10 Movies That Were Influenced by Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’

In 1927, at the height of the German Expressionism film movement, legendary German auteur Fritz Lang released the silent sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis. The influential and pioneering effort is about a futuristic city divided between the working class and the elite city planners. In this simultaneously utopic and dystopic city, the son of the city’s mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate society’s differences.

From its complex story to its intelligent themes to its revolutionary special effects and production design, Metropolis made a hell of an impact and immediately started influencing future filmmakers in not just sci-fi but all sorts of genres. These are the ten movies that were most clearly influenced by Fritz Lang’s game-changing masterpiece, ranked according to how strong and clear the influences were.

10

‘Modern Times’ (1936)

Directed by Charles Chaplin

It didn’t even take a decade for Metropolis‘s indelible mark on cinema to be seen. For a great example, one needn’t look any further than Charles Chaplin‘s adorable farewell to silent cinema, Modern Times. It’s a (mostly) silent slapstick comedy, the likes of which only Chaplin knew how to make, about the Tramp struggling to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young woman.

Modern Times is one of the best silent comedies ever, and the bittersweet and genius way it says goodbye to both the era of silent cinema and the iconic character of the Little Tramp is as meaningful as it is delightful. Elements of Metropolis can be found in its subtle Marxist themes and its industrial-heavy, highly imaginative production design. They’re small elements, but the influence is evident nonetheless.

9

‘The Fifth Element’ (1997)

Directed by Luc Besson

Luc Besson is one of the most important French filmmakers of modern times, and his most iconic Hollywood movie may just be The Fifth Element. It’s a sci-fi adventure epic set in a colorful future, where a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon that can keep Evil and the ambitious and cruel Mr. Zorg at bay.

The movie is campy, fresh, and delighted to be as over-the-top as it is. It’s the kind of film that knows perfectly when to take itself seriously and when to let itself go. It also features one of the most enrapturing sci-fi worlds of the ’90s, one that’s very clearly an evolution of the ideas presented by Lang and his team in the complex city of Metropolis. It’s this vast world that makes The Fifth Element one of the most rewatchable sci-fi flicks of the ’90s.

8

‘Batman’ (1989) and ‘Batman Returns’ (1992)

Directed by Tim Burton

Before 1989, Batman—and the archetype of the superhero as a whole, really—was seen as goofy and a lot less serious than he’s seen today. It was Tim Burton who started to change that with his adaptation of the Caped Crusader. His Batman sees the Dark Knight on a battle of wits against the homicidal Joker, while the sequel, Batman Returns, follows him as he deals with a deformed criminal called the Penguin, who’s wreaking havoc across Gotham with the help of a cruel businessman.

In the same way that Metropolis is one of the most important sci-fi movies ever, Batman and Batman Returns are two of the most essential superhero films in the genre’s history. Their darker and more mature take on the titular character proved that superheroes could be serious, too, and their uniquely twisted and Gothic version of Gotham City influenced the visuals of many future superhero movies. Of course, this Gotham wouldn’t look the way it does without Metropolis. The team behind the films has directly stated that they were influenced by the iconic look of Lang’s magnum opus, from the instantly recognizable skylines to the elegant Art Deco interiors.

7

‘The Matrix’ (1999)

Directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski

The world had never seen anything like the Wachowskis‘ The Matrix when it came out shortly before the turn of the century. With its revolutionary visual effects, distinctly philosophical story, and idiosyncratic action, it tells the story of Neo, a computer hacker who’s led into a forbidding underworld where he discovers the shocking truth: that the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.

The Matrix is one of the most influential action movies of all time, but like many sci-fi movies before and since, it’s anyone’s guess just how different it would look without the influence of Metropolis. After all, the grand techno-paranoid themes, dystopic hyper-industrial city, and many of the sci-fi elements presented in the movie feel almost like elaborate homages to Lang’s film. The Matrix doesn’t wear its influences on its sleeve; indeed, it invented a visual language that’s wholly unique. However, Lang’s influence is clear in the film’s thematic and narrative core.

6

‘Megalopolis’ (2024)

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Last year, after literal decades of working tirelessly on getting it made and then distributed, Francis Ford Coppola finally managed to let his Megalopolis loose unto the world. It may not have lived up to expectations, but this highly divisive yet undeniably ambitious drama is likely to be intensely talked about for many years to come. It’s about the duel between Cesar Catalina, a brilliant artist in favor of a Utopian future for the city of New Rome, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero. Between them lies Julia, Franklyn’s daughter, whose loyalty is divided between her father and her beloved.

Whether Megalopolis is the groundbreaking work of a visionary or one of the most overambitious disasters in cinematic history is a debate for another day. The fact of the matter is that Megalopolis is strikingly reminiscent of Metropolis, and not just because their titles sound alike. The design of New Rome, both in its architecture and social hierarchies, was clearly influenced by Lang’s masterpiece, and there are even quite a few narrative and thematic parallels.

Watch on Apple

5

‘Blade Runner’ (1982)

Directed by Ridley Scott

Though not everyone loves what he’s doing nowadays, it’s absolutely undeniable that, once upon a time, Ridley Scott was one of the biggest and most influential filmmakers in the industry. Some might say that his best work is the cult classic Blade Runner, about a cop who must pursue and terminate four androids who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.

In multiple ways, Blade Runner is just as influential as Metropolis, with the passage of time only increasing its standing. Credit where it’s due, though: Lang’s film had some very visible effects on what Scott envisioned for Blade Runner. The futuristic city looks similar, the visual style of both movies feels familiar, and the complex social structures of Scott’s masterpiece also resemble those of Lang’s.

4

‘Dark City’ (1998)

Directed by Alex Proyas

The criminally underrated cyberpunk thriller Dark City is about a man struggling with memories of his past, which include a wife he can’t remember and a nightmarish world no one else seems to wake up from. Exquisitely noirish, visually and narratively inspired, and anchored by a grim atmosphere, Dark City understandingly proved polarizing over the years but deserves more attention than it usually gets nowadays.

One of the best dystopian stories of ’90s cinema, Dark City may be a lot gloomier than Metropolis, but comparisons between both movies have been drawn by critics and audiences alike since 1998. The general tone of the film is somewhat similar, the themes critiquing the idea of a utopia and a metropolis look alike, and the visual style clearly borrows elements from Metropolis‘s iconic look.

3

‘Brazil’ (1985)

Directed by Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame is one of the most important exponents of cinematic surrealism. As such, his movies tend to be delightfully weird and as funny as one might expect from an alum of the beloved British comedy troupe. One of his best works is Brazil, one of the best steampunk films ever, a dark comedy about a bureaucrat in a dystopic society who becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.

There are lots of Expressionist influences and thematic parallels of class struggle, rebellion, and dehumanization between Brazil and Metropolis.

The effects of Metropolis on the way Gilliam’s imagination shows up on screen throughout Brazil are obvious. The hyper-industrialized Art Deco design of the city is the most evident element, but there are also lots of Expressionist influences and thematic parallels of class struggle, rebellion, and dehumanization. In certain spots, Brazil even feels like an update of Metropolis‘s intellectual concerns for more modern audiences.

Rent on Amazon

2

‘Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope’ (1977)

Directed by George Lucas

Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope, originally titled just Star Wars, needs no introduction. It’s a space opera representation of Joseph Cambell’s archetype of the Hero’s Journey, following farmboy Luke Skywalker as he joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, his Wookie companion, and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire’s planet-destroying battle station while attempting to rescue Princess Leia.

Metropolis also somewhat follows the Hero’s Journey, but that’s only where the similarities begin. Star Wars defined ’70s sci-fi cinema in lots of ways, and it couldn’t have done so without the influence of Lang’s masterpiece. The themes of class struggle and rebellion are obviously similar, as is the presence of droids, a Chosen One, and a prophetic figure. C-3PO’s original design was even a direct homage to Metropolis‘s robot Maria, so there’s no denying that without Fritz Lang, George Lucas‘s creation might have looked very different.

1

‘Frankenstein’ (1931)

Directed by James Whale

Throughout the ’20s, but particularly during the ’30s, Universal released lots of monster movies that went on to become some of the genre’s most iconic. If there had to be a single one that people might call the most impactful, though, it might just be Frankenstein. This adaptation of Mary Shelley‘s legendary novel about a doctor who assembles a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses may not be scary anymore, but it’s still every bit as good as it was back in ’31.

It’s one of the most influential horror movies of all time, released just four years after Fritz Lang released Metropolis, but it’s still fair to say that the German masterpiece had a massive effect on how James Whale‘s classic ended up looking. The Expressionist visual style, the industrial production design, the themes of hubris and techno-paranoia, and the creation scene that’s strikingly similar to the creation of Maria in Metropolis are all parallels between Lang’s film and Whale’s Frankenstein. If the fact that Metropolis didn’t even take half a decade to start influencing cinema from across the Atlantic doesn’t prove that it’s one of the most influential sci-fi films ever made, what possibly could?

NEXT:The Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time, Ranked