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Best Cyborg Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of cyborg cinema — measured across 1,609 indexed frames from 18 films, against a 408,752-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Cyborg films over-index on cyborg, robot and visor — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    RoboCop (1987)

    Paul VerhoevenDP Jost VacanoIMDb 7.6TMDB 7.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    In a violent, near-apocalyptic Detroit, evil corporation Omni Consumer Products wins a contract from the city government to privatize the police force. To test their crime-eradicating cyborgs, the company leads street cop Alex Murphy into an armed confrontation with crime lord Boddicker so they can use his body to support their untested RoboCop prototype. But when RoboCop learns of the company's nefarious plans, he turns on his masters.

  2. 2

    Ghost in the Shell (1995)

    Mamoru OshiiDP Hisao ShiraiIMDb 7.9TMDB 7.9See in full on FrameThrower →

    It is the year 2029. Technology has advanced so far that cyborgs are commonplace. In addition, human brains can connect to the internet directly. Major Motoko Kusanagi is an officer in Section 9, an elite, secretive police division that deals with special operations, including counter terrorism and cyber crime. She is currently on the trail of the Puppet Master, a cyber criminal who hacks into the brains of cyborgs in order to obtain information and to commit other crimes.

  3. 3

    Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

    James CameronDP Adam GreenbergIMDb 8.6TMDB 8.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    Over ten years have passed since the first machine called The Terminator tried to kill Sarah Connor and her unborn son, John. The man who will become the future leader of the human resistance against the Machines is now a healthy young boy. However, another Terminator, called the T-1000, is sent back through time by the self-aware computer system, Skynet. This new Terminator is more advanced and more powerful than its predecessor and its mission is to kill John Connor when he's still a child. However, Sarah and John do not have to face the threat of the T-1000 alone. Another Terminator (identical to the same model that tried and failed to kill Sarah Connor in 1984) is also sent back through time to protect them. While John teaches the Terminator about humanity, Sarah tries to prevent the creation of Skynet and the Machines.

  4. 4

    Terminator Genisys (2015)

    Alan TaylorDP Kramer MorgenthauIMDb 6.3TMDB 6.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    When John Connor, leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured time-line. Now, Sgt. Reese finds himself in a new and unfamiliar version of the past, where he is faced with unlikely allies, including the Guardian, dangerous new enemies, and an unexpected new mission: To reset the future.

  5. 5

    Upgrade (2018)

    Leigh WhannellDP Stefan DuscioIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    Grey's a stay-at-home mechanic, whose wife is Asha. One day, Grey asks Asha to help him return a car to his client. Whilst Grey and Asha's self-driving car malfunctions, it crashes. Grey watches helplessly as Asha bleeds to death next to him. Grey returns home - a widowed quadriplegic, under the care of his mother. His wife's death and the inability of police to identify their attackers cause him to sink into a depression. After a suicide attempt, he's offered to have high tech chip implanted - enabling him to walk. Though initially hesitant, he's persuaded to have the surgery.

  6. 6

    The Fifth Element (1997)

    Luc BessonDP Thierry ArbogastIMDb 7.6TMDB 7.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    In the twenty-third century, the universe is threatened by evil. The only hope for mankind is the Fifth Element, who comes to Earth every five thousand years to protect the humans with four stones of the four elements: fire, water, Earth and air. A Mondoshawan spacecraft is bringing The Fifth Element back to Earth but it is destroyed by the evil Mangalores. However, a team of scientists use the DNA of the remains of the Fifth Element to rebuild the perfect being called Leeloo. She escapes from the laboratory and stumbles upon the taxi driver and former elite commando Major Korben Dallas that helps her to escape from the police. Leeloo tells him that she must meet Father Vito Cornelius to accomplish her mission. Meanwhile, the Evil uses the greedy and cruel Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg and a team of mercenary Mangalores to retrieve the stones and avoid the protection of Leeloo. But the skilled Korben Dallas has fallen in love with Leeloo and decides to help her to retrieve the stones.

  7. 7

    Logan (2017)

    James MangoldDP John MathiesonIMDb 8.1TMDB 7.8See in full on FrameThrower →

    In 2029 the mutant population has shrunken significantly due to genetically modified plants designed to reduce mutant powers and the X-Men have disbanded. Logan, whose power to self-heal is dwindling, has surrendered himself to alcohol and now earns a living as a chauffeur. He takes care of the ailing old Professor X whom he keeps hidden away. One day, a female stranger asks Logan to drive a girl named Laura to the Canadian border. At first he refuses, but the Professor has been waiting for a long time for her to appear. Laura possesses an extraordinary fighting prowess and is in many ways like Wolverine. She is pursued by sinister figures working for a powerful corporation; this is because they made her, with Logan's DNA. A decrepit Logan is forced to ask himself if he can or even wants to put his remaining powers to good use. It would appear that in the near-future, the times in which they were able put the world to rights with razor sharp claws and telepathic powers are now over.

  8. 8

    The Terminator (1984)

    James CameronDP Adam GreenbergIMDb 8.1TMDB 7.7See in full on FrameThrower →

    Sent back from a dystopian 2029--where the cold machines have conquered the entire world--to 1984 Los Angeles, the indestructible cyborg-assassin known as the "Terminator" commences his deadly mission to kill humankind's most important woman: the unsuspecting Sarah Connor. However, from the same war-torn post-apocalyptic future comes a battle-scarred defender--Kyle Reese, a brave soldier of the human Resistance Army--bent on stopping the cybernetic killer from eliminating the world's last hope. But, the Terminator has no feelings, he doesn't sleep, and above all, he won't stop until he carries out his grim task. Does our future lie in our past?

What cyborg films are made of

How much more often each element appears in a cyborg frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — cyborg is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.

  • cyborg100.0×
  • robot19.6×
  • visor14.8×
  • cables10.9×
  • skyscraper6.6×
  • helmet4.2×
  • tactical vest4.0×
  • neon light3.9×

How cyborg films are shot

Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate cyborg from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 11%low anglevs 5% baseline
  • 13%interior indeterminatevs 7% baseline
  • 26%dayvs 42% baseline
  • 15%high keyvs 12% baseline
  • 52%nightvs 43% baseline

Method

Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 1,609 frames from 18 films carrying the cyborg label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (408,752 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.

Machine-readable: /api/list/cyborg

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These are real movie frames, shown at reduced resolution. All rights remain with their respective owners; they appear here for study, commentary and education under fair-use principles. How these are meant to be used