The Best Movies About Technology Ever Made
- Nick Digilio
- Apr 17
- 9 min read
I’ve always been fascinated by the way technology is used in movies—how it’s portrayed, predicted, or flat-out invented from scratch. Whether it's futuristic gadgets, rogue A.I., or just the everyday tech that’s become essential to our lives, technology in film has always felt like a window into where we’re headed… or at least where we think we’re headed.
A lot of films that tackle technology land squarely in the world of science fiction—those "what if?" movies about machines, inventions, or worlds that don’t exist yet. But sometimes those movies aren’t as far-fetched as we think.
Some of the best ones came out decades ago and nailed predictions about where we are now. Other tech movies are grounded in reality, rooted in true stories about invention or innovation. Some are thrillers, some are dramas, some are biting social commentary, and some are just plain cool.
Sometimes it’s not even about whether the tech is real or realistic—it’s just fun to watch smart, stylish movies filled with badass gadgets, killer machines, or mind-blowing concepts.
With new movies hitting theaters like The Amateur and Black Bag—two tech-driven spy thrillers—and the release of A Minecraft Movie, I got to thinking about some of the best films ever made that put technology front and center.
Some of these movies are about developing the tech itself. Some are about the dangers or promises of it. Some are philosophical explorations, and others are popcorn entertainment. Some are wildly prophetic, and some are deliciously absurd.
But every one of these films does something interesting with technology—how it shapes us, how it screws us up, how it saves us, and how it just might take over.
We now live in a world where A.I. is a real part of our daily lives. The phones in our pockets are more powerful than the computers that helped put people on the moon. We’ve got virtual assistants, self-driving cars, algorithms that shape our thinking, and entire lives lived on screens.
A lot of this stuff used to be the stuff of movies… and now it’s just Tuesday. Watching these films now, you can see the connections—the warnings, the excitement, the genius, and sometimes the utter ridiculousness of how technology is imagined onscreen.
So I went back, dug deep, and put together a list of the 15 best movies about technology ever made. There’s no strict formula here. The only rule was: the movie had to use technology in a significant way—either thematically, narratively, or stylistically. Some of these films are all about the tech.
Others simply wouldn’t exist without it. But what ties them together is the way they showcase, examine, or totally blow out the idea of what technology is, what it means, and what it could become.
They span decades, styles, and genres. Some are weird, some are thrilling, some are funny, and some are dead serious. But they all say something interesting—sometimes terrifying—about the world we live in, the world we’re creating, and the machines and systems that are starting to define our lives.
Here are my 15 favorite movies about technology. They’re listed in no particular order… except for my number one pick, which I believe is hands down the best movie about technology ever made.
Let’s dive in.
THE 15 BEST MOVIES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY:
This isn’t just the best movie about technology ever made—it’s one of the most important and influential movies ever made, period. The Wachowskis' The Matrix changed everything. Not only does it center around an absolutely brilliant technological concept (humanity unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality built by machines), but it also used actual film technology in revolutionary ways. "Bullet time," wire-fu, and green-tinted dystopia weren’t just stylistic flourishes—they became iconic.
Beyond the incredible visual innovation, The Matrix is a cyberpunk masterpiece. It speaks directly to fears about AI, surveillance, and control. Neo (Keanu Reeves), the hacker who might be "The One," is the everyman dragged into a future he didn’t ask for. And while the sequels remain controversial, I’m a fan of all of them. The Matrix is a game-changer, a perfect fusion of philosophical thought, thrilling action, and technological commentary. An undisputed masterpiece.
I’m not usually a Christopher Nolan guy. I think he’s often overhyped and a bit cold as a filmmaker—and don’t even get me started on Oppenheimer. But Inception? I love Inception. It’s one of the few times where his cerebral, puzzle-box style fits perfectly with the subject matter. This movie is about technology used to implant ideas in people's minds while they dream. It’s about a machine that allows people to enter and share dreams, making the subconscious a landscape for espionage.
It features one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s best performances, an excellent ensemble cast, and jaw-dropping visuals. The bending cityscapes, the zero-gravity hotel fight, and the now-iconic spinning top are stunning. Inception plays like a high-concept heist movie, but it’s really about memory, grief, and perception—all filtered through technology. It’s one of Nolan’s only films where his signature style enhances rather than distracts.
This is one of the only two good movies Ridley Scott has ever made (the other being Alien), but it’s a stone-cold classic. Blade Runner is a tech-heavy dystopian noir that basically created the look and feel of cyberpunk in movies. It’s got flying cars, neon-soaked skyscrapers, and the iconic replicants—synthetic humans indistinguishable from the real thing.
Set in 2019 (which, hilariously, is now the past), the film imagined a world where advertising is omnipresent, surveillance is normalized, and technology dehumanizes rather than liberates. Harrison Ford’s Deckard hunts replicants while questioning his own humanity, and the haunting visuals, incredible Vangelis score, and Rutger Hauer’s legendary "Tears in Rain" monologue make it one of the most atmospheric films ever made. The technology is part of the film's DNA, and its influence is still felt in everything from Ghost in the Shell to The Batman.
Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece is about technology in the deepest possible sense—from bone tools used by apes to HAL 9000, the sentient supercomputer who decides to kill the astronauts on board. It begins in prehistory and ends in galactic rebirth. The whole thing is like watching the birth and evolution of technology and humanity through a cosmic lens.
HAL is one of the most iconic AI characters in movie history, and the sequence where he goes rogue still sends chills down your spine.
The technology in 2001 isn’t flashy for the sake of it; it’s eerie, precise, and oddly believable. Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke got so much right, and the film remains one of the most important cinematic meditations on machines and mankind ever created.
One of Steven Spielberg’s best films ever, hands down. Based on a Philip K. Dick story (just like Blade Runner), Minority Report is a slick, fast-paced tech-thriller that takes place in a future where "PreCrime" cops arrest people before they commit crimes. How? Through psychics (called precogs) and some seriously wild tech.
The hand-swiping interface Tom Cruise uses was futuristic at the time, but now we use similar gestures on our tablets and smartboards. The film predicted biometric scanning, targeted advertising, and real-time surveillance. It's a brilliant cautionary tale about free will, privacy, and the fallibility of predictive technology. Visually stunning, brilliantly paced, and full of ideas that have only become more relevant.
Her is heartbreaking and disturbingly prescient. Joaquin Phoenix plays a lonely man who falls in love with his AI operating system, voiced with warm brilliance by Scarlett Johansson. It's quiet, intimate, and devastating in its portrayal of isolation, longing, and how technology might fulfill emotional needs while also deepening our disconnection.
Spike Jonze crafts a near-future that feels just around the corner.
The muted color palette, the gentle voice of Samantha, and Phoenix’s raw vulnerability all create a sci-fi love story that feels oddly plausible. It's one of the most touching and terrifying commentaries on where our relationship with machines might be headed.
Oh, the joy of early '80s computer paranoia! WarGames is a techno-thriller where a teenage hacker (Matthew Broderick) accidentally accesses a military supercomputer and nearly triggers nuclear war. The film is suspenseful, clever, and full of real concerns about technology falling into the wrong hands.
In 1983, the gear in this movie looked cutting-edge. Looking back now, it's quaint—and that makes it even more fun. It balances real-world fears with entertainment and humor. It also accurately predicted just how reliant the military would become on tech, and how easily that reliance could be exploited.
Pixar's greatest film. Full stop. WALL-E is a love story between robots that doubles as a scathing satire about human laziness, overconsumption, and tech dependency. In a future where Earth is uninhabitable and humans float in space relying on machines for everything, one tiny robot finds purpose and connection.
The first 40 minutes have almost no dialogue, and yet it communicates more emotion than most live-action romances. It makes you care deeply about literal machines. Beautifully animated, emotionally resonant, and socially relevant, WALL-E is a gorgeous warning about where we're headed if we're not careful.
Based on Carl Sagan's novel, Contact stars Jodie Foster as a scientist who finds proof of extraterrestrial life. It’s a humanist film about science, belief, and the search for meaning, anchored by real-world tech used to scan the skies.
The actual technology in Contact is grounded and realistic. It also imagines future tech based on blueprints received from aliens. It's an amazing blend of science fact and science fiction, with a strong emotional core thanks to Foster's performance. A powerful movie directed by the master himself, Robert Zemeckis, that values both intellect and faith.
Fritz Lang’s silent epic is one of the most influential science fiction movies ever made. Featuring the iconic robot Maria, Metropolis imagines a city of the future where the wealthy live in luxury while workers suffer below. Technology here is both miraculous and monstrous.
The visual effects were groundbreaking, and the social commentary remains potent. For a film made almost 100 years ago, it's stunningly relevant. It's not just a historical artifact—it's a masterwork of cinematic imagination and technological vision.
Terry Gilliam's bizarre dystopian nightmare is a mix of Orwell, slapstick, and surrealism. Brazil is set in a future where bureaucracy and malfunctioning technology rule everyone’s lives. The tech here is clunky, duct-taped together, and hilariously unreliable.
It's also terrifying in its accuracy. The film's world is one where systems fail constantly and no one knows who’s in charge. It's messy, absurd, and brilliant. Gilliam’s eye for production design is unmatched, and the satire is razor-sharp. A must-see.
John Carpenter's sci-fi/action/political satire stars Roddy Piper and a pair of magic sunglasses. Sounds silly? It is. But it's also deadly serious. The glasses let you see the truth: that aliens disguised as humans are controlling society through subliminal messages in advertising, media, and money.
It’s about tech as a mind-control tool and the dangers of complacency. Carpenter’s stripped-down style gives it a raw power. It’s funny, prophetic, and remains one of the most potent anti-authority statements ever put on screen.
This is the tech biopic to end all tech biopics. David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin craft a lightning-fast drama about the creation of Facebook. It’s about ambition, betrayal, and the ruthlessness of the tech world.
Jesse Eisenberg gives a career-best performance as Mark Zuckerberg, and the movie's pacing and structure are electric. It shows how something that started as a petty college prank became one of the most powerful tech platforms in the world—for better and worse. It's fascinating, frightening, and funny.
David Cronenberg's body horror masterpiece about a scientist who accidentally merges with a housefly during a teleportation experiment. This is a movie about the terror of invention and the grotesque potential of science gone wrong.
Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis give heartbreaking performances in a film that is as tragic as it is disgusting. The transformation scenes are unforgettable. It's a warning: just because we can do something doesn't mean we should.
Cameron Crowe's divisive, fascinating remake of Open Your Eyes is about reality, virtual reality, and the blurry lines between them. Tom Cruise plays a man living what may or may not be a computer-generated dream after a horrific accident.
It’s weird, emotional, haunting, and features one of the best endings I’ve ever seen. The tech elements are subtle but essential, questioning what we sacrifice when we choose fantasy over reality. One of the most underrated and misunderstood movies about tech and the fragility of the human mind.
Technology can be wonderful, terrifying, revolutionary, and deeply personal. These movies capture all of that and more. Whether it's a glitch in the matrix, a robot finding love, or the birth of social media, the films on this list don’t just feature tech—they explore what it means for us as people. And that, ultimately, is what makes them great.
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