Metropolis

As a person who’s never seen a silent film I had some good expectations but I was wrong I couldn’t finish the movie it just wasn’t for my liking idk why people say it’s so good

With a really impressive performance by Brigitte Helm and with spectacular filmmaking for the time, this movie had me in awe the whole runtime. I can’t believe that this film is almost 100 years old and yet it still has significance and relevance to the present (specifically with A.I. in a certain respect as well as meal/macro class conflict). Fritz Lang truly crafted an unforgettable visual masterpiece and throughout the 3rd act, it was super tense and so impressive with how they filmed the models and the big streets with the people running on them, including throughout the film. While it is a bit too old-fashioned in some ways, from the production and story-telling standpoints alone, this for sure gets an A!

A legacy film that had stood the test of time. It's amazing film even almost a hundred years later.

The pacing is a bit slow in parts, but that is to be expected for this era of film. The visual effects, especially for the time, are very impressive and the lead actress plays the two starkly contrasting characters so well!

Amazing animation for an amazing story from a legend

Thematically and visually, Metropolis is perfection.

*The original text of this review has been lost over the years. We have compiled all the original text to keep the original intact. I will put an asterisk explaining what parts of the review are missing. * Metropolis is an influential science fiction film. Its most obvious influence is the design of the robot in the film is what George Lucas used as inspiration of C3PO. *In the original review, the reviewer lists all the sci-fi films that took inspiration from this pioneering film.* The story centers around a large working class of people making a big tower for the few wealthy elites that work way above them. *In the original review the reviewer spoke deeply on the symbolism of this class divide* Then a woman named Maria rises up as a hero among the lower class. Seeing potential for the peasants to revolt, businessman Joh Fredersen decides to put her brain in a robot that they can control. Meanwhile, Joh's son, thinks that he may be in love with Maria. This isn't the first 1920's silent film I've seen, but this is the most ambitious. Most films of this period are a lot more straightforward with their story. Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, they would typically focus on the jokes and have a simple romance storyline. It seems that in the 1920's the films that survived the test of time were either comedies or horror films. This is the first one that really leans hard into the science fiction element and grand scope of storytelling. I found it amusing how short the cast list is at the beginning, considering there are shots in this film where I think everyone from 1927 was in frame. The best part of this movie is the visual aspect of it. Makes sense, considering it is a silent film, the visuals are all it has. But beyond the simple, "impressive for its time" angle, there are some truly unique and breathtaking visuals. The set design really shows how they went above and beyond to make the city of Metropolis feel otherworldly. It hard to judge the movie on its original merits with so much of the original footage being lost to time. But measuring the film off of what we have, it is still a very strange and very influential film. *In the original review the reviewer included more details and wrapped things up with a clever robot-based pun*.

An amazing f@ck humanity movie.

If you’re in India, you can watch Metropolis for free on PlexTV. I finally decided to watch it after seeing an interview of Anurag Kashyap on the Humans of Cinema YouTube channel. He talked about the filmmakers who inspire him, and how he believes that silent filmmakers were the true geniuses. That really made me curious, and I’m glad I watched it. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis is truly a film ahead of its time, solidifying his status as a cinematic genius. The film’s practical effects, intricate set design, and sheer scale are nothing short of remarkable. Lang’s vision showcases a vast imagination paired with deep, forward-thinking ideas that continue to resonate even today. The film's influence is undeniable - its impact can be seen in countless other works of cinema. It’s almost impossible to count how many filmmakers have drawn inspiration from Metropolis. With a runtime of over two and a half hours and no spoken dialogue, it's a testament to the audiences of that era, who had a far greater attention span and focus than today’s viewers. What stands out the most are the massive, futuristic structures and architecture that Lang brought to life on screen. The vision behind those buildings and the world they inhabit is awe-inspiring, revealing just how advanced Lang’s thinking was for the 1920s. For more reviews follow me on instagram - @cineculturist

This movie shows that you can write a simple story and still make it riveting. Watching it felt like time travel and I must say, this movie aged really well! Even the special effects!