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Metropolis

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Metropolis (1926)

99%
100%
92%
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99 %
Reviews Counted: 72 Fresh: 71  Rotten:1 Average Rating: 8.8/10
 
Consensus: A visually awe-inspiring science fiction classic from the silent era.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins

Synopsis: METROPOLIS, a visionary and elaborate spectacle by director Fritz Lang is an epic projection of a futuristic city divided into a working and an elite class. Its exhilarating climax brings the city to its knees, as the classes clash against each other. In the 21st century, a de-humanized... METROPOLIS, a visionary and elaborate spectacle by director Fritz Lang is an epic projection of a futuristic city divided into a working and an elite class. Its exhilarating climax brings the city to its knees, as the classes clash against each other. In the 21st century, a de-humanized proletariat labors non-stop in a miserable subterranean city beneath a luxurious city of mile-high skyscrapers, flying automobiles, palatial architectural idylls, tubes and tunnels. With stunningly inventive special effects, Lang's allegorical narrative and architectural vision creates a highly stylized vision of a not-so-unlikely future (especially for 1926 when the film was made). As the elite frolic above the clouds, thousands of miserable workers toil night and day inside the belly of the gigantic machine that runs the entire city. Metropolis is controlled by a sinister authoritarian whose son, Freder, rejects his father's callous philosophy and attitude towards laborers. Meek though they are, the workers are encouraged by Maria, a wistful young woman who wills her comrades to embrace patience and silent strength. Upon discovering her influence upon the workers, a mad scientist kidnaps Maria and creates a robot in her image that will incite the workers to revolt. As Freder races against time to save Maria and curtail the damage done by her doppelganger robot, Metropolis is enveloped in chaos and the classes are brought together in a breathtaking and highly moralistic climax. [More]

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Starring: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Gustav Frihlich

Director: Fritz Lang

DVD Info

Release:

Oct 11, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Keep Case

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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5/5

A flawed but fascinating masterpiece.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/30/07
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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N/A

Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, George Lucas and other socially concerned artists imagining the future are indebted to Lang.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/30/07
Philip French
Observer [UK]
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5/5

A fantastical monument to Fritz Lang's megalomania, this sci-fi silent remains one of the gems of the genre.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/30/07
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
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No director before (and not that many since) had worked so closely with cameramen and designers to achieve such dynamic visual and spatial effects.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/09/06
Derek Adams
Time Out
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5/5

Unmissable.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/20/03
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
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5/5

Essential viewing.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/17/02
Nick Hilditch
BBC
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The original dystopic movie, the first sci-fi epic; Lang’s skilful juxtaposition of Germanic gothicism with Art Deco resulted in a brilliant motion picture, a classic in every sense.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/01/00
Keith H. Brown
Edinburgh U Film Society
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5/6

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
01/18/08
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York
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5/5

It's a masterpiece, but it's not a sane movie. It's gloriously bonkers.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/13/08
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
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Lang's impossibly vast skyscraper-ziggurats (inspired, it's said, by his first view of the Manhattan skyline) are the blueprint for nearly every science-fiction movie city of the past 30 years.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/17/07
Ed Halter
Village Voice
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The great Fritz Lang created this chilling 1926 evocation of a mechanized utopia run by underground slave labor.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/30/07
Don Druker
Chicago Reader
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The film looks fabulous, and Gottfried Huppertz's original score is another worthy addition.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/30/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
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Don't miss the chance to see this restored masterpiece.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/19/07
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan
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You've seen the rest; now see the best.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/19/07
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine
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Few movies of any era offer so much varied food for thought, cinematically and politically. Its new restoration is a major motion-picture event.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/19/07
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor
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N/A

The most influential science fiction film ever made.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/20/05
Michael E. Grost
Classic Film and Television
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N/A

An amalgam of strident political tract, religious hokum, futurist daydream, and fairy tale.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/21/04
Matt Bailey
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
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5/5

Hey, I think the Giorgio Moroder version of 'Metropolis' is great. Got a problem with that?

Full Review | comment Comment
10/07/04
Phil Hall
Film Threat
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Though at times Teutonically tough-going, Fritz Lang’s German expressionist masterwork exerted a profound influence on art design and the science-fiction genre...

Full Review | comment Comment
09/03/04
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly
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A

Surreal, sprawling, operatic, drawing on biblical and medieval imagery as well as H. G. Wells… Lang's influential pulp allegory colonized a new realm of the imagination.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/09/04
Steven D. Greydanus
Decent Films Guide
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News

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Hot on the heels of news that the original edit of Fritz Lang's Metropolis has been recovered, stills from lost portions...


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• Metropolis at Rotten Tomatoes
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