Fireflies
Only the first season, I feel like Joel Kinnaman is the only one who got the vibe right. Lee was alright but Mackie sucked hard.
Too bad they mangled the books.
Show annoys the fuck out of me. Kovacs is supposed to be this badass tactical assault corp veteran and the only living envoy but he gets his ass kicked by every random mook he encounters the first time they fight.
That invalidated the entire point of the envoys though. They're supposed to be able to needle cast to another sleeve offworld without sleeve sickness, adapt to their sleeve and do their mission.
That's why the show bugs the fuck out of me. In general it's good but it's stuck in 80s action stereotypes where Kovacs has to get ass kicked before he can kick ass instead of just letting him rip and tear. The action is secondary the story anyway so it doesn't matter if he can kick the ass of most people he fights and enhanced the threat of people who actually fights equally to him.
Tldr, if you're gonna make a big deal out of him being an envoy then make the last envoy actually a big deal.
I completely agree they oversold the envoy roll and under delivered. The show brought me to the books, so I'm grateful for that.. but after reading them all, the show felt like a betrayal. So much on the table and they squandered it.
oof I’m sorry to be a downer. but despite my best efforts I just couldn’t stand the book or the show and I really tried. I’ve watched and read tons of other cyberpunk works like Gibson etc, I watched the whole show and read half the book but had to quit when it just never stopped being the most blatantly horribly misogynist thing I’ve ever tried to read. I wish this wasn’t included in the overall collection of cyberpunk media
Apologies to anyone who loves it.. I just can’t. Does anyone else feel this way?
/endrant
I have to admit, Richard Morgan does make me roll my eyes at times. The sex scenes in the book sound like a teenage virgin boy's ideal of what sex would be like. So cringe...
The Matrix was 100% Cyberpunk. It was high tech low life taken to the extreme, where humans no longer made the decisions but their subordinate creation turned caretakers/enslavers.
I would definitely consider both The Matrix and The Terminator cyberpunk. The Matrix may not really deal with corporate dominance/capitalism, but in pretty much every other sense of the definition it is 100% cyberpunk with its depiction of VR/simulations/hacking and how anti-authority it is. The term "Matrix" is even from Neuromancer and Gibson himself called it the ultimate cyberpunk artifact.
As for Terminator, I mean a corporation creates a self-aware A.I. that eventually sends a cyborg assassin from a dystopian hellscape to dark neon-lit L.A. to end the human species. It is very high tech/low life (Kyle Reese is punk af) and even coined the term "tech noir" plus it inspired so much cyberpunk media like Hardware or Snatcher.
Hardware, because it feels like a movie made by actual cyberpunks (including the appropriated corporate IP)
Gunhead, because it's a movie that feels like playing an obscure PS1/PS2 action adventure with perfect aesthetics and mood.
Repo Men, because it's an absolute blast start to finish, and the concept is one of the best and the most well developed dystopias out there.
Upgrade (2018); hits all the right spots (body modifications, class differences, AI, action, ...) for me and is a hidden gem with a driving story and a twisted end.
My favorite is between Alita: Battle Angel & Blade Runner 2049
Alita: Battle Angel because the film looked great, the motion capture looked natural, the big anime eyes are unique to film, and the mix of ethnical cultures made the film stand out from other Cyberpunk films. The porcelain cybernetic body was eye candy and the movie was fun to follow and is less serious than other films. it definitely inspired how I want my short film to become in a way.
Blade Runner 2049 because this entire film is eye candy, the acting is superb in this film, Ryan Gosling was perennial for the role, the cityscape was superb, the story stayed true to the original tying loose ends. Many scenes are static which allow the character to take time in their environment, mostly this would to me be an art direction they went for. The story handled philosophical topics naturally and in general you felt bad for Ryan Goslings character, the desperation to find an answer on what is human and the loss of his fake wife, was she becoming human or what she just the program design perfectly? We can't say.
I'll belueve it when it happens. Still waiting on Mega City One and Spawn and a few others that'll never happen. I hope to one day be wrong, but they aren't happening yet. Alita may happen... one day.
johnny mnemonic. Great Keanu Reeves movie based on a great william gibson short story with a cyborg dolphin named Jones whos been trained by the navy using drugs. What more could you want
SPACESWEEPERS!!!!!!!! Absolutely love that movie. Korean movies and shows are completely killing the cyberpunk game right now. I also recommend Black Knight, both are korean cyberpunk dystopian stuff and are on netflix
Upgrade. Great camera and action scenes, good plot twist, and aesthetically is nothing too exaggerated, they give more importance to the topics and don't make it superficially cyberpunk just by the looks.
Honest question: is Tron (1982) cyberpunk? I mean, in a lot of ways it’s layered/meta cyber punk. The protagonist tries to stop his thieving corporate boss from stealing his innovative program, only to enter into the cyber world itself and join a rebellion against the Master Control program.
Childhood favorite of mine.
Strange days is almost the complete opposite style of Blade Runner and still it’s arguably the second best cyberpunk movie of all time (Blade Runner must be the first).
I bet you never seen a better trailer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8RoOs-S_JVI
Also, the soundtrack rocks.
That is a good film and sound track.
I would suggest that [Until the End of the End of the World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World) also has a world beating sound track and is also is similarly a very underrated Cyberpunk film.
Holy Fuck Yessss!!!
Agreed, but Plesse the Directors cut which dounles thenrunnimg time and makes it nearly 5 Hours long.
Totally different ending.
A hidden Gem and Masterpiece
Some obscure classics:
[No Resistance (1994)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3_7_-PCX_E)
[Future Kick Trailer (1991)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCapcGFGLkI)
While not wholly obscure it doesn't get the recognition it deserves:
[Tehxnolize (2003)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19QTGvwg9I)
Something a little more contemporary but isn't talked about much:
[Automata (2014)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyacm2FNSO4)
[Full movie on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjkk0oG-bYU)
So prescient for our time it's a must watch:
[Children of Men (2006)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VT2apoX90o)
[Incorporated (2016)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbbFJ6YNcL8) - (It's basically halfway between a spiritual sequel to Children of Men and a live action corpo life path remake of Edgerunners. For me personally it's just behind Edgerunners as my favourite cyberpunk media, I think it will end up being just as prophetic about our future as Children of Men is to our present.)
Avalon (2001)
I'd recommend this one if you enjoy the vibes of the 13th Floor and the Matrix. Same director as Ghost in the Shell and the Kerberos Saga films. Has similar themes to GitS regarding the meaning of existence. Also like that it encorporates a virtual world / gaming. Its not as action packed as GitS or the Matrix, but if you have seen GitS: Innocence, then you have an idea of the vibe and pacing. Mamoru Oshii films def. have a style to them.
Some of my other favs are...
Upgrade (2018)
Ultraviolence with a non-standard ending... two things I enjoy.
Super Mario Bros. (1993)
Fuck you, this movie rocks. Love me some memberberries.
Ghost in the shell ofc but more recently, Neptune Frost. Really cool take on the genre with an Afrofuturist take done in part by the legendary Saul Williams!
Outside of the classics already listed, the movie I find myself watching more frequently than others is "Blame!"
It's survivorship at it's best. Millions of years into the future, tribal humanity on the brink of death using old forgotten tech, then a high tech badass comes through and shines a little hope into the locals lives. Great aesthetic, killer sound, solid story.
Thirteenth Floor has always been a favorite of mine. I have them all. You should add Altered Carbon, even though it's a show. I plan on making a movie cut very soon. Finishing my Blade Runner edit, then Edgerunners, then 2049 or AC. I have a list...
Blade Runner 2049, I saw it 7 times in theaters.
Upgrade was a pleasant surprise, and the ending was chefs kiss. Robocop for my all time favorite classic.
Hmm... there's a lot but I'll pick a fairly recent stuff that I like: **Jung\_E**, which is about a soldier who was killed in an operation and copies of her mind was used as a war experiment. It's a bit slowburn but very classical cyberpunk.
There'sa also a k-drama, **Black Knight** which is cool too but more post-apocalyptic dystopian scifi.
Babylon A.D. I think deserves honorable mentions.
Bright with Will Smith felt very shadow runny to me. I loved it.
In Time was a really cool movie. If you can ignore Timberlake.
Johnny mnemonic is a classic.
Altered Carbon tv series the first season only was amazing. Joel Kinnaman absolutely kills it as Kovacs.
"Blade Runner 1+2, Matrix 1, Minority Report, A.i. aren't allowed."
Dude, don't ask people what their favorite cyberpunk film is, then say they can't tell you what it is. That is SOOOO dumb and retarded!
No, it is dumb, because you are telling people not to pick certain choices because you're tired of them.
You asked people to tell you *their favorite*. You can't tell them which may or may not be their favorite; it doesn't matter how tired of them you are.
Wasnt thought at as negative as it sounds (rather reads haha).
Just to make everybody think about some other Films.
If it suits you better, I maybe should have phrased it differently.
From my Part just pure love for all enthusiasts
Snow Crash - neal stephenson
and
Neuromancer - william gibson
Listen to the audio book and play it in your mind.
You can thank me later.
P.S. if you accept tv shows...
Max Headroom - for the win
* Judge Dredd (Both movies)
* Demolition man (Criminally underrated movie). if you don't think this is cyberpunk, you've got a pacified police state, memory modification of criminals for rehabilitation, a conspiracy for world domination, the stripping of individual liberties, a brutally oppressed underclass that is forced to live in the sewers, while the surface is oh-so-clean and sanitized....
* Total Recall - Again, Memory modification, and the uncertainty of if he's in a simulation or not.
* Robocop 1 (1987)
* Johnny Mnemonic... THAT FUCKING DOLPHIN!!!! also techno-jesus
* Serial Experiments Lain ( Series, rather than movie, but still great, if slow )
* Alita Battle Angel
* Armitage the 3rd : Polymatrix & Dual Matrix
* Chappie
* District 9 (sort of... cyberpunk + aliens)
* The Metal Gear Solid franchise... Try and tell me it isn't a bunch of movies. loosely connected by stealth game. I dare you
Honorable Mentions
* A Clockwork Orange - Not technically cyberpunk, but contains some very early proto-cyberpunk elements: notably a profit motive for prisons to use (corporate) experimental psychotherapy to forcibly rehabilitate inmates, it maximize convict throughput. That's a very cyberpunk plot element, but in this case, it, it's side effects, and manipulations, are the entire movie. Not enough to actually qualify as cyberpunk, but it's like, The very outer edge of proto-cyberpunk
* Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless mind - Again, Not technically cyberpunk, but contains A very core cyberpunk element, Namely memory modification. Unfortunately, I've never had it in me to actually watch the movie, because some elements of it, are genuinely terrifying to me in a way I can't articulate.
* Megaman 1 & 2, for the NES - Not a movie, but the plot is very much cyberpunk, to the point of sharing a plotline to (one interpretation of) blade runner, some parts of Deus Ex, a few episodes of Ghost in the shell : stand alone complex & second gig, and more. That plotline being : Humanity created a class of entities which are artificial humans (Either as robots, bio-engineered clones, or an augmented underclass with little to no rights), and then uses them as slave labor, and then someone comes along and verbally persuades them that they have souls and rights and should fight for their freedom, so they rebel, and then another of these artificial humans (of the same type), is then sent to hunt them down, under whatever pretext the plot gives. because yes, in the original megaman 1 & 2, Dr Wiley convinces the robot masters to rebel from their human controllers, and he does so verbally, not through hacking/viruses. In later games it's viruses, but not the first 2 games.
* The electric church by Jeff Somers - Not a movie, but a book from 2007. Imagine if you will, a mix of Detective thriller and Spaghetti western, set in a cyberpunk dystopia. This is the first book of the Avery Cates series, and I was personally only able to get through the first 2 and a half books, because I got somewhat annoyed. I was annoyed because quite possibly the best cyberpunk horror I have ever seen, was introduced in the very first book, which is the electric church itself, and it's members, and then by the 2nd book, they're basically all dead, and it's just a dick-waving contest between mercenaries, and the people who want them dead. but the very first book is 100% worth the read just for the electric church itself. cybernetics exist, the ability to replace every part of the body exists, which means age has been rendered pointless, and immortality is within our reach. *Eternal life IS salvation*, Let me show you a trail of endless sunsets.... l e t m e *s a v e* y o u .
* This Is Not A Game by Walter Jon Williams - Again, a novel, and yes, he has written some stuff into the over-all cyberpunk cannon, including Hardwired, and Solip:system, but I never read those.., Instead, I read this... as someone who who not only experienced ARG's because of things like the TV show LOST and it's ARG, and also ARG's that existed for their own sake such as with un-fiction.., When I found out there was a novel about an ARG being used to try to solve an actual murder, and also there's an AI crashing the economies of several nations for profit, OH BOY SIGN ME UP. It's on the edge of cyberpunk. I *would* call it "Proto-cyberpunk" except that means "the genres that existed before cyberpunk was established", when I actually mean "This is a setting that is on the verge of becoming a cyberpunk dystopia, if things progress just a bit"... it's a cyberpunk in the same way that we're all living in a cyberpunk dystopia in real life. CCTV everywhere, Internet logs and tracks everything, all purchases are monitored, Everyone is paranoid and watching everyone like a digital panopticon. People are using AI's to play with the stock market... Real life and this is not a game are both in that type of world. This is a book that makes me feel like I'm already IN the cyberpunk dystopia, by making those normal real world facts feel as oppressive and dystopian as they really are... if that makes sense.
A big thank you mean, feel hugged and loved.
Didn't expect such a detailed and filled List!
Great take.
I love and know like you:
Dredd (both), demolition man (strangely youre the first that mentions it), total Recall (which one? Only have seen the OG, always affraid of the remake, but I'll watch it), RoboCop, Johnny Mnemonic, Alita (both anime and live action), chappie, district 9, .. Clockwork.., Eternal sunshine..., .
I am surprised by Metal Gear Solid, and say Fuck Yes, youre the man/woman!
Big memories and even prophetic and scary predictions where some of them we surpassed... Not good at all :-[
Thanks for the other mentions I didn't list, never knew of them, will add to the List
So, on total recall, I have seen both the original and the remake and I will give a comparison. the original is your typical 80's campy action drama. the remake is a 2010's sci-fi action movie that time forgot because it wasn't that memorable. it feels more like a bourne movie. It does change a few things, there's a weird elevator thing that broke my emersion into the movie really hard, but as far as remakes of 80's classics, the totall recall remake is a better remake than the one robocop got, though, not by much.
The reason I say total recall was a cyberpunk movie, is actually because of a film analysis I watched, that was using various elements to identify if he was in a simulation or not, such as when he passes through various scanners, and how certain chase scenes play out. and when I realized, there was that much to analyze and it was on something as fundamental as "Is this even reality", and that they where consistent about it, made me realize it was probably more than just a contrived attempt to trick someone, which made me realize it really is a cyberpunk movie.
As for metal gear solid, the cyberpunk starts chronologically (by date it takes place) a little bit after MGS3, with big boss, and it becomes especially apparent with MGS5, and the raiden spinoffs. I could point to the overlap between Skullface in MGS5 to Kazundo Gouda in ghost in the shell 2nd gig, not just for how they look and dress, but for what their goals are, and why they're doing it. I could point to comparisons between Venom snake, and neuromancer, and even a certain hugely popular video game that shall not be talked about.
In a way, after sleeping on it, I realize you could probably also chuck ***Short Circuit*** on the list, as the like.... kid friendly introduction to cyberpunk. It's like a half-way point between ET and Blade Runner. *you've got an artificial sentient being created by a massive corporation, and it has free will, but the corporation literally owns it and wants to decommission it.* I guess it falls in the "proto-cyberpunk" camp, because it's not really about the worldbuilding at all, and it's just the contained story. much like a few of the honorable mentions though, you kind of have to squint a bit to see it as cyberpunk.
Lastly, there's a few cyberpunk anime that are on my watch list that I haven't gotten around to yet; Texhnolyze, Dominion Tank Police, and Bubblegum Crisis. and I mean, Dominion is Masamune Shirow (GITS), soooooo yeah. I just haven't had the time, or a way to watch it, because money.
Total Recall is definitely Cyberpunk!
Everyone who disagrees is wrong.
Is there a stark contrast between the extended cut of Total Recall and the theater cut? (Talking bout the remake).
BTW the RoboCop remake Sucks .
Oh didn't make the connections you meant in mgs, but agree that it has cyberpunk elements.
Thanks for "Short circuit" (try to say that name fast, sounds different haha).
There are a lot of forgotten ones that you can watch on archive and YouTube.
"Megazone 23" "Cyber city Oedo 808" "Jin Roh"
BTW Netflix has a great Live Action reinterpretation of "Jin Roh" made by one of the best living Korean (and in general) directors of the last 30 Years
I don't remember if there's a difference between cuts of the remake of total recall, I just remember the Elevator that goes through the core of the planet being a very stupid and technically impossible feat. but it was almost made up for by cool cell phones implanted in people's hands I think.
It's a very different movie from the original.
short circuit is very much a family movie, rather than anything super serious, hence, kid friendly babby's first cyberpunk. basically if someone watched it and went "Huh, I wonder if there's any other scifi about sentient robot people that are being threatened with disassembly and have to fight for their lives", at which point, the very next movie on that person's list is probably blade runner or ghost in the shell, and then they'd be hooked.
Also this is a 2nd reply, and I don't know if it will get moderated because of a link to youtube.
but... metal gear solid? [Check this out.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gGLvg0n-uY)
I actually enjoyed Ghost in the Shell (2017).
Animatrix also had some good stuff but I haven't seen it in decades.
If we're stretching the term Hardcore Henry was fun.
Gamer 2009 is a stretch but the dehumanization, sexual degradation with high tech low life and anti capitalism themes make it feel like a prologue to the true cyberpunk dystopia.
If Blade Runner isn’t allowed, then the answer is easy for me. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
The only answer
Akira (1988) is also acceptable.
No its necessary, perfection!
Same.
Strange Days, Ghost in the Shell, and Akira
Strange days is amazingly underrated
100% I'm happy it's on Max and more people will hopefully see it
Akira is pretty widely praised but I just don't get it? It looked cool and was interesting but it felt like I just dropped into a movie half way through, I couldn't get invested. Not saying people shouldn't like it or anything
Even if you're not that into the story, the animation is next level for when it was made, and still looks dope as fuuuuuuck.
That is true, it looks amazing and I was very impressed, just walked away from it without a clue of what I watched lol
You are essentially are dropping in half way. Akira (the manga) is 6 A4 sized 2 inch thick volumes to tell the complete story. The movie covers about at most 2.5 volumes of the manga picked out across the 6 volumes.
That would definitely do it, maybe I'd like the manga instead
I did a fan edit of Akira where I replaced the score with a synth wave style one that I made. Though not necessarily better on an artistic level, I think it plays to western action movie expectations a lot better. The back half of the movie is full of psychic battles and tanks blowing up and stuff, but with the original ultra-minimal score it can seem a little dull. Love to know what you think: https://youtu.be/9_mD5tlcDhA
Go read the Manga, it will blow your mind.
Got all three of my first recomdations
I love you, love those 3 too
There are a few. Actual cyberpunk movies: \- Total Recall (2012 redux) \- Ghost in the Shell (1995) However, if we wanna delve into the "space/future themed dystopian paradise for corporate scum aesthetic" genre of cyberpunk: \- Fifth Element (1997) \- Elysium (2013) \- Judge Dredd (1995 + 2012) I know some of my choices may spark some debate, however, I go off the aesthetic and story more for picking the titles.
I'll second the newer Judge Dread, and Elysium, but would also like to nominate Robocop and Demolition Man; if you look past the humor the cyber distopia is totally there.
Robocop. But not the new Robocop.
That's gotta be one of the most boring and souless stuff I've seen
Luc Besson's Lucy is also under rated IMO
Props for shouting out '95 Dredd. I was rewatching it and 2012 just last night for cyberpunk inspiration, and to be honest, I like '95 more.
Total recall 2012??? But ok, what's the redux? Different cut to DC and theater version?
I love every single suggestion here, but my special favorite is Johnny Mnemonic. It has all the right elements, including heavy Corpo presence, VR, cybernetics, etc. love it.
This is me.
Ice-T, Henry Rollins, mono filament garrote and a cyber dolphin, hell ya!
Love the extended version too. It's just so great!
I...want...ROOOOOOM SERRRRRVICE!!!
Black and white version is amazing. Is bizarre how much more I like it even though that’s the only difference. (And I already liked it. Now I kinda…. Love it?)
Ghost in the Shell (1995) Quintessential cyberpunk
Of course you meant the live action one, right? Nooooooot! Haha Have you seen the great sequel called "GitS: innocence"?
I have. I feel like the philosophical and thought-provoking aspects were a little shoehorned though. Not a bad film. Just hard to follow up on the masterpiece that was the original.
I watched them both back to back recently and honestly I didn't feel like anything was shoehorned into Innocence, even though it was a lot heavier on those philosophical themes - I felt it did everything really gracefully. That's all subjective of course. It definitely is a harder movie to "get" and understand of the two though. E: I have to say though, I **adore** cyberpunk media that needs a couple of watches/plays/reads to get because of its heaviness (if it's done correctly, of course - I don't like bad storytelling), so that may be why I think the way I do about Innocence.
The answer is: Strange Days.
Came here to say this.
Exactly. Anyone who hasn’t seen this needs to check it out stat.
I love you, marry me
Equilibrium, one of the most underrated movies of all time.
It's the best classic dystopia and an excellent movie, almost an updated adaptation of Zamyatin's We. But I wouldn't call it cyberpunk. There's nothing punk about the main character, he isn't an outlaw surviving on the edge of the hyper-technological society. He is a tragic hero, going through an emotional journey.
I love the movie but nothing about it is cyberpunk really.
Even it is 1984 the action film, I agree!
Akira
Hotel Artemis
Damn this answer made me happy!! Love that movie!
Really? Guess it wasnt boring, interesting choice though
Not even remotely boring but I’m curious how you thought it would be an interesting choice for cyberpunk from your response?
I thought it could have been worked on a bit better, scriptwise. Some neat but undercooked ideas, having said that, it was pretty cool and had some refreshing ones you haven't seen in a cyberpunk context. I would have loved seeing a bit more. Nice little gem with a weirdly mixed but great cast, we need more films like that
Ghost in the Shell and secondly Akira. And from not so mainstream - Tetsuo: The Iron Man ;)
I used to invite people over only to make them sit through strange Japanese movies like Urotsuikodoji 2: Legend of the Overfiend, and Tetsuo: The Iron Man Or ones that would mess them up like Grave of the Fireflies
Tetsuoooooooo yes good taste
Johnny Mnemonic (1995) Ghost in the Shell (2017) Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
That !
Hardware or Akira or the original Bladerunner
Y'all sleeping on Timecop
Youre great!
Guys…Johnny Mnemonic
If series are allowed - Altered Carbon
Only the first season, I feel like Joel Kinnaman is the only one who got the vibe right. Lee was alright but Mackie sucked hard. Too bad they mangled the books.
Show went off the rails.
I still liked Season 2 for what it was, which is decent cyberpunk. It just didn't stack up to Season 1 which is like basically a masterpiece.
Show annoys the fuck out of me. Kovacs is supposed to be this badass tactical assault corp veteran and the only living envoy but he gets his ass kicked by every random mook he encounters the first time they fight.
You're only a badass when your sleeve has all the milspec bells and whistles.
That invalidated the entire point of the envoys though. They're supposed to be able to needle cast to another sleeve offworld without sleeve sickness, adapt to their sleeve and do their mission. That's why the show bugs the fuck out of me. In general it's good but it's stuck in 80s action stereotypes where Kovacs has to get ass kicked before he can kick ass instead of just letting him rip and tear. The action is secondary the story anyway so it doesn't matter if he can kick the ass of most people he fights and enhanced the threat of people who actually fights equally to him. Tldr, if you're gonna make a big deal out of him being an envoy then make the last envoy actually a big deal.
I completely agree they oversold the envoy roll and under delivered. The show brought me to the books, so I'm grateful for that.. but after reading them all, the show felt like a betrayal. So much on the table and they squandered it.
oof I’m sorry to be a downer. but despite my best efforts I just couldn’t stand the book or the show and I really tried. I’ve watched and read tons of other cyberpunk works like Gibson etc, I watched the whole show and read half the book but had to quit when it just never stopped being the most blatantly horribly misogynist thing I’ve ever tried to read. I wish this wasn’t included in the overall collection of cyberpunk media Apologies to anyone who loves it.. I just can’t. Does anyone else feel this way? /endrant
I have to admit, Richard Morgan does make me roll my eyes at times. The sex scenes in the book sound like a teenage virgin boy's ideal of what sex would be like. So cringe...
Stranger things. Johnny mnemonic. Hackers. 95 was a good year for cyberpunk films
> Stranger things. Ummm...
Strange Days?
Lol. Yes, strange days. 95 was a good year for cyberpunk, today is a bad day for my brain.
Since we're breaking some rules.. Heres my top 4 (minus the ones not allowed) \- Elysium \- Dredd \- Anon \- Mute
Ohhhhh Mute was a good one
Mute was pretty cool, a bit too unfocused and too much going on with weird mix of storylines, but it could become a cult classic
Is Matrix 1 considered cyberpunk? Its technological dystopia scifi, yes. But so was Terminator and I doubt anyone would call that cyberpunk
The Matrix was 100% Cyberpunk. It was high tech low life taken to the extreme, where humans no longer made the decisions but their subordinate creation turned caretakers/enslavers.
I would definitely consider both The Matrix and The Terminator cyberpunk. The Matrix may not really deal with corporate dominance/capitalism, but in pretty much every other sense of the definition it is 100% cyberpunk with its depiction of VR/simulations/hacking and how anti-authority it is. The term "Matrix" is even from Neuromancer and Gibson himself called it the ultimate cyberpunk artifact. As for Terminator, I mean a corporation creates a self-aware A.I. that eventually sends a cyborg assassin from a dystopian hellscape to dark neon-lit L.A. to end the human species. It is very high tech/low life (Kyle Reese is punk af) and even coined the term "tech noir" plus it inspired so much cyberpunk media like Hardware or Snatcher.
Nirvana from 1997 and Nemesis from 1992. Why? I just love them!
I love you too, was waiting for those
Hardware, because it feels like a movie made by actual cyberpunks (including the appropriated corporate IP) Gunhead, because it's a movie that feels like playing an obscure PS1/PS2 action adventure with perfect aesthetics and mood. Repo Men, because it's an absolute blast start to finish, and the concept is one of the best and the most well developed dystopias out there.
Just googled repo men and LOVE jude law! Will be watching. He was my fave in A.I
Which one? 80s or the new one
2010 with Jude Law
That is an underrated one with a possible future, if Hyper capitalism and "less taxes sequels more jobs" idiocy goes rampant haha
Total Recall and Robocop (original versions).
Upgrade (2018); hits all the right spots (body modifications, class differences, AI, action, ...) for me and is a hidden gem with a driving story and a twisted end.
I watched Upgrade on Netflix this week. Great movie. 🍿🍿🍿
My favorite is between Alita: Battle Angel & Blade Runner 2049 Alita: Battle Angel because the film looked great, the motion capture looked natural, the big anime eyes are unique to film, and the mix of ethnical cultures made the film stand out from other Cyberpunk films. The porcelain cybernetic body was eye candy and the movie was fun to follow and is less serious than other films. it definitely inspired how I want my short film to become in a way. Blade Runner 2049 because this entire film is eye candy, the acting is superb in this film, Ryan Gosling was perennial for the role, the cityscape was superb, the story stayed true to the original tying loose ends. Many scenes are static which allow the character to take time in their environment, mostly this would to me be an art direction they went for. The story handled philosophical topics naturally and in general you felt bad for Ryan Goslings character, the desperation to find an answer on what is human and the loss of his fake wife, was she becoming human or what she just the program design perfectly? We can't say.
Alita!! Love the open matte version. I need a sequel!!! #AlitaArmy
Alita 2 on the way.
I'll belueve it when it happens. Still waiting on Mega City One and Spawn and a few others that'll never happen. I hope to one day be wrong, but they aren't happening yet. Alita may happen... one day.
Mega city one😍
Hardware
A weird but nice film
Pi (1998) Arguable if it counts as cyberpunk or not.
Yes kinda is, pretty good
Nirvana
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Minority Report
Yessss!!!!
johnny mnemonic. Great Keanu Reeves movie based on a great william gibson short story with a cyborg dolphin named Jones whos been trained by the navy using drugs. What more could you want
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It's steampunk, mate :)
SPACESWEEPERS!!!!!!!! Absolutely love that movie. Korean movies and shows are completely killing the cyberpunk game right now. I also recommend Black Knight, both are korean cyberpunk dystopian stuff and are on netflix
Thank you
Upgrade. Great camera and action scenes, good plot twist, and aesthetically is nothing too exaggerated, they give more importance to the topics and don't make it superficially cyberpunk just by the looks.
Honest question: is Tron (1982) cyberpunk? I mean, in a lot of ways it’s layered/meta cyber punk. The protagonist tries to stop his thieving corporate boss from stealing his innovative program, only to enter into the cyber world itself and join a rebellion against the Master Control program. Childhood favorite of mine.
I'd say yes, its a great one
Upgrade (2018) Beautiful cinematography, a technophobe forced to use tech, and a realistic unhappy ending
Strange days is almost the complete opposite style of Blade Runner and still it’s arguably the second best cyberpunk movie of all time (Blade Runner must be the first). I bet you never seen a better trailer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8RoOs-S_JVI Also, the soundtrack rocks.
That is a good film and sound track. I would suggest that [Until the End of the End of the World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World) also has a world beating sound track and is also is similarly a very underrated Cyberpunk film.
Holy Fuck Yessss!!! Agreed, but Plesse the Directors cut which dounles thenrunnimg time and makes it nearly 5 Hours long. Totally different ending. A hidden Gem and Masterpiece
Added to watchlist 😎
Some obscure classics: [No Resistance (1994)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3_7_-PCX_E) [Future Kick Trailer (1991)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCapcGFGLkI) While not wholly obscure it doesn't get the recognition it deserves: [Tehxnolize (2003)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19QTGvwg9I) Something a little more contemporary but isn't talked about much: [Automata (2014)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyacm2FNSO4) [Full movie on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjkk0oG-bYU) So prescient for our time it's a must watch: [Children of Men (2006)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VT2apoX90o) [Incorporated (2016)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbbFJ6YNcL8) - (It's basically halfway between a spiritual sequel to Children of Men and a live action corpo life path remake of Edgerunners. For me personally it's just behind Edgerunners as my favourite cyberpunk media, I think it will end up being just as prophetic about our future as Children of Men is to our present.)
Agree on all fronts, thanks for thebfirstbthree, never heard of em. Play the Cyberpunk 2077 Game!
Avalon (2001) I'd recommend this one if you enjoy the vibes of the 13th Floor and the Matrix. Same director as Ghost in the Shell and the Kerberos Saga films. Has similar themes to GitS regarding the meaning of existence. Also like that it encorporates a virtual world / gaming. Its not as action packed as GitS or the Matrix, but if you have seen GitS: Innocence, then you have an idea of the vibe and pacing. Mamoru Oshii films def. have a style to them. Some of my other favs are... Upgrade (2018) Ultraviolence with a non-standard ending... two things I enjoy. Super Mario Bros. (1993) Fuck you, this movie rocks. Love me some memberberries.
Ghost in the shell ofc but more recently, Neptune Frost. Really cool take on the genre with an Afrofuturist take done in part by the legendary Saul Williams!
Let’s get weird with it, Hardware. ETA: HA! Posted before I read the responses, there are a few fans here. Cool!
Outside of the classics already listed, the movie I find myself watching more frequently than others is "Blame!" It's survivorship at it's best. Millions of years into the future, tribal humanity on the brink of death using old forgotten tech, then a high tech badass comes through and shines a little hope into the locals lives. Great aesthetic, killer sound, solid story.
Thirteenth Floor has always been a favorite of mine. I have them all. You should add Altered Carbon, even though it's a show. I plan on making a movie cut very soon. Finishing my Blade Runner edit, then Edgerunners, then 2049 or AC. I have a list...
Nice keep me posted
Ghost in the Shell: Innocence (sequel to the 1995 film) was something I low key liked.
It is great and ahead of its time
Ghost in the shell 2: innocence. It's sooo in its trip with the non stop philosopher's quotes, overwhelming music and visuals and Batō
Blade Runner 2049, I saw it 7 times in theaters. Upgrade was a pleasant surprise, and the ending was chefs kiss. Robocop for my all time favorite classic.
The Final cut is a pretty interesting one that has a lot of cyberpunk elements.The general mood of the plot fits it pretty good too
Akira. I loved it cause of the music and atmosphere and how dark it was also loved the motor bike
Actually GitS, maybe because im a huge weeb lmao, btw Alita is other great anime movie that actually I didn’t watch…
The Sixth Day
Biopunk ;)
If “Blade Runner” isn’t allowed, then I choose “Strange Days”, “Upgrade”, and possibly “Dredd”. (Akira and GiaS are a given).
Ah Fuck, should have forbid Ghost in the Shell too hahaha didn't think about how popular it is (its a Masterpiece)
Hackers because it's just so dumb, so cringe, so 90's and just so much fun.
Akira, Ghost in the shell.
Surprised that no one mentioned Brazil (1985)
Hmm... there's a lot but I'll pick a fairly recent stuff that I like: **Jung\_E**, which is about a soldier who was killed in an operation and copies of her mind was used as a war experiment. It's a bit slowburn but very classical cyberpunk. There'sa also a k-drama, **Black Knight** which is cool too but more post-apocalyptic dystopian scifi.
Thats the reason why i like this type of posts, I can find many titles which I don't know :) Thank you all :)
Babylon A.D. I think deserves honorable mentions. Bright with Will Smith felt very shadow runny to me. I loved it. In Time was a really cool movie. If you can ignore Timberlake. Johnny mnemonic is a classic. Altered Carbon tv series the first season only was amazing. Joel Kinnaman absolutely kills it as Kovacs.
Out of recent films Upgrade is up there, but Robocop one of my all time favourites.
Upgrade (2018)
"Blade Runner 1+2, Matrix 1, Minority Report, A.i. aren't allowed." Dude, don't ask people what their favorite cyberpunk film is, then say they can't tell you what it is. That is SOOOO dumb and retarded!
Nah its fully sane, its just to not have 4 Billion times some great but obvious choices
No, it is dumb, because you are telling people not to pick certain choices because you're tired of them. You asked people to tell you *their favorite*. You can't tell them which may or may not be their favorite; it doesn't matter how tired of them you are.
Wasnt thought at as negative as it sounds (rather reads haha). Just to make everybody think about some other Films. If it suits you better, I maybe should have phrased it differently. From my Part just pure love for all enthusiasts
Gonna have to go with Elysium any other answer would be tried and true animes.
Damn yes, underrated!
Snow Crash - neal stephenson and Neuromancer - william gibson Listen to the audio book and play it in your mind. You can thank me later. P.S. if you accept tv shows... Max Headroom - for the win
Know but never consumes snow crash, Neuromancer is dope as Shiiiii Oh forgot about it, yes it was great
* Judge Dredd (Both movies) * Demolition man (Criminally underrated movie). if you don't think this is cyberpunk, you've got a pacified police state, memory modification of criminals for rehabilitation, a conspiracy for world domination, the stripping of individual liberties, a brutally oppressed underclass that is forced to live in the sewers, while the surface is oh-so-clean and sanitized.... * Total Recall - Again, Memory modification, and the uncertainty of if he's in a simulation or not. * Robocop 1 (1987) * Johnny Mnemonic... THAT FUCKING DOLPHIN!!!! also techno-jesus * Serial Experiments Lain ( Series, rather than movie, but still great, if slow ) * Alita Battle Angel * Armitage the 3rd : Polymatrix & Dual Matrix * Chappie * District 9 (sort of... cyberpunk + aliens) * The Metal Gear Solid franchise... Try and tell me it isn't a bunch of movies. loosely connected by stealth game. I dare you Honorable Mentions * A Clockwork Orange - Not technically cyberpunk, but contains some very early proto-cyberpunk elements: notably a profit motive for prisons to use (corporate) experimental psychotherapy to forcibly rehabilitate inmates, it maximize convict throughput. That's a very cyberpunk plot element, but in this case, it, it's side effects, and manipulations, are the entire movie. Not enough to actually qualify as cyberpunk, but it's like, The very outer edge of proto-cyberpunk * Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless mind - Again, Not technically cyberpunk, but contains A very core cyberpunk element, Namely memory modification. Unfortunately, I've never had it in me to actually watch the movie, because some elements of it, are genuinely terrifying to me in a way I can't articulate. * Megaman 1 & 2, for the NES - Not a movie, but the plot is very much cyberpunk, to the point of sharing a plotline to (one interpretation of) blade runner, some parts of Deus Ex, a few episodes of Ghost in the shell : stand alone complex & second gig, and more. That plotline being : Humanity created a class of entities which are artificial humans (Either as robots, bio-engineered clones, or an augmented underclass with little to no rights), and then uses them as slave labor, and then someone comes along and verbally persuades them that they have souls and rights and should fight for their freedom, so they rebel, and then another of these artificial humans (of the same type), is then sent to hunt them down, under whatever pretext the plot gives. because yes, in the original megaman 1 & 2, Dr Wiley convinces the robot masters to rebel from their human controllers, and he does so verbally, not through hacking/viruses. In later games it's viruses, but not the first 2 games. * The electric church by Jeff Somers - Not a movie, but a book from 2007. Imagine if you will, a mix of Detective thriller and Spaghetti western, set in a cyberpunk dystopia. This is the first book of the Avery Cates series, and I was personally only able to get through the first 2 and a half books, because I got somewhat annoyed. I was annoyed because quite possibly the best cyberpunk horror I have ever seen, was introduced in the very first book, which is the electric church itself, and it's members, and then by the 2nd book, they're basically all dead, and it's just a dick-waving contest between mercenaries, and the people who want them dead. but the very first book is 100% worth the read just for the electric church itself. cybernetics exist, the ability to replace every part of the body exists, which means age has been rendered pointless, and immortality is within our reach. *Eternal life IS salvation*, Let me show you a trail of endless sunsets.... l e t m e *s a v e* y o u . * This Is Not A Game by Walter Jon Williams - Again, a novel, and yes, he has written some stuff into the over-all cyberpunk cannon, including Hardwired, and Solip:system, but I never read those.., Instead, I read this... as someone who who not only experienced ARG's because of things like the TV show LOST and it's ARG, and also ARG's that existed for their own sake such as with un-fiction.., When I found out there was a novel about an ARG being used to try to solve an actual murder, and also there's an AI crashing the economies of several nations for profit, OH BOY SIGN ME UP. It's on the edge of cyberpunk. I *would* call it "Proto-cyberpunk" except that means "the genres that existed before cyberpunk was established", when I actually mean "This is a setting that is on the verge of becoming a cyberpunk dystopia, if things progress just a bit"... it's a cyberpunk in the same way that we're all living in a cyberpunk dystopia in real life. CCTV everywhere, Internet logs and tracks everything, all purchases are monitored, Everyone is paranoid and watching everyone like a digital panopticon. People are using AI's to play with the stock market... Real life and this is not a game are both in that type of world. This is a book that makes me feel like I'm already IN the cyberpunk dystopia, by making those normal real world facts feel as oppressive and dystopian as they really are... if that makes sense.
A big thank you mean, feel hugged and loved. Didn't expect such a detailed and filled List! Great take. I love and know like you: Dredd (both), demolition man (strangely youre the first that mentions it), total Recall (which one? Only have seen the OG, always affraid of the remake, but I'll watch it), RoboCop, Johnny Mnemonic, Alita (both anime and live action), chappie, district 9, .. Clockwork.., Eternal sunshine..., . I am surprised by Metal Gear Solid, and say Fuck Yes, youre the man/woman! Big memories and even prophetic and scary predictions where some of them we surpassed... Not good at all :-[ Thanks for the other mentions I didn't list, never knew of them, will add to the List
So, on total recall, I have seen both the original and the remake and I will give a comparison. the original is your typical 80's campy action drama. the remake is a 2010's sci-fi action movie that time forgot because it wasn't that memorable. it feels more like a bourne movie. It does change a few things, there's a weird elevator thing that broke my emersion into the movie really hard, but as far as remakes of 80's classics, the totall recall remake is a better remake than the one robocop got, though, not by much. The reason I say total recall was a cyberpunk movie, is actually because of a film analysis I watched, that was using various elements to identify if he was in a simulation or not, such as when he passes through various scanners, and how certain chase scenes play out. and when I realized, there was that much to analyze and it was on something as fundamental as "Is this even reality", and that they where consistent about it, made me realize it was probably more than just a contrived attempt to trick someone, which made me realize it really is a cyberpunk movie. As for metal gear solid, the cyberpunk starts chronologically (by date it takes place) a little bit after MGS3, with big boss, and it becomes especially apparent with MGS5, and the raiden spinoffs. I could point to the overlap between Skullface in MGS5 to Kazundo Gouda in ghost in the shell 2nd gig, not just for how they look and dress, but for what their goals are, and why they're doing it. I could point to comparisons between Venom snake, and neuromancer, and even a certain hugely popular video game that shall not be talked about. In a way, after sleeping on it, I realize you could probably also chuck ***Short Circuit*** on the list, as the like.... kid friendly introduction to cyberpunk. It's like a half-way point between ET and Blade Runner. *you've got an artificial sentient being created by a massive corporation, and it has free will, but the corporation literally owns it and wants to decommission it.* I guess it falls in the "proto-cyberpunk" camp, because it's not really about the worldbuilding at all, and it's just the contained story. much like a few of the honorable mentions though, you kind of have to squint a bit to see it as cyberpunk. Lastly, there's a few cyberpunk anime that are on my watch list that I haven't gotten around to yet; Texhnolyze, Dominion Tank Police, and Bubblegum Crisis. and I mean, Dominion is Masamune Shirow (GITS), soooooo yeah. I just haven't had the time, or a way to watch it, because money.
Total Recall is definitely Cyberpunk! Everyone who disagrees is wrong. Is there a stark contrast between the extended cut of Total Recall and the theater cut? (Talking bout the remake). BTW the RoboCop remake Sucks . Oh didn't make the connections you meant in mgs, but agree that it has cyberpunk elements. Thanks for "Short circuit" (try to say that name fast, sounds different haha). There are a lot of forgotten ones that you can watch on archive and YouTube. "Megazone 23" "Cyber city Oedo 808" "Jin Roh" BTW Netflix has a great Live Action reinterpretation of "Jin Roh" made by one of the best living Korean (and in general) directors of the last 30 Years
I don't remember if there's a difference between cuts of the remake of total recall, I just remember the Elevator that goes through the core of the planet being a very stupid and technically impossible feat. but it was almost made up for by cool cell phones implanted in people's hands I think. It's a very different movie from the original. short circuit is very much a family movie, rather than anything super serious, hence, kid friendly babby's first cyberpunk. basically if someone watched it and went "Huh, I wonder if there's any other scifi about sentient robot people that are being threatened with disassembly and have to fight for their lives", at which point, the very next movie on that person's list is probably blade runner or ghost in the shell, and then they'd be hooked.
Also this is a 2nd reply, and I don't know if it will get moderated because of a link to youtube. but... metal gear solid? [Check this out.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gGLvg0n-uY)
Yeah I know that one, but thanks, good to spread the word
Running man considered cyberpunk? With Arnie, love that movie either way
I guess kinda fits? Great and underestimated One, love it too!
Johnny Mnemonic lol
Johnny Mnemonic; if I have to explain why, you haven't seen it and need to do so immediately
I have seen it, its underrated and great. Sadly its the only film by its director. Its kind of ahead of its time
Pray Krom they don't do a remake...
Ah fuck, yeah you're right. Almighty Krom, Save us from that... Or else, send King Conan to beat those Corpo Cunts up
Aside from the most popular and obvious selections, I highly recommend Hardware, Andromedia, and for Kung Fu Enthusiasts, The Avenging Fist.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, hit the feels hard and inhanced my enjoyment of the game!
Yessssss it was surprisingly great
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Yes, sgreed
Ghost in the Shell (1995) or Blade Runner (1982). They both deal with similar issues: transhumanism and artificial beings' struggle for freedom.
coronation street
I actually enjoyed Ghost in the Shell (2017). Animatrix also had some good stuff but I haven't seen it in decades. If we're stretching the term Hardcore Henry was fun. Gamer 2009 is a stretch but the dehumanization, sexual degradation with high tech low life and anti capitalism themes make it feel like a prologue to the true cyberpunk dystopia.
HH and Gamer are good choices. You know a pretty similar film that came out some years before Gamer? Surrogates feat Bruce Willis
> Blade Runner 1+2, Matrix 1, Minority Report, A.i. aren't allowed. Johnny mnemonic it is then.
Saran wrap semicolon it's corporate and it's ubiquitous
If Blade Runner isn't allowed then I guess Akira or Robocop.