feelsalike.comSign in
Metropolis poster

Movies that feel likeMetropolis (1927)

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

If you loved Metropolis, the closest films we have are Fahrenheit 451 (1966), THX 1138 (1971) and Cloud Atlas (2012). All three share Metropolis' contemplative and cerebral feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Testament (1983).

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Fritz Langcontemplativecerebralbleak
6 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · MUBI · MGM Plus

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

See it on the Mood Map

When is Metropolis streaming? →

If Metropolis hit the spot, these will too

Fahrenheit 451 poster
Fahrenheit 451
1966 · dir. François Truffaut
🍅 82%★ 7.2drama · science fiction

The same preoccupation in both: dystopia

The difference: Made in the 1960s, in a different era of the craft

In the future, the government maintains control of public opinion by outlawing literature and maintaining a group of enforcers, known as “firemen,” to perform the necessary book burnings. Fireman Montag begins to question the morality of his vocation…

THX 1138 poster
THX 1138
1971 · dir. George Lucas
🍅 72%★ 6.6science fiction · drama

One thread runs through both: the future

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.

Cloud Atlas poster
Cloud Atlas
2012 · dir. Lilly Wachowski
🍅 65%★ 7.3drama · science fiction

Both are built on the same subject: the future

A set of six nested stories spanning time between the 19th century and a distant post-apocalyptic future. Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future. Based on the award winning novel by David Mitchell. Directed by Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis.

Advantageous poster
Advantageous
2015 · dir. Jennifer Phang
🍅 87%★ 6science fiction · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: dystopia

In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter, Jules, do all they can to hold on to their joy, despite the instability surfacing in their world.

Slaughterhouse-Five poster
Slaughterhouse-Five
1972 · dir. George Roy Hill
🍅 82%★ 6.8drama · science fiction · warPrime Video

The same mix in both: stillness, then ideas

The difference: Sits closer to war than Metropolis does

Billy Pilgrim, a veteran of the Second World War, finds himself mysteriously detached from time, so that he is able to travel, without being able to help it, from the days of his childhood to those of his peculiar life on a distant planet called Tralfamadore, passing through his bitter experience as a prisoner of war in the German city of Dresden, over which looms the inevitable shadow of an unspeakable tragedy.

All Quiet on the Western Front poster
All Quiet on the Western Front
1930 · dir. Lewis Milestone
🍅 98%★ 8.1drama · war

Bleak drama, and it commits to that

The difference: Easier on the ideas than Metropolis

When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.

Rollerball poster
Rollerball
1975 · dir. Norman Jewison
🍅 55%★ 6.5science fiction

Science fiction with a pulse of ideas, in both cases

In a corporate-controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of its powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the game.

Code 46 poster
Code 46
2003 · dir. Michael Winterbottom
🍅 52%★ 6.1drama · science fiction · thriller

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

In a dystopian future, insurance fraud investigator William Gold arrives in Shanghai to investigate a forgery ring for "papelles", futuristic passports that record people's identities and genetics. Gold falls for Maria Gonzalez, the woman in charge of the forgeries. After a passionate affair, Gold returns home, having named a coworker as the culprit. But when one of Gonzalez's customers is found dead, Gold is sent back to Shanghai to complete the investigation.

The Quiet Earth poster
The Quiet Earth
1985 · dir. Geoff Murphy
🍅 75%★ 6.7drama · science fiction · thriller

Bleak science fiction in both cases

After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.

The War of the Worlds poster
The War of the Worlds
1953 · dir. Byron Haskin
★ 7science fiction · action

Science fiction built on ideas, twice over

The residents of a small town are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills, until they discover it is the first of many transport devices from Mars bringing an army of invaders invincible to any man-made weapon, even the atomic bomb.

The Giver poster
The Giver
2014 · dir. Phillip Noyce
🍅 34%★ 6.4drama · science fiction

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.

Testament poster
Testament
1983 · dir. Lynne Littman
🍅 90%★ 6.9drama · science fiction

Both sit in the same bleak register

It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks — many suffer radiation poisoning — the Wetherly family tries to survive.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Metropolis’ defining feeling.