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The Matrix poster

Movies that feel likeThe Matrix (1999)

Set in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells the story of a computer hacker who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who now rule the earth.

If you loved The Matrix, the closest films we have are I, Robot (2004), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). All three share The Matrix's kinetic and cerebral feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is District B13 (2004).

🍅 83% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Lana Wachowskikineticcerebralbleak
12 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Apple TV

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If The Matrix hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: The Matrix Reloaded (2003) · The Matrix Revolutions (2003) · The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

I, Robot poster
I, Robot
2004 · dir. Alex Proyas
★ 7.1action · science fictionApple TV+

A skeptic uncovering the lie beneath a machine-run world

The difference: A glossy detective story — safer and slicker

In 2035, where robots are commonplace and abide by the three laws of robotics, a technophobic cop investigates an apparent suicide. Suspecting that a robot may be responsible for the death, his investigation leads him to believe that humanity may be in danger.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day poster
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1991 · dir. James Cameron
🍅 90%★ 8.6action · thriller · science fictionPrime VideoParamount+

Machines versus humanity with genre-defining action

The difference: Linear chase thriller — muscle over metaphysics

Ten years after the events of the original, a reprogrammed T-800 is sent back in time to protect young John Connor from the shape-shifting T-1000. Together with his mother Sarah, he fights to stop Skynet from triggering a nuclear apocalypse.

Edge of Tomorrow poster
Edge of Tomorrow
2014 · dir. Doug Liman
🍅 91%★ 7.9action · science fictionParamount+

High-concept sci-fi action where mastering the rules is the weapon

The difference: A war-movie time loop — jokier, less philosophical

Major Bill Cage is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and dropped into combat. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an alpha alien down with him. He awakens back at the beginning of the same day and is forced to fight and die again... and again - as physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop.

Dredd poster
Dredd
2012 · dir. Pete Travis
🍅 80%★ 7.1action · science fiction

Stylized dystopian action executed with total conviction

The difference: One tower, one day — brutal simplicity

In the future, America is a dystopian wasteland. The latest scourge is Ma-Ma, a prostitute-turned-drug pusher with a dangerous new drug and aims to take over the city. The only possibility of stopping her is an elite group of urban police called Judges, who combine the duties of judge, jury and executioner to deliver a brutal brand of swift justice. But even the top-ranking Judge, Dredd, discovers that taking down Ma-Ma isn’t as easy as it seems in this explosive adaptation of the hugely popular comic series.

Ghost in the Shell poster
Ghost in the Shell
1995 · dir. Mamoru Oshii
🍅 95%★ 7.9action · animation · science fiction

The cyberpunk meditation the Matrix openly borrowed from

The difference: Animated and contemplative — questions over kung fu

In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.

Snowpiercer poster
Snowpiercer
2013 · dir. Bong Joon Ho
🍅 94%★ 7.1action · science fiction · drama

A world built as a machine you're meant to read as us

The difference: Grubby and blunt — allegory shouted rather than staged

In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer; a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.

Equilibrium poster
Equilibrium
2002 · dir. Kurt Wimmer
🍅 40%★ 7.3action · science fiction · thrillerParamount+

Trench-coat gun ballet against a reality-controlling regime

The difference: A B-movie echo — style borrowed, ideas thinner

In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the populace with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death. A man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system.

Logan's Run poster
Logan's Run
1976 · dir. Michael Anderson
🍅 58%★ 6.8action · science fiction

Common ground: dystopia

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

In the 23rd century, inhabitants of a domed city freely experience all of life's pleasures — but no one is allowed to live past 30. Citizens can try for a chance at being "renewed" in a civic ceremony on their 30th birthday. Escape is the only other option.

District B13 poster
District B13
2004 · dir. Pierre Morel
🍅 81%★ 7.1action · thriller · science fictionPrime Video

One thread runs through both: martial arts

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than The Matrix does

Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes poster
🍅 64%★ 6.6science fiction · actionNetflix

Both are built on the same subject: dystopia

The difference: Made in the 2020s, in a different era of the craft

64 years before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, Coriolanus Snow sees a chance for a change in fortunes when he mentors Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from District 12.

RoboCop poster
RoboCop
1987 · dir. Paul Verhoeven
🍅 84%★ 7.6action · thriller · science fiction

Corporate dystopia satire where a remade man reclaims his humanity

The difference: Verhoeven's splatter satire — brute irony, not sleek philosophy

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.

eXistenZ poster
eXistenZ
1999 · dir. David Cronenberg
🍅 77%★ 6.8action · thriller · science fiction

Both land momentum and ideas at once

A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.

In the mood for more kinetic?

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The best-reviewed films that share The Matrix’s defining feeling.