Several years ago, I wrote a brief post on LetterBoxd highlighting what I thought were the Top 10 Best AI-Themed Movies of all time. Today, I’m going to revisit that list and make some adjustments. Here’s what I wrote more than a year ago:
Way Back in 2024, when the world made sense…
“This week Google launched its new AI platform Gemini and the EU is in the midst of drafting the world's first significant AI regulations. Perhaps more ironically, the Hollywood writer's strike finally ended this week with AI having taken center stage in both the grievances and negotiations - in other words, the movie business was the first place to really take the AI (jobs) apocalypse serious.
And along with all that, we just had the drama with Sam Altman (sounds like a made up name doesn't it) and Open AI while everyone's favorite wacko - Elon Musk - is trying to raise $1 billion for his new AI venture (hopefully that won't turn into another Monkey apocalypse).
But in truth, Hollywood figured all this out a long time ago - and made some great movies to prove it. The ten best of these are included on this list.
Criteria for the list:
The movie must either be explicitly about Artificial Intelligence have the plot revolve around it.
It must a Science Fiction film and the gist of the story must be a cautionary tale.
While it can be about smart robots, the main focus is still on the intelligence itself.
I didn't include the Matrix because it's slightly outside the genre boundary (in other words, it focuses on virtual environments and messiah complexes as well as existential reality). I also excluded biological cyborgs like those in Blade Runner.
Disclaimer - I haven't seen Creator yet and seem to have forgotten about Demon Seed (1977) - need to watch them both. Updated Disclaimer - I’ve since watched it and wasn’t too impressed.”
The 2024 AI Movie Top 10 List:
2001, a Space Odyssey (we’ve covered that in the new RR Blog).
AI, Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Terminator (1984)
Wargames (1982)
Transcendence (2014)
Metropolis (1927)
I, Robot (2004)
Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
Eagle Eye (2008)
M3gan (2022)
Fast Forward to 2025. Who’s out in the new AI Movies List…
So much has changed in the span of just one year; it’s hard to know just where to start. We’ve shifted to a Dystopian reality where a madman runs the country (and apparently the world, or maybe it’s two madmen - and not the advertising kind) in some sort of Idiocracy and AI is taking everyone’s jobs - and oh - it’s really, really hot too. Yikes !
I’ve kicked out the following movies from last year just because:
Eagle Eye - it really doesn’t add much to the genre, although it is a good, fast-paced action flick and Shia LeBeouf got really weird (competing with Depp perhaps).
I, Robot - It’s not about the Oscar’s slap; rather the film was tossed upon reflection that it didn’t seem as though the tale was doing Isaac Asimov any favors (didn’t follow the book too well) and it also didn’t seem to expand the genre much.
Transcendence - Ok, I think Johnny Depp is a massive jerk and only an ok actor. But the real reason that this movie is out is because it’s more about the lead character’s intelligence (or lack thereof) rather than AI (it made me wonder if Trump had any intelligence and transferred it to a computer what it would do - well perhaps we don’t need to think about that).
Metropolis - It looks pretty good for 1927, but there’s only so far that you could go before the advent of Talkies - you’re out Fritz. The IT Girl Robot was aswesome though.
M3gan - It’s really clever and funny and creepy - but it doesn’t actually advance the genre except by adding some camp to it. It’s more about creepy dolls than AI - and yes we have a Creep Dolls Genre here at Raving Reviews that we’ll be looking at later.
The new, 2025 Ranked List (of Best AI-Themed Movies):
2001, a Space Odyssey (we’ve covered that in the new RR Blog).
AI, Artificial Intelligence (2001) - Still an unappreciated masterpiece (the Life’s work of Stanly Kubrick handed off before his death to none other than Steven Spielberg). We’ll be looking at it here soon.
The Matrix (1998). I decided that this had to go back in (despite my initial criteria). It’s a classic about sentient programs in a virtual universe - it definitely fits as the fantasy side of AI.
Terminator (1984) - What can you say but, “I’ll be back.”
Archive (2020) - This is a new addition to the list. The film was clever and entertaining and did manage to add some depth to the AI genre.
Wargames (1982) - This movie predicted the tenuous relationship between Cyber security and AI and also predicted what would happen if Ferris Bueller hacked his grades.
Her (2013) - This movie is a bit of a Romcom, which is why I bypassed it before - but now that people are in fact proposing to Chatbots in the real world, it certainly seems somewhat prescient.
Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) - For those who don’t know about this (e.g. everybody), this is an obscure yet sharp early entry to the AI films genre filmed at UC Berkeley and starring Victor from the Young & Restless.
Ever wonder what Victor Newman would do if pitted against a rogue AI… Westworld (and Future World, 1972 and 1976) - These two deserve to be grouped together and both we’re quite innovative for the time. Westworld of course was resurrected as an excellent HBO series (that’s now mysteriously vanished behind paywalls everywhere). These movies were the real inspiration behind Terminator and a lot more. They managed to entertain and encourage some thought back in the day (when most of us were wearing Mood Rings). Oh, and the fantasy scene in Future World between Yul Brynner and Blythe Danner is about the funniest thing you’ll ever see.
Tron & Tron Legacy (1980 & 2010) - At times, this doesn’t seem to be a movie (or movies) about AI, but in fact they are - just highly stylized.
Talk about the Great Replacement! these guys had it pegged all the way back in 1976 (and I think that they should get credit for the spacey chess set rather than Star Wars).
In the next version of this list, I’m going to ask 3 of the top GenAI tools to rank their Top 10 favorite AI-themed movies and then we’ll know what they’re really up to.
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