5 Sci-Fi Movies You Didn’t Realise Were Shameless Rip Offs
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It is normal for movies, like everything, to feel overly familiar after a while. In fact, it is an issue that has existed even in the early origins of storytelling and literature. Sci-Fi as a genre borrows from a wide spectrum of source material and is one that can easily feel clichéd, and a lot of what we so often enjoy on the silver screen has been done in some way before. Some of the biggest Sci-Fi movies are, in many ways, a shameless rip off of a previous movie. This can be with movie's use of location, it's style or indeed the entire plot. And you may not even have noticed it, but your brain did. It is similar to when you watch a classic film, like Dr. Strangelove for example, and notice that "oh, so that is what the Simpsons were making fun of." The South Park episode 'Cripple Fight' contains the greatest example of my point, with it's parody of the below epic fight from John Carpenter's They Live. http://youtu.be/4-MVMbm6c0k While this is obviously a parody, the recycling of images and plots in actual Sci-Fi films can have the same effect. I will present five films that have ran with this idea, and ended up as a shameless rip off of older movies. Admittedly some with more success than others. In no particular order, here we go... 5. Gamer (2009)/Rollerball (2002) - The Running Man
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Okay, so some will say; "but hold on, the Rollerball original was made in 1975. How was this influenced by a later film?" My friends, indeed the original Rollerball was made in 1975. This however has a very unique feel and tone. It is a very dark film. The tone is set from the very beginning with Bach's Toccata from the iconic Toccata and Fugue in D minor. The future is very Clockwork Orange in style, there is no fun nor glamour in this era. The remake on the other hand, adapts the glitz and glamour elements from The Running Man, rather than working from the dark template of the original. The Rollerball remake, just like Gamer, has the following elements: Criminals (or rogues), a future time setting, some kind of shady organisation running things, and violence as the main source of entertainment for the masses. While freedom from that violence is the main goal of our protagonist. Sadly all the elements are there; but the horror is lost. Therefore there no tension! However 2012 did see the character of Caesar Flickerman portrayed on the big screen. This is an example of a "noble rip off ", literally this character is lifted directly from The Running Man. Yet there is the graphic horror needed to counteract this aesthetic maintained in the film. This world is not sexy or fun. In fact the whole Hunger Games movie could be seen as a modern Running Man, but done well.