The classic movie “Jumanji” released in 1995 was adapted from the best-selling children’s book of the same name. Through a board game that allows players to experience the jungle adventure, it brings a fresh and interesting experience to the audience, and has won unanimous praise from all walks of life. Later films brought many influences.
Now, after more than 20 years, with the changing times, this series has not only launched a sequel starring Dwayne Johnson, but also an innovative work with a strong tribute to Netflix’s “Choose or Die”.
It’s just that although it is a tribute, “Choose or Die” is not as funny as “Jumanji”, but instead is a horror and thriller like “Truth or Dare”.
The movie gets to the point from the very beginning. A middle-aged man with a low status at home is always disliked by his son because he is obsessed with retro items from 1980, and his wife never takes him seriously.
However, one day he discovered a nostalgic video game called “CURS>R”, which looks ordinary on the surface, but there is a magical power that can “affect reality” inside.
Although it seemed novel to him at first, as the game’s options became more and more aggressive, it became difficult for him to choose, and he finally spread the game because he couldn’t bear to see his family suffer.
“Choose or Die” opened with such a shocking plot, which also made the audience curious about the subsequent plot development.
Three months later, the heroine Kayla has repeatedly failed to find a job after dropping out of school, and even her job as a cleaning staff in the company faces many problems.
With financial constraints and her mother deeply addicted to drugs, although she tried her best to make changes and turn her life around, the situation was not as easy as she imagined, and her life could be said to be a mess.
The male protagonist, Isaac, is an engineer, dedicated to game development, and like Kayla, wants to succeed on his own.
And one day they found a discarded video game “CURS>R” in the garbage, which made Isaac, who loves retro items, interested.
In order to collect the bonus from the developer that they can get by breaking the game, they decided to start, but they did not expect this to be the beginning of a horrific encounter.
From the first day the waiter at the restaurant swallowed the broken glass she had broken, causing massive bleeding in the mouth and esophagus and died, to the second day when Kayla’s mother was attacked by a huge bloodthirsty mouse that appeared out of nowhere, and was finally forced to leave the house. He jumped off the window and was seriously injured.
“Choose or Die” fully presents the horror situation caused by the game’s control of reality, which not only brings a lot of horror and oppression to the audience, but also makes the two protagonists in the film decide to start to face the harm and negative impact of this game. From reluctance to believe to understanding the seriousness of the matter,
Although I don’t know the working principle behind it, I can’t believe it.
However, Kayla and Isaac, after learning that the game will start at 2 o’clock every day in the middle of the night, also decided to investigate the situation and the mechanism behind “CURS>R” through the next game, and try to free themselves from the curse and danger to their lives .
From choosing between the blue and red doors, to Kayla entering the red door, the game creates an illusion through the nightmare of her brother Ricky’s drowning in the swimming pool, giving two options to save her brother or Isaac.
In addition to letting the two protagonists know the maliciousness of the game itself, Isaac also used his understanding of the retro trend to find out the location of the “server” behind him with the tone of the phone voice.
And what’s interesting about this movie is that they’re here to uncover the truth and learn how the game works.
In the end, the cursed power of the game stems from some ancient lost symbol.
Years ago, a man converted these cryptic symbols into octal command prompt characters and wrapped them in the horror game “CURS>R”.
The motive behind it is to wish to bless himself by casting curses on others.
That’s why I like the way the finale of “Choose or Die” ends, it’s creative and tense in a way, like the man in the opening credits is both the victim and the perpetrator.
After Kayla defeated the big devil set by the game and successfully broke the level, she also used this curse game to deal with the evil neighbors who harassed their mother and daughter and all the bad guys in the world, and brought out the whole movie “Choose or Die” the topic you want to talk about.
“Choose or Die” shows the two sides of “curse” and “gift”, and thereby reflects many real-world situations.
On the one hand, in addition to bringing out the true appearance of the weak and the strong in society, that one person gains while another loses, it also tells the audience that the same tool is handed over to different people, and its final value will be determined according to the quality of the user. .
In this regard alone, “Choose or Die” is worthy of recognition.
Overall, “Choose or Die”, as a horror thriller version of “Jumanji”, also makes a new interpretation of the classic concept through the creative ingenuity of the director.
Several scenes in the film are indeed full of horror. In addition to creating a terrifying atmosphere, the whole film also uses the mysterious power of the game itself to create a sense of suspense that makes people curious about the truth behind it. A good story with a beginning and an end.
“Choose or Die” allows the heroine to face her psychological trauma in the process of uncovering the truth, and finally let go of years of guilt and self-blame.
Related Post: “Choose or Die” IGN 5: I don’t know what it wants to say.
