Metropolis Reviews and Ratings


  • botiquerobo
    August 15, 2008
    botiquerobo
    an incredible movie beyond its time... everything about this movie is so enticing.
  • jbardsleyjr
    August 8, 2008
    jbardsleyjr
    This movie is wonderful. Yes it's a silent movie and that type of movie isn't for everyone but even for those people it's worth watching for some themes that show up in other, more recent films. The effects are similiar to some 1950s movie. I loved seeing some standard horror the...( read more)mes (mad scientist, hunchback worker, pagan symbols, creating life), in what is called a scifi film. The mime acting and hilarious running do somewhat distract from the movie but not enough to hurt it rating in my eyes.
  • throblin
    July 31, 2008
    throblin
    One of the coolest looking sci-fi films of all time. See it!
  • TheMDogg
    July 25, 2008
    TheMDogg
    Essential if you're a movie buff
  • thethefan1001
    July 23, 2008
    thethefan1001
    An all-around WOW. Set design and direction take lead in this landmark film.
  • placeinthesun455
    July 22, 2008
    placeinthesun455
    a terrific film rich in biblical and medieval themes coinciding with contemporary socio-political and industrial themes. Brigitte Helm gives a phenomenal performance as the prophetic Maria and her sinister robotic doppelganger. a milestone in science fiction, as well as a cinem...( read more)atic trailblazer in set design, art direction, cinematography, and plot design.
  • cb02fs
    July 20, 2008
    cb02fs
    And now they say an original release print has been found that is the 3 1/2 hour version that was first released in theatres. Hopefully, it will be restored and preserved and a DVD release of the original cut comes sooner than later.
  • bluedrago88545
    July 17, 2008
    bluedrago88545
    I have it with a classic horror 50 pack, a bit suspensful back in the day maybe, but the SFX was WAY BEYOND IT'S TIME! thing is that its not the original score!!!
  • MorpheusOne
    July 17, 2008
    MorpheusOne
    I have this movie on vhs and I've tried to watch it, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE SHIT....

    I could barely get thru the first 5 minutes without wincing from the pain of not knowing WTF was going on... If there was something, like subtitles & maybe music to follow, then that might make it be...( read more)arable. They need to re-release it appropriately, with music from Pink Floyd & Led Zeppelin, since it was first released as a silent movie, in nineteen twenty freaking seven!!!
  • pONTERsELDON
    July 8, 2008
    pONTERsELDON
    A classic, one of the best science fiction movies ever made
  • damnhippie88
    July 7, 2008
    damnhippie88
    Every aspect of this movie is beautiful--there's a reason this movie is considered to be a classic.
  • g1pp4l
    July 7, 2008
    g1pp4l
    Technically wonderful, specially if we have in mind that it was made in 1927, but it has a very naive message. Can't wait to see the "new" scenes.
  • kenstachnik
    July 2, 2008
    kenstachnik
    Really impressive...ly boring

    I know I'm going to catch endless shit for this, but this movie bored me to tears. It's a landmark cinematic and visual achievement to say the least...but a tedious one at that.

    The missing scenes from Metropolis have been found!!!!
    htt...( read more)p://www.thelocal.de/12847/20080702/
  • Lemure
    July 1, 2008
    Lemure
    Fritz Lang wasn't just a genius, he was a visionary. In every single frame of this film you can sense his frustration as he pushes the available technology to its limit in order to realise the idea. This film has a great plot - with some wonderful poetic undertones and some quali...( read more)ty acting even if it is all silent. But where this film soars is in its visuals. Some of the sets used are truly mindblowing with hundreds of actors swarming across them, managing to put movies like Blade Runner and Brazil to shame. It's very hard to do this film justice in writing as it needs to be witnessed. At the end you're left wondering that if Fritz Lang was around today and had access to the technology we do, what the hell could he accomplish. A stunning masterpiece, light years ahead of its time.
  • nayita23
    June 8, 2008
    nayita23
    earlier movie, good for that time XD
  • spacemaster83
    June 8, 2008
    spacemaster83
    It has been called the film that launched Science Fiction films as a genre, well if you do not count such films as a Trip to the Moon by George Milies. However, it can be said that it helped develop a sense of panic the shape and position modern man in technological times. Perha...( read more)ps more a keen to Blade Runner or The Matrix in a even more technological turmoiled world shows us that Metropolis still holds as much weight in 2008 as it did in 1927.
  • xboredxasxhellx
    June 8, 2008
    xboredxasxhellx
    The only silent movie I've ever seen and I think it's brilliant. The cinematography is amazing.
  • EarthlyAlien
    June 4, 2008
    EarthlyAlien
    "We shall build a tower that will reach to the stars!" Having conceived Babel, yet unable to build it themselves, they had thousands to build it for them. But those who toiled knew nothing of the dreams of those who planned. And the minds that planned the Tower of Babel cared ...( read more)nothing for the workers who built it. The hymns of praise of the few became the curses of the many - Babel! Babel! Babel! - Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a Mediator, and this must be the heart."

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    The city of Metropolis is divided into the brain and the hands. While the city's elite sit in the lap of luxury, the workers tend to the machinery for ten hours before retreating to their underground city "where they belong". The one thing that keeps them from revolting is the promise of a coming "mediator", a Messianic figure who will bring the hands and the brain together. The prophetic woman (Brigitte Helm) behind the legend believes the mediator to be Freder Frederson (Gustav Fröhlich), the son of the city's leader, who thanks to a deft switch with one of the workers, stumbles upon the meeting in the catacombs. Meanwhile, his father (Alfred Abel) is in cahoots with a mad scientist (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) to create a life-like Machine Man to undermine the woman's message. The Machine manages to incite a riot, which endangers the worker's children. And who is there to save the day? Freder Frederson.

    When time-travel finally does become possible ('cause it will), one of the first orders of business should be to go to 1927 Germany and grab a completed print of Metropolis. Due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, over a quarter of the film is lost and gone forever. So instead of Fritz Lang's uncut 153-minute original version, what we're left with is most of it and title cards that explain what we're missing. It's a damn shame too, because we seem to be missing a lot of good stuff, including an entire trip to the entertainment district by the worker who's switched places with Freder.

    There aren't many films that could survive the loss of that much footage and still be a viable experience, it's just too much to overcome, but Metropolis manages somehow. As it now stands, the film is nothing short of amazing and we can only imagine how much better it was in its entirety. Really, with the amount of space here we can only scratch the surface. Lang's Metropolis is thrilling in every sense of the word. This is the standard on which all Science Fiction should be judged, and serves as the template for many a Sci-Fi world-view.

    Apparently, Adolf Hitler considered this his favourite film, and while we would normally discard such information, I think it's worth exploring for a minute. In the early scenes we see the workers shuffling to and from work en masse like comatose zombies. For a while I thought they actually had undergone some sort of lobotomy, but they've just been so marginalized by the city's leaders that this appears to be the most effective way to get through the day. There's a certain sense of fear about them. Only when the Machine starts to appeal to their sense of justice do they come alive, becoming a raving mob that has little regard for the consequences of their actions. Is that drastic effect on a large group of people what appealed to Hitler so much? Maybe, although the Machine does get hers in the end. Is it the themes of a drastic class structure? Or is it simply the erotic dancer? Hard to say, really.

    Throughout its duration, the film is so visually striking that it is always able to captivate the viewer. The city itself is amazingly well realized. Few visions of the future have been as original or as truly awesome as is that of Metropolis. In fact, the city is perhaps the film's most interesting character and is the most prominent element in each scene, overwhelming the actors, the narrative, and everything else with its incredible presence. Every corner of the city is a marvel, from its wild spires and sumptuous gardens to its dismal underground corridors, hellish machinery, and wretched tenements. Metropolis is a place like no other.

    Brigitte Helm has the difficult dual role of Maria, the prophetic woman, and her Machine double. Essentially, she has to play polar opposites, as Maria is a paradigm of virtue, almost a Mother Theresa character, and the Machine is a wild, wicked troublemaker who spends her spare time seducing the men of Metropolis as an erotic dancer. Helm was nearly killed several times while shooting, once by a fall and another by the fact that one particular scene - a bonfire - was real. She was so rattled by her experience working with Lang that she thereafter refused to make another film with him.

    Every element and image in Metropolis is brought to the film because of Lang's insistence on no less then absolute perfection. He was known as a sometimes cruel taskmaster, working his cast and crew like a dictator. He cast something like 37,000 extras (1500 of them for the Tower of Babel sequence alone) and worked them from morning till night. The water which covered the set for the climactic flood was ice cold. Many of the extras were soaked through from morning till night. Metropolis was made 79 years ago and it's one of the
    most expensive films ever made. By today's standards, adjusting for inflation, Metropolis' budget would be around $200 million - same as Titanic and Spider-Man 2 - which would put in the top 10. Again, it was made 79 years ago.

    I could go on and on... Metropolis - like all great films - invites lengthy discussions. It can be seen in at least a hundred different ways, as a foreshadowing of fascism or the tyranny of communism or just capitalism boiling over. But when you get down to it the best way to view Metropolis is not as a film to pick apart but simply as a film of its time. Lang created the story of a world gone mad while the world around him was going mad.
  • lebowski1190
    June 3, 2008
    lebowski1190
    Today's audience might find it to be boring which it is in some parts, but it's one of the best silent movies and probably the first sci fi movie.
  • Ghw12158
    May 29, 2008
    Ghw12158
    good but a little over rated
  • JxSxPx
    May 28, 2008
    JxSxPx
    Fritz Lang might have bitten off way more than he could chew, since many of the plot specifics get a little hazy, but the images and themes he conjures up are fantastic and timeless none-the-less. This is one of the most influential films to have ever graced the screens, and more...( read more) proof that maybe the Europeans should be paid more attention to when it comes to how we handle films in America. Robo-Maria and the destruction of the lower levels are iconographic by now, and rightfully so. It's fascinating, even when it's confusing, and deserves at least one look during your lifetime.
  • jplong39
    May 24, 2008
    jplong39
    One of the landmark films in cinema. As a movie however, it's just not that good. A simple story moralizing on the need for unions, and that's about all. But as a FILM, it's one of the crowning cinematic achievements ever made. Huge sets, innovative camera work and 80 tear old sp...( read more)ecial effects that are still stunning today make it one of the absolute great ones.
  • celtictroll64124
    May 18, 2008
    celtictroll64124
    This silent film was made in 1927 and when I watch it today it still amazes me with it's special effects. Remembering that there were no computers back then, Fritz Lang did an excellent job.

    The moral of the story is also valid for today. In a future where the rich live on t...( read more)op and live life off of the workers who are below them. They never mix or mingle.

    The robot in this movie is an icon that everyone recognizes around the world.

    This is a must see for everyone. I highly recommend it.
  • mijmark
    May 17, 2008
    mijmark
    Yes, it's still relevant in this day and age. It's interesting to compare a classically good silent movie with our modern day equivalents.
  • princesadelakimica
    May 16, 2008
    princesadelakimica
    y yo no se q decir d esta obra d arte,
    me saco el sombrero
    la imagen las actuaciones, las expresiones, del adorable expresionismo aleman... son imponentes

    y sinceramente q puedo decir
    PARA Q VAN A SEGUIR HACIENDO CINE? YA ESTA TODO DICHO...
    con agarrar 5 peliculas del ex...( read more)presionismo, 5 del surrealismo, no se. d los 70, 80.
    ya esta.
    no hay mas historias
    solo las mismas condiferentes detalles
  • enigmatical
    May 14, 2008
    enigmatical
    If you are a TRUE fan of Sci-Fi and haven't seen Metropolis yet then you should be absolutely ashamed of yourself. The soundtrack is stunning of course (its Queen!), the visuals are ahead of its time and antique
  • lucasaq
    May 11, 2008
    lucasaq
    I need to see more of Lang's work, but this is incredibly expansive and daring of an undertaking. But the message isn't so subtle. Still quite good for a silent film.
  • sinse59
    May 8, 2008
    sinse59
    Majestueus. La fin est de trop.
  • emwpens71
    May 8, 2008
    emwpens71
    Fantastic movie. Great politics and great message to give to the public who choices to watch it.
  • engrymfilm
    May 3, 2008
    engrymfilm
    Ahead of it's time definitely.
  • paladin98133
    April 28, 2008
    paladin98133
    My personal favorite film. Film making years ahead of it's time.
  • 24000Baci
    April 20, 2008
    24000Baci
    this is remarkable movie, it is beyond visually stunning and the sets are far beyond eye appealing for a slient movie.
  • dooritor1
    April 20, 2008
    dooritor1
    ugh. a socialistic crappy attempt at a movie.
  • tmwvalley
    April 20, 2008
    tmwvalley
    considering the influence, this film had the history of cinema, i think this is really good. Thought the gal who played Maria and the robot was great.
  • june606
    April 9, 2008
    june606
    Fucking Gay ass Movie!, don't ever see it i don't know what i was thinking adding it to my favorite films!
  • jschartrand
    April 5, 2008
    jschartrand
    Old german movie are AWESOME. I mean this is so epic, so beautiful, a real masterpiece. Well think, well done, so sad a lot of pieces are missing :-(
  • QueenCityFilms
    April 1, 2008
    QueenCityFilms
    My favorite silent film by far. I wish my idiot 90 year old film teacher didn't fast forward thru so much of it. I must watch this again...a truly beautiful movie.
  • davejdavies
    March 30, 2008
    davejdavies
    Interesting stuff. The actress that plays Maria, Brigitte Helm, is fantastic. She goes from sincere and innocent to a bad girl in the space of one movie.
  • QueenDebbie
    March 29, 2008
    QueenDebbie
    Absolutely amazing. Good story, excellently done. The actress who plays Maria was great, particularly as the robot Maria - really manic.

    You must see this.
  • revalismith
    March 28, 2008
    revalismith
    Who knew that silent films could be so much fun? First, I have to say that I was absolutely stunned by the quality of special effects in this film. It's the 1920s for crying out loud! So, kudos for that. Second, the themes that drive the plot are very rich and ahead of their ...( read more)time. Admittedly, I had to leave the museum before the film ended but, even without seeing the ending, I can confidentally say that I love this film!
  • GemmaL
    March 25, 2008
    GemmaL
    I didn't think I would like it but it was really good. xx
  • soundgardenman
    March 22, 2008
    soundgardenman
    I have no words to define the brilliancy of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Awesome? Masterpiece? Fantastic? Amazing? Each one of them are correct!
  • thalie13
    March 15, 2008
    thalie13
    cest bien faite en salle pour un film de 1927! pis lhistoire était cool quand meme!
  • emOy
    March 2, 2008
    emOy
    A legendary black n white movie, a milestone of sci-fi and German expressionism

Summary

Metropolis Summary