“Blade Runner”

“Blade Runner” is a sci-fi movie set in the future in which chemical beings called replicants are created but the blade runner, a special position must eliminate them. The replicants can only live for four years and so they come to earth to try to extend their lives. Four replicants currently represent a danger (Leon, Roy, Zhora and Pris) and officially retired Rick Deckard must return to his job as a blade runner and stop them.  Experiments have been done on different replicants to modify their memory and make them believe their human so they don’t become a danger.

Deckard begins his mission of finding these dangerous replicants and eliminate them. After some research he quickly find Zhora and “retires” her.  But then Leon attacks Deckard how is saved by Rachael, a replicant who believes herself to be human. After the situation Rachael and Deckard leave to his apartment, where he promises not to hurt her even through he has strict orders to do so and Deckard ends up seducing her.

Roy and Pris realize their companions are dead and that they need to act quickly. Both replicants decide to go to their creators’ apartment and demand more time but Tyrell, the creator, tells them that is impossible. Tyrell praises Roy for his advanced design but then he is killed by the replicants. Pris and Deckard then meet and Deckard managed to kill her. Roy then enters the room and fights Deckard and the human eventually is left hanging from a rooftop, as he is about to fall. But Roy saves Deckard and then his life ends. Deckard goes to find Rachael and together they leave for an uncertain future. 

“2001: A space Odyssey”

“2001: A space Odyssey” is about how evolution on earth depends on monoliths which are tall, thin and black rectangular objects. The movie implies that it was there object that gave mankind the ability to reason. It is shown how after being in the presence of the object some hominids suddenly learn to use weapons in order to hunt and defend themselves form their enemies and how to walk upright.  Suddenly the movie moves forward million of years for suddenly there are spaceships above Earth controlled by men. There is a space station where a Doctor Floyd meets with other astronauts in order to go to the moon. On the moon he meets with a group of scientist that have discovered a magnetic object that was deliberately buried into the moon millions of years ago.  The object is a monolith identical to the one found by the hominids but when the scientists get close to it, the monolith suddenly emits a loud signal. 

The movie changes setting once again and is now set is a spacecraft in Jupiter with different astronauts that have not learned about the existence of monoliths. The main members of the group are Frank, Dave and HAL9000 (“the perfect computer”).  But suddenly, the computer starts acting in an unusual manner clamming that there technical problems where there appeared to be none. The astronauts begin to be suspicious and start to consider the possibility of deactivating HAL. HAL fails and puts the members of the crew in danger but he won’t let Dave deactivate him for he knows what he is going to do. HAL claims to be acting in such a way because the mission is too important to let it be jeopardized by humans. However Dave does find a way to deactivate HAL and is able to eliminate his memory. Suddenly a video appears on the screen in the video Dr. Floyd explains to the secret purpose of the mission that was known by HAL 9000.  It is then told to Dave that the signal from the monoliths was sent from Jupiter but anything else regarding this object remains a mystery.  In Jupiter Dave finds another monolith that aligns with the moons and ta light appears and then Dave begins to move through time and space until he finds himself in an odd room where an older multiple version of himself resides and the monolith is in the center of the room. Dave is then transformed into a fetus in a sac that floats into space; the movie implies that Dave will be the next big step in evolution. 

"The Matrix"

This movie (and the saga) is quite known and it symbolizes sci-fi through its characters, the science and technology involved in it. The movie is about how man created machine and then the machine developed artificial intelligence and decided to rebel against mankind. Man and the machine began a disastrous war that caused man to eliminate the sky, which was the source of energy for the machine. But the machine found a new source of energy that was man itself. With the new energy the machine won the war and was able to gain control over the human specie. However they needed the energy coming from the human and so they simply connected their brains into the matrix. The matrix is the reality humans think they live in but is simply a simulated reality.

Neo a computer expert suspects that something is wrong in the world he lives in. He then tries to get in contact Morpheus who appears and promises Neo to show him the truth if he decides to wants to know the truth. Neo decides to follow Morpheus and then learns the truth. There is a group of rebels that are not connected to the machine and that unplug other for the Matrix and have as an objectives to end the machines control. But in the Matrix there are computer programs in the form of human beings whose mission is to stop the rebels. But one member of the Morpheus crew decides he doesn’t want to fight anymore and therefore betrays the crew who are captured in the Matrix after consulting with the Oracle if Neo is the chosen one who will end the war, as Morpheus believes he is. The Oracle implies that Neo will be the One in another life. The computer programs come for Morpheus and kill almost all of the members of the crew but Neo saves Morpheus and dies. But he is revived and then it become clear that he is the chosen one. Neo and Trinity, who works with Morpheus and survives, decide they are in love with each other but most importantly Neo is determined to stop the Matrix.

“Metropolis”

The movie “Metropolis” is an old movie that portrays a futuristic dystopian society. The movie is silent and in black and white this can make the movie monotonous at times (especially since it is a futuristic movie), but this is due to the time the movie was created and so it cannot be judge under those standards. The movie is a Sci-Fi movie and show advances in technology due to scientific research, especially for the time it was created in.

In the dystopian society portrayed by the movie there are two cities divided by the two social classes. The privileged social class are the intellectuals, who live under better circumstances and on a higher level. While the working class keep work on the machines that sustenance live on the main city, they live in a lower level and under unsuitable circumstances. The gap between social classes is huge and the working class has had enough and are planning a revolt against the intellectuals. That was the situation when Freder and Maria meet. Freder is one of the intellectuals and the son of the leader of the intellectuals while Maria belongs to the working class and is helping plan the revolt. Freder is immediately captivated by her and decides that he must be with her. But in order to be together they must beat the obstacles that they find along the way. Including Freder’s father and a fake Maria that is a robot created by a scientific in order to discredit Maria with the workers in order to stop the revolt. In the end the workers do revolt and then the intellectuals decide to sink the children of the workers; the real Maria that had been taken captive escapes and helps the safe the children with the help of Freder. Freder becomes an intermediary between the workers and the intellectuals just as Maria had believed from the start. And of course Freder and Maria end up being together.

The movie has elements of originality in the futuristic society it creates, especially having done so a long time ago. However, the plot wasn’t very creative or innovative. The storyline of the movie was two people falling in love but are kept apart by social circumstances and therefore have to face a series of obstacles to be together; and the lovers are also in charge of eliminating hostilities between their social groups.  Maria and Freder are simply star-crossed lovers in a futuristic dystopian society.