Exit the Matrix
Comments: 25
Last night I watched the second film in The Matrix trilogy, Matrix Reloaded. To be honest, the machines couldn’t take over fast enough for me. It was utter gibberish from start to finish. Talk about a squandered opportunity. Even the freeway sequence — I was getting my kicks where I could at this point and if they had to come in the tired old form of a hopped-up car chase then so be it — was over-long and repetitive to the point where I stopped it for a moment and went and made some toast.
The worst part was that it made me realise what a fluke the original had been. The Wachowskis are obviously not in control of their material, or they are but they’ve made some terrible mistakes about what that material really is.
Most likely the sequels were mistakes from the outset, and they should have had the good sense and taste to back off and grow rich gracefully off the first film, which really was terrific.
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Posted to Film • 2003.11.10 (Mon) • 10:58
Comments
Posted by gen 2003.11.10, 11:23
I completely agree. I did not go see Reloaded in the theaters and I will not pay for Revolutions either.
I did see Reloaded via bittorrent before it was released on DVD and it was horrible.
I am very excited for The Return of the King. Peter Jackson will not disappoint us. Two Towers was excellent!
Posted by MikeyC 2003.11.10, 11:33
Possible spoilers:
As much as Matrix: Reloaded sucked, somehow they were able to make Matrix: Revolutions suck even harder. The dialogue sucked (no real surprise there), many of the new characters made you want to cringe and cover your eyes and ears, the ending was ambiguous and unsatisfying, half the movie was simply one extended battle sequence that ended anti-climactically. Another Neo/Agent Smith battle between individuals who can’t get hurt and so there’s no real tension—it ends in a non-sensical manner. Really awful from beginning to end. Of course, this is just my opinion.
Posted by Erik 2003.11.10, 12:23
The first film was paced brilliantly, each scene had a purpose, and the main characters were fresh and strongly depicted. In the second film the characters seem to fade into the background more - there’s a lot more filler in the film. I hear the third is the worst of the trilogy, but I’ll probably still see it in theaters.
I saw Kill Bill yesterday evening. Good old-fashioned fun, I’d recommend it.
Posted by moonshake 2003.11.10, 13:58
i literally fell asleep watching reloaded, so won’t bother watching revolutions.
and yes, kill bill is THE movie. can’t wait for vol. 2.
Posted by pixelkitty 2003.11.10, 14:59
agreed - reloaded was utter drivel.
a sex scene that turned me cold, a plot that dissapeared up it’s own arse.
ahem.
Posted by jh 2003.11.10, 15:18
And Neo flying around like Superman! When he swooped in and caught Morpheus and the Keymaker at the end of the freeway sequence, I was so embarrassed I laughed out loud.
It was then I knew my feelings for this piece of crap were not mistaken.
Posted by mike 2003.11.10, 18:50
I too have just watched ‘Reloaded’ again, to freshen the memory for the ‘Revolutions’ episode. Brave of you Jeremy to open this can of worms - as seen by other out of control threads, discussions and suchlike since it was released.
However, since most are in agreement, I think everyone will enjoy this: http://www.chud.com/graphics9/matrixspoof.jpg
Posted by MacDara 2003.11.10, 19:30
Besides the storyline differences, am I the only one who found the sequels aesthetically different?
I mean, the first one is all cool and crisp, there’s a metallic blue quality to a lot of it. But the second was very murky in comparison, filtered green, and the third looks to be following this trend.
That marks a huge division for me, between the original (which wasn’t half-bad, but was hardly movie of the century either) and the follow-ups (which are probably Joel Silver’s doing).
Posted by Amit Karmakar 2003.11.10, 19:51
Kill Bill well I will give it 8 out of 10 Matrix Revolutions is a joke! Forget the money, don’t waste your time!
You have a great site here Jeremy.
Posted by Noah 2003.11.11, 00:30
The Wachowski’s alienated a lot of people by trying to put a big twist in what the series meant, since the message of Reloaded was “everything you thought is not what it was.” It’s integral to the story and it’s a clearly deliberate trilogy arc, whereby M1 is almost all fantasy, M2 is mixed between both and M3 is almost all reality.
The more I talk to people who didn’t like the sequels, the more I find it’s because they were attached to the personal and sort of fantasy aspects of M1 — freeing one’s mind, making anything possible, being faster than the machines, etc. But the sequels properly address what happens beyond that in the real world of Zion, and frankly, a lot of people won’t like that part, considering the first. Now, I’m not defending their occasional bad choices in directing actors, but their script and plot is dead on for what it is supposed to mean — they are extremely deliberate filmmakers — and I feel that what they’re saying in the larger work makes up for the often awkward moments in the individual scenes.
In fact, I applaud the Wachowskis for not making more of the same, and putting a definitive ending to the series. It is a complete work and I think people will be a lot happier with the series once they can watch it for what it is and not for what they expected it to be.
Posted by patrick h. lauke 2003.11.11, 01:55
i found reloaded dreadful at the cinema, but a bit more bearable on DVD…at least you can skip chapters (sex/rave scene, drivel speeches). but yes, very unsatisfactory…
Posted by dowingba 2003.11.11, 02:16
Partial spoilers:
Well considering Neo turns out to be a superhero outside the Matrix too, and can even enter the Matrix without being “jacked in”, I’d say M2 and M3 are more fantasy than the original.
Posted by dowingba 2003.11.11, 02:17
Well, unless they have a wireless router laying around…
Posted by Tomas 2003.11.11, 06:50
I agree. In retrospect, Reloaded was completely redundant. Please don’t let it stop you from catching Revolutions though.
Posted by Darrin 2003.11.11, 10:40
I wouldn’t disagree that the Matrix sequels aren’t as good as the original (few sequels are). However, I can’t understand why several of you speak so highly of Kill Bill.
Posted by pixelkitty 2003.11.11, 10:58
kill bill is an amazing tribute to spaghetti westerns and old b grade kung fu movies, while still being able to poke fun at itself, with cinematographic brilliance.
does anyone else think that last fight scene looks like somethong out of DOA II (the game)?
simply beautiful.
the first matrix movie achieved cult status by careful attention to detail and ground-breaking special effects - the next two just suck and offer nothing new.
Posted by Jackie McGhee 2003.11.11, 21:14
I ‘ve liked all three films to be honest. It seems to me that most people wanted each film to outdo the last which is the wrong way to think about it. OK, the first film stood well on its own, but then it had to, there may not have been any sequels. I think you need to look at the story arc as a whole.
Bear in mind that the Wachowski Bros. said that the whole thing was fundamentally about Kung-Fu versus Robots and you can’t go far wrong.
If like me you are a fan of anime, the structure of the whole three films makes a kind of sense.
Oh and if you view the movie by d/ling a pirate copy, then I’m afraid I don’t think your opinion matters very much at all
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens 2003.11.11, 23:24
That’s exactly how I feel. Loved the first. Hated the second. Won’t be seeing the third. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice; shame on me.
Why does every movie have to come in threes these days? Yeah, I know. They’re not making movies, they’re building franchises.
We did watch Animatrix the other night on DVD. Although, a lot of the episodes were boring, some were just fantastic. I think the visuals work much better in animation than live-action. It was also interesting to see how much the sound design lends to the “feel” of the “Matrix”.
Posted by monkeyinabox 2003.11.12, 09:26
The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions weren’t that bad. True that the first movie set the standard too high and really I don’t think it was filmed to be part of a trilogy. The fight scenes got too the point of being very ubsurd, unless you truly let your mind say, “Okay it’s in the Matrix and anything can happen”. The ending was pretty good. I’m not sure that they could have ended these movies anyway without pissing a lot of people off.
Kill Bill was extreme fighting done right. I do think the spurting blood element was cute the first few times, but then it got old.
Posted by Jeffrey 2003.11.20, 07:48
I agree that Reloaded was a total waste and ruined the complete Matrix experience for me. The only part I liked from Reloaded was the motorcycle scene at the beginning and the end, that was very f-ing cool.
I’m surely not going to buy premeire movie theaters prices to see Revolutions due it’s complete panning by almost everyone.
Honestly I just think that they ran out of viable story. The original pretty much said what needed to be said. Hell, Reloaded had a 10+ minute scene with dancing and lame sex. What a joke.
Posted by bambam 2003.11.22, 04:36
I like these two reviews for Revolutions. This is my new favorite site:
http://www.filmrot.com/articles/filmrot/004179.php
http://www.filmrot.com/articles/filmrot/004190.php
Matrix Revolutions was AWEEOSMS!
Posted by Bob 2003.12.27, 17:19
Personally I found parts 2 and 3 to be okay. I didn’t hate them as so many seem to. I was however, unsatisfied walking out of the theatre. The possibilities opened up by the first movie were just too great.
As for Kill Bill, I don’t understand why it’s getting so much praise here. I was very disappointed with it. It started out so grim and ended in comedy mode. I’m not sure Mr T really new where he wanted to go with this one.
Posted by Chris 2004.02.07, 07:14
That review has movied. You can find it here now:
http://www.dreamlogic.net/REVIEWS/matrixrevolutions.html
Posted by Paul 2004.04.11, 12:05
THERE AREN”T THREE MOVIES! A.) There are only two segments, Reloaded and Revolutions were released seperately because history shows that 4 hour movies don’t do well at the box. B.) The Matrix, Reloaded, Revolutions, Enter the Matrix, and the Animatrix were all planned and written immediately concurrently, virtually simultaneously, and all were written before any were shot or developed. C.) The first part has to do with the escape (and creation), the second with the evolution and discovery of objective (and life), and the third shows the (obviously underappreciated) conclusion, wherein the oppressors aren’t genocided (as was obviously expected by many), but rather a coexistence is sought and achieved throught the destruction of a common enemy (death). To expect a continuation of a story within the matrix without a story of what happens outside would be ridiculous, and to all who think Neo shouldn’t be able to fly, it was established in the first part that the rules of the Matrix did not apply to Neo, so why the heck would he not be able to fly, and why would he not be able to query the matrix (similar to Windows Find function) to figure out the position and distress level of Morpheus and the Key Maker in Reloaded? And as for Neo’s ability outside of the matrix, this showed that THE SYMBOLISM PORTRAYED DOES NOT ONLY APPLY TO SUPERBEINGS IN VIRTUAL WORLDS. The point of the whole project is to show what is possible in reality, not to create a fictionalization. It is to feed a renewed public realization of the power of thought and spiritual progress, mind manifestation, and is not meant to be viewed as fantasy. Those who viewed the second portion (2 and 3 if you prefer them referred to this way) as a shoddy continuation of a good action movie are entirely missing the point of the entire series.
Posted by Tired of the LIE 2005.12.05, 04:24
I just want out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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