As we all know, every story that is created is just another version of a once classic story.
We all watch TV shows that come from a cliche plot, or we read books that have the same overused trope. You know what I mean. If you have ever watched one Hallmark movie, then you have seen them all.
Well in this case, these two movies I’m talking about have the same plot, but the way they were executed, MAJORLY DIFFERENT. Well maybe except for the ending. But most movies have the same type of surviving character, so that was a given. But besides that, there were extreme differences that left me viewing each movie as if it was a readaptation of an original. But the new version is better! In my opinion.
This post will have spoilers, so if you think you may want to watch these movies one day, here’s the warning.
FROZEN
I honestly feel like I’ve talked about this movie before. Just in case I didn’t though, here’s a summary. Frozen is a horror movie about survival, not a distressed sister. In this Frozen, there’s a man who takes his girlfriend and his best friend to a ski resort. At that ski resort they cause some problems on their final night after convincing a ski operator to let them go down a cliff one more time before it closes (they did this in bad weather by the way, who’s fault? let me be quiet) and the first operator leaves and tells the second operator that there is only one group left. Which is wrong, because there was a family before the friends got on, meaning there were only TWO groups left! Two I tell you! With that misinformation, the second operator shuts down the ski lift, because it’s the final ride of the week. Yep, you heard me. It’s the weekend now, which means the ski resort will be closed over the weekend. Now the three friends must survive.
With that out of the way, this is the part where I start contrasting the two movies.
THE CHARACTERS
In Frozen we have characters who are somewhat flat. They majorly stayed the same throughout. If they did have their big development, it would probably be seen in just the last five minutes of the movie. There were just three of them, and spoiler, one of them died in the first ten minutes of the movie. And yes, it was the boyfriend. And yes, he started as the mediator and died as the mediator. So, then we’re left with the best friend and the girlfriend. I didn’t like any of those two honestly. You know when movies usually give you someone who you want to live, I didn’t get nothing out of those two. The best friend was really just being a jerk and wishing half the time that the girlfriend died instead. And the girl, she was just complaining about a good share of the movie. Also, they didn’t give me high stakes. Whenever they were to talk about their lives, I was just thinking; is that a good enough reason for you to want to live though. I know how that sounds, but we all know that in a story there should be some kind of goal. A reason for them to truly want to escape outside of the fact that they just don’t want to die. The best friend was just scared of death and the girl just really missed her cat. I mean, not saying that those aren’t valid reasons, but will those things really motivate you to just survive? So, to me, the characters in Frozen didn’t have much depth to them.
THE SETTING
The setting was a single chairlift in the middle of an abandoned ski resort. It’s freezing and it’s slowly getting dark. That kind of setting should make you feel suffocated in a way. It should keep your breath hitched throughout. For Frozen, I do remember keeping my hands clenched in a fist. I think the setting was neat. It also did seem as if it could be a likely scenario in real life. So, the setting did add a lot to the story.
THE DEATHS
These are survival movies, which means that the way the characters don’t survive is greatly scrutinized. Their deaths could be symbolism. Their deaths could tell stories, their deaths could be red herring or call backs. In Frozen, their deaths were very graphic and gruesome.
This is a huge spoiler coming up.
So, earlier in the movie, the friends were discussing what they feel would be the worst ways to die. Yeah, yeah, I know. And the boyfriend’s answer was being eaten alive. This, of course, comes back to bite him. Literally. In an attempt to escape and get help, the boyfriend jumps off the chair. Note: The chair is about 40 feet above ground. So, when he falls, he breaks his legs. The audience literally sees his bones poking out. Then while he’s just accepting his fate, some wolves close in on him. Then he’s eaten. Yeah, that’s how that went. Then after that, the other deaths are calmer. There isn’t much importance in the other deaths. To me, it just seemed like the movie needed some characters to die, so they were just written off.
THE SURVIVOR
Both movies had the same survivor. It’s just one of them didn’t fight as hard as the other did.
In this movie, the survivor closed the movie so easily and so quickly. The whole time I was just thinking, “If it was so simple, why couldn’t the characters just do this in the beginning?” It made no sense; it didn’t seem impossible to live. Why did they set it up as if it was? When the survivor did the bare minimum to live. Then the movie had one of those open-ended endings.
I just shook my head in disappointment.
BREAK
I’m going to go ahead and say it, but I think Break was better. This may have nothing to do with it, but it was a Russian movie. Anyway, Break follows the story of five people, two women, three men who originally want to celebrate New Years Eve on top of a mountain, but instead it turns into a fight for their life after they get stuck in a gondola lift. To start off, I loved the fact that we got a couple again, but this time, they split up. Yep, one of the friends gains some common sense (the inciting incident was the same as Frozen) and decides not to go up the mountain. It was refreshing, because now I’m wondering, oh what’s his role if he’s not stuck? Then and there I know it’s going to be good, because we have someone on the ground. Also, Break did seem a bit extreme, but the behavior seemed a little more realistic to me.
THE CHARACTERS
The characters are flat in here also, but at least this time their individual personalities are more diverse. Only talking about three of the characters, we have an influencer (the girlfriend), the jerk (the villain basically) and the golden boy (the sad boyfriend) that all played their roles well.
The characters actually stuck to me, I genuinely felt bad for some of them. Also, the stakes! The stakes were so high. I won’t go over all of them, but a huge one was that the girlfriend was pregnant and one of the men was going to propose! They had something to go back to. How they felt conflicted about some of these things were relatable. I understood them. I really didn’t want to like them because they did that to themselves, but I really wanted to see them live.
THE SETTING
The setting was so isolated. It was that one lift 11,000 feet above ground! Even though it had more resources for the characters to work with, it was scarce and easily damaged because it was an old lift. There wasn’t anywhere for any of them to go. Then it didn’t help that there was an icy waterfall under them. I know. This whole set made me feel the chill, especially since it cut to the scenes where the one with the sense was driving in his warm cozy car. The setting was full on body shivers.
THE DEATHS
Won’t go into detail, but all the deaths had a purpose. They all had a cause and effect that kept amping the stakes. Every loss had a contribution. But I do want to note, unlike the sacrifices from Frozen, this movie had deaths that were a result from fighting based on human flaws. If you would watch it, you would know what I mean.
THE SURVIVOR
This survivor stood on business. That’s all I have to say. They did what they needed to do, all while keeping their morals.
But yea, go checkout Break. I think a lot of you would love it.