The Matrix Trilogy

[Robert Ewing]

I loved the trilogy, even if there where a few gaping holes in it. It remains one of my favourite series of films.

 

[Sixcess]

Reloaded is easily my favourite of the three.

But then I don't watch the Matrix for the philosophy - particularly since I think Keanu Reeves is a terrible and uncharismatic actor. Reloaded focuses on the action scenes, and they're amazing - especially the fight at the Chateau, which is beautifully choreographed and one of my favourite action scenes ever.

Revolutions... I think of more kindly now than I did when I first saw it. It's not terrible, but it's unbalanced and spends way too much time on characters who had been almost irrelevant up to then, and the only half decent fight scene is in the first five minutes.

 

[Sexy Devil]

My biggest issue with the trilogy is the sound on the bloody DVDs. In non-action scenes it's annoyingly quiet to the point where you have to turn the volume all the way up and you can still barely hear the characters. Then an action scene happens and BOOM HOPE YOU WERE READY TO TURN THE VOLUME DOWN BECAUSE THE NEIGHBOURS ARE MOST CERTAINLY PISSED!

Annoys the hell out of me. Not sure if it was just the DVDs or if it was the film in general but it was annoying.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I liked the first movie... but then the sequels got too confusing and sorta pretentious.

Captcha: mumbo jumbo - Exactly!

 

[Tsukuyomi]

Quite the detailed post, and an interesting read as well. For my own part I think the third film was the only real disappointment. The Matrix was fun as heck, and I enjoyed it very much, but ultimately I think it was....kind of a one-trick pony I guess. Everything was centered around the mind-blow that was The Matrix itself. Nothing wrong with that of course. It was still an amazing film, but if the first film had the burden of setting up the world and the situation, why were we only seeing the Matrix side of things?

Maybe I'm totally off-base here but I have this suspicion that things might have been very different, and the latter two films might have been more enjoyable to more people, if the first film had gone all the way with making sure the world was set. Ultimately, sure, The concept of Neo and the Matrix were pretty big ones to swallow in theory. But we were hit over the head with those revelations so early and so clearly that I don't think we had to have the entire film to make us believe them.

I agree about the missed opportunity of Neo as a messiah. Looking back on it, that would have been a wonderful character-building point but it was cut short in favor of a few speeches, sweaty dancing, and a kinda-sorta love-scene. I also thought it was rather cheap of them to throw in Kid for no other reason than to say 'Hey! check out these animated shorts we made that you have to buy/rent separately! Yay for continuity!' At least something like the Marvel cameos they were up-front about it. When they foreshadowed the other movies or crossed over characters, you knew what the point was. Kid didn't even need to be in there.

My biggest issue with the trilogy is the sound on the bloody DVDs. In non-action scenes it's annoyingly quiet to the point where you have to turn the volume all the way up and you can still barely hear the characters. Then an action scene happens and BOOM HOPE YOU WERE READY TO TURN THE VOLUME DOWN BECAUSE THE NEIGHBOURS ARE MOST CERTAINLY PISSED!

Annoys the hell out of me. Not sure if it was just the DVDs or if it was the film in general but it was annoying.

A thousand times this. I think the logic behind it was that surely EVERYONE would have big, fancy home-theater systems with at LEAST 5.1 in them. Never mind that regardless such a thing is expensive and some people simply can't afford it or have the space. It's a constant pet-peeve of mine that many DVDs even today have that issue where you can comb over the audio settings and you won't find one for JUST your TV. You only have surround-sound options because clearly that's just what's required to enjoy a movie at all. What kind of philistine are you if you don't have a sub-woofer vibrating your ass off when those two trucks collide? They're freaking TRUCKS! SMASHING INTO EACHOTHER! Clearly you're not going to understand the gravity of that unless you go half-deaf from the explosion and can't feel your toes from the vibrations.

 

[oktalist]

Please tell me you recognised that the matrix in the first (and only) movie was an allusion to a Marxist interpretation of capitalism.

"The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."

"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."

 

[Sexy Devil]

A thousand times this. I think the logic behind it was that surely EVERYONE would have big, fancy home-theater systems with at LEAST 5.1 in them. Never mind that regardless such a thing is expensive and some people simply can't afford it or have the space. It's a constant pet-peeve of mine that many DVDs even today have that issue where you can comb over the audio settings and you won't find one for JUST your TV. You only have surround-sound options because clearly that's just what's required to enjoy a movie at all. What kind of philistine are you if you don't have a sub-woofer vibrating your ass off when those two trucks collide? They're freaking TRUCKS! SMASHING INTO EACHOTHER! Clearly you're not going to understand the gravity of that unless you go half-deaf from the explosion and can't feel your toes from the vibrations.

Oh is that what it was? Those lazy shits, I'm pretty sure that at the time of release that would have alienated almost their whole audience.

 

[w00tage]

Edit: ninja'd by this:

Outside of the stupid Dragonball fight between Smith and Neo and the poorly constructed battle for Zion, there's a major issue in Revelations that's never explained. Why do Neo's Matrix powers suddenly work in the real world?

At the end of Reloaded, Neo K.O.s out the Sentinels and then passes out. At the time, I thought this meant that the "real world" wasn't real at all but another layer of the Matrix designed to fool the humans into thinking they escaped. But if it really is the real world, how does Neo have powers that affect the machines?

Oh, and there was also Trinity's fifty-three minute death speech which caused me to break into sarcastic laughter in the theater.

My problem with the series (besides the ridiculously ham-handed other-culture schlock, the equally-ridiculous plot contrivances, and the beyond-awful sex scene) is pretty simple and clear, and I have no idea how people can watch these shows and not be hit in the face with this basic deus ex.

Haxor powers only work IN THE MATRIX. That's the fundamental premise of the show - in the Matrix, people (not just Neo) can be superhuman. OUTSIDE of the Matrix, they are all just people, and the machines have a massive physical advantage, which is why we lost the war and were driven to the brink of extinction. Only in the Matrix can we fight on even near-equal terms against the machines, and even then only as guerilla fighters.

The instant Neo stretched out his hand in the real world and made something happen to machines, I knew the creators had lost it.



'Nother edit: re Agents taking over human minds, they can completely take over people in the Matrix, so that's actually a valid concept for the story and a completely viable way for the machines to reverse-infiltrate humans. Especially if the machines learning how to do that were blamed on Neo's takeover and destruction of Agent Smith in the first movie.

Look, I just created a BETTER story concept for a sequel than anything the Wachowski's thought up. Everyone's in danger in the real world because humans captured in the Matrix can get taken over by the machines and sent back as spies and saboteurs, and it's all Neo's fault. That's the second movie right there.

If you want a plot for the third movie, PM me with your bids. Nothing under six figures please.

 

[Scrustle]

Please tell me you recognised that the matrix in the first (and only) movie was an allusion to a Marxist interpretation of capitalism.

"The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."

"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."

I don't really know anything about Marxisms so I didn't spot that. I saw the film as more of an examination of Cartesian ideas about perception and reality, and of course the whole "brain in a vat" thing. How deep does this Marxism stuff go?

 

[PureChaos]

There were 2 things I didn't like about the sequels:
the Neo/Mr Smith final battle was silly. Too much Dragon Ball Z flying around over the top stuff. I would have much preferred an intense hand to hand fight, like the Burley Brawl but 1 on 1 and had some great martial arts.
and the ending...what the hell?

also the Neo/Trinity sex scene in the second was awful.

Generally, the trilogy was great

 

[Fidelias]

Well, I have two major problems with the later movies.

Firstly, in the first movie, it's explained that even though the Agents are badass and no-one has killed them yet, they MUST be fought because they hold the key to stopping the Matrix. This is completely forgotten about in the sequels. The Agents get pushed to the sidelines while they bring up werewolves and Mr. Smith.

Secondly, the ending. Neo was freaking winning, and he just gave up. It was so obvious that this happened just for the sake of the "Neo is Jesus" ending. It was just so out of character (what little character Neo had by then) and didn't make sense in the story. Then everyone's happy because the machines make a truce, but they shouldn't be. With the sun blocked out, the machines will have no option but to try to imprison people inside the Matrix again. Meaning the whole cycle will happen ALL OVER AGAIN.

Anyway, that's what I hated the MOST out of the last two movies.

 

[Woodsey]

I love the entire trilogy, warts and all.

I think the best way to view Revoltions is to not actually view it as it's own movie at all. Originally, Reloaded and Revolutions were intended to be a single piece. When taken as that, the lack of The Matrix in Rev doesn't feel as notable given how much of Reloaded takes place there. It really balances out nicely.

I'd still consider that some very lopsided pacing, although it does excuse it a little.

OT: I've always enjoyed Reloaded and the final fight in Revolutions is brilliant, but I can agree to people saying they get a little full of themselves, if only because the first film had a little more humour about itself.

Having said that, I do enjoy them overall.

Haxor powers only work IN THE MATRIX. That's the fundamental premise of the show - in the Matrix, people (not just Neo) can be superhuman. OUTSIDE of the Matrix, they are all just people, and the machines have a massive physical advantage, which is why we lost the war and were driven to the brink of extinction. Only in the Matrix can we fight on even near-equal terms against the machines, and even then only as guerilla fighters.

The instant Neo stretched out his hand in the real world and made something happen to machines, I knew the creators had lost it.

Pretty sure that's because Neo is a walking Wi-Fi hub, which would have been necessary to allow him to get to the Source (which the Machines need him to do to continue the cycle). They use humans as batteries, I don't think it's too much of a leap to say that they can also function as a (very explode-y) remote control.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Please tell me you recognised that the matrix in the first (and only) movie was an allusion to a Marxist interpretation of capitalism.

"The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."

"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."

That makes sense, except it also holds true about critiques of any system/mindsets.

Pretty sure that's because Neo is a walking Wi-Fi hub, which would have been necessary to allow him to get to the Source (which the Machines need him to do to continue the cycle). They use humans as batteries, I don't think it's too much of a leap to say that they can also function as a (very explode-y) remote control.

Um, I'm going to admit to thinking that there's a pretty massive leap between the human brain producing/using electricity, and it functioning as a remote transmitter for machines that aren't desgined to be controlled by it.

 

[Woodsey]

Please tell me you recognised that the matrix in the first (and only) movie was an allusion to a Marxist interpretation of capitalism.

"The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."

"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."

That makes sense, except it also holds true about critiques of any system/mindsets.

Pretty sure that's because Neo is a walking Wi-Fi hub, which would have been necessary to allow him to get to the Source (which the Machines need him to do to continue the cycle). They use humans as batteries, I don't think it's too much of a leap to say that they can also function as a (very explode-y) remote control.

Um, I'm going to admit to thinking that there's a pretty massive leap between the human brain producing/using electricity, and it functioning as a remote transmitter for machines that aren't desgined to be controlled by it.

They put all sorts of plugs and wiring and shit inside the humans. In real life we are able to have people control artificial limbs using signals from their brain. The Matrix is set a couple of hundred years in the future with machine rulers who can simulate an entire reality that is so convincing that 99.9% of billions of people accept it completely and utterly.

I'm sure they're capable of making a remote control.

 

[verdant monkai]

There is no hate for the sequels, who told you they were disliked?

Reloaded is by far my favourite of the films, the motor way fight scene is timeless. I do not like the third one as much I found it had too much talking and atmospheric build up. But I cannot argue with the end fight between Neo and Elrond.

Never heard someone discredit the sequels, I love the first and second is fantastic, and three is ok a bit too much talking and general confusing shit, but a good film none the less.

 

[Thaluikhain]

They put all sorts of plugs and wiring and shit inside the humans. In real life we are able to have people control artificial limbs using signals from their brain. The Matrix is set a couple of hundred years in the future with machine rulers who can simulate an entire reality that is so convincing that 99.9% of billions of people accept it completely and utterly.

I'm sure they're capable of making a remote control.

Oh, sure, they could have put a remote control in humans that have to be plugged into the Matrix in order to use it, and then set up their robots so as to be controlled by such remote controls, and then everyone in the world totally overlooked the implications of this until Neo randomly stuck his hand up at attack robots for no reason and it worked, and nobody felt this was worth any further investigation.

...

Actually, more or less everyone in the movies were this ridiculously stupid, it doesn't seem that odd, really.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I agree with the general dislike of when the final fight went all DBZ BS, but I can;t say that I have as much issue as everyone else seems to with the love scene. And I actually quite like the way the trilogy ended. Sure at the time I wanted Neo to win but even on reflection minutes after my first viewing of Revolutions I felt it was the right way to go.

I love the entire trilogy, warts and all.

I think the best way to view Revolutions is to not actually view it as it's own movie at all. Originally, Reloaded and Revolutions were intended to be a single piece. When taken as that, the lack of The Matrix in Rev doesn't feel as notable given how much of Reloaded takes place there. It really balances out nicely.

I'd still consider that some very lopsided pacing, although it does excuse it a little.

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong. I think it makes things better but it's still definitely poorly paced (though that may have been alleviated somewhat if they had actually been edited as one piece instead of two).

 

[Starke]

Please tell me you recognised that the matrix in the first (and only) movie was an allusion to a Marxist interpretation of capitalism.

"The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."

"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."

I don't really know anything about Marxisms so I didn't spot that. I saw the film as more of an examination of Cartesian ideas about perception and reality, and of course the whole "brain in a vat" thing. How deep does this Marxism stuff go?

Honestly, as someone who actually took upper division Marxism classes back in college and did research on Marxism in popular culture... yeah, it's not really there. You can force feed the interpretation, because fundamentally Marx was trying to explain patterns of behavior he saw in history, but as an ideology it's inapplicable.

See, here's the thing about Marx: most of the time we obsess about this idea that Marxism is about some kind communist state, or redistribution or, whatever. What Marx was doing was analyzing the way society worked via economic factors. In that sense, sure, you can interpret The Matrix Trilogy through that lens, but that doesn't mean the material itself is inherently Marxist.

To be blunt, everything that Oktalist is describing reminds me more of Nietzsche, specifically the herd dynamic, and in the case of Neo the Ubermensch. But, again, you're going to get elements of that any time you have an iconoclastic hero, so it's not really an intentional philosophical point, so much as an incidental "hey, we synced up with this philosophy accidentally, aren't we so smart" point.

EDIT: Well, the first quote is Daoism, the second is Nietzsche Herd/Ubermensch relations.

 

[Woodsey]

They put all sorts of plugs and wiring and shit inside the humans. In real life we are able to have people control artificial limbs using signals from their brain. The Matrix is set a couple of hundred years in the future with machine rulers who can simulate an entire reality that is so convincing that 99.9% of billions of people accept it completely and utterly.

I'm sure they're capable of making a remote control.

Oh, sure, they could have put a remote control in humans that have to be plugged into the Matrix in order to use it, and then set up their robots so as to be controlled by such remote controls, and then everyone in the world totally overlooked the implications of this until Neo randomly stuck his hand up at attack robots for no reason and it worked, and nobody felt this was worth any further investigation.

...

Actually, more or less everyone in the movies were this ridiculously stupid, it doesn't seem that odd, really.

Neo has it because he is the One, a role which is predetermined by the Machines. It's necessary for him to return to the Source. It's not powerful enough to handle more than a couple of dozen machines at once.

Likewise, they do investigate it when they visit the Oracle.

A bigger leap is the fact that he can still see the machines when he's blinded - there's little issue at all with the fact that he can blow them up.

 

[Starke]

I agree with the general dislike of when the final fight went all DBZ BS, but I can;t say that I have as much issue as everyone else seems to with the love scene. And I actually quite like the way the trilogy ended. Sure at the time I wanted Neo to win but even on reflection minutes after my first viewing of Revolutions I felt it was the right way to go.

I love the entire trilogy, warts and all.

I think the best way to view Revolutions is to not actually view it as it's own movie at all. Originally, Reloaded and Revolutions were intended to be a single piece. When taken as that, the lack of The Matrix in Rev doesn't feel as notable given how much of Reloaded takes place there. It really balances out nicely.

I'd still consider that some very lopsided pacing, although it does excuse it a little.

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong. I think it makes things better but it's still definitely poorly paced (though that may have been alleviated somewhat if they had actually been edited as one piece instead of two).

Honestly, editing them down into a single film would have solved some (not all) of the problems. As it is, the films ramble on with action set pieces that run far too long, and they tend to scatter the dialog so much that they undermine any attempt to get some momentum for the story going.

That said, the biggest problem for Reloaded and Revolutions is the lack of any real coherent plot. It's setup for random set piece followed by random set piece, followed by setup for the next random set piece, without any regard for a coherent narrative.