Artificial Intelligence is a concept that has captivated audiences for decades, spawning hundreds, if not thousands of films.

It’s what inspired director Neill Blomkamp to return to his native South Africa, the setting for his breakout hit District 9. Switching out the alien refugees for a robot-police force, his movie CHAPPiE follows a self-aware droid caught up in a battle for the streets of a crime-ridden Johannesburg.

With Blomkamp’s latest sci-fi offering out on DVD this week, we looked back in cinematic history to determine which movies featured the most mind-blowing A.I.of all time?

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

New York, April 22nd 1964. Two great visionaries break bread at Trader Vic’s to discuss a project that’ll change the face of cinema forever.

Fresh off the set of Dr. Strangelove Stanley Kubrick has resolved to direct what he described as ‘the proverbial good science fiction movie’. His search for a collaborator with hard sci-fi credentials led him to writer and futurist Arthur C. Clarke, a man now referred to as the ‘Prophet of the Space Age’.

The product of their shared genius would be the incomparable 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a film that introduced the world to the HAL 9000 supercomputer.

Outwardly polite, but secretly homicidal, HAL’s even monotone never wavers as it menaces the crew of the Jupiter bound Discovery. And despite the film’s glossy portrayal of mankind’s expansion into space, this rogue A.I. represented the then very real Cold War fear of our own creations turned against us.

2. Blade Runner (1982)

If HAL’s lack empathy positioned it at one end of the A.I. emotional spectrum, then the Replicants that populate Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) clearly occupy the other.

Designed to imitate their human creators in every way, yet burdened with cruelly shortened life spans, these ‘skinjobs’ seek to escape a life of servitude in the off-world colonies. But their bloody insurrection is curtailed when they fall prey to the bounty hunting Blade Runners.

Rutger Hauer is the big boss of the Replicants (Picture: Allstar/Cinetext/WARNER BROS)

In adapting Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Android’s Dream of Electronic Sheep Scott sought to blur the lines between man and machine. And much in the way that Kubrick set the standard for sheer epic scale in sci-fi, Scott’s vision of earth’s dystopian future would find itself creeping into dozens of lesser movies in the years to come.

But by far though the most memorable aspect of this movie has to be Rutger Hauer’s harrowing portrayal of Roy Batty, the sociopathic yet soulful leader of the Replicants. Following his grandiose killing spree Roy chooses in his last moments to preserve the sanctity of life, with some of the most poignant man on dove action ever caught on celluloid.

3. The Terminator (1984)

Whilst Blade Runner may have let us see the man in the machine, The Terminator (1984) was all about the machine in the man.

Despite dabbling in time travel director David Cameron couldn’t have predicted that this film would birth a franchise that would to date gross nearly $2 billion at the box office, propelling a then little known Austrian bodybuilder all the way to the Californian Governor’s mansion.

The T 800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a cyborg killing-machine sent from the future by Skynet, a military A.I. whose first act of self-awareness is to trigger nuclear Armageddon. In 2029 the only threat to Skynet is resistance leader John Connor, which is why the A.I. must assassinate his mother Sarah (Linda Hamilton) before humanity’s savior is conceived.

As Sarah’s time-travelling protector Kyle Reese (Michel Biehn) so succinctly states the T 800  ‘…doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead..’

Sound’s like Schwarzenegger’s acting career.

4. The Matrix (1999)

In the last months of the 20th century two things were on our minds. The threat of the Y2K Bug. And an Australian-American movie written and directed by The Wachowskis siblings. But whilst the Y2K failed to bring civilization to its knees, The Matrix (1999) proved to be a cultural phenomenon that dominated the first decade of the 21st century.

Apathetic hacker Thomas Anderson a.k.a. Neo (Keanu Reeves) is drawn into a war between man and machine when he learns that all of human existence is nothing more than a complex computer simulation. Whilst most of us unknowingly provide a limitless source of bio-energy to feed The Matrix, a few rebel humans live outside the system, fighting a guerilla war to free the rest of us.

Red pill or blue pill? (Picture: Warner Bros.)

The legacy of The Matrix cannot be understated. Apart from popularizing leather trench coats it was also responsible for introducing the world to ‘bullet time’. But fashion and VFX gimmicks aside The Matrix proved to be a compelling example of the ‘smart man’s’ action movie, a film not solely driven by effects, but also by deep philosophical questions on the nature of self.

Plus we got a lot of dudes getting kicked in the face.

The stunning visual effects in movies like The Matrix seemed to open a floodgate of cinematic possibilities, giving filmmakers new tools to explore film ideas that had been considered unrealisable.

5. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

He just wanted to be a real boy (Picture: DreamWorks/Warner Bros.)

For nearly 30 years A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) languished in development hell because its director Stanley Kubrick believed it impossible to truly capture the complexities of the movie’s protagonist David, a robot surrogate designed for childless couples.

In the mid ’90s Kubrick handed the reins over to Steven Spielberg, who went on to cast Academy Award nominee Haley Joel Osment in the lead. His Pinocchio-inspired tale followed the robot child’s quest to become a real boy, so as to win the love of his human mother.

Kubrick died two years before the release of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, though I think it’s safe to say he would’ve been proud to see such a stunning product of a genre he had helped to popularise.

6. I, Robot (2004)

Anyone who’s ever read the Isaac Asimov book I, Robot will be familiar with the Three Laws of Robotics.

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by humans, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with First and Second law.

But don’t worry if you’re not familiar with Asimov’s Three Laws, as their exploration were the basis of Alex Proyas’ 2004 adaptation.

It seems so long ago now that Will Smith was the biggest box office draw in the world. And getting to see the Fresh Prince fighting an army of robot helpers gone rogue definitely reminds you of a simpler time. As Detective Del Spooner he investigates a robot on human murder, in a world where such a thing is supposedly impossible. All while wearing some very cool Converse All Stars.

But as Smith’s star may have waned in recent years I, Robot remains an excellent film, if one that has some of the most blatant product placement in the history of cinema. And for many it’s probably the last in which you remember liking Smith’s co-star Shia LaBeouf.

7. WALL-E (2008)

Wall-E was a rare form of A.I. that wasn’t trying to take over the planet (Picture: Disney/Pixar)

While most movies in A.I. seem to dwell on its impending conflict with mankind, trust Disney’s Pixar to create possibly the cutest lil’ robot in all cinematic history.

WALL-E (2008) was directed by Andrew ‘don’t mention John Carter’ Stanton, who has its eponymous hero trundle through a world left in ruins by humanity, the last of us having fled earth centuries earlier for a life of indolence and excess amidst the stars.

Not one to let the end of world get him down WALL-E keeps busy by beautifying the trash dump earth has become. And when his more technologically advanced counterpart EVE arrives to reboot the planet he decides to employ his rather limited linguistic skills to woo the iPod looking droid.

As always Pixar pushes the envelope of what is achievable in animated entertainment, daring the audience not root for this cybernetic charmer on his quest for love.

8. Her (2013)

Computer love in Her (Picture: Warner Bros.)

Also crisscrossing the genres of sci-fi and romance Her (2013) might’ve been a rather depressing indictment of our increasing reliance on pointless technological distractions, were it not such a heartrendingly beautiful film.

In his usual offbeat fashion director Spike Jonze spins out this touching tale of lovelorn writer Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) and his self-aware smart-phone OS Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), whose disembodied yet dulcet tones fan the flames of passion between the pair.

Despite its high-concept premise Her manages to remain grounded in reality as it explores the mundane trials and tribulations of any new relationship. And as Theodore and Sam try to navigate the pitfalls of interspecies romance we’re given a glimpse into our not-so-distant future. One where your near omnipotent A.I. companion could possibly be in love with 641 other users as well as you.

9. Ex Machina

The final selection in this list of A.I. inspired films is also the most recent. In Ex Machina (2015) computer programmer Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) works for Bluebook, this world’s only slightly more evil version of Google. Selected to spend a week with the company’s reclusive CEO, the brilliant yet eccentric Nathan (Oscar Isaac), Caleb is whisked away to his boss’ mountaintop residence and research station.

Caleb has been chosen to test Nathan’s latest technological breakthrough, the humanoid robot Ava (Alicia Vikander). With the responsibility of deciding whether or not Ava is a true A.I. falling on Caleb’s rather narrow shoulders he begins to realize that things might not all be what they seem at Casa de Nathan.

Writer and director Alex Garland seems keen to explore not only the ways in which an A.I. would interact with humans, but also the ways in which we would potentially interact with it.

The film pulls no punches as Nathan makes clear to an increasingly besotted Caleb that Ava is in fact fully sexually compatible with humans, which seems to excite and disturb him in equal measure.

And as the situation spins ever so slowly out of control we realize that the true question of A.I. may not just be whether we can create such a thing, but should we really even be trying without first understanding what makes us tick in the first place.