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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K. Dick
One of the Catalysts to the Cyberpunk Genre. Although it was neither a critical or commercial success. Dick pulled the themes of cyberpunk together to create a narrative. A narrative so compelling that the 1982 Film Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford was based on it. -
Tron- Steven Lisberger
On a production budget of 17 Million dollars, Tron grossed 33 Million. The film's commercial success was hindered by the expensive CGI (for the time) and a release delay that left it competing with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Blade Runner. The film however went on to become a a cult classic and even became popular with a more mainstream cloud through TV distribution. -
Blade Runner - Ridley Scott
Centering on the theme of empathy and humanity set in a not so bright future, Blade Runner is a staple in any Cyber Punk list. As mentioned before, strong competition during release lead to Blade Runner only just covering costs in Domestic earnings at the cinema. It however went on to become iconic. The film also succeeded in bring the despondent future of cyberpunk to the big screen for all to... enjoy? -
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Gibson is praised for coining the word 'cyberspace'. Originally used in his short story 'Burning Chrome', Gibson continued to use the term in the Neuromancer. Neuromancer is a truly dark view on the life of a hacker or console cowboy as Gibson calls them. -
Robocop - Paul Verhoeven
Verhovenn's film looks at future where everything has been privatised. Corporate interest and financial shareholder sanctification are held paramount to the well being of those the services are intended for. Even though violence and explosions fill the screen to entertain a wider audience but digging a little deeper reveals some interesting themes. The movie was a strong chimerical success, pulling in 4 times its budget at the box office. -
Total Recall - Paul Verhoeven
Total Recall of an adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's story 'We Can Remember It for You Wholesale'. Neither are new to the genre and the film leaves the viewer in the perfect state of 'Ah so did that just happen?' -
The Matrix - Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
Grossing at almost 500 million US worldwide, the matrix was a major commercial success. It brought audiences serious questions about existence and consciousness while entertaining them with excitingly designed stunts. The film was followed by 2 more sequels with less critical acclaim but perhaps the original set the standard too high. -
Looper - Rian Johnson
Looper doesn't follow a lot of the cyberpunk convention or costuming but narrative revolves around the theme of the use of technology. In this case, time travel. 'What would we do with time travel?' Looper asks. Would we stop catastrophic events? Would we give our past selves an almanac of horse racing to get rich? Not in Looper. In Looper's future, time travel is used to murder people and dispose of bodies. Nice and cheerful just like Cyberpunk likes it.
