There are many movies with robots running amok in them, but surprisingly few good movies where the story focuses on the robots. The most interesting ones, like HBO’s Westworld, also tackle bigger themes like the fragility of reality, what it means to be human, and even slavery.
So for fans who enjoy the many characters and thematic layers of Westworld, these movies are worth a look. There are plenty of bad movies that try to attract these same fans, but when it comes to something as smart as Westworld, it is a good idea to look for more prestige features. There’s also no shortage of cheap movies with robots/aliens/belligerent forces out to conquer the human race on a budget, but fans looking for a cheesy, lo-fi production, likely aren't watching Westworld too.
Updated on June 29th, 2022, by Shawn S. Lealos: Westworld returned for its fourth season in 2022 and the cerebral science fiction series continued to capture fans' attention on HBO. While the new season seems to be taking the show in yet another interesting direction, with none of the seasons being the same, it proves that the series knows how to keep the audience invested while never letting them know what to expect next. There are several movies that play in the same playground, some good and some bad, and when a sci-fi fan finds a treasure in the genre, it often opens up a world that they could barely imagine before.
Total Recall (1990)
Streaming now on HBO Max
The theme of Westworld is creating a fictional world that seems real to the people paying to visit it. This is the same basic plot of the Paul Verhoeven movie Total Recall. However, the twist here is that instead of putting people into the environment knowing it is fake, Total Recall puts the person into the situation by using brain-altering tech to make them believe it is real.
It is no surprise that this story was based on a Philip K. Dick story, We Can it for You Wholesale. Instead of being like Westworld, where the fiction becomes reality, in Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Douglas Quaid realizes it was his reality that was fiction.
Gattaca (1997)
Streaming now on Netflix
The 1997 movie Gattaca shares a lot in common with Westworld when it comes to a person's place in society, and how it can be hard for some to ever fully integrate themselves into a world that is nothing like them. Just like Westworld, the movie Gattica is a science fiction story that makes people wonder what society could look like.
Ethan Hawke stars in the movie as Vincent, a man both outside of the eugenics program set up in the world that ensures that children born have the best traits of their parents, making them as perfect as possible. What resulted was Vincent battling prejudice and discrimination as he tried to achieve his dream of going into space.
Her (2013)
Streaming now on Netflix
Spike Jonze has created some amazingly cerebral movies over his career, and the highlight might be his 2013 sci-fi drama Joaquin Phoenix stars as Theodore in Her, a man who lives in a futuristic society.
This is not very different from the current world outside of the fact that computer AI has become highly developed. There is even a chance for introverts like Theodore to begin "dating" their AI virtual assistants, with his a voice named Samantha, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. It is very similar in many ways, questioning what the future could hold if humans began to develop relationships with AIs, or in Westworld's case, robots.
Jurassic Park (1993)
Streaming now on HBO Max
In Westworld, the show was originally based around an amusement park that had robots playing the roles of western heroes and villains, and people could come to the park and live through the adventures. In Jurassic Park, the story was about an amusement park that recreated dinosaurs using DNA where people could come to the park and see these prehistoric creatures in all their glory.
The stories are also about what happens when these plans all go wrong. Humans die and the creatures built to entertain them begin to run rampant. The two stories even continue on the same path, showing the robots and dinosaurs moving into the real world.
The Running Man (1987)
Streaming now on Fubo, AMC+, and Max Go
based on a Stephen King novel written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The movie, while mostly a guilty pleasure, was also years ahead of its time. Released in 1987, the story takes place in a future where convicts are allowed to take part in a televised reality show where they can attempt to reach freedom while being hunted by assassins.
This was years before the idea of reality TV was an everyday conversation and it showed a world where people would watch the death of men and women for entertainment. While the deaths in Westworld's amusement park were not meant to be real, it was still a situation where people would pay money to watch people die in gunfights in person.
Westworld - The Original Film (1973)
Streaming now on Spectrum on Demand
There’s no better place to start than 1973’s Westworld, directed by novelist/doctor/genius Michael Crichton. Westworld was part of a spate of mid-70 sci-fi movies like The Omega Man, The Andromeda Strain, Soylent Green, and various Planet of the Apes sequels.
For a movie that starts so promisingly and engages the viewer so thoroughly when the guests arrive in the park, it's interesting how the movie goes so very wrong. Once the villainous Gunslinger (Yul Brynner) pursues surviving guest Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) into Roman World, the final anticlimactic ending is a let-down. The concept - robots as playthings in an elaborate theme park - is explored much more broadly in the HBO series.
I Robot (2004)
Streaming now on HBO Max
A fan could be forgiven for reading Isaac Asimov’s brilliant short story “I Robot” and then having to squint at Will Smith’s movie to find a resemblance. Yes, they both have helper robots in need of policing, ethical questions about man-made slavery, and … well, the movie has very little else in common with Asimov’s writings.
But if someone is looking for a mildly entertaining action movie with Smith at maximum cool (e.g. he has a robotic arm), I Robot is a good bet. The adaptable Alan Tudyk’s motion-capture performance as sympathetic robot Sonny is one of the highlights and presages his role as K2S0 in Rogue One.
Deadwood (2019)
Streaming now on HBO Max
There aren't any robots or evil corporations in Deadwood, but as a fellow HBO western, it had a strong influence on Westword. Where Deadwood focused on the struggles and joys of the eponymous frontier town, Westworld is more interested in peeling back the layers - but both delve into the grit and pain and realism of life in the Old West.
There are even comparisons with the cast - the square-jawed hero (James Marsden, Timothy Olyphant), the hardened ingenue (Molly Parker, Evan Rachel Wood), the old English steward (Ian McShane, Anthony Hopkins) - which suggests even more similarities. The 2019 Deadwood: The Movie helped wrap up the series in a manner Westworld should consider.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Streaming now on Disney+
Perhaps the most popular robots run amok movie in recent memory, Avengers: Age of Ultron looks to amplify the earthly threat to our superheroes by pitting them against a nemesis of their own creation. Over the course of the movie, audiences enjoy Ultron’s drones getting squashed and pummeled by the Avengers - which is not typically what fans experience with the same situation on Westworld.
As HBO’s Westworld is more character-focused, so too writer/director Joss Whedon is looking to take advantage of the story to ask questions about existence, good vs. evil, and humanity. Ultron’s final scene in Age of Ultron, where Vision chides him about missing humankind's “grace in their faith,” is a bit esoteric - but wouldn't be out of place in Westworld.
A.I. - Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Streaming now on Starz
Steven Speilberg’s A.I. might not be as thought-provoking as an episode of Westworld, but the pet project of director Stanley Kubrick has some strong similarities. Speilberg picked it up in 2001 to finish the movie for Kubrick and added his signature gloss and framing.
This futuristic Pinocchio story tries to cover many topics in 2.5 hours; climate change, family ties, virtual reality, aliens, etc. - offering more thematic elements than most sci-fi movies. A.I. is an adult movie about what it means to be a robotic child, a concept Westworld explores as well.
