--- title: "Metropolis: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/metropolis/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/metropolis" critics_score: 70 critics_reviews: 16 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Metropolis (1927): what the critics said Critics' score 70 from 16 reviews: 11 positive, 2 mixed, 3 negative. Most critics call it one of the great visual achievements of silent cinema, and the praise clusters where you would expect: the city, the machines, the crowds. Otto Hunte’s Art Deco sets come in for particular mention, and reviewers of the 2010 restoration argue that the recovered footage does more than add length. Several say the plot is coherent for the first time in decades, with supporting characters filled out and the film’s narrative drive made visible. Eleven of sixteen reviews are positive. The reservations are about the story and the acting. The two notices from the film’s first release admire the spectacle and dismiss the scenario as manufactured and soulless, and Total Film, writing after the restoration, still finds the plot puerile. The Times and The AV Club sit in the middle, impressed by the imagery but distracted by the melodramatic performances. The spread is wide, but the dissent runs one way: nobody disputes what it looks like. ## Time Out — Ben Walters Rating 5/5. 6 September 2010. The restored version of Lang’s epic modern fable is a triumph, with added material amplifying its strengths so the narrative finally matches the ambitious idealism, production design and special effects. It fuses modernism and expressionism, art deco and Biblical spectacle in a mammoth marvel. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/metropolis-1) ## Empire — Kim Newman Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 6 September 2010. The restored version of Fritz Lang’s 1927 sci-fi classic restores plot material that makes the story coherent for the first time in decades and adds exciting action beats. It remains one of cinema’s most visually amazing films. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/metropolis-3-review/) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2012. Twenty-five minutes of lost footage make new sense of Lang’s masterpiece, resulting in a visually inventive, erotic and psychologically subterranean socialist-Christian fable that provides cinema’s definitive take on the future imperfect. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/metropolis-is-a-work-of-genius-7421549.html) ## Los Angeles Times — Kevin Thomas Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 14 May 2010. The restored version stands revealed as a film that is about more than its celebrated science fiction look; it is one of the most propulsive of silent films, powered by a torrent of narrative energy. To see the film as the director intended greatly enhances the reputation of a film already considered one of the icons of the silent era. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-may-14-la-et-metropolis-20100514-story.html) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 28 March 1998. The film is a visually exhilarating nightmare whose plot defies logic but whose torrent of images creates a powerful, hallucinatory experience. Its visionary power fixed the image of a futuristic city as a hell of scientific progress and human despair, influencing countless later films. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-1927) ## Film Comment — Chris Fujiwara Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). The critic celebrates the 2010 restoration of the nearly complete print as finally allowing Lang’s full vision to emerge after decades of mutilation. It praises the added footage for enhancing visual density, clarifying plotlines and character arcs (especially supporting roles), and revealing the film’s ambitious structure and rhythmic power. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/a-tale-of-two-cities-metropolis-restored/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 9 September 2010. The restored version of Fritz Lang's 1927 sci-fi epic is one of the biggest, strangest and maddest films in cinema history. It remains eternally prescient in its depiction of class conflict, technology fetishisation and the search for a mediator between bosses and workers. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/09/metropolis-restored-film-review) ## Slant Magazine — Simon Abrams Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 8 May 2010. Lang’s film is a monumental achievement about monumental egos. The recent discovery of 25 minutes of lost footage expands the scope of the discursive script and further establishes the film’s tendency to paint in the broadest of strokes. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/metropolis/) ## The New Yorker Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 16 August 2013. The restoration of Fritz Lang’s 1927 dystopian thriller adds expressive detail and rhythmic grandeur to its iconic imagery of oppressive technology and subtle plot twists. Lang focuses on the colossal contrivances of megalomania and precise machinations without much camera movement. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/metropolis) ## The AV Club — Mike D'Angelo Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 18 January 2010. A key factory scene in the 1927 classic showcases remarkable set design and visual splendor that evokes awestruck wonder. The overly emphatic silent-era acting style, especially the hero’s gestural performance, distracts from the imagery and highlights the bombast typical of the era. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/metropolis-1798218770) ## The Times — Cosmo Landesman Rating 3 stars. 19 January 2003. The restored print of Fritz Lang’s 1927 film shows why it influenced countless science-fiction movies with its robots and cityscapes. The Expressionist imagery remains impressive, but the plot is ludicrous and the acting old-fashioned. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/rest-of-the-week-s-films-w5p2vwsmxhc) ## The New York Times Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 7 March 1927. It is a technical marvel with feet of clay, a picture as soulless as the manufactured woman of its story, though its scenes bristle with cinematic imagination and astounding stage settings. The narrative is unconvincing and lacks suspense, but the production stands alone as a remarkable achievement. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1927/03/07/archives/a-technical-marvel.html) ## Total Film — Philip Kemp Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 24 August 2010. The discovery of lost footage clarifies plot points and allows a full recording of the original score, but the film remains a visual masterpiece yoked to a puerile and trite plot. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/metropolis-2-review/) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1926. From a photographic and directorial standpoint it is something entirely original, and the picture looks like the 7 million marks it cost. Too bad that so much really artistic work was wasted on this manufactured story whose scenario gets nowhere. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1926/film/reviews/metropolis-1200409844/) ## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 9 February 2009. The critic praises the film's historical impact on cinema, its spectacular sets and enduring watchability, noting that its stories of love, deception and justice remain relevant. She singles out Otto Hunte's magnificent Art Deco set design for the utopian city for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/metropolis-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) ## HeyUGuys — Craig Skinner Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 26 August 2010. The critic hails Fritz Lang’s 1927 film as a true masterpiece, praising its visual storytelling and thematic depth on class conflict and humanity. He particularly singles out the newly restored footage for adding significant character development and emotional complexity, especially to figures like Joh Fredersen and the Thin Man. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/metropolis-the-2010-restoration-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/metropolis.md