Obviously, The Matrix is the first thing that comes to mind, but also I, Robot (black cop with a robotic arm, left arm to be exact) and a fistful of others.
shareAgreed this film had alot of ideas floating around in it from cyberspace to robotics to nano technology...All have been used in other films.
shareyeah i was definitely thinkin the i, robot thing, same arm and everything
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LOL!!!
shareI was watching the Matrix the other day, and for some reason, I too started thinking of its similarities to this film, made a few years earlier. It even had an Aussie AI villain (Russell Crowe here, rather than Hugo Weaving. Yeah I know Crowe is actually from New Zealand).
Cyberpunk, and 'what is real' movies were quite common in the late 20th century though. This film, The Matrix, The 13th Floor, Dark City, Existenz, Strange Days, The Truman Show, Johnny Mnemonic, etc.
While its obvious that Matrix borrows more from Ghost in the Shell, Virtuousity did come before even that. Maybe this film will become a cult classic, given that so many other films are intentionally or accidently similar. Probably not.
shareIt's worth the watch just to see Crowe's portrayal of Sid 6.7. After seeing him in this, I always thought he'd make a great Randall Flagg.
Watch your tongue, boy, if you like this job.
LIKE this job!?!
gee whiz Johnny Mnemonic and Lawnmower Man came out before this did so this must be a ripoff of that! this is retarded. none of the movies mentioned here have anything in common with Virtuosity other than circumstantial themes. just because another movie has virtual reality in it doesn't mean its ripping this off. that's just saying The Fugitive is a ripoff of this because it had a one armed man too or that Aliens is a ripoff of it because it's in the future too.
Virtuosity was not even the first movie dealing with virtual reality, not by a long shot, much less the first story ever to deal with it. these movies have all taken their cues from decades old novels. even that stupid Will Smith adaptation of I, Robot was based on a series of Issac Asimov books from the 50s. I don't suppose any of you have even heard of William Gibson or Neal Stephenson either. kids these days...
For the record, Warner Brothers bought The Matrix as a spec script for $1 mil on February 17, 1994. Virtuosity was in rewrites as late as August of 94. Regardless, both of them are highly derivative of previous films, novels, short stories, animes and manga.
Studios play their own version of keeping up with the Joneses, quite commonly optioning whatever properties they can find that are similar to whatever is being purchased by their competitors. These transactions are typically reported in the trades or are simply part of an ongoing series of bidding wars.
Consequently, several similarly themed movies often hit cinemas within the same time frame: (The Abyss, Leviathan, Deep Star Six),(The Prestige, The Illusionist), (Gone With the Wind, Jezebel),(Armageddon, Deep Impact),(Olympus Has Fallen, White House Down), (Failsafe, Dr Strangelove), etc. The practice is as old as the industry. Basically, the 'stealing' starts long before principal photography.
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Writers are highly educated? You haven't seen a Todd farmer movie then.
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