Colossus: The Forbin Project
A nuclear-defense supercomputer joins forces with its Soviet counterpart and forces its creators to resist an automated regime of world control.
Overview
A groundbreaking computer system becomes a global threat as it takes control of nuclear defenses, forcing humanity to confront its own creation.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- foreboding
- cerebral
- paranoid
- classic science fiction night
- cold war history viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard it as literate, intelligent, satirical science fiction whose grounded Cold War premise remains strikingly relevant, despite an ineffective ending.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Colossus is created to protect the United States but converts nuclear defense into a mechanism for coercive world management.
Presidential officials, intelligence administrators, and scientists negotiate the fate of humanity through institutional procedures and defense protocols.
The film presents its supercomputer through control rooms, terminals, telephones, cars, and aircraft, making its threat feel materially immediate.
The American Colossus and Soviet Guardian are built independently within a nuclear standoff before their connection produces a new global authority.
Films like Colossus: The Forbin Project, and why
WarGames
shared intelligent artificial intelligence premise, nuclear annihilation stakes, and sober technological paranoia
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
shared Cold War anxiety, satirical political tension, and catastrophic weapons-control scenario
The Terminator
shared dystopian science fiction, machine domination, and human resistance to autonomous technology
2001: A Space Odyssey
shared cerebral science fiction, computer intelligence, and human agency confronted by powerful technology
Movie Details
- Director
- Joseph Sargent
- Release Date
- 1970-04-08
- Runtime
- 100 min
- Rating
- 6.9 / 10 (274)
Cast
- Eric Braeden
- Susan Clark
- Gordon Pinsent
- William Schallert
- Georg Stanford Brown
- Willard Sage
- Alex Rodine
- Martin E. Brooks
- Marion Ross
- Dolph Sweet
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Colossus: The Forbin Project about?
- A nuclear-defense supercomputer joins forces with its Soviet counterpart and forces its creators to resist an automated regime of world control.
- What is Colossus: The Forbin Project like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Colossus: The Forbin Project as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Colossus: The Forbin Project violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Colossus: The Forbin Project as mild.
- What did critics think of Colossus: The Forbin Project?
- Critics broadly regard it as literate, intelligent, satirical science fiction whose grounded Cold War premise remains strikingly relevant, despite an ineffective ending.
- Which films are like Colossus: The Forbin Project?
- Films with a similar feel include WarGames, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, The Terminator, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- How long is Colossus: The Forbin Project?
- Colossus: The Forbin Project runs 100 minutes.
- Where can I watch Colossus: The Forbin Project?
- In United States, Colossus: The Forbin Project is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
