On Equilibrium and Brazil - EQ is an action movie with some dystopian themes and "borrowed" ideas from other works, but I think it loses out here because the few cyberpunk elements are not the
focus of the movie, so it becomes one of those in the
"...with cyberpunk elements" category, rather than a true CP movie.
Brazil, on the other hand, is infused with cyberpunk so much, I think there is no doubt as to where it belongs... Think about it - it depicts a society controlled by what it has become: a runaway urban world trying to maintain a lie, a world falling apart like a rusty mechanism, a mechanism whose only purpose is to keep functioning. Single human lives are insignificant, and they frequently get crushed in the metal wheels of bureaucracy. Now, technology itself is what sets it apart - the frequent use of conduits and tubes, pulsing with life inside walls, indicate man's lack of control. He created the Machine, the System, and it has become more important than Man himself - he only exists to serve the System, the Corporation, the Country.... What was I trying to say, again?
Anyway, I guess you should put down a list of clear cases, and lead a discussion here, maybe, about borderline occurances. You could even create a list of
movies with cyberpunk elements, separate from the pure genre representatives.... Your call, this is a toughie anyway. I wish you lots of luck nevertheless.
