The Matrix Trilogy

[Mr Light]

I just watched the Matrix Trilogy again with the new collection set with the new commentaries. God those film critics just drive me insane. They hardly ever give coherent criticisms, just titter and mock how it's "like Star Trek" and give constantly contradicting comments, saying how they hate this one part then later say the other part should be like that part. Oy.

Anyway what did you think of the three movies?

MATRIX: Loved it. No complaints.

RELOADED: Loved it. I thought it made everything bigger and better and completely changed your perception of the original (Zion cycles, One is a puppet, Oracle and Smith, etc). The action scenes were amazing and the highway chase is one of my all time favorite action scenes. The scenes with Hamann, the Oracle, the Merovingian, and the Architect were all perfection. My only complaint is that the opening in Zion takes too long and the rave/sex scene is ridiculous and unnecessary. If they cut out that rave/sex scene I would think it's a nearly perfect movie. Well aside from the lame cliffhanger.

REVOLUTIONS: A mixed bag. The Matrix fight scenes are what makes the movies so incredible, so only have two Matrix scenes in the whole movie is deeply disappointing. The Machine/Zion battle just isn't as cool, particularly since it stars uninteresting C-list characters. Still, I find the final story revelation to be incredible: that the Oracle created Smith to bring about a mutual apocalypse to force her Machine brethren into agreeing into peace.

I'm also deeply disappointed how superfluous the Merovingian and Peresephone were in the final chapter (in fact I thought Perseph was the mother of the Matrix the Architect talked about in #2 and the Oracle was a mislead!). I was also mad that it didn't tie in the Second Renaissance backstory, that Neo et al never learned about the origin of the war, or that the humans came to an understanding with the machines and not a tense truce sure to eventually fail.

Still, the ending was good and the final Superman battle was nice. When I first saw it in theaters I was really pissed, but in retrospect it improves.

 

[scorpius1701]

I loved the first one and loved the second one even more with how it turns a lot of things on its head. Revolutions was definitely a disappointment though. Didnt live up to the hype.

 

[Starbreaker]

I love The Matrix. 2 and 3 are fun to have on while I'm cleaning the apartment or something, but I can't ever sit down and focus enough to watch the whole trilogy.

 

[Kirkman1987]

The first is a classic and the two follow up films are good, but nothing special.

 

[Dream]

Matrix: Classic
Matrix Reloaded: Good
Matrix Revolutions: Bad

 

[hyzmarca]

They painted themselves into a corner with the first movie's ending. Smith was dead, Neo was a living god within the Matrix, possessing unimaginable power, and he intentionally blew the lid off of the whole thing. He did the Superman in public, in the open, in full view of many witnesses, for this very purpose. It was to be the first of many gestures demonstrating to the whole of the world that there are no rules.

Reloaded backtracked, greatly. Rather than taking the themes and direction of the first to their logical conclusion, they reset the story just a little bit and took a different track, one that was more profiteering than artistic integrity. Revolutions had excessive Jesus parallels and other Biblical references in a vain attempt to make up for this.

 

[Harvey]

I think they're all good films. I don't view the sequels as either inferior or superior to the original film, but, then again, I find them all to be shallow yet ultimately fun sci-fi action movies.

 

[Caligula]

They painted themselves into a corner with the first movie's ending. Smith was dead, Neo was a living god within the Matrix, unimaginable power, and he intentionally blew the lid off of the whole thing. He did the Superman in public, in the open, in full view of many witnesses, for this very purpose. It was to be the first of many gestures demonstrating to the whole of the world that there are no rules.

Reloaded backtracked, greatly. Rather than taking the themes and direction of the first to their logical conclusion, they reset the story just a little bit and took a different track, one that was more profiteering than artistic integrity. Revolutions had excessive Jesus parallels and other Biblical references in a vain attempt to make up for this.

Precisely the reasons why I have no trouble pretending the sequels never happened.

 

[T'Baio]

It always pissed me off that everyone involved were a bunch of liars, constantly stating they planned a trilogy the whole time.

Bull...shit.

It was obvious they did not.

The Matrix is a classic, but today when I go back and watch the sequels, it amazes me how bad, hollow and empty they really are. There are some great visuals, I love the hovercraft docking in Zion for the first time (nerd giggly ship visuals I hadn't responded to like that since Star Wars) and thought the battle for Zion between the machines and the techs was the best part of the third one, but plot character and otherwise they were terrible and directionless.

 

[gorn_to_be_wild]

Hated the first one. It just felt like a vastly over-hyped clumsy re-hash of "Tron" and "Altered States" (okay,I know that's an odd reaction but that's the vibe I got) and I never bothered with the other two.

 

[Jono]

The first one was great and the two sequels were average.

 

[Neopeius]

First movie had an exciting first 30 minutes and then degenerated into bullet-time gun pr0n. The second movie was garbage. Never saw the third.

 

[rramarr]

They were all classics and you all know it!

Many of you are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that you will fight to protect it!

 

[cb31]

The Matrix is one of my favorite movies of all time...Classic!

2 and 3...not so much, I gave them and average and good respectively.

 

[Hermiod]

Classic, Great, Good.

 

[MyCylon]

I think they're all good films. I don't view the sequels as either inferior or superior to the original film, but, then again, I find them all to be shallow yet ultimately fun sci-fi action movies.

I really agree with this. I think there really isn't that much difference in quality between the three of them. They're all working with a pretty high concept but IMHO never come close to really exploiting it but barely touch on the surface.

I think one of the things the first movie benefitted from was not having to show everything. It didn't have to put all the cards on the table and could get away with not dealing with stuff that was necessary but never quite as intriguing as inside The Matrix (Zion, for example). The other two films did not have that luxury.

 

[Lonemagpie]

The Matrix - Classic. A perfect standalone mix of relatively intelligent SF (though you'd think the machines would have been better off using cows or something to power them), mythology, and spectacular gunplay and martial arts. Had it stayed a single movie it'd be even more legendary.

The Matrix Reloaded - Great. Fabulous action flick, and stays relatively intelligent, but starts leaning even more towards mythology and consciousness than SF. The music score is even better, and the action set-pieces bigger and flashier, but it isn't really necessary.

The Matrix Revolutions - Great, but hugely misjudges its audience. Goes well into the mythological elements and exploration of consciousness, eschewing the SF bulletfest elements - which means that the few hundred well-read audience members who're into mythology and identity formation will be amazed that somebody's made a movie for them, and all the other millions are going "what the fuck? Is that *it*?" In terms of audience appreciation, they'd have been better off doing this as a companion miniseries or something, with a theatrical movie geared more to the action junkies. Though personally, the wife and I loved it (she thinks it's the best of the three!). Oh, and the score is the best of the three.

Hm, haven't watched them in a while, might have to have a rewatch of the trilogy some weekend.

 

[Yassim]

Whatever you think of the first one, you can't argue that it wasn't one of the most influential action films of the past twenty years, and possibly one of the most influential films ever. Look at the number of imitations.

Every time someone ducks in slo-mo, or jumps up and kicks someone in slo-mo, or runs up the side of a wall, I don't know who did it first, but I know The Matrix showed it to *everyone* first, and will be visually quoted for years and years.

 

[God Magnus]

Reloaded backtracked, greatly. Rather than taking the themes and direction of the first to their logical conclusion, they reset the story just a little bit and took a different track, one that was more profiteering than artistic integrity. Revolutions had excessive Jesus parallels and other Biblical references in a vain attempt to make up for this.

That's how I feel. I remember watching "Reloaded" and thinking that Neo should've been wiping the floor with anything that was thrown his way in the Matrix, but instead it was like he "forgot" half his power. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the 2nd and 3rd flicks, but they were more for "moments" such as the exo-suit vs. squid battles than a whole film.

 

[Roberto]

I enjoyed the trilogy.