H.G. Wells Absolutely Loathed One Of The Most Important Sci-Fi Movies Ever Made
H.G. Wells Absolutely Loathed One Of The Most Important Sci-Fi Movies Ever Made
Kieran FisherSat, August 29, 2026 at 11:47 PM UTC
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Paramount Pictures
H.G. Wells' opinions carry some weight, especially when it comes to science fiction. With "The War of the Worlds," "The Time Machine," "The Invisible Man," and "The Island of Dr. Moreau," he penned some of the genre's most influential stories, but he wasn't a fan of other people's pinnacle works. In fact, Wells absolutely loathed Fritz Lang's "Metropolis," which is regarded as one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. Reviewing the film (via Wired), Wells lambasted "Metropolis" as a silly flick with some questionable ideas regarding technological advancement.
Check out this zinger: "It gives in one eddying concentration almost every possible foolishness, cliché, platitude, and muddlement about mechanical progress and progress in general served up with a sauce of sentimentality that is all its own." Wells also said the movie reminded him of his novel "The Sleeper Awakes," which tells the story of a man who falls asleep and wakes up years later in a dystopian London to discover that he's very wealthy. Wells wasn't a fan of that novel when he wrote this review, claiming that it was "juvenile," which also sums up how he felt about Lang's film in a nutshell.
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H.G. Wells had issues with Metropolis' message
Paramount Pictures
"Metropolis" is widely praised for its critique of class division and socio-economic inequality, with the story chronicling the gulf between the elites and normies in a dystopian society. However, H.G. Wells didn't find any value in its thematic elements either, nor did he find Lang's masterpiece to be entertaining enough to work in spite of them.
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"It is immensely and strangely dull. It is not even to be laughed at. There is not one good-looking nor sympathetic nor funny personality in the cast; there is, indeed, no scope at all for looking well or acting like a rational creature amid these mindless, imitative absurdities. The film's air of having something grave and wonderful to say is transparent pretence."
Suffice to say, Wells didn't echo Roger Ebert's glowing assessment of "Metropolis," in which he described it as a movie audiences must see in order to fully appreciate sci-fi films. However, would Wells have agreed that "Metropolis" is better than the infamous "Island of Dr. Moreau" adaptation starring Val Kilmer, which is viewed by most as a genuinely terrible sci-fi movie? Who knows, but it's safe to say he wasn't a fan of Fritz Lang's classic.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
