Already out in some territories, coming to others over the next week (in cinemas and also on HBO Max in the US).
The Matrix Resurrections: SPOILER discussion
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They are pretty tight-lipped about the question is it just a proper ending to the series, or is it the beginning of a new trilogy?
I’m willing to bet there’s more movies to be had, as long as it doesn’t tank at the box office.
Fingers crossed that Spider-man put a bunch of people in a happy place and they have a good showing.Can’t believe after a couple of trailers and I’m back to basing my life on the teachings of The matrix like it’s 1999 again!
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I don’t know about that… this IGN review is BRUTAL… and, well, it’s IGN… =/
Warning though, might contain spoilers if you haven’t seen/heard anything about the movie.
Guess we’ll find out tomorrow… wasn’t planning to go watch it in theaters either, but after seeing a few reviews, looks like it’s not worth it, so HBOmax it is…
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God. Just realized. We've reached a generation of people who don't have first-hand knowledge of *why* the falling text in the Matrix is green.
— Dr. Rebecca Gibson (@RGibsongirl) December 21, 2021
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Just back from this. A real mixed bag for me – some stuff I liked, some stuff I found quite disappointing.
I liked the first half a lot – the ambiguity, the wit, the self-referential stuff about the original Matrix and its sequels but also about the wisdom of these franchise resurrections. It’s a sequel with an interesting and playful relationship to the original, and I liked that.
But I feel like it set me up to expect something a lot fresher and more inventive than the second half delivered, which was ultimately the very retread that the first half takes the piss out of. I had a real feeling of “is that it?” by the end, despite some nice moments in the back half (particularly for Trinity). Partly because it never really does anything truly visually dazzling in the way that the first three movies did.
Also, it feels like a mistake to bring back Smith without Hugo Weaving. His performance made that character and it just doesn’t feel like it’s the same character without him.
Overall, I’m glad I saw it, and I think it will merit another viewing to unpick it all – the script is quite dense in places and there are lots of nice bits of commentary, both about the Matrix and the current pitfalls of the online world in real life.
But it didn’t blow me away. Maybe I set my expectations too high.
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OK, tell me again why they didn’t bring back Laurence Fishburne.
He was definitely missed here.
That is weird. I mean, apparently Morpheus died in some online RPG that is considered canon, but… they recast him as a younger character anyway?
It’s a bit more complex than a straight recast here. This isn’t the old Morpheus but something very different.
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Huh, I actually kinda get the Lawrence Fishbourne thing, since that is not Morpheus, but I kinda wish they would’ve changed his name to reflect the fact that he is in essence a program created by Neo that reflects both Morpheus and Smith.
Secondly: I guess Hugo Weaving didn’t want to come back, and that’s fine, but holy shit they could’ve at least gotten an actor with more screen presence and either 1) able to mimick Smith’s manerisms, or 2) simply do something radically different BUT memorable… this was neither, just a bland character calling himself Smith…
Other than that… damn this is a tough movie. I like a lot of what is there, lots of good ideas, both in terms of plot and action. I liked that they went into the whole “what happened after Revolutions” part of it, particulalry when it comes to Sati, and I just wish they would’ve explored the whole concept of the machines’ Revolution A LOT MORE, because that was a huge part of the OG sequels and a huge part of the Oracle’s plan. But hey, I suppose they’re leaving something open for possible sequels, but since they might not get more, they should’ve emptied their clips.
So anyways, the plot is alright, although I agree that it kinda falls appart at the end a little bit, but not so much, so it’s okay. It was a solid sequel in that regard. Now lets get to the difficult bits:
So first off… there’s just WAAAAAAAY too many inserts from the previous movies… like I get a couple here and there at the begining, particulalry with Smith (and some of those were clever)… but it’s just ALL THE FUCKIN’ TIME!!! Every other minute it’s like “remember this?” and it’s both incredibly annoying and super insulting, like thinking people won’t be able to put 2 and 2 together or catch the references when they’re quite obvious. No I don’t need to see young Niobe, no I don’t need to see young Sati, no I don’t need to see every referenced scene every 2 fuckin’ seconds, jeeeesus christ… So yeah, that’s a HUGE issue with the movie… BY FAR the biggest negative.
Secondly, the action: There are a couple of nice ideas in the movie, like the gravity shifting backdoors or the swarm bombers, and there’s a couple of well shot and well made action scenes, but they’re mostly very… I want to say generic? a bit boring sometimes? but most importantly, very badly edited… super shaky, super janky, and the type of bad action you get in subpar movies, where it’s all quick cuts and close ups. The action is very much a far cry from the amazing choreography and planing, not only from the OG movies, but even from something as recent as the John Wick movies.
The point being: They should’ve hired someone better to do the action, but also, it’s kind of a shame they couldn’t think of something innovative… I mean, sure, it’s probably not as easy as it sounds, but I have to believe there are people working in the industry who could’ve come up with something new and exciting, I mean shit, Nolan does it every other movie.
The music was alright… nothing too amazing, but good enough. Sound design was also unremarkable.
The cinematography is much much better than I was expecting, lots of beautiful shots for sure, so that’s a win.
Costumes however? Ehhh I’m sorry… Listen, I get it that it’s not 1999 anymore, but come on… everyone looked so pedestrian and bland. Bunny was a pretty good character, but her look was so… lame… oh look, she has blue hair, who fuckin cares. Edit: The obvious exception being Morpheus who got most of the interesting costumes in here.
Speaking of which, cast and acting was alright (with the exception of fake Smith of course)… the new characters were fine too, most of them being relegated to background characters as usual, but hey, considering it’s the whole cast of Sense8, might as well leave them in the background… xD
Oh and except Jada Pinket Smith… what they fuck girl? No. It’s not Gotham anymore… Speaking of Smiths, kinda surprised they didn’t hire Will Smith for anything… I mean, shit, since Neo was supposed to look like a balding random dude, it would’ve been kinda funny if he had looked like Will Smith instead, what with the movie being sooo meta and whatnot… =P
Aaaand speaking of meta… the most difficult part of the movie, being the meaning and the message and all of those things… that, I’m not so sure about, there’s a lot to unpack in there and I probably need to think about it more. I did notice the very blatant use of the word “binary” every so often because fuck subtilety I guess. And there’s a lot of things to be said about that whole meta thing, particularly the meta-criticism of Hollywood and sequels and all that, which they seem to be obvlivious of in the last third of the movie, since it devolves into exactly what they’re shitting on… but anyways, I’m gonna leave that for later.
My first overall reaction is: it was better than I expected, lots of cool ideas and a decent enough plot continuation, but with a lot of execution issues, specially in terms of the action… very underwhelming action, which is pretty sad, tbh.
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Thinking about it more today, I wonder whether there’s a reading of it where the back half of the movie is essentially the shit hollow sequel that sad-Keanu from the first half ends up making to satisfy his own feelings of unrequited love from Tiffany and give himself a happy ending in the fantasy world, rather than any of it being meant to be real.
Essentially a similar structure to Adaptation. With the delusional section in the middle (when Keanu first meets nu-Morpheus and his boss becomes Smith) being the point at which we switch from the real world to seeing Anderson’s fantasies that become his sequel.
I wonder if rewatching it with that reading in mind might help.
I realise I’m already trying to make excuses for it at this point.
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I loved it. I had no expectations going in (I saw the trailer once, before the re-release of the original, and had read nothing), and was delighted throughout.
I rewatched the 2003 sequels this week, and I like them, but I think I prefer this. Obviously it’s not close to the level of the original movie, but nothing is.
I found the new supporting cast here more engaging than the other movies (the one weak part of the first movie is how little we care when Morpheus’s crew are all killed by Cypher). Nice to see a bunch of Sense8 folk show up, and Christina Ricci from Speed Racer. Jessica Henwick is great; I already can’t wait to see what she does in Knives Out 2. I hope someone gives her a lead role soon.
I’m already looking forward to rewatching this a bunch of times.
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I really enjoyed it as well. The first chunk, when it’s basically taking the piss out of the idea of doing a sequel was the best segment, it’s a bit flabby in the middle, and the ending is carried through more on the emotional weight of Neo and Trinity’s relationship than the mechanics of the plot. Nothing in here is especially bad, but it’s a bit much for one movie, especially the back and forth between Io and the Matrix. But I’d rather have this movie and nothing more than a flabby two or three-part story.
Oddly my biggest problem is the action, which was all tight focus, fast cuts, and not at all like the action that made the original movies stand out, and it’s not like Lana Wachowski has gone off that style of action or anything given it was all over Sense8.
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Oddly my biggest problem is the action, which was all tight focus, fast cuts, and not at all like the action that made the original movies stand out,
Agree. I do wonder whether covid might have compromised some of this. A lot of the main action scenes feel very self-contained in terms of location, with relatively few people involved. It only really opens up towards the very end and even then feels quite confined in the way it’s shot.
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It is interesting. Didn’t have a strong positive or negative reaction to anything, but my personal expectations were lowered. Though I will probably rewatch it.
I do suspect that it will be a film that grows on me and maybe in general. Like a year from now, people will still be thinking about it even if they didn’t like it.
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A few more thoughts:
-Simulatte is a fucking amazing name for a coffee shop
-Even outside of the hyperaware parody sections, the movie is very explicitly telling you that while it might be nice to spend more time in a universe you’re comfortable with, there’s only so much you can do with it. By moving the timeline forward they can introduce new technology and give the humans new allies but also stick a character from the original in aged makeup to provide continuity – basically Io is Star Trek: The Next Generation. At the same time you need to hew close to the original or you alienate people and that limits the thematic content, Zion was “trapped in a Matrix of its own” – repeating Reloaded’s core theme that the Machines have rigged the game and even if you free yourself from The Matrix there are other layers of control. Neo and Trinity confront the Analyst at the end, declare they’re going to change the world and fly off, just like Neo’s phone call at the end of The Matrix. It’s the same with the whole bullet time gag, there’s only so many ways you can play around with visuals and try and do something mindbending – in fact I’d argue that a lot of the sequel trilogy’s biggest flaws were the attempts to go big in that regard (The Burly Brawl and the extended sequences of flying through the code at the start of both movies are exceptionally self-indulgent), so playing around with what has been done before is probably the most satisfying thing way of addressing it. The Analyst slowing everything down is one of the best moments in the movie for me, because of why he does it and what he does while time is slowed down.
-The Analyst is very clearly standing in for conservative internet pundits, most notably Ben Shapiro on account of his rant about feelings and facts. This is the most explicit and on the nose part of the story, but it is satisfying when Trinity kicks his jaw off and slits his throat at the end.
-I would have been totally happy if the movie ended with Neo and Trinity jumping off the building and not showing what happened next.
-The trans allegory is a lot more in your face here, but probably not in a way that it becomes overly explicit. Trinity’s chats with Neo in the coffee shop are all about gender performance – questioning her intentions around having a family while also having violent impulses that she deems unfeminine. At the end of the movie, Trinity and Neo both having powers is a synthesis of male and female. Trans friends of mine have said that Morpheus’ speech at the start about feeling patterns in the world that lock into place when he looked in the mirror is a common way people realise their true gender identity. You can probably argue that Morpheus’ high-like behaviour after he takes the red pill is Gender Euphoria. -
-The trans allegory is a lot more in your face here, but probably not in a way that it becomes overly explicit. Trinity’s chats with Neo in the coffee shop are all about gender performance – questioning her intentions around having a family while also having violent impulses that she deems unfeminine. At the end of the movie, Trinity and Neo both having powers is a synthesis of male and female. Trans friends of mine have said that Morpheus’ speech at the start about feeling patterns in the world that lock into place when he looked in the mirror is a common way people realise their true gender identity. You can probably argue that Morpheus’ high-like behaviour after he takes the red pill is Gender Euphoria.
Still, I don’t necessarily think it is overt. If I hadn’t already known about it, I wouldn’t get that – and that’s probably better. I don’t think a mass audience really wants direct life lessons from films as they have to be open enough for anyone to connect their own experiences to them.
I do wish that Bugs had been more like Bugs Bunny, though. The film had more humor than the Matrix movies in general, but Bugs was actually more earnest and less a trickster than her namesake implied she would be.
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In fact, I thought it was weird that they actually had (at least) one trans actress in there (shit, she’s even in the poster for some strange reason (I mean, we know the reason)), yet they didn’t take the opportunity to do anything with that, like the infamous Switch thing that never happened… I would’ve actually liked to see that one realized. Mind you, I’m not saying the trans actress should’ve taken that path because of point of transitioning is becoming the other gender, so I’m not sure she would’ve been open for that, and that’s kind of why the Switch idea was a bit problematic in the first place… but eh… point is, IF they ever were to play with that idea, now was the time, and they just didn’t…
So yeah, I’m glad they didn’t turn the movie into an overtly politically charged movie, when it could’ve very easily been that, and in fact, bar the clunky use of the word binary every so often, it was barely there (and speaking of clunky words, someone learnt a new word, “modal”… lol), but the Switch idea is legit interesting to explore, and it’s a bit of a shame they didn’t go for it.
Also, about the whole “binary” thing… I’m not quite sure what the movie was trying to say, because like with a lot of other stuff in it, there’s like a mixed message between the begining and the end of the movie… at first they’re like “stop thinking in binary terms”, but at then you have the whole binary thing with Neo and Trinity… so who the fuck knows…
Aaaanyways… speaking of missed opportunities though, and this is one that really pissed me off: We all know about the “humans as batteries” debacle from the first movie… so why the fuck didn’t they take this opportunity to fix it? It would’ve taken but a few dialogue lines and they could’ve retroactively fixed one of the dumbest plot points of the series… but not only they didn’t fix it, they actually doubled down on that stupid idea… WHYYYYY???
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Still, I don’t necessarily think it is overt. If I hadn’t already known about it, I wouldn’t get that – and that’s probably better. I don’t think a mass audience really wants direct life lessons from films as they have to be open enough for anyone to connect their own experiences to them.
It’s a lot like the patterns that Morpheus talks about. Once you know it’s there, you can’t unsee it. Like how if you’re familiar with deadnaming it’s so obvious how Smith almost always calls Neo “Mister Anderson”. The Wachowskis are not subtle creators and the main reason the trans allegory flies under the radar so much with these movies is because most people are still unfamiliar with it.
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Right. Though I don’t see it that way.Like I am personally more like Agent Smith in this regard than Morpheus or Bugs.
Personally, if a person enjoyed The Matrix Reloaded then I don’t know how they would not like this movie. I mean, if you enjoyed The Matrix, I can see how you might not like Matrix Resurrection but I can’t see how you can’t appreciate or understand it.
In regard to the trans allegory, I personally appreciated it was not without nuance. Obviously as a person with a completely straightforward or binary view of homosexuality and heterosexuality, I didn’t feel the narrative devalued that viewpoint or its contrary point of view either.
if anything, this was a much more mature or adult expression of The Matrix which naturally is surprisingly risky for a corporate property meant to appeal to adolescents.
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I watched it with the wife and in-laws last night. Let me preface my thoughts with this: The last time I watched the first movie was probably 15+ years ago and my opinion of that movie was that it was just okay. It didn’t blow me away. It just didn’t click with me. I never watched the sequels, except maybe for a clip here and there. I had no interest in watching them.
That being said, I will say this movie was surprisingly accessible. It really gave you everything you needed to know in order to take in the movie. It brought you up to speed without being too ham fisted about it.
But as to the movie itself, I got bored with it about halfway through it. The constant and incessant mentioning about the importance of choice got old pretty quick. Yes, we get it. We got it after the first dozen times it was mentioned. I just didn’t find the story compelling.
The action scenes were just okay. It honestly didn’t feel like they kept up with the times. The first movie was quite innovative but the industry has taken that moved forward at warp speed. The scenes may have been cool in 2001 but in 2021, the standard has been raised considerably.
For me, I felt a twinge of sadness at seeing Reeves, 57, and Moss, 54, in this movie. They looked so out of place in the movie. It felt like they had been forced to be in it.
I didn’t think the movie was horrible or terrible by any means, but not being a diehard fan of the franchise meant it was going to have to be an unachievable level of good to get me to love it. I probably would have never watched it if I was given the choice. That said, it was just okay for me.
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I love how that BS narrative about “deadnaming” was willed into existence… but hey, it’s true, you can always find patterns or whatever you’re looking for if you squint hard enough
I never picked up on that watching the original trilogy, because I wasn’t familiar enough with the idea to recognise it. But in this new movie the parallel jumped out at me very clearly as I was watching it – I think particularly because nu-Smith so often calls Neo “Tom” rather than “Mr Anderson” – like he’s trying to appear friendly and normal but still deliberately calling him by his Matrix name.
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For me, I felt a twinge of sadness at seeing Reeves, 57, and Moss, 54, in this movie. They looked so out of place in the movie. It felt like they had been forced to be in it.
Tiffany would want to punch you for that.
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For me, I felt a twinge of sadness at seeing Reeves, 57, and Moss, 54, in this movie. They looked so out of place in the movie. It felt like they had been forced to be in it.
Tiffany would want to punch you for that.
And the fact that you’re calling her Tiffany would earn you a punch as well.
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For me, I felt a twinge of sadness at seeing Reeves, 57, and Moss, 54, in this movie. They looked so out of place in the movie. It felt like they had been forced to be in it.
Tiffany would want to punch you for that.
And the fact that you’re calling her Tiffany would earn you a punch as well.
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I can remember in forums at the time in 2003, the argument was that the movies never really addressed the free will questions and instead distracted the audience with all these special effects and cinematic stunts.
I really don’t get why you keep saying that Al… that wasn’t really the argument, because in fact, the movies, all three of them, and even the new one, are all about the question of free will and choices and all that… so not only the address it plenty, but the themes are actually well explored from different philosophical POVs in various monologues, and not short ones… so I’m not sure what you were expecting the movies to say…
Would have been nice to have seen the Architect again, maybe in another incarnation.
Well, the Analyst is the next incarnation of the Architect… he’s probably a mix of the Architect and the Oracle, actually… but still, he’s an “upgrade”.
And if that Morpheus dust thing was really Morpheus and Smith combo, if Smith comes back again in another movie, guess that can be a device to use against Smith.
Not exactly, the new “Morpheus” was created by Neo based on bits and pieces of what he remembers about both Smith and OG Morpheus, according to the movie, although let’s be honest, he’s a lot more Morpheus than Smith, but still, he’s more of an adaptation rahter than a facsimile.
But yeah, his character felt a lot more like set-up, so I think it’s very possible he’ll be used as a device against Smith… IF a next movie happens, of course… =P
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All I could think about for the first half of this thing was Wes Cravens New Nightmare. Which does pretty much the same thing of being extremely meta with the previous films/games being part or the universe, with the creators/actors being talked into doing a sequel. Only to realise the movies/games were real the whole time. And honestly I think New Nightmare is probably the better execution of that idea.
I just thought the first half was so smug and up its own arse, that I just couldn’t get into it. Which could maybe be offset if the second half was better, but it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t know if what was happening in the story for chunks of time, the action was boring and quite badly shot too. And the performances were completely lifeless.
Jonathan Groff was a pale imitation of Hugo Weaving and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is normally a great presence on screen, but was totally wasted and faded into the background of most scenes. Keanu isn’t the best actor in the world but I thought he did okay. And he kind of just skates by on the fact that I think he’s a nice guy. But this is the first film where I’ve though he’s started to look his age when it comes to all the action stuff.
I do really like Jessica Henwick though and I wish they had just done a soft reboot that acknowledged the previous films, but moved things on with her as the main character. Rather than this weird Frankenstein of ideas.
So to summarise..5/5 stars!. Would definitely recommend!!😁.
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I really don’t get why you keep saying that Al… that wasn’t really the argument, because in fact, the movies, all three of them, and even the new one, are all about the question of free will and choices and all that… so not only the address it plenty, but the themes are actually well explored from different philosophical POVs in various monologues, and not short ones… so I’m not sure what you were expecting the movies to say…
Well… What is your conclusion then from the now four movies? Does Neo have free options?
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I never picked up on that watching the original trilogy, because I wasn’t familiar enough with the idea to recognise it. But in this new movie the parallel jumped out at me very clearly as I was watching it – I think particularly because nu-Smith so often calls Neo “Tom” rather than “Mr Anderson” – like he’s trying to appear friendly and normal but still deliberately calling him by his Matrix name.
Well that’s the funny thing, ain’t it? Did we never pick up on it because we weren’t familiar with the idea or because the idea was simply not there? I also thought about the whole “deadnaming” notion while watching it, because of how that narrative has cropped up in the last couple of years, so the idea has also been implanted in my mind… however, I still don’t think that’s the case because they rehashed the overall plot from Matrix 1, and so, by definition, the meaning behind it remains the same as back then.
However, yes, the “Tom” instead of “Mr Anderson” thing was indeed curious (and weird), but I think there’s a couple of reasons behind that:
1) Smith and Neo have been trapped in that new Matrix for decades as, maybe not BFFs, but certainly as partners in a mostly friendly place, so I think it reflects both Smith’s new experiences with Tom, the game designer, but also the fact that he recoginizes that Neo isn’t his enemy anymore… or at least his main enemy.
And 2) I think they didn’t want to have the actor draw constant comparison to Hugo Weaving, because let’s be honest, no one will ever say “mister Anderson” like he did, but also the new actor was doing his own kinda thing (or trying to at least… and failing miserably if you ask me).
But in the end, much like with calling Trinity Tiffany, it’s the same basic idea… Mr. Anderson and Tiffany (and everyone else’s Matrix names) are in essence slave names, which is obviously quite different from deadnaming, and imo much much worse, particularly when it comes from Weaving’s mouth and how the way he says “Mr Anderson” is soooo full of sheer contempt for a race he deems inferior and deeply despises everything about.
Edit: And yet, curiously enough, when it comes to Morpheus, Smith actually calls him “Morpheus”, and he’s the only character for whom Smith doesn’t use their slave name, because despite his absolute hatred and contempt for humans, Smith begrudgingly respects Morpheus… probably because he’s Smith’s actual nemesis in the first movie, the one he’s been chasing for years, never being able to catch him, the one that keeps besting him… so I think that elicits a form of respect from Smith, whereas he just sees the rest of humanity (including Neo, whom he catches and even kills rather quickly) as cattle. That, imo, is also an argument against that whole deadnaming notion, but your milleage may vary.
Now, IF the movie hadn’t revolved once again around the idea of humanity being once again enslaved by the machines (and considering the surprising lack of identity politics in the movie), maaaayyybe you could make a case for the deadnaming narrative, but as it is, it’s hard to interpret it as anything else than the most explicit meaning, because indeed, the Watchowskis are not particularly subtle… mind you, not that it’s gonna stop people from seeing that pattern in there, because again, the idea has already been planted… it’s all very Inception-y, ironically enough… =P
Well, to coin a phrase, it can be two things.
I don’t disagree with you on most of that in terms of the reasons for it (both creatively and in-universe). The deadnaming metaphor is just yet another facet that’s an interesting reading of those aspects, not something that entirely overwrites them and makes the films solely a trans allegory.
They’re layered films with lots of different allusions and meanings.
Another example is the frequent mention of “binary” – which to me evoked not only trans-related ideas but also ideas around political discussion and online arguments and also the in-universe conflict between humans and machines, which we learn here has become more complex than that.
I think there’s enough in the Matrix films to support multiple readings and interpretations, and they don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
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Well, to coin a phrase, it can be two things. I don’t disagree with you on most of that in terms of the reasons for it (both creatively and in-universe). The deadnaming metaphor is just yet another facet that’s an interesting reading of those aspects, not something that entirely overwrites them and makes the films solely a trans allegory. They’re layered films with lots of different allusions and meanings. Another example is the frequent mention of “binary” – which to me evoked not only trans-related ideas but also ideas around political discussion and online arguments and also the in-universe conflict between humans and machines, which we learn here has become more complex than that. I think there’s enough in the Matrix films to support multiple readings and interpretations, and they don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Oh yeah, I agree with that much… what I don’t agree with is the argument (or history rewriting) that it was always a trans issues allegory… that would be like saying that the X-Men were always a trans issues allegory when we all know that’s not the case, but you can also interpret the X-Men through that lense because of the overlapping themes, and that’s fine.
As for the whole “binary” thing, I’m honestly not entire sure what the message of the movie is, or if there is one for that matter, so I don’t know, but sure, it also aludes to issues pertaining to gender, as much as politics and the obvious programming sense. But beyond that, I don’t know, the script seems a bit confused on some issues…
Well… What is your conclusion then from the now four movies? Does Neo have free options? There is still a back and forth on social forums over this.
Well, yes Al, because the movies aren’t supposed to give you a definitive answer, because there isn’t one, it all depends on what YOU (the viewer) believe and which philosophy you think is best… the movies present you with different philosophical points of views so you can make up your mind… However, you always say that the movies “don’t address those issues”, and they do, they just don’t give you THE answer, ’cause again, there is none.
For instance, in the 3rd movie, Neo makes choices of his own, yet in the 4th movie the argument is that some choices are false choices… so the actual question would be: what do YOU think Al? Which of the many arguments sounds better to you?
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I am a little unclear on a few of the elements of the larger world. Also, some scenes have good ideas but could have either been cut entirely with no effect on the story or could have been better expanded upon.
There are a couple nuanced elements involved. The first that there really is not a war between humans and machines but a more or less political conflict between various factions. It seems like the crucial conflict is that the machines have been using Neo and Trinity to keep the Matrix running at its optimal output AND they aren’t really very concerned about the humans in the Matrix waking up because most of them are like Cypher. They prefer the Matrix to the real world.
at heart, I could see lots of basic problems with the movie – mainly too many characters. I can remember a lot of the less prominent characters but I didn’t really care about them. However, they were interesting enough to take time away from satisfying development of the other more important characters in the story particularly the new Agent Smith, Morpheus and Bugs. The meta fiction approach was interesting but discarded pretty fast. Honestly, virtually none of the concepts from the first third of the film had any bearing after Neo wakes up in the pod. It is understandable but it just makes all the setup seem like wasted time. Also, when the Merovingian shows up, that seemed interesting but also pointless in the end.
These are problems that Reloaded and Revolutions share as well so it does feel consistent.
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-The trans allegory is a lot more in your face here, but probably not in a way that it becomes overly explicit. Trinity’s chats with Neo in the coffee shop are all about gender performance – questioning her intentions around having a family while also having violent impulses that she deems unfeminine. At the end of the movie, Trinity and Neo both having powers is a synthesis of male and female. Trans friends of mine have said that Morpheus’ speech at the start about feeling patterns in the world that lock into place when he looked in the mirror is a common way people realise their true gender identity. You can probably argue that Morpheus’ high-like behaviour after he takes the red pill is Gender Euphoria.
Still, I don’t necessarily think it is overt. If I hadn’t already known about it, I wouldn’t get that – and that’s probably better. I don’t think a mass audience really wants direct life lessons from films as they have to be open enough for anyone to connect their own experiences to them.
I do wish that Bugs had been more like Bugs Bunny, though. The film had more humor than the Matrix movies in general, but Bugs was actually more earnest and less a trickster than her namesake implied she would be.
I interpreted the name “Bugs” to be derivative of “computer bugs”.
A definition from this article:
A computer bug is generally defined as “a bug refers to an error, fault or flaw in any computer program or a hardware system. A bug produces unexpected results or causes a system to behave unexpectedly. In short, it is any behavior or result that a program or system gets, but it was not designed to do.”
That pretty much describes the character to a T.
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I think the element from the first half that’s most important for the second is that Neo’s life in the Matrix illustrates the Analyst’s point about misery. But weirdly, the Merovignan’s appearance is the last vestige of the metahumour in the movie, given he’s ranting about the dumbing down of entertainment and social media.
Yeah, the meta elements could have been cut out even more or even entirely removed and pretty much nothing would have changed. Or, honestly, they could have been heated up and pushed even more.
I don’t think the filmmakers should have been so overt or pushy in the game development scenes – especially by having Tom just sit in the meetings with no interaction. It was interesting but defeated the narrative. In the first 30 minutes of the movie, what do the characters want? Especially, what specifically does Neo want? No matter how much of a meta-narrative is interesting, if it doesn’t tell the story, lose it.
Or really weave it into the story. I mean, let’s look at the events just from Tiffany’s point of view. She’s essentially a person going through a mid-life crisis, she meets a famous game designer (who to her does not look anything like Keanu Reeves) and develops what apparently is a delusion that she might actually be one of the main characters in the game which is actually real and this world is an illusion.
So, just explain how Tiffany ends up in the coffee shop (Simulatte) for the climax where she has to make that choice. Did someone call her to make the appointment? When she arrives and sees it is full of police, how does she perceive that? How does she know what is going on? When her family shows up, what is the logical reason that they are there – that they know she is there?
All these unnatural, dream-like elements of the story would seem to be dead giveaways that Neo is telling the truth – which is dramatically okay… sorta – in that Tiffany’s decision should not be whether to believe that she is in the Matrix, but to choose whether she should remain in the Matrix.
However, the opening of the movie with its critique of the Matrix movies – and especially this particular sequel that by the movie’s own dialogue no one wanted to make and is a bombastic letdown – somewhat trivializes the import of that decision. Whether you’re in the Matrix or the Real World, you aren’t free either way. So, it is similar to the original in the sense that Neo’s final speech to the machines was that he was going to transform the Matrix into a place of empowering people rather than imprisoning – so Neo and Trinity say much the same thing at the end… but we never see what they are going to do, of course.
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It really did feel like this movie only existed because WB said we’re making a Matrix sequel with or without you all. I actually enjoyed it more than the other sequels, if only because it felt lighter than those. Not nearly as over wrought with philosophical exposition and Christ symbolism. But the movie was at it’s most interesting at the beginning, but none of the meta stuff really pays off either. Just ends up being kinda cute for the sake of cute. The only real interesting bits after that we’re about the machines and humans actually working together to rebuild the world.
Also, no offense to Jonathan Groff, I actually enjoy him in other things, but his Smith was bland and had no real agency that made sense to me. I don’t understand why the character was even in this movie. I don’t blame Groff,he just wasn’t given anything to do that was worthwhile.
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But you can understand why most social media forums discussing the four movies said what they said namely that there is no definite answer.
Well, if you take all the movies into account, the situational development is a little messy but understandable.
In the first movie, essentially, Plato’s cave, people are trapped in the Matrix, and some of them are not convinced by the illusion so they wake up in the real world… which is a terrible place to live. In fact, the real world is pretty antithetical to life. So, the future of human development is still in the Matrix only now Neo will show them the true nature and possibility of the Matrix.
The sequels play against that by complicating the nature of the Matrix and of human desire for identity. Obviously, the rebels are only distinct from each other in the Matrix. In the real world, they are as interchangeable as soldiers in armies have always been.
Honestly, the only way that this movie would have been as surprising story-wise would have been if it had turned out to not be a Matrix sequel. If, in the end, Thomas Anderson and Tiffany really had turned out to be a game designer and motorcycle customizer respectively going through existential crises and entering a delusion around the fictional Matrix.
Now, can someone explain the nature of the “Modal” where Bugs found Morpheus? How did Neo create that?
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One thing that struck me about Neo at the start of the movie is that this is probably how Cypher would have ended up if he’d been put back in the Matrix only rich and famous like he wanted.
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The first time I heard of the Matrix was the Dr. Who story from the mid 70s when The Tom Baker Doctor was in Gallifrey.
Now, I am hearing about some writer Sophia Stewart who long ago submitted some work to the Wachowskis and Hollywood where she said she submitted Terminator story:
https://medium.com/@blackexcellence/sophia-stewart-whats-true-and-what-s-fiction-9c2f75b09ac9
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Well in the end this feels a bit too much like the Force Awakens, as in: out of the myriad of possibilites they could’ve taken this franchise into, they just chose to mostly rehash the OG movies, except that in TFA’s case, it was a massive visual upgrade and here… not su much =/
It’s a bit of a shame this falls so flat, because there are indeed quite a few nuggets of gold buried in here.
One of the things I would’ve changed, for example, is that, since they have newer technologies, why even keep Neo physically alive? in the OGs it’s implied Neo can survive without his body, basically, so they could’ve found Neo’s consciousness and used those magic balls tech to bring him into the real world if needed… I think that would’ve been a lot more interesting, with Neo evolving into a human/machine hybrid kind of thing.
Ahhh there is sooo much, I could spend hours writing fanfic about better plots using what was presented in here, and I feel they almost went in the most bland and boring direction they could think of. I think that’s the most frustrating aspect.
Also, speaking of mediocre action… funny thing is that “Chad”, Tiffany’s husband, is indeed played by Chad Stahleski, Keanu’s stuntman in the OG Matrix movies, but also more famously director of John Wick… so if they were already working with him, why not bring him on to also help with the action scenes?
So yeah, it’s just a series of missed opportunities.
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Now, I am hearing about some writer Sophia Stewart who long ago submitted some work to the Wachowskis and Hollywood where she said she submitted Terminator story:
True – that was somewhat all over the place at the time, but, honestly, there are lots of problems with that.
Harlan Ellison also sued The Terminator since it was so similar to DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND and THE SOLDIER – both stories about future soldiers going back in time (and both were made into OUTER LIMITS episodes). Fox settled rather than go to trial so you will see something like “inspired by Harlan Ellison” in the credits now. However, it is important to point out that James Cameron himself never agreed with the decision and does not accept that he consciously or unconsciously took anything from Ellison’s stories.
Other accusations of plagiarism came from Grant Morrison who claimed THE MATRIX was directly inspired by THE INVISIBLES. Also, Alex Proyas regularly points out the comparisons between THE MATRIX and DARK CITY which came out the year before (the opening for THE MATRIX was actually filmed on a leftover DARK CITY set). Also, Grant Morrison claims that the Wachowskis took elements from Phillip K Dick’s VALIS as well.
However, none of that is likely. In fact, the one property most like THE MATRIX is a comic book done for Clive Barker’s series of interconnected stories called ECTOKID which was written by the Wachowskis.
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I’ll go back and read more of the other comments later on, but first my impressions in short:
Like others, I was disappointed by the action. I suppose we know now which Wachowski was responsible for the visual flair of the first movies.
Also like others, I loved the first third or so and thought the overall idea of going meta on the whole sequel thing was brilliant. Thought the middle section fell flat and that everything around Niobe was boring. And like the last third once they’re back in the Matrix and the Analyst is revealed as the big bad. It didn’t hurt that they cast Neil Patrick Harris, who is just fun to watch.
I also liked the decision to kinda fuse Neo and Trinity as the Chosen One(s), and give Trinity the agency at the end there. And putting the love story into the foreground was maybe the one thing that was different from the originals when it comes to the plot of the second half of the movie.
Overall, I am glad they made this movie. It’s kind of reconciled me with the Matrix movie that there’s finally a sequel I liked after the disappointments of Reloaded and Revolutions.
For me, I felt a twinge of sadness at seeing Reeves, 57, and Moss, 54, in this movie. They looked so out of place in the movie. It felt like they had been forced to be in it.
For me, that sadness was very bittersweet, and I think the movie wanted me to feel that. It was so weird to see those flashbacks of these two young, incredibly beautiful people again and again and have it contrasted with these old, somewhat tired and broken-looking characters. For me, that was one reason why I liked that there were so many flashbacks – it also became a reflection on ageing, not just of the actors but also for me as a viewer, thinking of the twenty-something kid who watched that movie back then and the old guy watching them now.
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Honestly, the only way that this movie would have been as surprising story-wise would have been if it had turned out to not be a Matrix sequel. If, in the end, Thomas Anderson and Tiffany really had turned out to be a game designer and motorcycle customizer respectively going through existential crises and entering a delusion around the fictional Matrix.
Yeah, I did wonder whether they would go that way. Wouldn’t have expected them to, but it’d have made it all more interesting. If they’d managed to at least leave the option open, to have more ambiguity and at the same time still do all the action scenes and everything… well, I suppose that would’ve been a different kind of movie. Much more Gilliam.
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And putting the love story into the foreground was maybe the one thing that was different from the originals when it comes to the plot of the second half of the movie.
It’s true, while the stories of both the original movie and the sequels both rely pretty heavily on Neo and Trinity’s love as a plot point, there isn’t all that much time actually spent on it.
Here it felt more real and more natural. Maybe ironically given that their romance was happening within the Matrix this time.
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$100M…
‘The Matrix Resurrections’ estimated to lose Warner Bros. $100 million
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Finally caught up on this one. Certainly a mixed bag.
“Hey, remember when we made that really great movie? You should go watch that! Here are some Sad Keanu memes. Do people still not like those shitty scenes outside the Matrix? Here, have some. And, uh, anyway, here’s a motorcycle chase and that song you thought was bad ass but we’ve made it worse now. Bye!”
I do wonder if Lana Wachowski deliberately half assed it just to put a bullet in the Matrix once and for all to get Warner Bros off her back. Or, she’s just not capable of recapturing old glories.
Maybe this will be like the Grant Naylor split and both Wachowskis will get their chance at a follow up story. Get the other one back to make The Matrix: Reburied.
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However, there are other properties involved as well. Here are two they mentioned – may be more:
In the lawsuit, the studio also alleges that Warner Bros. is attempting to cut the company out of future films and television series based on characters and intellectual properties that have an ownership stake in, claiming Warner Bros. tried to force it to give up rights in the television series based on Edge of Tomorrow and was denied the option to partner on the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel Wonka. The lawsuit from Village Roadshow Entertainment said:
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Finally got around to giving this a go. Well, that and the BR was £7 – worth a shot.
I really enjoyed what they did here. It managed to avoid being the kind of rehash that the Star Wars Sequels or the Jurassic World films were. There was a sense of progression and development too. One that could be seen to have flowed from the end of Matrix Revolutions.
It was also a neatly sharp critique of the last 20 years, with some smart comments like not having to run for a phone booth! The move away from it being purely humans versus machines worked for me too. Especially the Analyst and Smith conflict. I also liked how Groff played this older, strangely weary Smith. Oh, and the Merovingian’s rant was amusing.
Finally, this was not a let’s-do-act-1-and-assune-we’ll-get-to-do-the-other-two. Nope, they instead grabbed 2.5 hours and threw everything into it.
Wait, postscript: Trinity duffing up the Analyst was very satisfying.
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