In light of the amount of mass shootings over the past 20 years and today's views on media violence and gun control, would The Matrix (as-is) be a viable film in 2018?
That's true. Honestly, I didn't think about John Wick when I asked the question. I just remember the backlash The Matrix received in 1999 from some groups and being linked to the Columbine shooting/'trenchcoat mafia'. I guess the question should be would it be as successful today?
Well The Matrix kinda redefined the action sequence, so to remove it from it's place in history changes a lot in terms of action sequences in films that followed it. If it didn't exist in 1999, then I assume action sequences since then would've been the same standard pre-Matrix stuff and that The Matrix would've been as revolutionary today as it was back then. If Dark City had had Matrix style action sequences back then, and had the same influence on film, then The Matrix coming out today would've been just another movie. Also, l like The Matrix, but love Dark City.
I think there’s still a big market for cerebral action films so long as the film still delivers on the action scenes and suspense. Just the special effects would seem less new.
Assuming another film had the same influence on action sequences and special effects, the Matrix made today would have to do something to push the envelope even further. That said, story wise it is at least as relevant today as it was twenty years ago.
I think people are still pretty accepting of violence in entertainment if it's fantastical and if the movie is fantastical but also has social commentary that can make it really popular, both fun and (supposedly) profound. And in being for reality & freedom against lies/cover-up/social control that could make the film pretty appealing to people across any ideological spectrum.
I still want to know why the Neb only had four regular crew in Reloaded, whereas they had eight in the original...
Most ships had a crew of 4-5 (Captain, Operator, Engineer and two Matrix specific skillers or other Hole-less). Morpheus was basically given breathing room for being a religious maniac and no one wanted to spend hours debating him. And figured people insane enough to follow him where better off on one ship together. Anyway. The main violence issues where from the lobby shoot out scene. The sisters apologised for the level of violence in it in 2000-2002, and wrote the action in the sequels to be almost 100% between Redpills, Agents, Exiles and Programs. Rebooted, you could avoid the issue by having the security forces of buildings integral to the security of the Matrix be guarded only by avatars of low level Machines, not trusting humans to get the job done. You could eliminate nearly all the human on human violence of it with that one change.
^ Or they could, y'know, just sneak into the building, Mission: Impossible-style, avoiding the guards altogether...
Why have super powers if you don't use them? At least then it's kicking the Machines asses, far more acceptable all around.
Given that the Matrix Trilogy is a superhero film saga through and through, and given that people are actually trying to use "it doesn't learn the 'lessons' of the MCU" as a criticism of Venom, I really dont see any of the Matrix films performing well in today's Pop Culture environment, which is very disheartening.
Movie audiences still enjoy watching violence, so that wouldn't be a deterrent to commercial success. Kor