Top Five Cyberpunk Movies
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- 7 minutes read - 1412 wordsSometimes you just need a movie to get your Cyberpunk on. What better way than to catch some of the best Cyberpunk movies out there. Anyone running Shadowrun should have at least seen these movies mentioned in order to get some insight into the minds and feelings surrounding the game as its inception. Some of these are newer movies but based on much older properties.
What is Cyberpunk?
This is a question that is often asked when it comes to trying to wrap your head around the Cyberpunk Genre. Often it’s referred to as “High Tech, Low Life” which does encapsulate the idea rather well. To me, cyberpunk is the struggle for the common person to push against a society that has been devoured, body and soul, by consumerism, and is hiding its blemishes under neon lights and synthetic moods.
It’s someone eating a reconstituted hamburger substitute that’s been warmed in a vendor stalls microwave outside of the apartment you can barely afford because kitchens aren’t allowed on this block after a 13 hour shift that costs you 1/5th of what you made that day. It’s going into that same apartment and rushing like hell because your 15 minutes of hot water subscription window got moved and you forgot to set your watch because the ads to make alarm changes are so long and mind numbing that you can’t bring yourself to do it again (if only you could afford that watch subscription again). It’s laying down and getting to slot the relaxation chip that you have been waiting for all day safe in your bed, finally feeling that sinking awfulness in your stomach go away for a blissful 30 minutes until it shuts off and you’re finally asleep, waiting for it all to happen again.
Why are Movies and Shows so important?
When it comes to establishing a mood, movies are the best of graphic design and blend of music. It can give you a context and an understanding in a single scene that would take you paragraphs to explain. It also allows you to see the media that helped shape generations of writers. When you watch some of these movies, you are able to live a sliver of history that the writers of Shadowrun and other Cyberpunk games have. This kind of inspiration is hard to achieve in any other way.
I’m going to go through my movie list with a small bit of why it’s important in its own right. I highly recommend you find a way to watch these movies. I’ll be linking each to its own amazon page for purchase if you feel like you need to own these for yourself.
Movies
BladeRunner (1982)
Setting the bar for cyberpunk visuals, Blade Runner can be seen in every major work for fiction since its release. The constant rain, gleaming neon and black leather became hallmarks of art for this concept going forward. The story involves understanding the difference between man and machine and what it means to have a soul. One of the things that has always stood out to me about this movie is the brutalist buildings that the corporations have. Something about the looming mega structures scattered among choked streets of neon that really does it for you. If you haven’t seen this movie, you need to stop reading this article and start watching it. Do it now. I’ll wait.
RoboCop (1987)
To me, no movie can rise above the high tech, low life example like Robocop. The amount of subtle and powerful moments in this movie to drive the wedge between humanity and capitalistic nightmare is the subject of a future blog post. The quick premise for those who haven’t watched is a police officer “killed” in the line of duty is brought back to fight crime on the behalf of a privatized corporation. It’s a human being getting jammed into a cybernetic body in order to serve a corporation at the cost of his humanity and memories.
There is a specific part in the movie that has always stuck with it (That they removed in the remake!!) where they are examining the body of the officer and realize that one of his arms could be saved and wouldn’t need to be replaced with cybernetics. One of the leaders of the project tells the scientist to just cut it off and throw it out, they want the arms to match for aesthetic purposes.There isn’t much more capitalistic inhumanity than ditching an arm of a survivor because it won’t look as nice in the brochure.
Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
If you ever wanted a Shadowrun movie, this is as close as you’re going to get. It’s got everything but the magic! Johnny is a data smuggler with special head ware memory for encrypting data too sensitive to be passed through the net. So it’s his journey as a deal goes off the rails and all the sudden everyone is gunning for Johnny.
The ending is kind of whacky, definitely pretty right field, but if you wanted to see what the Japanese mafia would look like. It’s heavily themed and beautifully done with bleeding edge tech from the 1980s. This to me is the historical representation of what Shadowrun should look and feel like. Another must see!
Dredd (2012)
Not many saw this movie, which is a shame because the Megacity 1 definitely has a lot to offer in themes and feelings. Dredd is a street judge (judge, jury and executioner) in the dystopian nightmare that is the Judge Dredd series. This movie offers action, high powered weapons and futuristic drugs. The hive city is a bit over the top for a typical Shadowrun city, but it definitely has that feeling of the “high tech and low life” feel as you see how a lot of people in Peach Tree live.
Lonestar officers have a very similar role in Shadowrun as Street Judges do in Dredd. A lot of things get “settled in the streets” vs going to court, even though the law is taken into consideration. Another cool aspect is that Dredd works with a Psychic, which definitely gives you the flair of having a “mage on the team”.
District 9 (2009)
Streaming [Currently Free on Prime!], Purchase
This is going to feel pretty left field for a lot of people, but hear me out! Johannesburg’s shanty town is the perfect representation of the Redmond Barons. If you replace the aliens with meta humans and alien tech with magic, you would have a great Shadowrun storyline. If Cyberpunk is pushing back against the oppressive haves with whatever you have, this puts the punk in Cyberpunk.
Something to consider with this movie as well, is it takes you on a whole trip with a “haver” being brought down to the “have noter”. You get to see how a “Punk” is born, having everything taken away from you and having to make due with what was scrounged together by others living in the same way. It’s about finding out who you are once all of that shiny polish is removed and what you are willing to do in order to get yourself some place safe and your future secured.
Bonus Movie:
Split Second (1992)
A movie very few people have heard of but has had a huge impact on Shadowrun is the movie Split Second. Rutger Haurer plays a cop who is living in a world that after global warming and heavy rains, London is flooded and the killers have come out to play. The main character is hunting a serial killer that has killed his partner. Soon it become apparent that the hunter is turning to the hunted as some supernatural elements come to play.
The plot itself does belong in the shadowrun adventure, but what really sells the movie is the sets, mood and design. There’s designs were beloved enough that they made their way into shadowrun universe. Take a look at the main character from the SNES and
the main character from Split Second!
While we are speaking about the SNES game (Which may become a post in its own right.) have you ever seen the end of it? It was brutally hard but someone made a full walk through for it on one of my favorite YouTube channels. Check you UCanBeatVideoGames’ take on Shadowrun
Are there any movies you consider top of their class for Cyberpunk?