Top 10 Pairs of Movies that are the Same Movie

Greetings, reader!

Time for one of my more unserious posts! I've always enjoyed pointing out when a movie is similar to another movie, especially if it isn't in a totally obvious way but rather a specific conclusion you have to arrive at after a certain thought process. Here are ten pairs of movies that are more or less the same movie when you really think about it, ranked in a whimsically arbitrary fashion!

10. Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

In this dramatic conclusion to an epic saga, we pick up from the high-stakes cliffhanger we left on in the previous film - but after the stakes are laid out, we hang back as the heroes accomplish a bunch of side-quests to pad the runtime and build up that inevitable final act. When the final act arrives, things look bad - our main hero is standing alone against an unbeatable-looking villain, while the small army of good guys right behind them is looking vastly outnumbered. Luckily, (SPOILER ALERT) a whole bunch of reinforcements arrive right at the nick of time, as we suddenly see the scene being swarmed by an assortment of various allies, cameos and other fan-service good guys. And this gives our main hero the strength to fight the bad guy with more drive and win!

9. The Usual Suspects and Se7en

In this critically acclaimed crime thriller from 1995, we follow a battle of minds between law enforcement officials and a criminal mastermind who keeps one-upping them. Known especially for its layered villain, as well as the mega-quotable and utterly devastating plot twist at the end, this film is such a modern classic - but a weird one to re-watch, due to the unfortunately aged casting of Kevin Spacey as the aforementioned villain.

8. Freddy Vs. Jason and King Kong Vs. Godzilla

In this crossover event, two icons of a specific horror subgenre are seen together on the big screen for the first time. The film begins as if it's switching between two different films, writing its own separate stories for the two legendary characters before their narratives start to intertwine. The film makes most of its crossover premise: we see the monsters teaming up, for a moment, but we also get the big fight between them as the "Vs." in the title promises. The fight is long and entertaining, and instead of a conventional ending, things are left on an ambiguous note as the other party, deeply injured but still alive, descends mysteriously into the ocean.

7. The Lion King and Hamlet

Ah, I love that movie about the young prince whose life spirals into self-doubt and chaos after his father, the King, dies under suspicious circumstances. It even turns out that the King's brother conspired to off him, so that he could be King! The young prince is so wrecked with guilt that he leaves the country, goes on all sorts of sidequests - and then decides to make an epic return to make things right. You know the one?

6. The Lion King and Black Panther

The double appearance of The Lion King on this list is pretty hilarious, because somehow, Hamlet and Black Panther are not very similar at all, even though both of them are basically the same film as The Lion King. You see:

In this movie, we follow a hero who has a great deal of potential but is still learning to control his naive ways from his wise father - and this is upended when a charismatic usurper takes the power, killing the father in the process. Our hero goes on a transformative journey, almost losing himself in the process, but eventually learning to communicate with his deceased father and other ancestors in the great beyond.

The villain, who is partially humanized by showing his fleshed-out motives stemming from old bitterness, has transformed the hero's home into a bleak and tyrannical place, when the hero returns and there's a big old fight. The supporting good guys fight the supporting bad guys while an epic score fused with African traditional music motifs plays, while the main hero has a dramatic conversation with the main villain about their differences and similarities while fighting him. The whole thing ends in a deeply bittersweet and ultimately poetic manner.

5. Thor: Ragnarok and Frozen II

In this sequel, the dark past of a seemingly benevolent ruler is revealed, in what can be seen as a metaphor for how our history is written by the victors and the West often glosses over its colonial treatment of Indigenous people. In the thematically deep final act, the main fantasy kingdom seems to be in more and more danger - until, in an eye-opening plot twist, one of the main heroes realizes that the main fantasy kingdom should be sacrificed under the apocalyptic circumstances, and that the mere place doesn't actually matter all that much as long as the people survive.

Also, there are cool-looking rock creatures.

4. Fast & Furious and Mission Impossible III

In this turning point for the popular franchise, the people behind the movie series clearly made the conscious decision to plan their instalments in a long-term manner, instead of winging it one movie at a time. Therefore, after the odd grouping of films that came before this one, we're suddenly introduced to a larger supporting cast that would go on to stay throughout the next films, instead of having totally new people support the protagonist in each film.

We also get glimpses of a larger story, one that will be continued in the next film. This film has its growing pains and isn't as good as the few that would follow it, but it's still an undoubtedly important one, as it sets the blueprint that the rest of the franchise would go on to follow!

3. The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Brokeback Mountain

I have to make a disclaimer that this isn't my original joke - I just like to spread its joy whenever possible:

In this critically acclaimed masterwork, two men journey up a mountain and destroy a ring in the process.

2. The Godfather: Part II and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!

Is this film a sequel or a prequel? Short answer: yes.

You see - about half of this film's runtime is devoted to a flashback storyline, where we follow a young version of the main parent character from the first film, played here by a different actor in a brilliant casting choice. The rest of the film follows up from the events of the first film in the present-day narrative. The prequel and sequel elements complement each other in a clever fashion, as the light shed on the parent character's backstory in all its atmospheric Mediterranean glory has tons of parallels to their offspring's present-day situation.

1. The Community Movie and Bando Stone and the New World

A mythical upcoming release, starring Donald Glover and hyped up to the maximum, that has been delayed in production so many times that I'm starting to wonder if it'll ever see the light of day. If this film gets made, it'll probably be the greatest movie of all time, but looking at the state of the eternity project, that's a big "if".

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I go *way* out of my depth and begin "Culinary Month" with the first of four posts that I'm profoundly under-qualified to write: the top 10 coffee drinks/variations.