Robot Movies We’ve Loved!
In honor of Astroboy, out October 2009,
TME presents the following list for your consideration:
Robot Movies We’ve Loved!
Virtuosity
Russell Crowe is the bad guy, Sid 6.7, a computer construct grown of the minds of serial killers and given a body that’s near indestructible. Denzel Washington is the ex-cop released from prison to track Sid down. This is one of the few instances where Crowe gets to play a seriously bad guy, and does he have fun with it!
Lost In Space
The Robinson Family is off to chart deep space in the hopes of finding a new home for humanity, only to encounter all sorts of setbacks. Including, one of my favorite parts and the reason this movie is on this list, the amazingly creepy mechanical spiders that attack the ship! Danger Will Robinson! And Gary Oldman as Dr. Smith too, cuz he rocks.
An 80’s movie to be sure, but adorable nevertheless. Number 5 is a robot designed and built by the military to be a weapon, but a bolt of lightning presents it with a personality and a freedom of sorts, and the civilians he befriends do their best to help him escape the military, who want their weapon back. Not big on special effects, but big on heart, this movie’s sequel is actually just as wonderful as the first; see them both.
Aliens
Right, not exactly the first movie you’d think of about robots, is it? However, the Alien series most often had androids modeled after humans, and that most certainly qualifies. Especially my favorite, Bishop, the droid played by Lance Henrikson, who was even in the first Alien vs. Predator movie as the original human template of Bishop!
Blade Runner
This movie is about as close to a total robot classic as you can get, at least for our generation. The Replicants, the Blade Runner hunting squads, the amazingly quotable one-liners, and of course a fantastic cast. Not necessarily a favorite of mine, but even I can see the intrinstic value in a movie that helped launch an entire generation of Sci-Fi FAN-atics.
Screamers
Yes yes I know, noone’s ever heard of this but me. Still, Screamers is a little-known gem of B-grade Sci-Fi and Horror, and it’s all (mostly) about robots! Basically two groups of people are fighting over resources on a particularly nasty planet, and one group decides to make robots to uh, get their point across, shall we say. And of course the military guys who come in after the air assault to finish the job, find a lot more surprises than they bargained for. Like the fact that the original robots who make those awful noises when they kill (hence the movie name) yeah, they’re mutating.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Again, not exactly a robot movie. However, Hitchhiker’s does have everyone’s favorite depressed robot Marvin, voiced by the marvelously stoic Alan Rickman! That, combined with some of the greatest one-liners out there (Don’t Panic!), an odd mesh of dry British wit and Americanized humor, and a wacky cast make for a great movie and not one to miss!
Batteries Not Included
Who hasn’t seen this movie at least once? I remember watching it when I was quite young and falling in love with the cuddly little robots who flew around and let the tenants of the building tend them like they were pets. Reminiscent of WALLE, while Batteries may be a lot older, this movie retains a timeless message about love and caring that everyone should agree with.
Robocop
Ah yes, another timeless movie from our generation. Actually, this one generated a whole series of movies, and yes of course, I’ve seen and own them all. For a whole generation of folk who loved movies like Terminator (who isn’t on this list because that’s TOO obvious), who wouldn’t love a movie about a dead policeman resurrected as a robotic cop out for elite justice?!
Spaceballs
And finally, because I just have to since I know most of you are wondering where the heck the Star Wars references are, I present Spaceballs! If comedy is what you want, it’s hard to beat a feminized version of C3-P0, complete with Joan Rivers voice and one-liners like, “Sorry, I had to make a pit stop. I’m so excited, I couldn’t hold my oil!”
Written by Alicia Glass
Leave a Reply