One complaint that’s often heard about the Hero’s Journey is that its use can lead to formulaic stories—especially when it comes to movies and television shows. In my opinion, it’s a legitimate beef. The Hero’s journey, when consulted as a general guide and a loose framework, offers the latitude to create an endless variety of highly original stories that powerfully resonate with audiences. Yet Hollywood being Hollywood, the opportunity to use the Hero’s Journey as a template for reeling out cookie-cutter movies can be highly tempting (a little like the Dark Side of the Force, I suppose…)

Thus, the world is now treated to two recent trailers—one for a long-awaited feature film sequel—Disney’s Tron: Legacy… and the other for a re-loaded cable movie version of a classic adventure franchise—SyFy’s The Phantom. Of course, as every moviegoer knows, you can’t judge a film by its trailer. But to me, the overlap between these two previews is striking. Have a look and see what you think (click the links below or the embeds above). First, the ultra-cool Tron: Legacy trailer.

TRON: LEGACY

And now the trailer for The Phantom.

THE PHANTOM

There! There! See what I’m talking about? Yes, there are differences. But look at the similarities:

• BAD BOYS WITH FATHER ISSUES: Both trailers immediately introduce us to our heroes, each of whom is the son of a long-missing father. Disney’s website describes Tron: Legacy’s Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) as “…a rebellious 27-year-old…haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his father Kevin Flynn.” The Phantom’s website describes its hero as “Young daredevil Kit Walker [who] finds himself recruited by a secret organization, unveiling a heritage he never could have dreamed possible.”
• IT IS YOUR DESTINY: Each hero is issued his respective Call to Adventure by a former colleague of his father. In Tron: Legacy, the herald is Kevin Flynn’s one-time associate Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner, who played the title character in the original 1982 Tron). Rebutting a brief, mild Refusal of the Call, Alan tosses Sam the keys to his father’s long-abandoned video arcade. In The Phantom trailer, Kit Walker’s first encounter with the herald (who also seems to be the mentor) comes just as early but is a lot more harrowing, and his Refusal of the Call, naturally, is more emphatic.
• NICE TOYS: Having crossed the threshold into the Special World (the training facility of a highly secret agency in Phantom, the stormy-skied video game universe in Tron) each hero is soon introduced to awesome gear and gets to wear a really cool costume.

I’m sure you can probably pick out even more connections. Of course, these mythic elements are commonplace in many movies (just think of how quickly Luke Skywalker reversed his Refusal of the Call after finding his aunt and uncle’s charred remains back at the homestead). And the Father Search sub-genre of the Hero’s Journey goes back at least as far as Homer’s Odyssey, in which Odysseus’ 20-year-old son Telemachus sets sail upon “the wine-dark sea” in search of his long-lost papa.

Still, I think it’s revealing to view these trailers back-to-back and note how similar they feel to one another. Yet I’m also quite sure that we’ll see the stories departing substantially from one another once we’re able to view the two movies in full. Which we’ll be able to do with The Phantom on cable’s SyFy when it debuts on June 20, and then with Tron: Legacy when it hits the multiplexes and IMAX screens on December 17.