When Movies Attack
[Written by: The Vern from The Vern's Videovanguard]
Have you even been watching a movie and thought to yourself, “Hey, this looks really familiar”? It happens all the time in Hollywood, two movies are released simultaneously with almost the same identical premise. The story may be different from each other but they both involve the same theme or the same plot. Every two weeks I will be posting an article comparing two different movies that are very similar. Just to be clear, this is not in any way a challenge to discuss which movie is better. You can make that decision yourself. This is only a fun way of maybe helping you discover another movie that you may or may not have heard of before. So let’s get on to see what movies are attacking each other this week.
SPOILERS****** Be warned I will be discussing both movies and may give away certain plot elements.
The Hunger Games Vs. Battle Royale
THE CHALLENGERS.
The Hunger Games
In a futuristic society 12 districts from around the world each pick one young contestant from the age of 12 to 18 to compete in the annual Hunger Games.
That one contestant will have to fight and kill every other person in the games in order to become the winner. Our lead heroine Katniss volunteers to
be a tribute when her sister is chosen to be in the games and takes her place.
Battle Royale
With crime rate on the rise and the fear of youth not respecting authority. The Japanese government created the Battle Royale act. Every year a random group of students are chosen to compete in these games where they will have to kill every person in the group in order to survive. If they don’t an electronic
collar around their necks will explode. Shuya and his other classmates have just been choosing, but it doesn’t look like he has any interest in playing.
Similarities
- Contestants are chosen via a lottery to participate in these games.
- The main characters will end up being romantically involved so the ending will have some real dramatic tension.
- They will also end up being the ones who help take down the government and ultimately become fugitives.
- The media is used to a great effect in each movie and the winners are giving a lot of fame and success at the end of the competition.
Differences
- Although contestants are chosen at random to take part in either game. In The Hunger Games it’s more planned out. In each district every young person must put their name in a bowl to be chosen to take part. In Battle Royale, a random group of classmates are drugged and forced to compete in the games.
- Although both movies share the same concept of kids killing kids the execution of either story is quite different. In The Hunger Games none of the players know each other except for Katniss and Peeta. True other friendships are formed later on but they are not fully developed and you don’t get much background on them either. However in Battle Royale all the challengers involved are classmates, friends, and lovers. Being forced to kill your best friend is way much tougher then having to kill someone you don’t. Plus all of the contestants in The Hunger Games have had much more ample time to train unlike the challengers in Battle Royale.
- Worth noting too that the violence in The Hunger Games is toned way down from the book in order to get a PG-13. The film makers of Battle Royale do not shy away from showing violent material resulting in that one getting an R-15 rating in Japan.
- Difference between the two movies is that one is in English and the other is in Japanese.