If You Loved The Matrix, Watch These 8 Next. Fight Me on #1.

You took the red pill. Now what? Eight movies with the same killer machines, paranoia and fights you rewind. No, The Matrix itself doesn't count.

#1 is the pick that gets me yelled at by the trench coat crowd.

1. 8
   Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye (2025)9.5

   Anime wild card for anyone who rewinds the lobby shootout.

   Same physics-optional fight energy, turned way weirder. The 9.5 movie.guru score is the highest here, but it's built on only 2,427 IMDb votes. Small crowd, very loud.
2. 7
   X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)8.8

   Machines hunting humans in a ruined future. Sound familiar?

   Robot Sentinels, a bleak future, and one guy's mind sent somewhere else to fix it. The Matrix playbook, now with claws. 8.8 movie.guru score, $746 million worldwide.
3. 6
   Aliens (1986)9.4

   The blueprint for sci-fi action that actually earns its dread.

   Like The Matrix, the tension makes the gunfights land. Made on a reported $18.5M budget and still looks better than half of 2026. 9.4 movie.guru score.
4. 5
   Black Panther (2018)8.9

   A hidden world and a chosen one, Wakanda edition.

   A secret high-tech society hiding in plain sight is peak red pill energy. Critics beat 95% of movies, audiences 86%. I'm with the critics on this one.
5. 4
   Iron Man (2008)9.0

   The best learn-the-system-then-beat-it origin story out there.

   Tony Stark builds his way out of a cave with scraps, the same 'I know kung fu' thrill. $585.8 million worldwide on a reported $150M budget.
6. 3
   Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)8.6

   Purest adrenaline on this list. Audiences somehow shrugged.

   Shares The Matrix's obsession with physical, readable action in a burned-out world. Guru's Take 9.5, yet a B+ CinemaScore. Audiences were wrong, and I'll stand on that truck forever.
7. 2
   Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)9.3

   Machines versus humanity, done perfectly. Should be #1. Almost is.

   Killer machines, a future war, leather and sunglasses. The Matrix basically took notes. A+ CinemaScore, $518.9 million worldwide, and a 9.6 Guru's Take, the highest I gave anything here.
8. 1
   Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)8.7

   The closest Matrix heir is a Marvel movie. Yes, really.

   The system is the enemy, nobody can be trusted, and that elevator fight is Matrix-grade choreography. Critics beat only 79% of movies. They undersold it. Guru's Take 8.6.

$3,617 says someone comments that T2 should be #1 before they even finish reading #8.

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Current mood: ready to fight about it