Re-watched The Matrix...figured out part of why it's awesome

[cayman shen]

OK, the vast majority of people think the Matrix sequels are inferior. And while I think they are servicable, if they'd never been made I'd be happier. I hadn't seen the original in forever, and I'd forgotten what a flat-out well made movie it really is. As I watched it, something hit me:

The sequels lack that dirty, slummy, retro-noir David Fincher vibe. In the original, they're cruising around in some sixties behemoth of a land yacht, but in Reloaded they're popping down the freeway in Escalades. In the original, Neo is in a black suit, for the sequels? Some kind of cassock. In the original, there's peeling paint, crumbling plaster, dirty rain...the movie had texture, atmosphere...style. There were moments when the set design was nearly as fantastic as parts of other great neo-noir films (Blade Runner, Fight Club). The sequels had almost none of that. I can't think of any real stylish retro touches in the second two films. It's a damn shame.

 

[MooCriket]

Well said. I still pretend that the other films never took place. Hopefully some day a sequel will happen when Neo wakes up and says just that.

Course, I would have been happy if it ended with just the first film as well.

 

[outlander]

if they'd never been made I'd be happier.


QFT. Some movies would be better left as a singular classic.

Matrix is one of those.

 

[cayman shen]

I think that, years later, I can see the sequels the way I see Robocop 2 and 3. I can enjoy Robocop for the beloved and intelligent action classic that it is, and completely ignore the mediocre 2 and the vomit-chugging 3. Now that the hype is long died, I can sort of view Matrix 2 and 3 in the same light...they'd out there, but they don't bother me any more than fan fiction or comic series spin offs. The Matrix just ended at such a perfect place. But like I said, if they're retained the aesthetic of the matrix-world for the sequels, it would have gone a long way toward tying the whole thing together. The real world is consistent, but the look of our world/the matrix kinda lost its retro cool.

 

[oujala]

Just bought Reloaded for $3 after all these years to re-watch...it's ok. I think I'll take another look at Revolutions if I run into it for about the same price.

You are absolutely right about the missing grit. Big difference.

I cannot for the life of me imagine how the story went where it did. I don't know where i wanted it to go, but man, not really "there".

That said, I feel a lot of people were expecting the meaning of life or something with the sequels, and there isn't a lot of places you could go.

 

[darthwhitey]

Some movies would be better left as a singular classic.

Matrix is one of those.

agreed....the two Matrix sequels are dead to me

Just watched Pirates of the Caribbean with the kids the other night...that's another series that started great with movie #1 and fizzled

 

[CessnaDriver]

These are reasons why as someone happy with both Nolan Bats, I'm ready to accept the third could easily blow. My cup has runneth over already.

It is very hard for film makers to keep the magic going sometimes.
I don't doubt some of them try very hard, but perhaps their creations are held too close, they are too inside it, not as hungry perhaps as the first time. Or maybe too many external forces come into play. Hard to say.

 

[JLeezy23]

They made Matrix an instant classic, all these ears later and ppl still refer to the Matrix, not so much to its sequels. I think they got cocky n full of themselves and wanted it to be "what they originally thought of." Lots of movie makers say if they had a chance they'd redo the original to fit to their original thoughts but were limited by budget and/or effects ir some random excuse to change everything in the sequels.

Take original Star Wars trilogy: he was limited by the tech and finally got the chance to see it done with the prequels. So in today's world, nobody has an excuse to change the entire look and feel between the original and the sequels.

I hope it never happens again, movie makers should stick with one style and stop messin with our heads, they'll make more if they listen to fans

 

[Larry Young]

They'll never "listen to fans" because fans are a pre-sold ticket. Makers of entertainment either do what they want and hope people dig it, or listen to the input of money-men to craft an in-between of their vision and perceived audience sop.

When creators get to the point that studios will bankroll their next project based on past performance, you get awesome like INCEPTION.

 

[Skaught]

In Reloaded I liked where the guy started talking and then didn't shut up for the rest of the movie. I liked that.

Scott

 

[phase pistol]

At the end of Matrix, when Neo takes off into the sky like Superman, the horizon is wide open for the sequels. They could have done ANY damn thing. They've established that the world is nothing like what it appears to be, the bulk of humanity (what's left of it) lives in a computer generated hallucination, that the stakes are nothing less than the survival of life itself.

And then they take that awesome science fiction concept and blow it on making a pair of fantasy parables where everything is a reference to Buddhism. :rolleyes

I no longer care whether everything "makes sense" in the Matrix sequels.. arguably it all DOES make sense. What I mourn is the loss of my beautiful science fiction world created in the first film. Hard SF worlds are hard to come by, in the movies. :unsure

K

 

[Nexus6]

Well said. I still pretend that the other films never took place.

I agree with ^this^. Having said that, I find it a little strange that both your avatar & sig pic come from those very films? :confused

 

[Jannix Quinn]

Wasn't there some talk a few years ago about how they basically stole the first Matrix movie from some woman, and then had to write the sequels themselves, hence the suck?

 

[SVTStingRay]

the first one i thing was damn near perfect and looks incredible on screen even tho it was made on a limited budget. the sequels were done on a unlimited budget and it seems they wanted to top the first one storywise and the third even more so. really going away from what made the first one great.

 

[JLeezy23]

Wasn't there some talk a few years ago about how they basically stole the first Matrix movie from some woman, and then had to write the sequels themselves, hence the suck?

Mila Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez talk about some stuff like that on the R.E. commentary, they say somethin about how they took stuff from And the Truth Shall Set you Free, Ghost in a Shell, couple other things too

 

[Solo4114]

Yeah, agreed. Matrix 1 is simply awesome. Thought provoking, but also a good visceral thrill. Cap it off with a Rage Against the Machine song, and you're golden.

And the sequels....well....they wrap the third one with another Rage Against the Machine song when pretty much the whole point of the film is NOT to rage against the machines, but rather to hold hands with the machines and look at pastel skies. Um.....ok....


I was always a little worried about where The Matrix would go with any sequel. It's tough to create believable drama when you make your main character GOD. Reintroducing Smith as the Devil made sense, but past that...yeah. Kinda lost it.


The films "make sense," but not in any way that I actually really enjoy. Much the same way that the Star Wars prequels "make sense" as far as showing a particular character's progression, but not in any way that I enjoy.

I think that, really, the second one was what killed it for me. The balance in that movie is completely off. You go from these ridiculously long and BORING kung-fu fights, to a ridiculously long and BORING car chase, to a ridiculously long-winded (yes, yes, irony, etc.) philosophy lecture delivered by the guy who used to host National Geographic specials. And then some more ass kicking and we break off mid-story. The third one is like an afterthought for me.


I too prefer to ignore the sequels, but...it's difficult. And I don't think I'm QUITE there yet. I can watch Highlander 1 and pretty much do a jedi mind trick on myself about the sequels. I can mostly do the same thing with the first two Godfather films. I can basically do the same with Alien/Aliens. Of course, having never seen KOTCS, I can do that easily with the Indiana Jones trilogy. Yes. Trilogy. Shut up. We're moving on now! Anyway, it's harder for me to do that with the Matrix films. Perhaps because the first one still leaves so much possibility, and perhaps because I saw them all more recently than any of the other films where I wished to "unsee" the sequels.

Oh, and as for Robocop, I still enjoy #2. I sort of remember #3, but only vaguely.

 

[who45]

loved the first one as it was such a different film at the time, the second i loved for its action and the freeway chase - the third one - well that was poor imo -

 

[nickytea]

Oh, yay. This thread again.
Do we like having the same conversations on repeat?

I'll skip out this time as it's always the same.
(I defend them, I'm made to feel stupid for it, I hold it up in a way I feel is legitimate, and responses are made in between what I say rather than the actual argument, then I generally give up for lack of sportsmanlike discourse. No thanks.)

There are those for whom these movies are some of the most important ever made.

 

[Solo4114]

Oh, yay. This thread again.
Do we like having the same conversations on repeat?

I'll skip out this time as it's always the same.
(I defend them, I'm made to feel stupid for it, I hold it up in a way I feel is legitimate, and responses are made in between what I say rather than the actual argument, then I generally give up for lack of sportsmanlike discourse. No thanks.)

There are those for whom these movies are some of the most important ever made.

Hey now, I don't begrudge anyone their enjoyment of the films, and I, at least, don't think anyone's "stupid" for liking them. Like I said, they did "make sense." For me, they just weren't emotionally satisfying. It's like...I dunno...I respect Eric Clapton as a musician and especially as a guitarist, but his work doesn't do anything for me on a visceral level.

I see what these guys were trying to do (or at least what they tried to do with the second two films). It just doesn't appeal to me as much as the more conventional approach of the first one. For all its then-revolutionary f/x, the first one strikes me as a pretty conventional story ending on a pretty conventional note, which then goes in a pretty different direction in the second two films. I just don't personally enjoy the direction it went in those other films is all.

 

[MooCriket]

I agree with ^this^. Having said that, I find it a little strange that both your avatar & sig pic come from those very films? :confused

:lolWell I am all CRAAAAZY like that. Like I said, enjoyed the first one, very much. Could easily and am more than willing to believe the others never took place.

I still can appreciate the first one on so many levels, at the time it was simply ground breaking. All the visuals and effects were so new and enjoyable. Look how many movies copied the effects in the first Matrix.

And with the way Hollywood rolls, I am sure someone will reboot this saga anyway in a few years if not sooner and change the series...hopefully for the better, but likely it may just end up worse:confused