DoppelMovies

I love to hate doppelganger movies, “doppelmovies” – two or more different movies that have the same plot, theme, and feel, but different actors and settings. . .supposedly. Essentially the movies are the same, but different.

Pacific Rim was a pretty good futuristic sci-fi movie that could have you on the edge of your seat. Atlantic Rim wasn’t as popular in the theaters, if it was ever in theaters to begin with. The plot was the same, there was action, hope for the heroes, but something was missing. Could it have been the cast? All I know is that the sound could have gone out while I was watching Pacific Rim, but as long as I could see Idris Elba, it was a good movie to me. Atlantic Rim didn’t have any big draw stars to speak of. Certainly no one as charismatic and just all around sexy as Idris. But honestly, star ranking shouldn’t matter if a movie is well written and directed. I can’t put my finger on what went wrong on the Atlantic side, but maybe they should have left the West coast alone.

Another mirrored movie duo that aroused my interest was Antz vs. A Bugs Life. These were released back in the day and occurred among the Dreamworks vs. Disney era, when they seemed to be at war with each other. Thankfully, they overcame their differences and have each cranked out some great movies since then.

Dark City is a movie I just happened upon one night. And all the while I was watching it, I kept thinking, “This is kind of like The Matrix.” The darkness of Dark City was due to the sun being blocked out by the aliens who wanted to take over the world. The darkness in The Matrix was due to civilization being forced to live underground by the aliens who wanted to take over the world. The star character in Dark City, John Murdock, couldn’t remember his name. The main character in The Matrix, Neo, hated to be called by his real world name, Mr. Anderson. Oh yeah, one definite stand out in similarities is that in both movies, all the aliens look exactly alike. Maybe that’s how it is in real life. I wouldn’t know. I have as of yet to meet any outer-spacians. But I hope that they would be more creative than to have their entire species look the same. How boring would that be? Very.

Anyway, you would think that with all this technology, with all the wonderful WRITING TALENT available in this country alone, SOMEONE could come up with something new and exciting. I happen to have new and fresh ideas just in case anyone is interested (insert shameless self plug here). But until I’m discovered, I guess we all will just have to keep sitting through rehashed, revisited, sequelized movies.