Despite several delays over the past five years, Pragmata is making its long-awaited debut to unbridled applause. The story drops players into a high-tech lunar research station as a grizzled space detective named Hugh who, upon arrival, meets a mysterious young android girl, Diana.
The two are forced to rely on each other to survive in an unstable lunar facility that’s been seized by rogue AI androids. Pragmata retains a similar setup in Event Horizon: an unwitting party answers a distress beacon that leads to a derelict yet dangerous spacecraft. However, Pragmata drops the cosmic horror elements in favor of more grounded sci-fi storytelling with a dash of mystery.
Think Logan meets Interstellar, with artificial intelligence and the boundaries between human and machine serving as a central thematic focus. If that sounds like your kind of sci-fi, here’s a list of the best movies like Pragmata so you can keep the experience going long after the credits roll.
5
Solaris (1972)
More a psychological experience than an actual film, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris explores the exciting bounds of what’s possible on other worlds through the lens of memory and guilt. It adapts Stanisław Lem’s novel of the same name, following psychologist Kris Kelvin on his quest to inspect a decades-old space station orbiting the planet Solaris.
Much like Hugh in Pragmata, Kelvin arrives at the research station only to find the staff onboard emotionally unstable in the wake of a fellow crew mate’s mysterious demise. Little does he know, Kelvin has stepped into a nightmare of repressed memories and personal trauma that the planet’s strange ocean manifests.
Solaris is a particularly harrowing psychological sci-fi journey unlike any other. Although it’s a bit dated, the tone and style of the Soviet-era movie evoke a similar vibe in Pragmata, where the mystery of the space station is a captivating perspective on the bounds of sentient intelligence beyond that of humans.
Where to watch: HBO Max
4
After Yang (2021)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence would be a solid choice for this list, but I decided to go with something a bit more realistic and emotionally poignant. Despite being lesser known, After Yang is ranked among the best science fiction films of the 21st century. Directed by Kogonada and produced by A24, the film centers on a family in their attempt to repair their malfunctioning android son in a distant and implied post-apocalyptic future.
Yang fits a similar mold to Diana in Pragmata. He might be artificial, but he’s still viewed as a “family member” in the household, blurring the line between machine and personality. All the while, After Yang asks (well before the current dominance of AI) the uncomfortable question of whether Yang’s memories and emotional connections make him “real” in any meaningful sense.
It’s a thought-provoking narrative that will leave you breathless and asking even more questions once the credits fade. Don’t miss this absolute treasure of a sci-fi flick that’s largely still under the radar.
Where to watch: Available to rent online.
3
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Blade Runner may have helped kick-start the neo-noir cyberpunk genre in film, but Blade Runner 2049 more fully captures that “androids living among us vibe” found in Pragmata, almost beautifully so. Picking up 30 years in the future, 2049 follows a newly bioengineered replicant Blade Runner named simply “K,” who falls into a conspiracy surrounding a secret lying dormant for years.
Blade Runner 2049 remains one of the best cyberpunk films ever made, and it cemented the reputation of Denis Villeneuve as a top-tier “prestige sci-fi” director. Seeing Harrison Ford back in the role of Rick Deckard was a real treat, but the cinematics are what really sell this film. Just like the original, Blade Runner 2049 features some of the most iconic cinematography in the medium that Villeneuve is still pushing today in films like the hotly anticipated Dune 3.
Blade Runner 2049 won’t exactly put you on an abandoned lunar base, but it does feature similar themes on identity and choice in a world filled with AI and androids, best drawn out in K and Joi’s relationship.
Where to watch: Available to rent online.
2
Ex Machina (2015)
Ex Machina stars Oscar Isaac as a homebody robotics guru named Nathan Bateman and Domhnall Gleeson as an upstart programmer working in Bateman’s company. After winning a promotional trip to visit his CEO’s hyper-minimalist nature-adjacent compound, Caleb Smith soon realizes he may not be so lucky after all.
Alex Garland’s Ex Machina is a fascinating exploration of machine sentience and human connection. Much like Blade Runner 2049, it’s filled with some of the most tantalizing cinematography in science fiction filmmaking, with the core aesthetic meshing the natural and artificial worlds in astounding reverence.
Where to watch: HBO Max
1
Moon (2009)
The title alone should make it fairly obvious why Moon is attached to this list of Pragmata-like movies. Moon tells the story of one Sam Bell, whose mundane life on a lonely lunar mining base devolves into a mind-numbing perspective on the cost of total isolation. With his one and only form of connection found in the Hal 9000-coded AI assistance named GERTY, Bell proceeds into a narrative that explicitly asks: can AI be trusted when it’s part of the system controlling your reality?
Moon is one of the closest tonal and thematic precursors to Pragmata, trading action for introspection in a story largely centering on isolation, artificial intelligence, and the fragile boundaries of identity inside a machine-run lunar facility. The film fantastically plops you into Bell’s shoes, depicting the uncomfortable reality of a psychological unraveling set against the endless vacuum of space.
Whether you’re a fan of Pragmata or 2001: A Space Odyssey, you’ll feel right at home in the cold embrace of Moon.
Where to watch: Tubi
