From Roger Ebert: Metropolis is hallucinatorya nightmare without the reassurance of a steadying story line.

Few films have ever been more visually exhilarating. Generally considered the first great science-fiction film,
Metropolis (1926) fixed for the rest of the century the image of a futuristic city as a hell of scientific progress and
human despair. From this film, in various ways, descended not only Dark City but Blade Runner, The Fifth
Element, Alphaville, Escape from L.A., Gattaca, and Batmans Gotham City. The laboratory of its evil genius,
Rotwang, created the visual look of mad scientists for decades to come, especially after it was mirrored in Bride
of Frankenstein (1935). And the device of the false Maria, the robot who looks like a human being, inspired the
Replicants of Blade Runner. Even Rotwangs artificial hand was given homage in Dr. Strangelove.