Today, I am here to talk to you, the curious masses, about three movies. They are, in order: Darkman, Mission: Impossible, and Mission: Impossible 2.

Oh, yes; huge SPOILER ALERT for all three movies involved. If you read on, you have either seen all three, or don't care about one or more of them.

Spoilers begin...

NOW.

In Darkman, during the helicopter chase/fight between Darkman and Robert Durant, the former ends up on a freeway, hopping between car roofs, while the latter takes potshots at him with a miniature grenade launcher. Eventually, Darkman grabs the tow cable that he had been swinging from, and hooks it to the roof of a semi trailer. As the truck heads for a tunnel, Durant's pilot tries desperately to break free and pull up, but cannot, and crashes into the wall. The charred wreckage is then dragged along behind the truck. No, Durant is not technically "dead," as he is revealed to have survived in the sequel (aptly named The Return of Durant), but for the story of this movie, he is gone.

In Mission: Impossible, during the helicopter chase/fight scene between Ethan Hunt and Jim Phelps, the former ends up atop a speeding bullet train, clinging to the roof, while the latter is trying to make an airborne escape. Eventually, Ethan grabs the tow cable Jim is trying to use, and hooks it to the roof of the train car. As the train heads for a tunnel, Jim's pilot tries desperately to break free and pull up, but cannot, and is forced to fly into the tunnel behind the train.

See any similarities?

The shameless cribbing doesn't stop there.

In Darkman, two criminals break into Dr. Westlake's lab. They separate, and one (Rudy) is nabbed by Westlake (who is unseen at this point). After a minute, the other (Smiley) is confronted by a man running towards him, tied up at the arms. He stuns him with the butt of his gun, and then takes a closer look; the man is him. He then sees a seam, and pulls off the man's mask; underneath, he is Peyton Westlake, the man he was sent in to kill. "Westlake" wakes up, stands up, and makes some muffled screams. He is then promptly shot by Smiley, who, after a minute, reaches down and removes another mask, to reveal it was actually Rudy with his mouth duct-taped shut. A third man appears (looking exactly like Smiley) and tells his unwitting stooge "Good shooting."

In Mission: Impossible 2, two criminals are holding some guy (he's important, I guess, he never existed until now) hostage. Ethan Hunt incapacitates the main baddy (Ambrose)'s lackey (Stamp), and drags him around a corner. A scuffle is heard, and the Stamp emerges, dragging Ethan. When Ethan is unable to speak properly, Stamp asserts that he broke his jaw. Ambrose then shoots Ethan, but suspects foul play shortly after. He finds a seam, and removes a mask, to reveal it was actually Stamp with his mouth duct-taped shut. The other man (looking exactly like Stamp) is actually Ethan.

Spoilers will end in 3, 2, 1...

END OF SPOILERS.

This whole debacle amazes me. Yes, it is possible that it's just coincidence. But two movies in the same series taking slightly edited versions of scenes from the same movie? It boggles, like, the mind, man.