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Best Man vs machine Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of man vs machine cinema — measured across 965 indexed frames from 14 films, against a 408,752-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Man vs machine films over-index on robot, cables and skyscraper — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    I, Robot (2004)

    Alex ProyasDP Simon DugganIMDb 7.1TMDB 7.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    In 2035, techno-phobic homicide detective Del Spooner of the Chicago PD heads the investigation of the apparent suicide of leading robotics scientist, Dr. Alfred Lanning. Unconvinced of the motive, Spooner's investigation into Lanning's death reveals a trail of secrets and agendas within the USR (United States Robotics) corporation and suspicions of murder. Little does he know that his investigation would lead to uncovering a larger threat to humanity.

  2. 2

    The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

    Lana Wachowski, Lilly WachowskiDP Bill PopeIMDb 6.7TMDB 6.7See in full on FrameThrower →

    Neo finds himself trapped between the Matrix and the Real World. Meanwhile, Zion is preparing for the oncoming war with the machines with very little chances of survival. Neo's associates set out to free him from The Merovingian since it's believed that he is the One who will end the war between humans and the machines. What they do not know is that there is a threat from a third party, someone who has plans to destroy both worlds.

  3. 3

    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.

  4. 4

    Metropolis (1927)

    Fritz LangDP Günther RittauIMDb 8.2TMDB 8.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    Sometime in the future, the city of Metropolis is home to a Utopian society where its wealthy residents live a carefree life. One of those is Freder Fredersen. One day, he spots a beautiful woman with a group of children, she and the children quickly disappear. Trying to follow her, he is horrified to find an underground world of workers who apparently run the machinery that keeps the Utopian world above ground functioning. One of the few people above ground who knows about the world below is Freder's father, John Fredersen, who is the founder and master of Metropolis. Freder learns that the woman is called Maria, who espouses the need to join the "hands" - the workers - to the "head" - those in power above - by a mediator who will act as the "heart". Freder wants to help the plight of the workers in their struggle for a better life. But when John learns of what Maria is advocating and that Freder has joined their cause, with the assistance of an old colleague. an inventor called Rotwang, who turns out to be But their nemesis goes to works towards quashing a proposed uprising, with Maria at the centre of their plan. John, unaware that Rotwang has his own agenda., makes plans that include shutting down the machines, with the prospect of unleashing total anarchy both above and below ground.

  5. 5

    Ex Machina (2015)

    Alex GarlandDP Rob HardyIMDb 7.7TMDB 7.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    Caleb, a 26 year old programmer at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.

  6. 6

    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.

  7. 7

    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?

  8. 8

    2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

    Stanley KubrickDP Geoffrey UnsworthIMDb 8.3TMDB 8.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    "2001" is a story of evolution. Sometime in the distant past, someone or something nudged evolution by placing a monolith on Earth (presumably elsewhere throughout the universe as well). Evolution then enabled humankind to reach the moon's surface, where yet another monolith is found, one that signals the monolith placers that humankind has evolved that far. Now a race begins between computers (HAL) and human (Bowman) to reach the monolith placers. The winner will achieve the next step in evolution, whatever that may be.

  9. 9

    Westworld (1973)

    Michael CrichtonDP Gene PolitoIMDb 6.9TMDB 6.8See in full on FrameThrower →

    An amusement park for rich vacationers, it provides its customers a way to live out their fantasies through the use of robots that provide anything they want. Two of the vacationers choose a wild west adventure. However, after a computer breakdown, they find that they are now being stalked by a rogue robot gunslinger.

What man vs machine films are made of

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

  • robot18.4×
  • cables14.2×
  • skyscraper9.1×
  • sunglasses8.2×
  • concrete wall3.9×
  • leather jacket2.9×
  • chair2.3×
  • skin1.7×

How man vs machine 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 man vs machine from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 11%low anglevs 5% baseline
  • 24%naturalvs 43% baseline
  • 12%interior indeterminatevs 7% baseline
  • 24%dayvs 42% baseline
  • 16%high keyvs 12% 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 965 frames from 14 films carrying the man vs machine 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/man-vs-machine

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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