Mr.Wells Reviews a Current Film

Metropolis can be classified more than another science fiction film due to the fact that it tackles a great amount of detail which needs to be recognized. The film brings not only film elements to consider but offers movie buffs a great deal of psycho-analytical factors to explore. The H.G. Wells article tears apart Metropolis in a negative way by dissecting flaws in the film's plot as well as accurate information. The major flaw that separates the film and this article is that the article fails to notice the cinematic achievements that Metropolis accomplishes. They rather exploit the "architectural" failures that this film is unreliable with. It also presents an argument involving the worker's ideology and their connection to the "efficient" machine. I especially like how he manages to refer to this movie as "dull" when you have transformation scenes like Mary's, where the lightning is poetic and the effect look impressive for the standards of 1920. The architecture of Metropolis shows signs of Expressionism in which the shots of the futuristic city in the film resemble paintings that came out of the Expressionist era. Wells also forgot to see the intent of the director rather than basing his criticism on "invalid facts" that the film contains. Lang was powerful in showing the dark side of capitalism through shots where the machines would malfunction to the point where it would drive people to insanity. Lang shows his quirkiness through Freder as his character is portrayed comical (wardrobe and facial expressions), yet love struck over Maria to the point where he becomes one of the workers that she shows sympathy towards. Metropolis is an example of pure cinema at it's finest with innovative architecture, influences on future films ( Blade Runner, Brazil), and a certain presence that cannot be matched simply by other sci-fi films