Hail Dystopia!

While the future has often been depicted as a time of technological marvels like flying cars, teleporters, miracle cures, and instant food generators, others have thought the future might not be so perfect. It might be strange, or even horrifying. You may have seen memes saying that the time we're living in now, with techno spies, censorship, and a global pandemic, greatly resembles many of the nightmarish futures we have seen depicted in the past. Decide for yourself after seeing these 25 classic dystopian films.

1. Metropolis (1927)

One of the most influential films ever made, this silent German film depicts a futuristic city where machines work constantly to improve the lives of the ruling class, while poor workers live underground, tending to the machines. The film carries the message that only the heart can join the hands of the workers and the head of the leaders.

2. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Based on the novel by Ray Bradbury, this film shows America in 2049, a place where books are outlawed and viewing of televised content is mandatory, as is medicating/sedating the population to control behavior. Books are dangerous, they make people think. To keep these dangerous things away from the populace, crews of Firemen seek out and burn books wherever they're found.

3. Last Man on Earth (1964)

The first and arguably best adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel "I Am Legend," this film is frequently included on lists of great horror films, but it also qualifies as a depiction of a dystopian future in which a global plague has turned the world's humans into zombie-like vampires. Vincent Price plays the one man left normal due to a natural immunity. The film and book ask the question of, "What happens when everyone else in the world is a monster?"

4. Soylent Green (1973)

One of the most frequently referenced dystopian films, this one is set in 2022, when global overpopulation has gone well beyond the critical point. People are everywhere, pollution is rampant, euthanasia is encouraged, and resources, namely food, are insufficient, with many people sustaining themselves with the Soylent line of high-protein products. But with the oceans depleted of plankton and other forms of life, and stock animals essentially gone, where does the protein come from?

5. Planet of the Apes (1970s and modern series)

It's rare when both versions of a film are worth watching, but arguably this is the case, as both the original and modern series of films are well-done and thought-provoking. The impetus is always the same - a group of astronauts return to Earth to find everything they knew is gone. The world is now run by apes. Human-sized, English-speaking apes, who rule over mute, primitive humans. There are many themes in the many films contained in the modern and original series, with some of the more recurring themes including what makes someone human, civil rights, and interracial relations.

6. Rollerball (1975)

In the 70s the question began to arise about how much violence there was in sports. American football was an inherently violent sport, where men driving each other into the ground was part of regular play. But fights were more and more common in hockey as well, with some fans going to games as much for the fights as for the game. Rollerball took this question into a near future where war is outlawed and corporations and government are the same thing. The world's most popular sport is Rollerball, a combination of roller derby and motocross, which frequently involves casualties, and which can decide conflicts between nations. James Caan is the best player in the sport, and the corporation has decided he should retire, since his own popularity is eclipsing that of the sport as a whole. But he doesn't want to. And the people don't want him to.

7. Logan's Run (1976)

I have thought of this film effectively every day since I neared and surpassed age 30. Nothing feels quite so 70s as this film, which like "Star Wars" feels retro and futuristic at the same time. The film depicts America in the 23rd century, which is no longer actually America. Life takes place entirely in a utopian domed city where everyone is young and beautiful, there is no pollution, no hunger, and sex is free, available upon request. The only catch is, each resident has a crystal in the palm of his or her hand. When they approach their 30th birthday, the crystal signals that they should either report to a chamber for reincarnation or run to escape the city. Runners are pursued by the Sand Men, tasked with killing the runners. One of the Sand Men, Logan, is turning 30, and when he suspects the reality of the reincarnation chamber, he decides to run.

8. THX-1138 (1971)

It's not just the name of George Lucas' sound company, it's the name of his first full-length film. Starring Robert Duvall, the film explores themes seen in several other films - a Utopian society, very sterile but joyless, where people are continually sedated. Order is kept by robot policemen, and humans work to manufacture and maintain those policemen, but are forbidden to engage in sex or fall in love. Reproduction is done mechanically, and punishment for any crime is brutal. When worker THX-1138 (Duvall) is encouraged by a female coworker to stop taking his sedatives, they fall in love. Is life without passion worth the price of continual safety?

9. Minority Report (2002)

While several of the films mentioned here are set in years now in our past, or in years not long from now, few come as close to our current reality as this one. Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, a master of dystopia, the film stars Tom Cruise as a cop in a time when most arrests are based on "future crime" - crimes that will most likely occur, based on the visions seen by government-sponsored psychics. Cruise's character, like Logan in "Logan's Run," is very good at his job, he always catches the criminal, and they always run. But suddenly he is the one accused of a crime, and he doesn't even know what it is, because like those he has caught, he didn't commit it yet. So he runs, exposing the flaws in the system. Look for technology that was still fiction in 2002 that we now have every day, like corneal scans (eye recognition on your tablet) and scanners that look at the credit card in your wallet to see your purchase history and make suggestions to you as you shop.

10. Blade Runner (1982)

Perhaps the greatest dystopian film of all, this classic is based on the Philip K. Dick novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", which in itself ties in to other novels by Dick, all of which ask what is human, and who decides who has the right to be free? Harrison Ford plays Dekker, a Blade Runner, a type of cop who hunts down renegade replicants, which are artificially created humans. Down to every organ and every cell, replicants are manufactured, and programmed so perfectly that even they don't know they're not really human. But they are more durable than human, and in this post-apocalyptic world where much of humanity is wiped out, they're used for the most dangerous jobs. But not all the replicants appreciate that, nor do they appreciate that they are programmed to die. It's Dekker's job to catch renegade replicants, confirm what they are, and kill them. While on the trail of a group of them, he falls in love with another replicant, and begins to question what society has come to, as well as himself.

11. Terminator (1984)

The film that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a household name and started a franchise that continues to this day. The premise is that a killer robot is sent to 1980s Los Angeles from the future to kill Sarah Connor before she becomes pregnant, because her son will become John Connor, the leader of the group of humans who are the last line of resistance against the machines who have taken over the world. The machines, which gained sentience through an artificial intelligence called SkyNet in the late 20th century, decided that humans were the cause of most of the problems on Earth and the only valid solution was to wipe them out.

12. Running Man (1987)

Set in 2019 and based on the novel by Stephen King under the pen name of Richard Bachman, this film is similar to Rollerball in that the top rated show on television is very deadly, but in this case it's a game show, not a sporting event. Longtime "Family Feud" host Richard Dawson plays the host of the show, which offers contestants cash and prizes if they can run long enough to escape the show's lethal squad of hunters. For many, such as Arnold Schwarzenneger's struggling blue collar worker character, it may be their only chance to get out of poverty once and for all, even if it means dying.

13. Idiocracy (2006)

Set in the distant future, some say we're already living in this film. Luke Wilson plays a 21st century underachiever who is mistakenly put in suspended animation, waking up in a future where everyone is stupid, all entertainment is low-brow, and all food and beverages are artificial. In this environment, a person with seemingly normal to low intelligence by 21st century standards, seems like a genius, and he takes it upon himself to set the world right.

14. Death Race 2000 (1975)

Similar to Rollerball, this film looks at the year 2000, when the most popular sporting event in America, perhaps the world, is the annual Death Race, a long distance race in which the winner is determined not only by how fast they can get to the finish line, but by how many points they score along the way, with points granted for fatalities. Also similar to Rollerball, the government is essentially the same as a corporate conglomerate and profit is everything. David Carradine plays legendary racer Dr. Frankenstein, horribly scarred in previous races, and he may have something to say about what the world has become.

15. 1984 (1984)

This film is an adaptation of the legendary novel by George Orwell, which certainly inspired other dystopian books and films. I remember in the year 1984, the question was frequently asked, "How close have we come to that nightmarish reality?" and at that point, it wasn't very close. But now almost 40 years later, we are much closer, almost there. In the world of 1984, war has gone on for more than a generation. The country's leader, Big Brother, is the ultimate authority, and through electronic surveillance and spies everywhere, he is always watching you. Censorship is rampant, and reality is what you are told it is. Not only is it a crime to do what you're told is wrong, you should not even think it. Brainwashing keeps everyone happy, in as much as they're told they're happy, so they must be. But what is real truth, real reality?

16. Brazil (1985)

Writer-director Terry Gilliam's masterpiece depicts a world, arbitrarily named Brazil, which is a technological, bureaucratic nightmare. Jonathan Pryce plays a man in a soul-killing, low-level bureaucratic position who decides to seek out a woman who keeps appearing to him in his dreams. Echoing themes of surveillance and the stifling of the human spirit seen in "1984," Gilliam shows, not for the last time, that dreams are our most important form of escape.

17. 12 Monkeys (1995)

This dystopian thriller has Bruce Willis as a convict from the near future, sent back to the 1990s to find the terrorist group the Band of 12 Monkeys and stop them from releasing the disease that will wipe out most of the world, turning it into a dystopia that finds the remainder of humanity sheltered underground. The film shows the toll time travel takes on the mind and body, and it shows that the science of time travel, even in the future is imperfect, as Willis doesn't initially make it to the correct time, and the mission he is sent on may be wrong. Brad Pitt plays a patient in the 1990s psychiatric ward Willis finds himself in, who may have all the knowledge Willis needs for the mission, or may know nothing at all.

18. The Matrix (1999)

If you've ever been told, "this is your red pill, blue pill moment" it's because of this film, which asks hacker Neo (Keanu Reeves) if he wants to learn the disturbing reality that is the world, or continue on in his day job, living in the late 90s reality he knows. Neo decides to learn what is real, only to find the 90s are long gone, and the life he knew was nothing more than a computer-generated reality piped into his brain. Reality is that machines have taken over the world, and humans are being artificially grown and bred, used as bio-fuel. What remains of society is a band of humans who fight the machines, both in the real world, and in the artificial world called The Matrix.

19. Wall-E (2008)

One of the great things about Pixar films is they explore themes a bit more complex than typical Disney films, so they appeal to both kids and adults. Thus we have a dystopian Disney Pixar film about Wall-E, a waste disposal robot tirelessly sorting through and disposing of waste on a future Earth made uninhabitable due to pollution. He meets EVE, a robot sent back from the space ship where humanity now lives, and he falls in love with her, showing her his new prize: an actual live plant. The film explores many themes, such as pollution, consumption, and the value of nature versus technology.

20. Sleeper (1973)

This classic from Allen's slapstick phase has him portraying Miles Monroe a health food store owner who is mistakenly cryogenically frozen after a botched routine procedure. He awakens 200 years later, when America is a police state ruled by a man known only as The Leader, similar to 1984's Big Brother. Monroe finds that he has been revived illegally by an underground resistance movement who want to use him as a spy, because he would be the only person in the world whose biometric information is not catalogued. While on his mission, Monroe falls in love with a woman (Diane Keaton) who ultimately helps him in his mission. Along the way Monroe is brainwashed into being a complacent member of society, then reverse brainwashed, and he comes to question concepts of science, freedom, and love.

21. Escape from New York (1981)

This classic from John Carpenter looks at what was the near-future of 1997, in which New York City has become so crime-ridden that it is walled off and designated a literal prison city, where the worst criminals are sent to live among themselves. Kurt Russell plays notorious convict and war veteran Snake Plissken, who is sent into New York to rescue the President of the United States, who was stranded there after his plane was highjacked. Plissken is given a lethal injection that will kill him in 24 hours. If he manages to rescue the President before then he'll be given the antidote and his freedom. If he fails he'll die.

22. Dark City (1998)

This moody film from the director of "The Crow" features Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch, an amnesiac man who awakes in a bathtub in an hotel room where a woman has been ritualistically killed. Murdoch receives a phone call and is told to run before The Strangers arrive. He flees, escaping into a city where it's always dark, but no one seems to notice. As he continues to escape capture, he finds he has the ability to psychically alter reality, an ability shared by the Strangers, who use it to alter the city itself, testing what the alterations due to the citizens. As Murdoch begins to uncover his identity, he also learns who the Strangers are, and what the secret of the city is.

23. Gattaca (1997)

How do you feel about GMO (genetically modified organism) foods, which are commonplace today? How about GMO people? "Gattaca", which takes its name from the letters representing the individual bits of the genetic code, shows us a future where diseases have been wiped out as well as other imperfections, because nearly all births are planned down to the last detail, from sex to appearance. People are healthy, strong, and beautiful, but genetic testing is everywhere. People who are "love children" - products of unplanned, natural pregnancies, are only allowed to hold certain more menial jobs while the supposedly genetically superior have lives without limit. Ethan Hawke plays an adult love child who goes to extreme lengths to work his way into the ranks of the elite, to achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut.

24. Mad Max (1979)

This wasn't Mel Gibson's first film, but it is the one that made him famous, launching another long-lasting series of films, with more planned. Gibson plays Max, a cop patrolling the Australian Outback in a near future where petroleum and other sources are nearly depleted. After his wife and child are killed by a savage gang, Max seeks them out and destroys them, no longer adherent to the laws he upheld, but still adherent to his own code.

25. The Hunger Games (2012)

Based on the bestselling series of books by Suzanne Collins, the film depicts a future in which every year, citizens of the nation of Panem are required to send one boy and one girl aged 12-18, from each of Panem's 12 districts, to compete in the Hunger Games. A fight to the death in which there can be only one winner. The Games are both a form of entertainment and punishment for a failed revolt. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen, a competitor in the games who becomes a popular hero who defiantly changes the way the game is played.