If this technological revolution “candidate”, which is the teaser of our near future, respects our lives as much as mobile phones, we may not be much different from the characters in the films we recommend below.
Note: In this list, we did not feel the need to recommend the productions that everyone watched, such as The Matrix and Black Mirror. Yes, some of the suggestions are still popular for some, but we tried to include productions that even cinephiles will come across for the first time. If you like the productions that deal with such topics, you may even like the low-rated productions on the list. Let’s also remind that; Although they seem to be related to this subject, we have excluded “dream” movies such as Inception and Vanilla Sky.
Virtual Reality Movies and Series:
- The Peripheral
- Ready Player One (Start)
- Upload
- Sword Art Online
- eXistenZ (Existence)
- Tron: Legacy
- The Thirteenth Floor (13th Floor)
- Ghost in the Shell
- Surrogates
- The Congress
- Summer Wars
- Dark City
- The Cell
- Serial Experiments Lain
- Total Recall
- (True Hero)
- Gamer (Player)
- S1m0ne
- Welt am Draht (Lying World)
- belle
Our first suggestion is one of the popular works of the last period: The Peripheral
- Year: 2022-
- Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Gary Carr, Jack Reynor
- Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller, Mystery
- IMDb: 7.6
- Editor rating: 7.5
Adapted from William Gibson’s novel of the same name; The story takes place in two different times in the near and far future. A connection can be created between these two timelines thanks to a device. Season 2 of the show is awaited.
One of Steven Spielberg’s masterpieces: Ready Player One (Start)
- Year: 2018
- Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe
- Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
- IMDb: 7.5
- Editor rating: 7.5
In 2045, the world is collapsing and people are searching for reality in virtual reality ‘OASIS’. The creator of OASIS, James Halliday, starts an in-game treasure hunt after he dies and announces that he will leave the OASIS to whoever wins this hunt. The movie tells the story of our young hero Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) joining this treasure hunt and competing with other actors. “Ready Player One” offers both a nostalgic journey and reveals the virtual reality potential of the future.
Although the 2nd season was disappointing, we hope that it will recover with the 3rd season: Upload
- Year: 2020 –
- Cast: Robbie Amell, Andy Allo, Zainab Johnson, Kevin Bigley
- Genre: Sci-Fi, Comedy
- IMDb: 8.0
- Editor rating: 7.5
Set in the near future, the series is about a world where people can upload their consciousness to a virtual “heavenly” reality after they die. The series centers around Nathan (Robbie Amell), a young man who is on the verge of death from a car accident and is uploaded to a digital world.
Anime set in a future where players are completely immersed in a virtual reality world: Sword Art Online
- Year: 2012 –
- Genre: Animation, Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure
- IMDb: 7.6
- Editor rating: 7.0
The main character, Kirito, is one of several thousand who joins a virtual reality MMORPG game that allows players to control their own bodies. However, players soon learn that they have been ambushed by the game’s creator: they cannot leave the game until they finish the game, and if they die in-game, they will die in real life as well.
Film from the opposite director David Cronenberg: eXistenZ (Existence)
- Year: 1999
- Cast: Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe
- Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb: 6.8
- Editor rating: 6.0
Alegra Geller, creator of a biotech virtual reality game, teams up with a group to test out her new game. However, during an assassination attempt, Alegra is forced to flee with security guard Ted Pikul. Alegra tasks Ted with testing the game, but the lines between the game world and the real world begin to blur. “eXistenZ” offers the audience an experience full of science fiction and suspense by focusing on the perception of reality and technology.
Tron: Legacy, which adds a new interpretation to the 1982 original version with the contribution of today’s technology.
- Year: 2010
- Cast: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner
- Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
- IMDb: 6.8
- Editor rating: 6.0
Kevin Flynn is the president of a video game company in the early 1980s and mysteriously disappears. Years later, his son Sam is drawn into the virtual reality world his father had created, the Grid. Here, Sam is forced to fight against his father’s greatest enemy, Clu and his digital warriors. Tron: Legacy presents a visual feast of virtual reality and technology.
Pioneer of The Matrix and Inception: The Thirteenth Floor (13th Floor)
- Year: 1999
- Cast: Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Vincent D’Onofrio
- Genre: Sci-Fi, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb: 7.0
- Editor rating: 8.0
“The 13th Floor” centers on a computer program based on a virtual reality world that simulates 1937 Los Angeles. Hannon Fuller, the director of the program, is killed by a character inside the program. The program’s director, Douglas Hall, becomes the prime suspect but doesn’t remember anything. Diving into the world of virtual reality to clear himself, Douglas finds the lines between reality and virtual reality blurred.
Anime you don’t need to watch the Scarlett Johansson adaptation: Ghost in the Shell
- Year: 1995
- Genre: Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
- IMDb: 8.0
- Editor rating: 6.5
“Ghost in the Shell” tells the story of the main character, Motoko Kusanagi, who has a cybernetic body and a separate consciousness. Motoko and her team face deep questions about humanity, artificial intelligence, and the nature of consciousness as they track down a cybercriminal, Puppet Master. Virtual reality raises serious questions about consciousness and artificial intelligence.
You will watch a world where people live their daily lives through robot surrogates: Surrogates
- Year: 2009
- Cast: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Ving Rhames, Rosamund Pike
- Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb: 6.3
- Editor rating: 7.0
While humans stay safely at home, their surrogates live in the outside world. However, when a surrogate user dies mysteriously, Detective Greer (Bruce Willis) is forced to return to the real world to investigate the case. The film questions the potential impact of virtual reality and robotics on society.
It can even be watched for Robin Wright’s sake: The Congress
- Year: 2013
- Cast: Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Jon Hamm, Kodi Smit-McPhee
- Genre: Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi
- IMDb: 6.5
- Editor rating: 6.0
An aging actress, Robin Wright, agrees to create a digital version of her youth and sell it to a movie studio. However, the consequences of this decision are more complex than expected. This is a semi-animated movie; virtual reality offers a different perspective on personal identity and celebrity issues.
An anime that brings together the virtual world, real world and artificial intelligence: Summer Wars
- Year: 2009
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- IMDb: 7.5
- Editor rating: 7.0
While on vacation with the family of the girl he loves, young Kenji, a math prodigy, faces a crisis in the virtual world. An artificial intelligence threatens the virtual world, with dangerous consequences in the real world as well. Kenji and his friends must work together to stop threats in the virtual and real worlds.
On the manipulation of our perception of reality and our memories: Dark City
- Year: 1998
- Cast: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt
- Genre: Sci-Fi, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb: 7.6
- Editor rating: 7.5
A man wakes up with no memory of a murder and finds himself in an ever-changing city. As she tries to find her own identity and the truth, she uncovers the secrets of this dark city and the forces that control it.
Presents the potential of virtual reality and the subconscious with a visual feast: The Cell
- Year: 2000
- Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Marianne Jean-Baptiste
- Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb: 6.3
- Editor rating: 6.5
Catherine, a child psychotherapist, is involved in an experiment that has the ability to penetrate a serial killer’s unconscious mind. He enters the comatose killer’s subconscious and tries to locate the last victim the killer kidnapped.
Animes love such topics, then here’s another anime suggestion: Serial Experiments Lain
- Year: 1998
- Genre: Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi
- IMDb: 8.1
- Editor rating: 7.0
Teenage girl Lain receives a mysterious email about “Wired”, the next evolution of the internet. This leads Lain to begin his journey to explore the mysteries of Wired and ask questions about reality, identity and consciousness.
The last adaptation was bad, watch the original: Total Recall
- Year: 1990
- Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Rachel Ticotin
- Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb: 7.5
- Editor rating: 7.5
In the film, which tells the story of a man who questions reality; Our character buys false memories set on Mars and begins to remember himself as a spy. He embarks on a long journey where he cannot trust anyone to understand who he is and what is real. Based on the story by master author Philip K. Dick.
Typical Ryan Reynolds movie: Free Guy (True Hero)
- Year: 2021
- Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi, Joe Keery
- Genre: Action, Comedy, Adventure
- IMDb: 7.3
- Editor rating: 7.5
The video game character Guy realizes his own existence and takes action to change his destiny in the game. Along the way, she learns lessons about life, love and self-determination in an action-packed and fun adventure.
If you have a low score but high interest in the subject, you can give it a chance: Gamer
- Year: 2009
- Cast: Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Ludacris, Amber Valletta
- Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb: 5.8
- Editor rating: 6.0
The movie tells a story revolving around two separate video games involving real humans that humans can control. Kable, played by Gerard Butler, tries to survive to expose the game’s creator’s cunning plans.
From the director of Gattaca, Lord of War and In Time, and the scriptwriter of The Terminal and The Truman Show: S1m0ne
- Year: 2002
- Cast: Al Pacino, Catherine Keener, Rachel Roberts, Benjamin Salisbury
- Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
- IMDb: 6.1
- Editor rating: 7.0
A film director shoots his films using an artificially created actress instead of a real actress. However, this situation causes the artificial intelligence named Simone to become famous and the director loses control.
An old German TV series: Welt am Draht (The Lie World)
- Year: 1973
- Cast: Klaus Löwitsch, Barbara Valentin, Mascha Rabben, Karl Heinz Vosgerau
- Genre: Sci-Fi, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb: 7.8
- Editor rating: 7.0
A computer engineer works on a simulation in which people maintain their existence in a digital world. However, the situation becomes complicated when the people in this simulation become aware of their existence and question whether their world can be a simulation too.
The story of a 17-year-old high school student living in the village with her father, turning into a popular singer Belle in a virtual world: Belle
- Year: 2021
- Cast: Kaho Nakamura, Takeru Satoh, Ryo Narita, Shota Sometani
- Genre: Animation, Adventure, Drama
- IMDb: 7.1
- Editor rating: 7.0
When Belle encounters a “monster” she doesn’t know in the virtual universe called U, which has 5 billion users, she goes on a quest to learn its identity. In this process, the lines between the virtual and real world blur.
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