> first true Cyberpunk movie

Tron, Brazil, Videodrome, Metropolis, Terminus, Escape From New York, Blade Runner, etc etc etc

I think I get bediger bit. RoboCop has a blend of cybernetics and crude metal. Tron was too nerdy. EfNY had actual punks but not solid enough on the cyber/robotics. BladeRunner was a bit too spiritual maybe.

Brazil was steampunk, if it fit in a genre at all.

Don't get me wrong, Brazil is my favorite movie, it's just not cyberpunk. Heck, it's not punk.

Mad Max

A Boy And His Dog

Death Race 2000

...

They're all semi-rural though, cyberpunk is a city genre imho.

It is classic postapoc

Metropolis?

Worthy question for debate, but I feel "no."

Yeah - you could reasonably call Metropolis an ancestor of cyberpunk but it predates punk.

Metropolis is the first superhero movie.

No love for Blade Runner?

Not cyberpunk,but I can't define why.

The core theme of cyberpunk is social complexity introduced by technology, and individual empowerment through the use of that technology to fight back against either an overreaching state (a response to the complexity) and/or ubiquitous hyper-corporations (built on the technology). Blade Runner has the setting and aesthetic style, but thematically it's a miss.

Here are the changes I would make to Blade Runner to make it more cyberpunk:

* Roy Batty should be the main character, and more sympathetic.

* The social impact of replicants should be explored; replicants should exist on Earth, and the attitudes of the wider population shown.

* Rather than "dude with a gun chases him", Roy's oppression should be visibly systematic and ideally technological (tracking beacons, iris scanners, kiosks refusing to work for him etc) and rather than violence and brute force his response should be clever exploits of weaknesses in the system.

> and individual empowerment through the use of that technology to fight back against either an overreaching state (a response to the complexity) and/or ubiquitous hyper-corporations (built on the technology)

I disagree on this. Neuromancer is generally considered the genre fighting work and it isn't really about fighting back against either the state or against a hyper corp. The protagonists are hired mercs and they are working entirely for mercenary means. Don't get me wrong it is a very common theme of Cyberpunk (Hardwired is a good example of this), but it definitely isn't something always present (Ghost in the Shell is a classic work of Cyberpunk and the protagonists are spec ops police FFS).

I've gotten a bee in my bonnet about people trying to redefine Cyberpunk as being about rebellion and associate it with "punk" the music subculture that has occurred since Cyberpunk 2077 came out and people started criticising it for not being "punk" enough, but that wasn't what the "punk" in "cyberpunk" has meant historically. The "-punk" in "Cyberpunk" is better read as "outcast, misfit, lowlife" and when you understand that these works that are classically considered Cyberpunk make sense; yes Ghost in the Shell has the protagonists be cops, but they are all weirdo social outcasts because they are so heavily cyberized and like Neuromancer it deals with highly advanced AI and the impacts of tech on society

Surrogates, I, Robot and A.I. offers a small glimpse into the inhumane treatment of the non-human population. Minority Report has the "technology turning on protagonist" aspect.

Maybe we could pull a Godfrey Ho and cut&paste some scenes from these to produce the ultimate cyberpunk flick?

Blade Runner is not Cyber as nothing is virtual, everything is visceral... It is higher-concept Science Fiction, earnest and devoid of the stylishness of anything that would call itself *punk.

Blade Runner is the epitome of Cyberpunk.