I am of the opinion that The Matrix probably shouldn't have had a sequel. While parts of the later films were interesting, they depend on retconning Neo from having the ability to re-write the Matrix at its core to basically becoming Goku.
I was really hoping the new movie would be a reboot, as the over-the-top fight scenes and CGI wasn't what made me interested in the series.
> I am of the opinion that The Matrix probably shouldn't have had a sequel
Especially since it did not need one at all the way it was written. You could at stopped at the end of the first one and be very satisfied with what you have done.
Here's a retracted(?), long read about what Lana was going through at the time the sequels were being made. It more or less details her coming to terms with her gender identity during the production, and blames weaknesses of the films on her being distracted.
If anything this article is interesting just to see how differently people thought of trans issues in 2006. The article obsessively makes connections between gender identity and sexuality
I felt the same but did enjoy the ride all the same. I guess what can be said was that the first movie was good enough for me to endure the sequels. And the animatrix makes me think there is more story here that could be explored.
Yes, that is true. The Animatrix is a great film, and The Second Renaissance is in my opinion the single greatest piece of animation to have ever been created.
I may be the odd one out here, but I wasn't that "wow'd" by the trailer. I loved the cinematography of the original films, that seemed to embrace the dystopic vision of a world permanently trapped on the verge of Y2K. I also found myself disappointed to not see Huge Weaving or Lawrence Fishburn in the trailer, perhaps they weren't available?
Either way I'm looking forward to the film and seeing how the setting fares in a modern context, but was just surprised by how different the trailer felt tonally to the originals.
Something about the "real world" in this trailer was portrayed too cleanly and fleshy - my memory of the first two movies was that the "real world" was bland, flat, and empty, sterile.
It became clean at the end of Revolutions (when the green tint was removed), signifying the transition to the truce. So since the imagery in the Resurrections trailer is clear, that means it picks up where it ended and will move on from there.
I wouldn’t have described that so easily. You’re right.
I understand why they had to go back. Why Neo had to lose his memory, why they had to go back to being “inside”. It’s been so long that it makes sense people want the first movie again. To take the pill and follow the rabbit. The woman in the red dress is there without a doubt.
So unless there’s some reason for exactly what you described, that it’s all bright and shiny, and Doogie Houser is there, then yea, it’s a much different feel. Maybe it’s because they are “in the core”.
Some comments on YouTube have suggested that the brighter look to the Matrix is because at the end of Revolutions, Sati makes a beautiful sunrise for Neo.
Resurrections will apparently occur in the seventh version of the Matrix, the one at the end of Revolutions.
When you say "real world" do you mean the matrix? Because we only get fractions of a second of a glimpse of the "real" world in this trailer as far as I can tell.
One of the charms of the original matrix was that it felt like a bash terminal. The actions of people inside the matrix felt like CLI operations. Programs fighting viruses.
This trailer appears to be more - Transformers-like. More explosions, more fight scenes and maybe some futile goal.
I hope I am wrong and I'm still going to watch it.
I think there's a danger of over-romanticizing a movie we all watched when we were a lot younger than we are today. The first Matrix movie absolutely had a lot of explosions, fight scenes and a futile (within the grand scheme of Matrix lore) goal.
While I'll happily agree that 2 and 3 are overall bad films, they are not uniformly bad films, like, every second of them is bad or something.
I've never gone looking for them but I bet there are excellent fan edits of them. There's plenty of good material there, it's just also surrounded by too much not so good material, and, sometimes, just plain too much material period.
I have read the leaks which are apparently accurate and have matched up with the trailer and teaser. I’m so disappointed. Imagine what could have been done with this. There were several iterations of the matrix according to the lore, and each one of those offered an opportunity to host a whole new story with a whole new protagonist while maintaining all the tropes and themes that made matrix 1 and 2 so good — all while staying true to the lore!
The bread and butter of the matrix is represented by the château scene in matrix 2. It is the epitome of tight computer-accelerated action. Such an amazing and elegant sequence. Maybe I missed it but I didn’t see enough of that in the trailer. And based on everything I know, the movie is a meta critique commentary thing. I don’t like that.
I feel that everything after the first movie suffered from the plot being hobbled by metaphors and symbolism. The 2nd movie's action sequences also suffered because they decided to replace their fight coordinator(s) from the 1st movie.
I'm hoping Lana Wackowski had more creative control (authority) this time. The premise of humans as batteries, because some dweeb studio execs couldn't imagine AI parasites using humans as CPUs, was turrible.
Awaiting the second movie, our office (of nerds) had a strict "no spoilers" policy. Our team was going to the opening that weekend. I trolled a superfan coworker by saying the humans were on a generation ship, kept in suspended animation, and the simulation was meant to keep them sane, but something broke. She was so mad at me. Twice. (Still disappointed she never pranked me in retaliation.)
When I first saw The Matrix I was mesmerized. I went back every weekend for a month and saw it again. Something I had never done before and haven't done since. The effects were amazing, of course, but, the story was what got me. I couldn't stop thinking about all the intricacies and possibilities of a world like that.
I hope this new movie goes back to that. I just saw Free Guy over the weekend and between falling asleep and listening to the people behind me talk, I really feel like I had wasted my money. It's not that the movie is bad but, you knew after the first 10-15 minutes pretty much how it was going to play out. It seems to me that's how most movies are these days. Hollywood doesn't seem to be interested in telling any original or compelling stories anymore.
This is way more interesting than I had anticipated. Some YouTube comment made the excellent observation that we don't know what kind of reality(es) we are looking at in this trailer:
"Anyone talking about color grading doesn’t realize they don’t know what this world/ Matrix is yet. That green was for THAT Matrix.“
If they really are using the premise of the franchise to keep us guessing about what exactly we are looking at, this might be its best possible continuation. Consider me intrigued for that alone.
However, as the trailer dialed up the schlocky action I was reminded of how right Roger Ebert was about the original:
"It's kind of a letdown when a movie begins by redefining the nature of reality, and ends with a shoot-out."
Many fringe groups (political and otherwise) believe they've achieved some kind of transcendence and can see through the fabricated facade that is the precieved reality of the world.
agreed. i can't wait to see wachowski subvert the "redpilled" meme. i mean, the trailer starts out by saying "triggered" so i have a strong suspicion this will be the case
Very disappointed that it appears to be yet another soft reboot. Recipe: cook up whatever backstory is needed to have Keanu and Carrie-Anne in it, then rehash all the plot and action beats of the Matrix 1 exactly.
The first Matrix trilogy ends just before Steve Jobs announced the iPhone, so probably this was the reason we are in the Matrix again and we Neo to save us.
you can actually spot at least the Harbour Bridge, and the twins sequence (woman in the red dress) is in front of the Martin Place fountain in the heart of Sydney's business district.
And IIRC, the under the bridge 'remove the bug' scene is filmed just near Central station.
I was really hoping the new movie would be a reboot, as the over-the-top fight scenes and CGI wasn't what made me interested in the series.
Still, could be a fun popcorn move with friends.