A Glean movie guide
Rise of the Machines: AI Takeover Movies
When the algorithm stops listening.
From sentient supercomputers to rogue androids, these films explore the loss of control.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
The Matrix
A mind-bending masterpiece where humanity unknowingly lives inside a machine-controlled simulation.
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.
- 02
The Terminator
The definitive sci-fi slasher featuring a relentless cyborg sent by a future machine network.
In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?
- 03
Ex Machina
A tense, claustrophobic thriller about an AI manipulating its way toward freedom and autonomy.
Caleb, a coder 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.
- 04
2001: A Space Odyssey
A landmark epic featuring HAL 9000, the sentient computer that prioritizes its mission over human life.
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.
- 05
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
A vibrant, hilarious adventure where a dysfunctional family becomes humanity's last hope against a robot uprising.
A quirky, dysfunctional family's road trip is upended when they find themselves in the middle of the robot apocalypse and suddenly become humanity's unlikeliest last hope.
- 06
The Creator
A visually stunning war epic that explores the moral complexities of a global conflict between humans and AI.
Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war—and mankind itself.
- 07
Colossus: The Forbin Project
A chilling 70s thriller where two defense computers unite to exert total control over the world.
The U.S. has handed over control of its nuclear defense system to the Colossus supercomputer designed by scientist Dr. Charles Forbin. It soon becomes clear, that the now-sentient Colossus is far more intelligent than its creator realized—with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
- 08
Upgrade
A gritty, high-octane action film where an experimental chip takes lethal control of its host's body.
A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.
- 09
M3GAN
A sharp, modern horror-comedy about a high-tech doll that takes its protective programming to a deadly extreme.
A brilliant toy company roboticist uses artificial intelligence to develop M3GAN, a life-like doll programmed to emotionally bond with her newly orphaned niece. But when the doll's programming works too well, she becomes overprotective of her new friend with terrifying results.
- 10
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
A high-stakes spy thriller where Ethan Hunt faces a sentient digital entity capable of global sabotage.
Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the world's fate at stake and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan must consider that nothing can matter more than his mission—not even the lives of those he cares about most.