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Soylent Green

Soylent Green

1973
Drama
Sci-fi
1h 37m
In an overpopulated futuristic Earth, a New York police detective finds himself marked for murder by government agents when he gets too close to a bizarre state secret involving the origins of a revolutionary and needed new foodstuff. (imdb)
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Soylent Green

1973
Drama
Sci-fi
1h 37m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 50.7% from 1766 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(1766)
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Rated 31 May 2017
68
55th
Spoiler Alert! Soylent Green is high in cholesterol.
Rated 09 Sep 2012
40
17th
Interesting but mind-numbingly boring.
Rated 29 Oct 2010
70
69th
It's a shame that the ending is the only thing that ever gets talked about when you mention this film. It has a lot of other things going on - the themes of over-population and food shortages, the influence mega-corporations have on governments, even the role of women. Some of it is a little dated (you can never second-guess fashion or technology), but dystopian New York still looks cool... all cramped and dirty and grimy. Plus it has one of my favourite death scenes ever.
Rated 05 Dec 2009
67
31st
Great ideas, but it never drew me in. I love the whole /nostalgia for things we take for granted/ thing.
Rated 22 Aug 2009
68
46th
Dystopian sci-fi done the 70s way i.e. looks a bit cheap now. Decently done though although the end looks like they ran out of money and so couldn't do the big explosion ending. Maybe that's on purpose. Extra points for making the Charlton Heston character kind of a dick.
Rated 21 Apr 2009
6
26th
I can understand why this film is remembered today, for it's ingenious shock ending, but everything else isn't that impressive. Not bad, mind you, it serves its purpose but I won't remember it.
Rated 13 Jun 2020
45
22nd
Grittier than I'd expected, but thin like a TV episode stretched. I do approve of the chosen death model.
Rated 17 Sep 2012
65
44th
In theory, this movie features an impressively bleak dystopian future. Too bad Heston is too hammy and the production values aren't that great, so the end result wasn't as effective as I'd hoped. Knowing the big reveal beforehand (how can you not) also makes the film a bit of a drag.
Rated 02 Dec 2018
67
39th
It is too bad the ending of this classic dystopian story is so well known, as I'm sure it packed quite a punch in its day. Fleischer's view of the future is a hot and hazy one, with police dressed like train conductors and prostitutes playing a very large role in society (or at least in this film's runtime).
Rated 03 Dec 2009
78
65th
Going down in history as the movie you can't google without getting the punchline shoved in your face.
Rated 24 Feb 2010
74
59th
It's good film, no doubt about it, but that's mostly from it's shock ending. I'd say it's required viewing not for the skill with which the film is made, as it's not particularly impressive in any regard, but simply due to the cultural impact it has had. It's one thing to know that Soylent Green is people but it's another to know exactly how such a phrase came into being.
Rated 04 Dec 2011
40
28th
A cult item for 'X-files' fans. But for 70s oddball sci-fi, the straightforward detective story fades amongst other greats. For a dystopian future turn to 'THX1138', for eco-message-madness go for 'Silent Running'. For satire choose 'Death Race 2000', and for stripfest weirdness take 'Barbarella' (or - for the ladies - 'Zardoz'). 'Soylent Green' is a great meme, but a flat film, in which the most important part seems to be Charlton Heston and his scarf. Oh, sorry; I mean 'self-important'.
Rated 06 Feb 2022
65
22nd
hasn't aged well. heston is a ham. but is has it's moments i guess. even at 97 minutes it seems long.
Rated 07 Feb 2022
4
16th
Underwhelming. Interesting concept; poorly executed. It just made me want to watch Logan's Run instead.
Rated 29 Jul 2014
63
34th
I understand they wanted that green filter to look like smog, but it just looks like someone dumped a can of Mountain Dew into the film can.
Rated 19 May 2022
75
49th
For a movie that is famous for being inevitably spoiled through pop culture, it was surprisingly different from how I imagined it. Not bad!
Rated 29 Jul 2022
20
12th
"SOYLENT GREEN IS BORING!!!" I spent the middle of the movie looking up "Computer Space", which was the world's first arcade coin-op video game, and also the first video game to appear in a movie (this one!). Other than that, the pacing is so goddamn slow and everything looks so damn cheap. I guess it would be better if I didn't know the "big twist" since I was a toddler. Kinda neat watching it in 2022, as that is the year it is set. Would have made a great 44-minute "Twilight Zone" episode.
Rated 03 Mar 2007
60
62nd
Very good.
Rated 15 Sep 2007
48
26th
Neat premise about the terrible future, but pretty underwhelming.
Rated 07 Jul 2007
69
32nd
Not great, but there are some scenes, like the one with Heston and Robinson sharing a meal, that are memorable.
Rated 05 Jun 2011
6
62nd
I'm a bit of a sucker for dystopian films that are done well; and the fact that this one doesn't present 2022 (50 years after it was first made) as some hi-tech paradise is its highest praise. The pacing is really good after a sluggish start... Sol's death scene is very memorable, as it the stellar finish that isn't as predictable as many of these films (ie "good" triumphing over "evil.") The fact that we still know little about the "Soylent Company" adds to the charm.
Rated 22 Oct 2010
65
45th
Probably a pretty good dystopian sci-fi for it's time, but it hasn't aged too well. Most of the "futuristic" technological stuff (TV, video game) seem hilariously outdated to today's standards, but the idea of overpopulated cities and a essentially worn-out Earth worked. It's not too long and it's got a good enough ending to make the journey worth it, but it's not anything you really NEED to see.
Rated 10 Aug 2008
60
58th
what's with the low ratings, this movie kicks ass
Rated 20 Dec 2011
60
50th
Robinson is good, Heston is Heston, the ideas aren't half-bad and the ending is legendary. Essential sci-fi.
Rated 05 Mar 2013
65
42nd
I would constantly be paranoid if I knew Soylent Green was people. "Please don't be a weiner, please dont be a weiner"
Rated 23 May 2012
60
24th
it's hard to say if the idea of the film is clever or stupid, but it's definitely interesting.
Rated 02 Jul 2009
44
20th
The story is good and I suppose the twist used to be good once but acting, directing and the actual screenplay are all quite ridiculous.
Rated 02 Jul 2009
80
70th
It is definitely people.
Rated 29 Sep 2008
66
54th
Known for it's ending, I won't say anything in case you're the only person left who hasn't actually seen it. Edward G Robinson's last film btw
Rated 01 Apr 2007
80
68th
I think we all know the ending but what the hell
Rated 01 Oct 2021
79
87th
Even though I already new the big spoiler, it was a fantastic movie, truly a sci-fi classic
Rated 28 Nov 2022
20
6th
With better pacing, could've been a 100, but it's just too slow. I guess that was intended to make the ending more shocking but it makes it a hard slog to get through.
Rated 14 Sep 2008
50
8th
This movie is awfully dated, but of course we are used to much more awful stuff today than in 1973. Yet, I was rather disappointed after this movie.
Rated 07 Jul 2013
85
90th
Fascinatingly prescient film in many ways, and highly watchable despite the rather badly choreographed fights and the antediluvian location of women as 'furniture'.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
60
40th
This is an OK futuristic sci-fi flick with a couple of good ideas, but the whole point of the film is the shocking twist at the end...a twist that has been spoiled a million times in a million places since the movie was released. If you didn't already know what Soylent Green is, you'd probably enjoy it more, but watching it with knowledge of the twist is pretty boring.
Rated 14 Aug 2022
40
1st
It's just too silly. I saw someone compare this to a 1970's version of Children of Men: a film that took the era's fears and concerns on the future and blew them up into a dystopian world. But the filmmaking isn't great enough to create a compelling story outside of the ecological worries. The mystery isn't suspenseful. The editing includes bizarre subplots. There's no good action. Rather than end it merely stops. Avoid unless you're marathoning cheesy 70's sci-fi films.
Rated 26 Sep 2007
3
61st
If you haven't seen this yet, the ending has most likely been ruined for you by a myriad of spoofs and send-ups. But if by some miracle you don't know what I'm talking about, see this movie.
Rated 11 Apr 2022
65
61st
More a sum of well-imagined, typically 70s pessimistic dystopian images -- trucks removing people from a riot like trash bags, the discovery of the secret behind the soylent green's 'miracle' (nature is dying, too much people around, we finally found a way to make everyone eat something and kinda survive) -- than an actually solid narrative -- overpopulated lol with mithology aspects that are never fully developed, police procedural stuff seems just boring. Robinson's presence is haunting.
Rated 27 Feb 2022
75
26th
Viewed February 4, 2022. Fleischer's touch is evident in his portrayal of the levels that make up this society: high-class, modernized world of the elite; polluted, hazy, crowded streets; a dark, depressing underworld where regular people live and organize. The script is too disjointed for this to work as well as it should; stuck between fleshing out the characters and fleshing out the world, it doesn't do either all that well, and even the final twist doesn't land as vividly as I anticipated.
Rated 21 Feb 2022
62
47th
I expected silly "say the line we all know!" pulp, but it actually does its best to be a respectable dystopian sci-fi thriller. Dug it more than Omega Man.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
54
20th
Even if it weren't ridiculous - which it is - this movie is still a mess in terms of plain old storytelling.
Rated 25 Sep 2009
73
14th
Not very solid piece of filmaking, but Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robison are charismatic on the leading roles and the film is a rare take on subject of overpopulation and it's consequencies. And there is always the famous ending that one can never forget.....
Rated 17 Apr 2009
20
12th
Edward G. Robinson eats frozen dinners.
Rated 02 Jan 2022
75
28th
Disturbing futuristic suspense, but good.
Rated 13 Oct 2021
60
34th
I like furniture.
Rated 12 Jun 2021
80
68th
It's tough for this film to play well when you go in knowing the answer to it's central mystery, but it's a pretty solid police film from genre craftsman Richard Fleischer that just happens to be set in the distant future of next year.
Rated 31 May 2009
62
64th
It feels dated, and cinematography is very "practical" compared to other dystopian films. So rather than cinematography and the futuristic settings it runs on story. And I would bet a coin, that more of it will become truth, than won't. And that really pisses me off.
Rated 05 Apr 2023
66
62nd
Good movie but poor ending. Beside, Edward G Robinson was superb...great to see golden era legan in 1970s movie!
Rated 30 Jul 2014
50
10th
Pretty goofy, and not really in a fun way. The vaguely noirish plot is actually pretty interesting for a while, no thanks to the lifeless direction and Heston's neck kerchief, but the second half is very heavily reliant on you not knowing the reveal, leaving not much intrigue from then until the abrupt ending. I couldn't tell if the treatment of the female characters was supposed to be satirical or just straight-up sexist, but either way it's fairly baffling and tone deaf. Amazing stunts though!
Rated 29 May 2008
90
97th
Charlton Heston is truly amazing in this movie, and what he discovers proves to be some of the best plot in history.
Rated 30 Dec 2022
8
5th
Truly terrible example of of the Malthusian overpopulation apocalypse hysteria that was fashionable among public intellectuals and the media in the 1970s.
Rated 25 Aug 2015
6
43rd
What stands out here is the chillingly plausible future setting (a bleak-looking, resource-depleted, corporate-controlled dystopia where things like hot water and fresh food are a supreme luxury), tactfully and naturally built with each affecting scene and populated by two great characters. Despite sharp dialogue, the plot isn't quite as engaging- a murder mystery featuring bad fight sound effects that doesn't go anywhere until the final twist- but it doesn't need to be in this immersive sci-fi.
Rated 24 Aug 2019
90
79th
Soylent Green is heartbreaking in its depiction of dystopia. I considered it to be close to Planet of the Apes in quality; a fantastic story and film that had to find ways to work around its limitations. The weakest moments are due to Heston's hammy acting and weak fight choreography -- but it's about average for the era. Despite Heston's limitations as an actor, he sure knows how to scream a memorable ending line. This is Robinson's last fill, and knowing that, his death scene hits much harder.
Rated 25 Sep 2022
60
58th
eng; [soylent green]; in einer futuristischen welt gibt es wohnungsnot, hitzewellen und rationierte nahrung in form von soylent green - doch als ein mord geschieht und will ein detektiv diesen aufklären.;
Rated 13 Sep 2009
82
78th
A very well-made movie encumbered by very dull cinematography and laughably outdated fight scenes. Oh and the twist ending has been given away via spoofs and parodies for decades now.
Rated 30 Jan 2010
75
27th
Entertaining sci-fi but a little too close to self-parody. Heston overracts as usual. There is, though, a good message here for us all.
Rated 07 Nov 2018
45
21st
Kind of a slog to sit through. I love a good bleak dystopia movie, but Soylent Green is both unpleasant to think about and unpleasant to look at. That gross green filter on all the exterior shots just makes it look like your screen is fucked up or someone dropped the film stock in radioactive waste or something. Where I will give this movie credit is in its famous third act. The slow-burn reveal of the twist ending is played perfectly, and I did get choked up at the suicide booth scene.
Rated 06 Jan 2017
5
26th
Very memorable concept, style and some great moments, but overall weak script and the ending seems obvious.
Rated 23 Aug 2012
3
9th
Would have won honors in a "futuristic satire" category, but is otherwise so predictable that one knows the content of the entire movie after just a few frames. And the tin ear of the screenwriter grates on every never and chafes at every sensibility. E.g., "Soylent Green...is...PEOPLE!" I would have used the same line to describe the film, but substituted for "people," one of their more fragrant byproducts.
Rated 16 Apr 2018
74
57th
Doesn't quite capture the fantastic movie poster.
Rated 20 Aug 2007
5
6th
If this had been a faithful remake of Harry Harrison's "Make Room, Make Room", it could have been a terrific movie. As is, I suggest you go find a copy of said book and read it instead of seeing the movie. A classic Hollywood train wreck of a book conversion.
Rated 20 Feb 2011
79
57th
Fun, solid dystopian crime film. It borders on being cheesy but never crosses that line and is well made enough that knowing the conclusion doesn't ruin the suspense.
Rated 18 Aug 2014
47
2nd
Pure 70's...and that's not a good thing. Although it gave us an iconic sci-fi quote, watching the film in its entirety is an uncomfortable experience. Perhaps it doesn't hold up over time, over simply the characters, gritty setting and production are just plain unlikable.
Rated 07 Aug 2017
70
43rd
Cool premise, but unfortunately the execution looks like a 70s crime drama set in a future imagined in the 70s.
Rated 03 Jan 2016
87
82nd
Adivinhem? Em 2022 as mulheres ainda serão tratadas como um pedaço de carne! O que torna o twist do filme ainda mais relevante.
Rated 25 Sep 2010
68
65th
There is a reason only the ending of this movie is remembered. It's not that every other part is terrible, it just doesn't match up. Still a decent watch.
Rated 23 May 2013
50
16th
weird-ass ending
Rated 13 May 2016
74
41st
The ending really is reliant on it being a surprise. But it's one of the most effectively sweaty movies out there. Everything feels so gross, sticky and uncomfortably hot. Love Edward G. Robinson in his old Jewish man years.
Rated 29 Nov 2008
68
6th
Below par adaptation of Harry Harrison's story. Some quite powerful moments and an ultimately interesting plot, but these are from the book not the film, and the film itself is pretty poorly done.
Rated 13 Feb 2009
40
31st
Soylent Green is people!
Rated 18 Apr 2008
5
45th
I never understood why old men ate apples but cutting off little pieces until I saw this film. Because they can;t bite through the skin.
Rated 09 Aug 2017
73
77th
It is... a movie. A dystopian sci-fi classic with a twist everyone knows, which is itself telling of its influence.
Rated 28 Oct 2012
7
67th
The animosity directed towards this film is uncalled for and probably a result of everybody already knowing what they're going to get before watching it. I found the movie to be moody, odd, bleak, dated, a little silly, yet still very watchable. It's easy to parody, sure, but I can't deny the sequence at the factory is as memorable as science fiction gets. I also liked the ending's lack of resolution.
Rated 04 Nov 2010
80
68th
Sol Roth (Edward Robinson character) death is very emotive, the use of the music and the images shown can bring a tear out of the toughest man. Oh yeah and its people!
Rated 10 Mar 2012
77
73rd
Certainly isn't amazing, but I felt it was a worthwhile sci-fi. Probably seemed much better in the 70s. Heston and Robinson are good and I thought the dystopian setting was pretty well executed. I certainly think it had a bit more going for it than just the ending.
Rated 27 Apr 2014
86
62nd
Interesting concept. Often melodramatic but I'm a sucker for campy sci-fi and rather enjoyed this one.
Rated 09 Jan 2017
50
17th
The premise was good, the ending was good, but most of the movie bored me.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
45
34th
Score based on distant memory.
Rated 04 Jan 2010
52
10th
Guzel bir senaryo ama siradan bir film.
Rated 12 Sep 2007
11
9th
I haven't seen this in years, but as I recall it featured a typical Charlton Heston over-acting job. But one memorable line: soylent green is..... people.
Rated 14 Feb 2013
5
51st
All these pre-1977 sci-fi films are way too dated with their low production values and silly vision of the future (Kids are still playing Asteroids, I see). I also don't like Heston much, too hammy for my tastes. It was still reasonably enjoyable despite those things and I'm glad I saw it. Along with Logan's Run, this is one of those movies that makes me do something I don't like, but I have to give Lucas some credit for saving the genre
Rated 24 Apr 2013
65
25th
While the premise and ideas behind this film where interesting I found this film to be to slow paced for my taste.
Rated 21 Nov 2007
35
19th
I watched this after being exposed to innumerable references through popular culture. It is not that its sentiment is bad, but it is overworn in almost every field. There are better examples in the same line (Cronenberg's several movies).
Rated 02 Jun 2013
20
3rd
I really thought this movie was terribad. I hated it so much. I raged.
Rated 17 Jan 2009
80
62nd
Haunting and a gritty look at what a self-indugent self-satifying society could lead to, a really good sci-fi.
Rated 27 Mar 2014
95
84th
Great final role for Edward G Robinson.
Rated 19 May 2010
70
44th
14-5-2010 seen
Rated 04 Apr 2011
71
32nd
Must see but it has aged.
Rated 07 Apr 2008
90
92nd
This film made me cry. One of Edward G. Robinson's finest performances (and not coincidentally, his final performance). Don't let the famous spoiler deter you from seeing this film - see it if only for Robinson.
Rated 01 Sep 2017
89
69th
A-
Rated 16 May 2014
85
65th
If we look at human history it's much more likely that man would resort to mainly vegetarian diet(like India or Italy during the early Roman Empire, though garum was nutritiously crucial to the roman diet). Or we'd heavily wage war since we have a habit of solving food shortage with genocide. Realistically tho we'll probably do both genocide and diet. However I think this film is very much worth the time to watch, because it shows us the almost equally appalling alternative plus global warming.

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