I-Mockery Forum - Matrix Revolutions

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Matrix Revolutions

I just got back from the cinema... After Reloaded finished I had a good idea what was going on. As far as Revolutions goes, I have no idea if I liked it or not, or understood it at all.

The real question is do you care?

This movie rules.

It makes up for those that hated Reloaded, but I liked Reloaded so fuck you America.

Every third line in the movie was a question of 4 word or less.

For my formal synopsis: (perhaps minor spoilers)

Much better than RELOADED, but it still leaves much to be desired. The most non-conclusive ending to a trilogy I've seen. Seemingly, the Wachowski brothers didn't have the fantastic finish we've all been waiting for, so they kind of just lop it off. It kind of leaves you hanging. Almost like there's little closure. It's not like the end of the first one, with the "what's going to happen now type deal", it's just like a "that's it?" kind of ending. The thing I got to give RELOADED credit for is that the ending totally ruled, and left you hanging. This had nothing of the sort.

It seemed more or less like the W.B. had too much to jumble together, too many plots and sub-plots at the end, that they kind of tried to fit it all into one package and please everyone, but ended up accomplishing very little. They're seriously lacking in character development. Characters are introduced and lopped off with absolutely no warning (for example, there may be some sort of "major" character that you simply don't see again- for reasons unknown). Also, towards the end, the WBs didn't try to gradually wind down the plot. Instead, they had a consistently developing plot (more questions being asked than answered), until the last 5 minutes, when suddenly everything is supposed to ravel up into a nice little package. The execution was horrible. Not to mention so many of the important questions were left unanswered; the movie time was instead devoted to things that really didn't flow well.

Despite my harsh overtones about the ending, the entire movie was fun to watch (Although a bit George Lucasey for me at parts - trying to dazzle you with lights and special effects to take your mind off the important issues at hand). Very action-packed, and I would recommend watching it. But you just might be scratching your head at the ending.

(Note: Did anyone else find it hilarious that the only Asian man on the ship was the best "gunner" in the video game like sequence of killing the sentinels?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by O71394658

(Note: Did anyone else find it hilarious that the only Asian man on the ship was the best "gunner" in the video game like sequence of killing the sentinels?)

That was great. Even better, he got more screentime in the video game.

Don't get me wrong, though, the game was terrible.

I just watched reloaded. I love how they made such a big deal with the "TO BE CONCLUDED!" like I was supposed to give a shit or something. After the piece of shit reloaded was and how bad the inital reviews are I am sure not planning on paying to see this one.

Ahh... this one was supposed to tie up all those loose ends, but when I walked out of the theater, I had only reached one conclusion:

"WHAT in the good fuck just happened?"

Although... the action sequences (particularly Neo Vs Smith, the final battle) were pretty awesome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skulhedface

Although... the action sequences (particularly Neo Vs Smith, the final battle) were pretty awesome.

Are you kidding?

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Them flying around punching each other through walls? That was some of the corniest crap I've ever seen. As I told Zomboid, it was just one fireball away from becoming DBZ. Plus, the whole theater was laughing at what I can only describe as the "face-punching animation."

And then Neo just gives up, and wins anyway. BS.

Still, I did like it better than Reloaded because it focused more on over-the-top action than inane philosophical drivel. Also, what other movie can claim a chase scene that involves the pursuit of a dirty hobo?

I walked out of the theatre cracking up. I just got back from seeing it again, and it's just like any of the other Matrix films where the more you watch it the better it gets.

Besides the whole religious deal with Neo as a Mesiah and the sacrifice he made so that other people could live, to me It also had certain aspects of RETURN OF THE JEDI.

In the begining we have Morpheus and Trinity and Sarif who go to the Hell Bar to free Neo from the Marovingean, much like Lukes character saving Solo from Jabba the Hut. I chuckled when I saw the Marovingian cause he lo.Oked like the devil. Another scene was Niobe flying through the electrical tunnel in the Hammer much like the melenium falcon in the death star.

I know alot of people didn't like Reloaded maybe because it didn't have the same feel as the first one. I mostly love the first one because it's like your watching a live action comic book scene by scene. But thats something you cannot do, is make a sequel in part of a trilogy as good as the first. Since it opened a world that none of us have seen before, and Reloaded just delved deeper into the world of the Matrix.

The only thing I'm really pissed off with in this whole franchinse is why the crap didn't they release a character poster of Saraif for Matrix Reloaded? He was the coolest character from the show.

And why does the architect look like Colonol Sanders?

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! !!!

POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW

Just got back from the movie and I fucking loved it. Highly entertaining and pretty goddamned funny at points too. The very end scene with the sunrise 'n shit was corny, but I consider the real end of the movie to be the battle between Neo and Smith, and that was just fucking great. This movie was just too much fun and I can't wait to see it again. I'll comment more on it when I have the time to... right now I have to crash before work.

Oh and by the way... buy the soundtrack immediately because the music in this movie rules. I didn't think they'd be able to top the music from Reloaded, but they did and then some. Don Davis is my fucking musical idol right now.

-RoG-

I just got back from the movie, and while it does have its faults, I found it to be extremely enjoyable and satisfying. I think on the whole I like it better than Reloaded, but I'll need to watch it a few more times to be sure. NOTHING beats the freeway scene in Reloaded though.

The first movie is still the best, but I think the trilogy came out pretty damn well.

Agent Smith and the Merovingian were fantastic, I was laughing my ass off just about every time they spoke a line.

The plot and ending were surprisingly similar to that of Dark City. Which was stated at the release of the original.

I also see the similarity in the blowing up the Death Star twice and the cracking up of Smith, again, twice.

I'll have to watch it again however before I fully understand the subtext.

One thing that I'm entirely sick of is the critics and their response to this film. They all seem to say "i understood it", "yeah I get it" followed by "but I didn't like it anyway". The one point I fail to see in any reviews is what it was about, or at least some hint that they have an answer. Instead it seems as if the film, in its complexity confused them so they just have to blanket it with a nod and a "oh sure I get it" with no explanation.

OHRBRAAAAAAAAAAAWR WTf?/

I hate this shit, I just read about 5 lines in the paper about some jackhole just trashing this movie and giving the statement that Alxcipher just mentioned about "getting the movie" then thrashing on it.

Fuck one of the best things about these movies is you can annalyze it howeverthefuckyou want too, There is such a rich blend of Religion, Philosophy, Action, etc.etc that in a way it's not meant to be figured out as a whole.

Take what you want from the film that has a special place in your beliefs or whateveeeeeeeeeer!!!!

I loved Reloaded. I loved Kill Bill Vol 1. Ishtar was the worst movie ev4r.

" The thing I got to give RELOADED credit for is that the ending totally ruled, and left you hanging"

-WORST
-ENDING
-EVER

Garth Franklin (webmaster of Dark Horizons) usually gives reviews that match my own opinions perfectly. So when he doesn't like something, I take notice. I usually don't care for reviews otherwise.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/reviews/revol-n.htm

Quote:

Film Review: The first Matrix may have been cliched but it took those old elements and reawoke them in a superb flick driven by an inherently interesting concept and good story dynamics. "Reloaded" had its moments of brilliance but to get to them one had to wade through many yawn-inducing fights and endless monologues about the nature of choice vs. fate. It was a very different film and all up a disappointment. Those hoping for answers in "Revolutions", or at least a worthy follow-up to the original film, are going to be left short changed again sadly.

Had "Revolutions" come out sooner, say July it would've been in better company for what you have here is a Summer blockbuster - and an very average one at that. The money is all onscreen, the FX from a technical point of view are utterly tremendous and visually it can't be faulted. However the scripting & dialogue is terrible, action scenes drag on well past the point of numbness and the cardinal sin of the whole thing is that by the end the audience is left feeling very cheated. Take away the pretty pictures and you have a film as equally problematic as other crap sequels this year ala "Bad Boys" and "Charlie's Angels" but without the playful sense of fun.

For all the complaints about 'Reloaded' being too high brow, the opposite is true with 'Revolutions' - there's almost no depth here. The first half hour is also the worst. If you haven't seen the first two films then don't bother trying to understand, hell if you haven't seen the second one again very recently its still going to be a tough slog at the beginning. From a family of programs in a train station limbo, to a new Oracle who gives her role dignity but lacks the quirky sense of humour so signature of her predecessor - its a class in exposition 101 with endless talking albeit very little said.

When things move to the S&M Club Hell (an interesting, albeit overly theatrical place), we once again meet the Merovingian - gone is the dangerous man with a taste of eccentricity, replaced by a Bond-esque olive-sucking baddie complete with trophy wife with just one line (although Monica Belucci's cleavage in this is the most impressive FX shot of the whole film). From there on things fall apart. Most notable is that the main stars of the movie go missing.

Maybe we've been spoiled by TV or films like "Return of the Jedi" or "LOTR: The Two Towers" where there's constant cutting between 2-3 separate subplots but its an effective storytelling method which helps keep the pace moving and add tension. Yet, for an hour or so in the middle of the movie we watch the defense of Zion - that's it. Sure Morpheus' head appears at times and Jada Pinkett puts in a far better turn this time out, but they're the B-story to what is one of the longest non-stop action sequences on film. Yes its random faces (such as the overly eager kid and the old warhorse general) in CG tonka toy gun suits shooting non-stop at squids. Its fierce and furious to be sure, and impressive but also exhausting and unrelenting to the point it becomes tedious. Zee and her butch army buddy (such a Vasquez wannabe) fire rockets and more rockets, the council ponders, the shooting continues, someone gets killed by the squids, something random crashes and falls over, on and on and on.

Eventually we get relief from this and go back to Neo, Trinity, the machine world and of course the much advertised dual of Smith & Neo in the rain. The exteriors of the machine world look superb, likewise there's a nice moment in this when Trinity sees a natural wonder for the first time in her life and comments on it before it slips away. Yet it also preceeds a moment of the film that whilst designed to be emotional, in actuality comes out laughable in the extreme for both what is said and how long it drags out.

Whilst the Neo/Smith duel again looks visually impressive, its also overly inflated. These guys can't hurt each other yet they continue on and on in bigger and bigger ways to the point where you are very much like - get it over with already boys. Indeed if there's one thing this whole sequence does well is that it inspires you to think about possibilities - not about what's happening on-screen but rather how cool would a Superman movie be using the filmmaking techniques used here. The ending I'm not going to even comment on, suffice it to say it renders the point of pretty much everything before it moot and cheats the audience - its a stop gap measure at best and leaves open way too many sequel possibilities for a film that it was claimed would always be "the last".

So is it worth seeing? Well for fans I guess. Whereas the action felt cartoonish in the second film, it does have more weight here and by setting things in the real world it does give it a bit more brutality and an effective sense of desperation at times - its interesting to see a movie where the idea of people hoping for a better tomorrow comes off sincere (for the most part at least). Bruce Spence has a nice little turn as a wild-eyed hobbo program named the Train Man, and Hugo Weaving does arguably his best baddie work yet as Smith. The main compelling reason though is eye candy - this is what $200 million and a whole lot of CG workstations can buy and filming techniques employed in these scenes will probably never be used again so for cinematographers and filmmakers of varying expertise who have a thing for visuals - Revolutions is your wet dream.

Sadly its just wet for the rest of the audience. Those who found 'Reloaded' not "sci-fi actiony" enough for them will get into this more - indeed its designed as more of a crowd pleasing film than the last one. Yet I honestly prefer "Reloaded" myself and think with the failure of many of this years crap sequels its been shown that people are getting tired of these bloated blockbusters with little or no point. Don't believe any of the talk from the producers that "this is actually the second half of one big movie" - tone and look wise this feels very different to the other two - far more glossier and vapid best sums it up. A fancy hollow ending to a film series which should've just ended at the first movie.

I'm inclined to believe him. So just like Reloaded, I'll be waiting for this one to be on TV, and no sooner.

I can't wait to see that crazy Trainman as the Mouth of Sauron in "Return of the King".

What has happened to the Wachowski Brothers? They seemed to have gotten a bad case of George Lucas-itis. The parallel narrative threads of the attack on Zion and of Neo's journey to the final confrontation with Smith was so 'Return of the Jedi' I was half expecting the Oracle, Seraph and that irritating Indian kid to break out in that maddening Ewok ditty in the final scene. The dialogue was as corny as my popcorn, and just as fluffy.

The only things that made the experience worthwhile were the CG battle scenes in Zion, and Hugo Weaving's portrayal as Agent Smith (though, near the end, his performance was so near over-the-top, I was surprised that he didn't have a fake moustache to twirl between his fingers in a Snidely Whiplash-like gesture).

So, uh... can someone ruin the ending for me? ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AChimp

So, uh... can someone ruin the ending for me? ;)

That chick in the movie? It turns out to be a guy.

The trainman is the Gyro Captain

Agent Smith finds his way into the real world, and uses his powers to destroy the Matrix from the outside. Neo sacrifices himself, and stays in the Matrix to attack from the inside. Trinity kills herself to be with Neo. Niobe finds out she's carrying Morpheus' baby, and the two decide to name it Thomas Anderson (Neo's name inside The Matrix). Let's hope it turns out to be a boy.

And yes, that is all made up. So don't shit your pants and get mad at me.

Quote:

Them flying around punching each other through walls? That was some of the corniest crap I've ever seen. As I told Zomboid, it was just one fireball away from becoming DBZ. Plus, the whole theater was laughing at what I can only describe as the "face-punching animation."

I found this fight scene boring as well. Funny, I was also thinking it was live-action DBZ at its best (or worst?).

I still don't understand the ending. If anyone can explain it, please do.

"The thing I got to give RELOADED credit for is that the ending totally ruled, and left you hanging."

Are you on crack? The ending was a pile of shit. Ooohhh, lool, a slow pan down to a guy with a beard. Soo coooool it's krazy!