10 Awesome Set-Pieces (That Were Ripped Shamelessly From Other Movies)

3. The Matrix (1999) €“ Nearly Every Martial Arts Movie Ever Made

matrix The Wachowski siblings struck box office gold with the first instalment of the €˜Matrix€™ trilogy back in 1999. The monster hit featured an exciting blend of Martial Arts, Lewis Carroll and Philip K. Dick, spawning a million copycat movies itself, all desperate to emulate the movie€™s genre defining special effect, known as €œbullet time€. But of course €˜The Matrix€™ itself owed more than a few debts elsewhere: including, arguably, a movie released a mere year before: €˜Dark City€™. Much has been made of the similarities between the two films, and the fact that the writer/directors of each were friends until €˜The Matrix€™ became a global phenomenon, leaving €˜Dark City€™ to become a more obscure, yet hugely enjoyable, cult movie. The truth of who influenced who, in this case, is a continuing debate amongst fans. Accusations of plagiarism aside, there can be little doubt that the movies the Wachowskis most closely €œlifted from€ for their set-pieces are some of the classics of the Martial Arts genre. Thankfully there is a rather nifty montage of the similarities available to watch below, put together by Rob Wilson, entitled: €˜Everything is a Remix: The Matrix€™, which clearly and convincingly shows how the choreography for various fight sequences in €˜The Matrix€™ were ripped-off almost verbatim from such movies as €˜Fist of Legend€™ (1994), €˜Tai Chi Master€™ (1993), €˜Drunken Master€™ (1978), €˜The Killer€™ (1989) and €˜Iron Monkey€™ (1993). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrW3E6BN5Dg Dodge this. fist-of-legend-1
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Since studying Film and Art History at University, I’ve been an actor, movie stand-in and journalist. I have contributed to a number of media websites, worked on national daily newspapers, written fiction of all kinds and worked as a gravedigger.