There’s a grand list of Cyberpunk media on wikipedia that I started to compare with. Even before putting this site together (and even before Darkwire), I noticed I had watched a good dozen or so of films and a few shows, so clearly this genre has something enjoyable. Putting a more concerted effort into the experience now, I decided this post would have mini reviews of the story/media experience and maybe some themes that fit.
| Cyberpunk Media | Films | TV Series | Anime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exists (as of 2025) | 118 | ||
| Watched | 27 |
Films
Escape from New York
Blade Runner
(1982) [definition of humanity, secret police/authoritarian gov, neo-noir cyberpunk]
The Terminator
RoboCop
(1987) [loss of humanity, cybernetics/body modification, corpos]
While the Detroit setting is oddly predictive, the perils of living there leave nothing to guess at. The Corps and Cops are in control, and the former over the latter for sure. Dying on the Force just means you can come back, rebuilt and reprogrammed, as a chaotic good cybernetic machine. And fed by a paste of vomit that apparently tastes like baby food, I guess? The notions of how much we can really program out our humanity, and whether it will prevail no matter how many body parts or brain lobes we replace with machinery, makes this compelling between the shoot-em-up action sequences.
Total Recall
(1990) [memory == identity?, hard sci-fi colonization, punk underground]
An Arnold classic, just not as much as Terminator or Jingle All the Way, he probably surprised me the most in this film. It’s never entirely clear whether this guy is a hapless construction worker who gets his brain scrambled by a recreational drug virtual vacation technology, or a hardliner lackey for a corrupt cyberpunk regime who undertakes the ultimate cover story and screws it up in the best way possible. Mars is a huge inspiration for Celeste 7 on the moon here, despite the lack of domes and hot war between the underground and corruption at the top, but the stakes and stakeholders are eerily similar.
Demolition Man
(1993) [corpo cyberpunk, authoritarian prudism, punk underground]
If variety is the spice of life, then Demolition Man woke up into the blandest, most mundane life of the 21st century. The overly-prudish, insulated citizenry of the (aboveground) San Angelos area are a serious culture shock for one of the revived criminals of the movie, while the other lets us follow him closer for a gentler introduction to a future on guardrails. At least Sylvester Stallone was there to introduce them to the rat burgers in the sewers and the exchange of fluids that somehow disappeared within the lifetime of his old police buddy still working at the department (who never did explain how he managed to self-repress enough not to get turned into a popsicle himself). Insidious corpos who can’t handle the action they’ve designed to erupt at some point, cop-on-crime action, and sass oozing from every 20th century mouth, what’s not to like? Unless you can’t handle the three seashells.
Johnny Mnemonic
New Rose Hotel
(1998) [corpos/corporate espionage, present-day setting, go big or go home]
This is not so much of a movie as an incredibly long character study, and a lot relies on tell but don’t show. Nevertheless, watching Christopher Walken and Willem Dafoe go toe-to-toe in 3-4 different hotel room sets was entertaining enough to keep me engaged. This comes from a Gibson story, but other than referencing the Maas megacorp, it’s indistinguishable from the present day aside from slightly futuristic computing tech delivered on a palm pilot. The first half-hour is a tightly woven script, afterwards the script (and sometimes the editing) starts to unravel and becomes a bit more arthouse/self-aggrandizing, but it’s worth starting just to see the setup at least. Or read the Philip K Dick story it’s based on, same diff.
Dark City
(1998) [neo-noir mystery, alien incursion, memory == identity?]
This one is a head-turner, and not just because of Rufus Sewell. There’s a voiceover intro at the beginning that feels less useful than a Star Wars opening scroll, but the story drops hints along the way until the full picture comes together at the end. The quest for Shell Beach, exonerating himself, and figuring out the clockwork rituals of the alien influence that keeps changing the city makes this one a compelling watch…in a dark room. Seriously, it’s all dark sets and dark clothes, you have been warned, watch for the vibes and aesthetic but don’t hurt yourself squinting.
Bicentennial Man
The Matrix
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
(2001) [definition of humanity, post-climate change dystopia, fairy tale surrealism]
This has been one of my favorite films since I first watched it in the theaters, I don’t care what hate it gets. David is an android searching for humanity, not unlike Data from Star Trek. He thinks he has a family, he thinks he has love, but then the reality of humanity’s darkest elements comes to crush his soul, just like it did the planet in this setting. Considering he was made of human hands and minds, the tenacity of the Android will to survive would be terrifying if it wasn’t steered right to wholesome by the fairy tale quest and ending.
Minority Report
Resurrection of the Little Match Girl
(2002) [Arcade surrealism, Dickensian Cyberpunk, B-Movie and it knows it]
This is Ready Player One’s prototype cousin, without the nostalgia grab references, and packed with every early-2000s action movie trope you can think of. The story is more high-concept than it is gritty thriller, but the grit is there in the morbid goal of the virtual reality simulation of the central game. The loner wannabe friend of the pro-gamer celeb (with THE worst haircut imaginable) winding up leveling through the game to the end is pretty trite, but that’s definitely what the movie is going for. If your forehead isn’t red after watching this for 2 hours, then it hasn’t done its job. And if that’s you, it does have the alternative ending you were hoping for, so that’s something at least.
Code 46
(2003) [Biopunk, near-future setting, wealth privilege]
The personal scale of the story surprised me given the genetically-dooming overture the movie presents at first. If I say the genetics and Code 46 are almost an afterthought to the story, it’s only because the rest is so well-written that the genetics part fades into the background. An international investigator/consultant traveling the world to resolve liability issues for a big corp with government contracts winds up in a romance that is far more mental than it is physical (but then there is the physical, hence the name and plot device of the movie). It’s a cerebral film that’s a nice change of pace from the usual action-packed, peril-ridden stakes of others in this genre.
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions
Paycheck
(2003) [memory alteration, present-day setting, dangers of precognition]
Making bank by working to make or steal Corporate secret tech, and then forgetting all about it, sounds like a pretty cozy life. Like a trucker, but you don’t have to remember all the monotony between coming home. The main character gets that all turned on its head, with no money or memory of the years-long stint he’s just finished with the latest contractor, rediscovering a lost love, and avoiding getting stuck in a future he predicted makes the rest of the movie more of a formulaic action thriller, but still a good popcorn flick.
AEon Flux
Babylon A.D.
District 9
Elysium
Ex Machina
Blade Runner 2049
Upgrade
(2018) [cybernetics/body modification, dangerous AI, surveillance state]
Upgrade exists in this pervasive near-future where the AI can do anything for you outside of your body, until the old-fashioned main character gets into a violent accident that robs him of that ability. Suddenly he’s forced into the choice of accepting a cybernetically-implanted AI when he doesn’t like the house or car-bound versions already, or living trapped in a wheelchair that handles him like a ragdoll. What’s more impressive is how long he’s able to keep up the facade after getting the implant’s help in restoring his body to him, especially while he evades a cop hot on his, err, wheels. Even this cleverness can’t save him from the ultimate mastermind orchestrating the events from within, and the implications of inviting cybernetic tech into your body like this get downright unsettling. This movie gets bonus points for some rather clever cybernetic features, which they absolutely didn’t need to go for but did anyway.