DanTheMan 2
Having seen the 2010 restoration multiple times, it's probably blasphemy to say that Giorgio Moroder's restoration is my preferred way to watch the Fritz Lang classic. There's just something about how well 1920s German Expressionism marries with 1980s synth-pop, it's undoubtedly an artefact from another time and most likely nothing more than a curiosity to people nowadays but as an attempt to bring Lang's classic back to the masses, Moroder succeeded. It was the first serious attempt at trying to restore Metropolis to Lang's original vision after the 1972 attempt that had been plagued with multiple issues, so in that regard, I have to give Moroder some credit.
This edit barely clocks in at 84 minutes long which is nearly an hour shorter than the modern restorations, however, you can still follow the story very easily despite chunks of the film being missing. It manages to hit all the major plot points of the original while forgoing intertitles of character dialogue for subtitles, the addition of new visual effects will probably sour purists but they fit the stylings of the film very well. It's really the music where most will draw the line, personally, I love Moroder's score and all the contemporary pop songs, it just strikes all the right notes for me, his opening piece titled Machines especially.
With Moroder's colour tints, snappier pace and occasionally incredulous music, this version of Metropolis is often a great deal more fun and certainly something more along the lines of a cult classic than a masterpiece of world cinema.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
09/16/23
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robert p
A lot more complete with the colorized tint and snappy songs by Queen and others makes this a much more pleasurable viewing pleasure!!!!!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
So this exists. Take one of the early edits of Fritz Lang's Metropolis and dip it in some 80's acid.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
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Audience Member
Metropolis is the first science fiction film in history, and not only a science fiction film alone, but an epic one. Lang's original film version however got lots of its footage lost, and were long believed to be lost FOREVER. But Giorio Moroder was the first person to make an attempt to restore it and show it to new generations. But what we see is not the original version; as previously stated, much of the film was lost, case in point, the film is barely an hour and a half long, and this was in 1984. We will have to wait until 2001 to see another restoration. This version (Moroder's) is...strange. Why? Well, new color tints are added, the epic musical score by Gottfried Huppertz is replaced by pop songs of well-known artists and Moroder's synthetic score, the intertitles are replaced by sometimes bad translated subtitles and some new special effects...yeah, it's insulting to the original version. And, as a Metropolis fan that I am, I also felt insulted.
Why change the music and the colors? No reason at all, this isn't restoring a film, it's changing a film. The apocalyptic feeling of the story disappears because of this, and some of the original special effects are affected by the addition of color schemes. Also, due to the film not being restored further, much of the story is left on painful exposition by reading, and even some shitty-editing with still photos and weird zooms. And why change to a pop soundtrack? The epic orchestra was big part of the original and fits a hell of a lot better. It's like a really long music video, and Metropolis was never meant to be that. However, this version is still worth checking out. The story is barely affected, but still works, the film still feels kinda epic, and after you have watched the most restored version (the 2010 version to be precise), this is silly entertainment.
Changing a film to be more "modern" and nothing else is a sin, but this version has a charm, probably part of the charm of Lang's version, which still managed to survive even after all the changes. It's painful, but fine at the end. Either I hate this version or I simply label it as a "barely OK". It's a bunch of adequacy, pure adequacy. Not good, not bad, just the most "OK" I have seen in my life. Does it worth? Well, yeah, it's still Metropolis somehow...it's more eye-candy than a faithful look back at a classic...damn this adequacy.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
Full Review
Audience Member
It sometimes falls into camp, which arguably takes away from the serious subject matter, but this version definitely has a very entertaining pace and feel to it. And the original film is clearly a masterpiece.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Fritz Lang's classic film Metropolis was given a restoration, some color tinting, and a new soundtrack in 1984. Its architect, disco producer Giorgio Moroder, infused the narrative with a thumping electronic soundscape that used pop songs from Pat Benatar, Freddie Mercury, Loverboy, and other stars of that era. As you can imagine, some of Moroder's sonic choices have aged with much less grace than the movie he was attempting to modernize. Still, his efforts helped to preserve a cinematic classic, a lot of the other pieces of music are rather prescient when contrasted against the EDM hits of 2013, and his slick cut of Metropolis makes it quite accessible to a silent film neophyte.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
Full Review
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