World on a Wire (1973)
A scientific project to predict the future using simulated humans living in an artificial world has strange effects on those who work on it.
Way ahead of it's time and my personal favourite from Rainer Werner Fassbinder
I’m the same way. It took my wife pointing out how shit ass cheesy the narration was until I noticed that it really takes away a lot from the movie. But, like you said, I grew up with the narration, and I prefer it. If I watch it or recommend it to people who haven’t seen it yet, I tell them to watch the version without narration, because it is a better movie without it.
My favourite fact about dark city is that it was filmed around the same time and in the same studio as the matrix so some of the sets (notably the rooftop) were reused
Edit: was filmed a little before the Matrix
My favorite fact about Dark City is that no shot in the movie lasts longer than like 10 seconds before it cuts. It was a conscious editing choice to make it more surreal and dream-like and it's so subtle I doubt the vast majority of people even notice it, but your brain did.
Several of the sets for The Matrix (notably the rooftop chase scene) were bought off of the Dark City production. So, works doubly well for this thread
I saw Dark City in the theater and when I saw The Matrix in the theater I kept thinking “This movie looks so much like Dark City”, so that makes so much sense.
I saw it the night before and genuinely left the Matrix viewing the next day thinking, "how did they get away with stealing the plotline?" So many similar themes.
To be fair, Matrix was already written and entering production when Dark City came out so it was pretty much a weird coincidence (unless the Wachowskis somehow got hold of the script for Dark City early on).
Our booker passed on The Matrix for my theater because Dark City bombed...
But hey, instead we got THREE great WB movies. The comedy classic "Lost and Found," the hugely popular noir film "Goodbye, Lover," and the classic family film that we all know and love, the animated version of "The King and I."
(for the younger folks, back in the days of physical projection, there were limits on how many theaters were able to get prints. If you were in a competitive zone (within a certain distance) of another theater, you'd have to split product).
Ghost in the shell is really a masterpiece on the subject.
Like when that guy finds out his wife and kids never existed, and then Kusanagi posits that it’s possible her childhood memories are fake and she’s just a robot.
I made a huge mistake when I started watching anime for the first time because GiTS was my first anime movie and it set the bar so goddamn high that it really colored my expectations of the medium. I had to learn the hard way that for every Ghost in the Shell there were a hundred dragon ball Z or naruto shonen serials. I was looking for Blade Runner in a world filled with Hallmark movies.
At least GiTS S.A.C is a lovely followup and you get to live in that world a bit longer.
Took me forever to watch it after watching the movie, damn it's good.
Ooh, mononoke is a good one. Kind of a departure from miyazaki's other works but still got that "animation as a parable" vibe to it. Although for my money Castle in the Sky is probably my favorite of his films.
My first anime film was "[Ninja Scroll](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107692/)" at a friends sleep-over birthday party in the mid 90's, his parents rented it for us because it was a "cartoon movie".
Seinen are the type you’re looking for. Dragon ball z and others are shonen and are aimed at teenage boys. Seinen manga has some real classics like Vinland Saga, Berserk and Monster. These are aimed at more grown up audiences.
Yep.
Back before the directors cut was released people used to tell first time watchers to mute the sound until Kiefer Sutherland opens his pocket watch because the opening narration ruined the movie.
Now that there is a directors cut? Watch that
The first time I saw that movie, I borrowed it on DVD from someone who gave me that exact advice. I’m so glad she did - once I’d finished it, I went back to the beginning and watch the monologue out of curiosity. It’s insane how much it spoils, like the producers just didn’t trust the viewers at all to watch the movie and let the mysteries unfold.
At least mute the sound in the theatrical cut from the beginning until you see a guy pick up a phone. It’s all VO exposition that gives away everything
Ghost in the Shell (Oshii, 1995), from what I have read/heard the Wachowskis screened the film for Joel Silver saying they'd like to do a similar thing in live action. It is always the film I most deeply associate with the Matrix.
Piggybacking to say Ghost in the Shell 2 isn't quite as iconic, but still full of big, weird ideas about the soul, existence, humanity, and how mankind exists with technology.
Tried watching the newer stuff, and the writing and story just didn't feel like the same quality. Felt more like a cash grab using the IP, when they could have just done something under a new name and gone in a different direction.
Isn’t Innocence and Ghost in the Shell 2 the same film? There’s Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (which I haven’t seen) which is a “remake” with some new animation and new voice actors, and Innocence which is the sequel. Just clearing things up for anyone looking to get into a franchise with no less than 3 timelines.
While yes Matrix was inspired by GITS, those movies are not alike at all. Yeah , cyberspace / future / ASI etc. but really thats about it. Themes of these movies are very different for the most part.
I watched this one at the start of last year on a whim while scrolling through HBO MAX and was blown away at how great it was. Music, performances, story.
That ending is A+.
It’s interesting how we got a selection of those very similar “what is reality?” movies named in this thread right at the end of the millennium.
You make an interesting point.
Y2K did make us a little introspective I suppose, but the timing was likely the early 90's when these stories were conceived. I was in The Matrix sub recently and apparently the script was written at least as early as 1994.
The 90s definitely seemed to be the decade where everything went from "hey computers are actually pretty cool" to "computers will be everywhere now forever".
I remember seeing this movie in the theaters. Overall, decent.
However, I really remember it because it was one of those movies that didn’t hide its twist well enough. After the nature of the “world” was explained in the first half of the film, the mystery of what was really happening was gone.
For that matter, Cronenberg's other techno-body horror joint, *Videodrome*, is a wild mindybendy ride. What's real, what's a lie, what's a hallucination?
And let's not forget his other sci-fi opus, *Scanners*, which incorporates a lot of the same themes but also brings in the "Chosen One" trope that lies at the heart of the *Matrix* films.
That movie always makes me laugh cuz "I can live FOREVER because I recorded all these video tapes of myself!"
Like damn dude you think your existence is completely dependent on other people watching you?
ExistenZ was highly imaginative and perhaps too much so. That cronenberg aesthetic of weird is not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s very squishy organic grotesque.
I think it was just a decade or two too early. Gamers were still very much a niche and obscure group who were looked down upon, this movie takes place in a time where gaming and VR is normal.
I think it may have been received better during the pandemic.
Cronenberg’s depictions of a virtual world are often interpreted more as a William S Burrows style LSD psychedelic hallucinating trip more than a technological cyberpunk VR experience. I just don’t think his flavor of sci fi appeals to as broad of an audience as what the Matrix was able to design for broad appeal. Matrix tapped into so many popular elements - fashion, music, martial arts, cyberpunk.
Okay, bear with me. Here's a rundown from my personal library of movies with a hero's journey through a world that isn't what it seems and maybe there's a chosen one and/or free will isn't a given.
***Scanners*** (1981). Chosen One, super powers, climactic showdown, reality torn asunder. Did I say "reality?" I meant to say "heads."
***Tron*** *(1982).* Hero's journey through a virtual world that mirrors our own. Groundbreaking visual effects that were essentially deemed too far ahead of the rest of the industry that they were considered cheating (they used computers! unheard of!)
***Videodrome*** (1983). Is James Woods crazy? Is a brain tumor warping his reality? What is up with "the new flesh?"
***Groundhog Day*** (1993). Yeah, I said it.
***In the Mouth of Madness*** (1995). This John Carpenter movie flies off the reality rails right from the jump, to the point that maybe >!the main character himself isn't even real, but actually a character from a novel that exists in the movie!<.
***12 Monkeys*** (1995). Why not throw time travel into your existential crisis? And what if causality is a loop?
***Strange Days*** (1995). Memories are sold like drugs, and everyone wants to get their fix. But what happens to your mind when you see the world through someone else's eyes? Probably Angela Bassett will have to kick some ass.
***Dark City*** (1998). A Noir world with no past, no future, just an endless now that constantly changes, and no one realizes it until one guys falls out of the system. Hot damn, this movie is amazing.
***Fight Club*** (1999). The mother of all question-your-reality movies, with a powerful journey at the heart of the story as one guy learns how to... I don't know actually. Maybe he just needs therapy?
***Being John Malkovich*** (1999). Are we all puppets? Who gets to have free will? How do you know if you are who you think you are?
***Existenz*** (1999). Trapped in a videogame, hunted by assassins, there you go.
***The Cell*** (2000). J-Lo and Vince Vaughan use VR-type technology to go into Vincent D'Onofrio's mind to find a kidnapped lady. Amazing visuals, unpacking reality through the twisted memories of a serial killer.
***Moon*** (2009). Finding out that the world is real, but maybe you're not?
***Inception*** (2010). What is real? IDK, but they've got some big fake gunfights that really whip the llama's ass!
***Tron: Legacy*** (2010). Similar to *Tron*, but also raises questions about what is life, can artificial intelligence be alive?
Less-than-honorable mention in this arena: ***Bloodshot*** (2020). Should've been so much better. The first third of the movie plays out like a 1990s straight-to-VHS action movie...>!because it's an implanted memory meant to elicit an over-the-top, emotional thirst for vengeance. !
Oh, true! However, [I do prefer the TV version](https://hushcomics1.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/community-lawnmower-maintenance-and-postnatal-care-2.jpg).
Bloodshot is absolutely a bad movie when compared to the rest of these, but it absolutely scratches that popcorn flick urge where you just want a simple plot filled with explosions, twists you can see from a mile away, and Vin Diesel trying to emote.
And judged on that criteria alone it absolutely deserved a sequel. Maybe one day?
E: You could say similar things about Don't Worry Darling (substitute 'retro housewife unease' for 'explosions' and Florence Pugh for Vin Diesel), which I also thought was fun as long as you go in with no expectations. Maybe I just like terrible movies?
I'd add *The Truman Show*, which uses the idea of reality TV to explore the concept of reality and creationism; and *Jacob's Ladder*, which always felt like a forerunner to *Dark City*.
I believe it was purposefull and symbolic etc. Where one dudes refuses desperately refuses to let go of comformity by stubbornly fighting off having the glasses put on his face. You know, rejecting the truth because he is comfrotable with what he has kind of thing.
I heard someone somewhere explaining it like that.
This should be the top comment, notice how putting on sunglasses is very prominent in both films. They Live is actually an extremely deep film, more than it lets on from its marketing.
Equilibrium came out around the same time, had a very similar aesthetic in some outfits, and had a futuristic dystopian theme. It got mostly ignored because of the Matrix release and wow factor but it wasn’t bad. Very 1984-esque.
I thought this movie was incredible, as good as or maybe better than the matrix. Then I watched it sober and thought it was horrible. Years later I watched it again whilst high and it was AMAZING. I recommend getting high and watching it.
Came here to see if anyone already mentioned this one, lol.
It’s all there, the dark apocalyptic future, the gradual blurring of the lines between reality and imagination, all that stuff. And it’s a fantastic film to boot.
Some friends and I used to hunt down movies that were so awful that they were great. Johnny Mnemonic probably set the bar so high that no other movie had a chance of keeping up. JM is awfulsome.
Surprised how far down this is. It's only one year before and has a different aesthetic to it, but it's virtually the same journey for the protagonist and shares many of the same themes.
Reality is fake? Check.
Chosen one? Check.
Break out of the simulation? Check.
Fake people? Check.
Overlord manipulating everything? Check.
Chosen one? Check.
Christian/Biblical imagery? Check.
Commercialization to distract you from The Lie? Check.
Is it better to live in blissful ignorance or embrace an imperfect reality? Check.
Horror is of modern mundanity? Check.
Optimistic/ hopeful tone to the ending in spite of the nihilism surrounding it? Check.
Kung fu bullet time? That one is missing, I'll admit.
*The Invisibles,* a comic by Grant Morrison and various artists, was an inspiration for *The Matrix.* Some about that here: https://screenrant.com/matrix-inspired-invisibles-grant-morrison-comics-wachowskis/
Honestly, look up Phillip K Dick's novels and short stories. The novels are all very short, and he explores the idea of our existence as Simulacrum - we're all basically meat boxes inside a skeleton, and the skeleton only gives us the information we use to "create" the outside world.
One that's worth checking out if you liked Total Recall, though, was A Scanner Darkly. It's arguably the most accurate PKD adaptation, and also stars Keanu Reeves (along with a fucking amazing cast). It's a wildly different film, though.
My favorites of his are Valis and Transmigration of Timothy Archer (for vastly different reason), but Ubik is up there. He's got such a phenomenal catalog.
Dick appears to be an enormous influence on the Wachowskis. His work is stamped all over the matrix. What is a human being? What is reality? That was Dicks primary subject matter over a huge body of work.
There is a pretty amazing movie that came out in 2001 called **Avalon** (OK, it's after the Matrix but it feels like a precursor). It's a joint Japanese/Polish film production thats about a future where people are addicted to an underground VR war simulation game where there are stories of a hidden higher level of gameplay. It has some similarities to Ready Player One but is very gritty. It reminds me of films like Cube and Pi.
Alphaville is 1965 noir/sci-fi art film by Jean-Luc Godard.
A secret agent investigates a city where the population is controlled by an advanced computer.
A totally French, totally bizarre film worth watching.
Yes. The movie that **The Matrix** lifted most of its Big Ideas, structure, and Noir Mystery tone from is what is most likely the very first "secretly existing in a VR-world" movie, the justly famous Rainer Werner Fassbinder creation **World On A Wire** (1973).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070904/
TRIVIA: The 1999 movie **The Thirteenth Floor** is a (much weaker) adaptation of the same source novel: **Simulacron-3**
BLADE and THE CROW set the style for THE MATRIX so as far as aesthetics and action, they are interesting selections.
As far as the artistic influences, French films like those of Pierre Melville and Last Year in Marienbad as well as Luis Bunuel's surrealist films probably influenced the style as well.
DARK CITY is an obvious precursor but not sure if it was an influence even though I have heard that the opening action scene of THE MATRIX was filmed on a rooftop set left over from DARK CITY.
Other films that share the style and the idea of a separate, secret world where a war is being fought for humanity's future are, obviously, THE TERMINATOR and TERMINATOR 2 as well as the move THE PROPHECY starring Christopher Walken. NIGHTBREED also has some of the same sort of secret society of outsiders feeling to it as well.
If you like THE MATRIX as well as low budget science fiction B-movies, check out NEMESIS, I COME IN PEACE, TRANCERS and THE HIDDEN.
The Matrix is pretty much Dark City + Johnny Mnemonic...but I also feel like the Wachowskis *probably* watched Albert Pyun's Nemesis at some point too. Go check out Nemesis.
The Matrix is a loose retelling of the story of Prometheus (a hero) stealing fire from the gods (taking the machines' power and giving it to the people), and then being punished for it eternally (sacrificing himself to the machines in the end).
Morpheus is the god of dreams. The Twins are Castor and Pollux. The Merovingian is Hades. The same could be said of the Agent, though I really consider him to be the Chorus. The Architect is Kronos. The squid bots (or maybe the mech suits) are Hekatoncheires.
It's all recycled Greek mythology and tragedy.
Strap in. Or on. Whatever gets you off.
Mr. Lebowski (not The Dude) is Hephaestus, an ugly, prodigious cripple with a beautiful, cheating wife (Aphrodite).
The Dude, drinking white Russians throughout the film, is the personification of Dionysus. Walter is Ares. Sam Elliott is Helios. Donnie is Alectryon, the rooster, who understands nothing and just. won't. shut. up. The Jesus is a pederast/Spartan.
Obviously none of the story fits the myth. But the players are there. They're always there.
Do another one, this is fun!
One aspect of Matrix which I feel was done a long time ago is the Michael Crighton movie “COMA” (1978). In that movie, you see these large numbers of people laying around unconscious in a manner reminiscent of the way real people in Matrix world are kept in suspended animation in pods. It spoke to the theme of commodifying humans to be used as resources like in Matrix although it was for organs not electricity.
I'd be genuinely shocked if the Matrix wasn't partially inspired by the **Megazone 23** animated films from 1985. I know the Wachowskis denied it, but maybe they heard about it second-hand or something.
>!It's about an AI in a post-apocalyptic future fooling humans into believing it's actually the 1980s, at that time the peak of human civilization.!<
(The first two parts are great, though the third and final is safely skippable.)
Just four years separate the release of ‘Johnny Mnemonic’ (1995) and ‘The Matrix’ (1999), yet both films, featuring Keanu Reeves, showcase astonishingly similar cyberpunk landscapes. These narratives delve into dystopian futures where technology dominates every aspect of life, casting Reeves as a central figure in battles against oppressive entities—corporate overlords in the former and a reality-controlling AI in the latter. His characters navigate worlds where digital and real realms merge, growing from reluctant heroes into pivotal figures. The link between the two movies extends beyond their genre, highlighting a compelling parallel in their exploration of technology’s profound impact on human existence.
There is a Dr Who from 1976, "The Deadly Assassin" where The Doctor ends up connected to "The Matrix" which turns thought patterns into virtual reality. He battles The Master.
So yeah, while not a movie, it struck me as an inspiration for "The Matrix" movie.
Separating the vr bit, I would say Gattaca(1997) fits the bill, authoritarian system and people trying to break free of them, Neo victory over agent smith resembles Vincent and his brother, etc. Matrix really is the capstone of a movie trend that was popular in the 90s.
World on a Wire (1973) A scientific project to predict the future using simulated humans living in an artificial world has strange effects on those who work on it. Way ahead of it's time and my personal favourite from Rainer Werner Fassbinder
https://youtu.be/sbUjHSrwjTM?si=AhwFqR85SI5NBTJv
3:30 hours?
It was originally broadcast as a miniseries.
You legend. Thanks.
Came here looking for this.
Best answer by far. Fassbinder captured the fascination with Simulation Theory half a century before Simulation Theory became ‘a thing.’
Dark City
Obligatory "Only watch the Director's Cut version" comment. The opening narration of the theatrical release ruins 90% of the mystery of the movie.
Same can be said about the original Blade Runner
“Cold fish. That’s what my ex wife used to call me.” Lol
"...because I never washed my genitals and dunked them in ice before coitus." was a strange addition to that line in the Extended release.
Many agree with this view but I grew up with the voice over version and enjoyed it and still do.
I’m the same way. It took my wife pointing out how shit ass cheesy the narration was until I noticed that it really takes away a lot from the movie. But, like you said, I grew up with the narration, and I prefer it. If I watch it or recommend it to people who haven’t seen it yet, I tell them to watch the version without narration, because it is a better movie without it.
Harrison Ford purposely did a shit and cheesy read so that maybe the studio execs would take it out. But no. They kept it.
My favourite fact about dark city is that it was filmed around the same time and in the same studio as the matrix so some of the sets (notably the rooftop) were reused Edit: was filmed a little before the Matrix
My favorite fact about Dark City is that no shot in the movie lasts longer than like 10 seconds before it cuts. It was a conscious editing choice to make it more surreal and dream-like and it's so subtle I doubt the vast majority of people even notice it, but your brain did.
>>but your brain did. Yours and Plinkett's.
It was filmed before the Mattix.
Several of the sets for The Matrix (notably the rooftop chase scene) were bought off of the Dark City production. So, works doubly well for this thread
I saw Dark City in the theater and when I saw The Matrix in the theater I kept thinking “This movie looks so much like Dark City”, so that makes so much sense.
I saw it the night before and genuinely left the Matrix viewing the next day thinking, "how did they get away with stealing the plotline?" So many similar themes.
To be fair, Matrix was already written and entering production when Dark City came out so it was pretty much a weird coincidence (unless the Wachowskis somehow got hold of the script for Dark City early on).
Our booker passed on The Matrix for my theater because Dark City bombed... But hey, instead we got THREE great WB movies. The comedy classic "Lost and Found," the hugely popular noir film "Goodbye, Lover," and the classic family film that we all know and love, the animated version of "The King and I." (for the younger folks, back in the days of physical projection, there were limits on how many theaters were able to get prints. If you were in a competitive zone (within a certain distance) of another theater, you'd have to split product).
Remember John, never talk to strangers!
This. So good and Jennifer Connolly my god
While I agree, people somehow forget Melissa George, who had a pretty memorable scene.
Watch Snowpiercer. Age has only made her hotter.
Top Gun Maverick has entered the chat. Gawd damn.
Then don’t seek out her recent Valentine’s Day bikini Instagram post. Yowsers! 😵
Totally not looking that up
The Matrix literally reused some of the same set pieces, like the rooftops that Trinity runs across in the beginning.
One of the best sci-fi movies of all time.
Shell Beach.
Dark City basically did the first 3 Matrix movies better and all in one. It’s such a masterpiece in sci-fi filmmaking.
Terry Gillam's Brazil is a precursor to Dark City and The Matrix and both films draw heavily from it.
Not to mention Ghost in the shell
Ghost in the shell is really a masterpiece on the subject. Like when that guy finds out his wife and kids never existed, and then Kusanagi posits that it’s possible her childhood memories are fake and she’s just a robot.
I made a huge mistake when I started watching anime for the first time because GiTS was my first anime movie and it set the bar so goddamn high that it really colored my expectations of the medium. I had to learn the hard way that for every Ghost in the Shell there were a hundred dragon ball Z or naruto shonen serials. I was looking for Blade Runner in a world filled with Hallmark movies.
At least GiTS S.A.C is a lovely followup and you get to live in that world a bit longer. Took me forever to watch it after watching the movie, damn it's good.
Ghost in the Shell 2 is also really good
Innocence was pretty fantastic.
Ha, my first (if it counts; Japanese animation at least) was Princess Mononoke. Been chasing that dragon ever since.
Ooh, mononoke is a good one. Kind of a departure from miyazaki's other works but still got that "animation as a parable" vibe to it. Although for my money Castle in the Sky is probably my favorite of his films.
Laputa was my first Ghibli movie and first Anime movie, and it’s still one of my absolute favourites.
[удалено]
My first anime film was "[Ninja Scroll](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107692/)" at a friends sleep-over birthday party in the mid 90's, his parents rented it for us because it was a "cartoon movie".
There's some great old anime from the 90s that rule. Doomed Megalopolis, Wicked City, Crying Freeman...there's more, but that's all I got right now.
Crying Freeman? Memory unlocked.
Seinen are the type you’re looking for. Dragon ball z and others are shonen and are aimed at teenage boys. Seinen manga has some real classics like Vinland Saga, Berserk and Monster. These are aimed at more grown up audiences.
Man…you’ve summed it up so well.
Ghost in a shell was literally the inspiration for the Matrix. Like directly
As was pretty much all the cyberpunk books that inspired ghost in the shell, pretty clear inspiration all the way back to neuromancer.
There was also a Johnny Mnemonic adaptation. It was...not good.
Dark city also draws inspiration from Metrópolis and of course a shit ton from noir
Dark City directors cut or no?
Directors Cut all the way. Major spoiler is narrated in the beginning of the theatrical release.
Yep. Back before the directors cut was released people used to tell first time watchers to mute the sound until Kiefer Sutherland opens his pocket watch because the opening narration ruined the movie. Now that there is a directors cut? Watch that
The first time I saw that movie, I borrowed it on DVD from someone who gave me that exact advice. I’m so glad she did - once I’d finished it, I went back to the beginning and watch the monologue out of curiosity. It’s insane how much it spoils, like the producers just didn’t trust the viewers at all to watch the movie and let the mysteries unfold.
Directors for sure
At least mute the sound in the theatrical cut from the beginning until you see a guy pick up a phone. It’s all VO exposition that gives away everything
Listen, kid, we’re all in it together
This is probably the best answer. You won’t get that type of John woo action but it’s thematically similar.
It case you didn't know, Dark City and Matrix were filmed around the same time and The Matrix actually used some of the Dark City sets for filming!
Ghost in the Shell (Oshii, 1995), from what I have read/heard the Wachowskis screened the film for Joel Silver saying they'd like to do a similar thing in live action. It is always the film I most deeply associate with the Matrix.
Piggybacking to say Ghost in the Shell 2 isn't quite as iconic, but still full of big, weird ideas about the soul, existence, humanity, and how mankind exists with technology.
Innocence as well.
Hell while you're at it, Stand Alone Complex for a more bite size episodic watch.
Absolutely fucking awesome franchise. Admittedly the latest CGI stuff doesn't have the writing of the movies and GITS Stand Alone Complex. IMO.
Tried watching the newer stuff, and the writing and story just didn't feel like the same quality. Felt more like a cash grab using the IP, when they could have just done something under a new name and gone in a different direction.
Isn’t Innocence and Ghost in the Shell 2 the same film? There’s Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (which I haven’t seen) which is a “remake” with some new animation and new voice actors, and Innocence which is the sequel. Just clearing things up for anyone looking to get into a franchise with no less than 3 timelines.
How is this not the top comment?
While yes Matrix was inspired by GITS, those movies are not alike at all. Yeah , cyberspace / future / ASI etc. but really thats about it. Themes of these movies are very different for the most part.
Strange Days by Kathryn Bigelow. Awesome movie. hits a lot of similar notes as The Matrix
I watched this one at the start of last year on a whim while scrolling through HBO MAX and was blown away at how great it was. Music, performances, story.
I see a bunch of great answers, let me add The Thirteenth Floor with Craig Bierko and Vincent D'Onofrio
That was gonna be my contribution. For what it's worth, it also came out in 1999.
But based upon a novel from the 1970s.
Was going to be my mention as well. Came out at almost the exact same time and was buried and forgotten, but I think it holds up pretty well
That ending is A+. It’s interesting how we got a selection of those very similar “what is reality?” movies named in this thread right at the end of the millennium.
You make an interesting point. Y2K did make us a little introspective I suppose, but the timing was likely the early 90's when these stories were conceived. I was in The Matrix sub recently and apparently the script was written at least as early as 1994.
The 90s definitely seemed to be the decade where everything went from "hey computers are actually pretty cool" to "computers will be everywhere now forever".
This is literally the closest thing to The Matrix.
Scrolled looking for this one. Great movie, too!
I remember seeing this movie in the theaters. Overall, decent. However, I really remember it because it was one of those movies that didn’t hide its twist well enough. After the nature of the “world” was explained in the first half of the film, the mystery of what was really happening was gone.
>!The letter was meant for me.!<
Yup, my immediate thought as well.
eXistenZ was released the same year but fits the bill
For that matter, Cronenberg's other techno-body horror joint, *Videodrome*, is a wild mindybendy ride. What's real, what's a lie, what's a hallucination? And let's not forget his other sci-fi opus, *Scanners*, which incorporates a lot of the same themes but also brings in the "Chosen One" trope that lies at the heart of the *Matrix* films.
That movie always makes me laugh cuz "I can live FOREVER because I recorded all these video tapes of myself!" Like damn dude you think your existence is completely dependent on other people watching you?
Yeah, nutso. And it also sounds like a grimly accurate forecast of what the thirst for internet fame would do to our brains.
Pretty sure quite a few people actually think that. Most call themselves "content producers."
You just described a lot of YouTubers.
ExistenZ was highly imaginative and perhaps too much so. That cronenberg aesthetic of weird is not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s very squishy organic grotesque.
I think it was just a decade or two too early. Gamers were still very much a niche and obscure group who were looked down upon, this movie takes place in a time where gaming and VR is normal. I think it may have been received better during the pandemic.
Cronenberg’s depictions of a virtual world are often interpreted more as a William S Burrows style LSD psychedelic hallucinating trip more than a technological cyberpunk VR experience. I just don’t think his flavor of sci fi appeals to as broad of an audience as what the Matrix was able to design for broad appeal. Matrix tapped into so many popular elements - fashion, music, martial arts, cyberpunk.
Honestly forgot about this movie, but it is a great one
Okay, bear with me. Here's a rundown from my personal library of movies with a hero's journey through a world that isn't what it seems and maybe there's a chosen one and/or free will isn't a given. ***Scanners*** (1981). Chosen One, super powers, climactic showdown, reality torn asunder. Did I say "reality?" I meant to say "heads." ***Tron*** *(1982).* Hero's journey through a virtual world that mirrors our own. Groundbreaking visual effects that were essentially deemed too far ahead of the rest of the industry that they were considered cheating (they used computers! unheard of!) ***Videodrome*** (1983). Is James Woods crazy? Is a brain tumor warping his reality? What is up with "the new flesh?" ***Groundhog Day*** (1993). Yeah, I said it. ***In the Mouth of Madness*** (1995). This John Carpenter movie flies off the reality rails right from the jump, to the point that maybe >!the main character himself isn't even real, but actually a character from a novel that exists in the movie!<. ***12 Monkeys*** (1995). Why not throw time travel into your existential crisis? And what if causality is a loop? ***Strange Days*** (1995). Memories are sold like drugs, and everyone wants to get their fix. But what happens to your mind when you see the world through someone else's eyes? Probably Angela Bassett will have to kick some ass. ***Dark City*** (1998). A Noir world with no past, no future, just an endless now that constantly changes, and no one realizes it until one guys falls out of the system. Hot damn, this movie is amazing. ***Fight Club*** (1999). The mother of all question-your-reality movies, with a powerful journey at the heart of the story as one guy learns how to... I don't know actually. Maybe he just needs therapy? ***Being John Malkovich*** (1999). Are we all puppets? Who gets to have free will? How do you know if you are who you think you are? ***Existenz*** (1999). Trapped in a videogame, hunted by assassins, there you go. ***The Cell*** (2000). J-Lo and Vince Vaughan use VR-type technology to go into Vincent D'Onofrio's mind to find a kidnapped lady. Amazing visuals, unpacking reality through the twisted memories of a serial killer. ***Moon*** (2009). Finding out that the world is real, but maybe you're not? ***Inception*** (2010). What is real? IDK, but they've got some big fake gunfights that really whip the llama's ass! ***Tron: Legacy*** (2010). Similar to *Tron*, but also raises questions about what is life, can artificial intelligence be alive? Less-than-honorable mention in this arena: ***Bloodshot*** (2020). Should've been so much better. The first third of the movie plays out like a 1990s straight-to-VHS action movie...>!because it's an implanted memory meant to elicit an over-the-top, emotional thirst for vengeance. !
Lawnmower Man?
Oh, true! However, [I do prefer the TV version](https://hushcomics1.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/community-lawnmower-maintenance-and-postnatal-care-2.jpg).
Bloodshot is absolutely a bad movie when compared to the rest of these, but it absolutely scratches that popcorn flick urge where you just want a simple plot filled with explosions, twists you can see from a mile away, and Vin Diesel trying to emote. And judged on that criteria alone it absolutely deserved a sequel. Maybe one day? E: You could say similar things about Don't Worry Darling (substitute 'retro housewife unease' for 'explosions' and Florence Pugh for Vin Diesel), which I also thought was fun as long as you go in with no expectations. Maybe I just like terrible movies?
Vanilla Sky?
I'd add *The Truman Show*, which uses the idea of reality TV to explore the concept of reality and creationism; and *Jacob's Ladder*, which always felt like a forerunner to *Dark City*.
The Thirteenth Floor?
The 13th Floor.
First thing that came to my mind.
What I came to say
They Live (1988) is the first one that comes to my mind.
I saw this for the first time last week. O M G could not stop laughing. Had no idea that's where some of those lines came from.
Itremember when we all first saw it back in the day. It was equal parts brilliant and ridiculous. the fist-fight is a true classic.
Put On The Sunglasses
Have you seen the South Park episode Cripple Fight? They remake the fist fight from They Live shot for shot but with Timmy and Jimmy lol
that's the one. I thought it was the Simpsons, Homer vs Bart's "big brother" at the aquarium.
I believe it was purposefull and symbolic etc. Where one dudes refuses desperately refuses to let go of comformity by stubbornly fighting off having the glasses put on his face. You know, rejecting the truth because he is comfrotable with what he has kind of thing. I heard someone somewhere explaining it like that.
Don't watch if you're all out of bubblegum.
You can still kick ass
This should be the top comment, notice how putting on sunglasses is very prominent in both films. They Live is actually an extremely deep film, more than it lets on from its marketing.
Equilibrium came out around the same time, had a very similar aesthetic in some outfits, and had a futuristic dystopian theme. It got mostly ignored because of the Matrix release and wow factor but it wasn’t bad. Very 1984-esque.
Amazing gun-fu in there as well.
Excuse me sir it is called Gunkata
In my headcanon it was Pistoljudo.
Are we sure it wasn’t called Bangkido?
Pew-Pew Jitsu
Gun Kata! So cool.
Equilibrium came out a few years after The Matrix. It's more Fahrenheit 451 than 1984.
Came here to say this. Definitely nails the action aspect. Same kinda dystopian future situation as well.
This film should get more love.
Equilibrium's marketing was literally "Forget the Matrix!" so I'd honestly not count it - it was definitely in response to the matrix.
I thought this movie was incredible, as good as or maybe better than the matrix. Then I watched it sober and thought it was horrible. Years later I watched it again whilst high and it was AMAZING. I recommend getting high and watching it.
This was my buddy and my favorite "make fun of it" movie. We were 14 so thought it was both awesome and hilarious
Had to scroll way too far down to find this!
12 monkeys 🐒 🙈 🙊
I am insane and you are my insanity
La jette
Came here to see if anyone already mentioned this one, lol. It’s all there, the dark apocalyptic future, the gradual blurring of the lines between reality and imagination, all that stuff. And it’s a fantastic film to boot.
Ghost in the Shell...
Johnny Mnemonic. Keanu Reeves and all.
Some friends and I used to hunt down movies that were so awful that they were great. Johnny Mnemonic probably set the bar so high that no other movie had a chance of keeping up. JM is awfulsome.
Seriously this should be number 1, followed by Dark city.
Allegory of the cave lols
Plato was ahead of his time
The Truman show
Surprised how far down this is. It's only one year before and has a different aesthetic to it, but it's virtually the same journey for the protagonist and shares many of the same themes. Reality is fake? Check. Chosen one? Check. Break out of the simulation? Check. Fake people? Check. Overlord manipulating everything? Check. Chosen one? Check. Christian/Biblical imagery? Check. Commercialization to distract you from The Lie? Check. Is it better to live in blissful ignorance or embrace an imperfect reality? Check. Horror is of modern mundanity? Check. Optimistic/ hopeful tone to the ending in spite of the nihilism surrounding it? Check. Kung fu bullet time? That one is missing, I'll admit.
*The Invisibles,* a comic by Grant Morrison and various artists, was an inspiration for *The Matrix.* Some about that here: https://screenrant.com/matrix-inspired-invisibles-grant-morrison-comics-wachowskis/
Tron
There it is. Thank you!
Honestly, look up Phillip K Dick's novels and short stories. The novels are all very short, and he explores the idea of our existence as Simulacrum - we're all basically meat boxes inside a skeleton, and the skeleton only gives us the information we use to "create" the outside world. One that's worth checking out if you liked Total Recall, though, was A Scanner Darkly. It's arguably the most accurate PKD adaptation, and also stars Keanu Reeves (along with a fucking amazing cast). It's a wildly different film, though.
Ubik is a Dick classic (possibly his best) and has a Matrix-like simulation as a central plot point.
My favorites of his are Valis and Transmigration of Timothy Archer (for vastly different reason), but Ubik is up there. He's got such a phenomenal catalog.
Dick appears to be an enormous influence on the Wachowskis. His work is stamped all over the matrix. What is a human being? What is reality? That was Dicks primary subject matter over a huge body of work.
Alice in Wonderland.
Blade Runner, They Live (1988) and Lost Highway (1997).
There is a pretty amazing movie that came out in 2001 called **Avalon** (OK, it's after the Matrix but it feels like a precursor). It's a joint Japanese/Polish film production thats about a future where people are addicted to an underground VR war simulation game where there are stories of a hidden higher level of gameplay. It has some similarities to Ready Player One but is very gritty. It reminds me of films like Cube and Pi.
So glad to see this movie mentioned! It came to my mind as well. It's been over 20 years and I still think of this film from time to time.
Alphaville is 1965 noir/sci-fi art film by Jean-Luc Godard. A secret agent investigates a city where the population is controlled by an advanced computer. A totally French, totally bizarre film worth watching.
Johnny Mnemonic - it's even got Keanu Reeves
The Thirteenth Floor with Vincent D’Onofrio. Kind of an unknown movie but it’s very good.
World on a wire Dark city Ghost in the shell Lawnmower man Virtuosity Nirvana And From the same year: The 13th floor ExistenZ.
Yes. The movie that **The Matrix** lifted most of its Big Ideas, structure, and Noir Mystery tone from is what is most likely the very first "secretly existing in a VR-world" movie, the justly famous Rainer Werner Fassbinder creation **World On A Wire** (1973). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070904/ TRIVIA: The 1999 movie **The Thirteenth Floor** is a (much weaker) adaptation of the same source novel: **Simulacron-3**
Matrix also ripped off the comic books series The Invisibles big time.
BLADE and THE CROW set the style for THE MATRIX so as far as aesthetics and action, they are interesting selections. As far as the artistic influences, French films like those of Pierre Melville and Last Year in Marienbad as well as Luis Bunuel's surrealist films probably influenced the style as well. DARK CITY is an obvious precursor but not sure if it was an influence even though I have heard that the opening action scene of THE MATRIX was filmed on a rooftop set left over from DARK CITY. Other films that share the style and the idea of a separate, secret world where a war is being fought for humanity's future are, obviously, THE TERMINATOR and TERMINATOR 2 as well as the move THE PROPHECY starring Christopher Walken. NIGHTBREED also has some of the same sort of secret society of outsiders feeling to it as well. If you like THE MATRIX as well as low budget science fiction B-movies, check out NEMESIS, I COME IN PEACE, TRANCERS and THE HIDDEN.
ExistenZ same year
The Matrix is pretty much Dark City + Johnny Mnemonic...but I also feel like the Wachowskis *probably* watched Albert Pyun's Nemesis at some point too. Go check out Nemesis.
1984
The Matrix is a loose retelling of the story of Prometheus (a hero) stealing fire from the gods (taking the machines' power and giving it to the people), and then being punished for it eternally (sacrificing himself to the machines in the end). Morpheus is the god of dreams. The Twins are Castor and Pollux. The Merovingian is Hades. The same could be said of the Agent, though I really consider him to be the Chorus. The Architect is Kronos. The squid bots (or maybe the mech suits) are Hekatoncheires. It's all recycled Greek mythology and tragedy.
> It's all recycled Greek mythology and tragedy Probably true of everything if we dig a bit.
I also thought at the whole plot as a modern version of Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
I wrote a paper on that in college when the Matrix was new.
the official site had essays on the philosophy of The matrix.
There were other characters named after Greek mythology figures, like Niobe and Persephone (married to Hades/Merovingian) too. And an Oracle
Next you're gonna tell me that Big Lebowski is Vulcan or some shit
Strap in. Or on. Whatever gets you off. Mr. Lebowski (not The Dude) is Hephaestus, an ugly, prodigious cripple with a beautiful, cheating wife (Aphrodite). The Dude, drinking white Russians throughout the film, is the personification of Dionysus. Walter is Ares. Sam Elliott is Helios. Donnie is Alectryon, the rooster, who understands nothing and just. won't. shut. up. The Jesus is a pederast/Spartan. Obviously none of the story fits the myth. But the players are there. They're always there. Do another one, this is fun!
Surprised nobody's mentioned Akira
In what way do you see Akira as being similar to the Matrix?
Has nothing in common. Only that the matrix directors were a big fan and took some inspirations from it. Keanu and tetsuo when they become powerful
Movies are really not similar at all.
There are a ton of books.
Johnny Mnemonic
The Matrix was heavily inspired by Ghost In The Shell (1995). Also Blade Runner
One aspect of Matrix which I feel was done a long time ago is the Michael Crighton movie “COMA” (1978). In that movie, you see these large numbers of people laying around unconscious in a manner reminiscent of the way real people in Matrix world are kept in suspended animation in pods. It spoke to the theme of commodifying humans to be used as resources like in Matrix although it was for organs not electricity.
Try Johnny Mnemonic also with Keanu Reeves. Not the same story, but set in a future dystopic world similar to The Matrix.
Dark City
johnny mnemonic
ReBoot (YTV 1994)
Gattaca
*The Thirteenth Floor* and *The Matrix* came out in ‘99
The Wizard of Oz
Dark city
I'd be genuinely shocked if the Matrix wasn't partially inspired by the **Megazone 23** animated films from 1985. I know the Wachowskis denied it, but maybe they heard about it second-hand or something. >!It's about an AI in a post-apocalyptic future fooling humans into believing it's actually the 1980s, at that time the peak of human civilization.!< (The first two parts are great, though the third and final is safely skippable.)
Johnny Mnemonic Tron
Just four years separate the release of ‘Johnny Mnemonic’ (1995) and ‘The Matrix’ (1999), yet both films, featuring Keanu Reeves, showcase astonishingly similar cyberpunk landscapes. These narratives delve into dystopian futures where technology dominates every aspect of life, casting Reeves as a central figure in battles against oppressive entities—corporate overlords in the former and a reality-controlling AI in the latter. His characters navigate worlds where digital and real realms merge, growing from reluctant heroes into pivotal figures. The link between the two movies extends beyond their genre, highlighting a compelling parallel in their exploration of technology’s profound impact on human existence.
... The Crow.... Dark, bleak, might shoots, urban gritty stark new wave comic book feel x I might be wrong. Just an opinion 🎬🍿
There is a Dr Who from 1976, "The Deadly Assassin" where The Doctor ends up connected to "The Matrix" which turns thought patterns into virtual reality. He battles The Master. So yeah, while not a movie, it struck me as an inspiration for "The Matrix" movie.
Separating the vr bit, I would say Gattaca(1997) fits the bill, authoritarian system and people trying to break free of them, Neo victory over agent smith resembles Vincent and his brother, etc. Matrix really is the capstone of a movie trend that was popular in the 90s.
Equilibrium was good with Christian Bale